Finalists named for business dean

The university has named four finalists to replace Andrew J. Policano as dean of the School of Business.

The finalists were recommended to Chancellor John Wiley by a 19-member search and screen committee after a nationwide search. The committee was chaired by James M. Johannes, faculty member and associate dean in the School of Business, and made up of faculty, academic staff, non-represented classified staff and students.

Policano, who announced in January that he was stepping down to return to teaching, formally left the post Sept. 1.

The finalists are:

• Lawrence Benveniste, associate dean of faculty research and U.S. Bancorp professor of finance in the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. Benveniste previously served as chair of the finance department at the University of Minnesota.
• Michael Knetter, associate dean and professor of international economics in the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Knetter previously served as vice chair of the department of economics at Dartmouth.
• R.D. Nair, interim dean, executive director of the Center for International Business Education and Research, and PricewaterhouseCoopers professor of accounting and information systems in the School of Business at UW–Madison. Nair served as senior associate dean for academic affairs in the School of Business until Sept. 1.
• Mark Zupan, dean and professor of economics in the Eller College of Business and Public Administration at the University of Arizona. Zupan previously served as associate dean of masters programs in the School of Business Administration at the University of Southern California.

The dean of the School of Business oversees about 100 faculty, more than 2,000 students and an executive education program that serves more than 15,000 clients each year.

The university will invite all four finalists back to campus to meet with administrators, faculty, staff and students. A final decision is expected later this year.