Policano plans to step down as business dean

Andrew J. Policano, dean of the School of Business since June 1991, plans to step down in August and remain in the Finance Department faculty.

“Dean Policano has fostered an entrepreneurial spirit in the school, establishing new opportunities for students and staff, developing new programs, and overseeing new facilities,” Chancellor John Wiley says. “He is recognized as one of the most innovative business school deans in the country, and we have clearly benefited from his extraordinary leadership and his dedication to UW–Madison.”

During Policano’s tenure as dean, the school’s international reputation has grown substantially. Today, the undergraduate program in the School of Business is ranked among the top 10 in the country by U.S. News and World Report. The MBA program is among the top five percent globally in rankings by Business Week, U.S. News and The Financial Times. A forthcoming study in the Academy of Management Journal places the faculty’s research 17th in the nation, ahead of such notables as UCLA, Berkeley and MIT.

“It has been a privilege to serve as dean at one of the top business schools in one of the premier universities in the world,” Policano says. “When I arrived, I set out on a 10-year mission. Thanks to the tremendous support of our alumni and friends, and the hard, ambitious work of a very talented faculty, staff, and students, we have accomplished all that I set out to do. I now look forward to joining the faculty. I can think of no better place to continue my career than at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.”

Policano has led an entrepreneurial spirit in the school, establishing new opportunities for students and staff, developing new programs, and overseeing new facilities. He presided over the opening of Grainger Hall in 1993 and the Fluno Center for Executive Education in 2000.

Policano led the development of an Executive MBA program at UW–Madison, which graduated its sixth class in spring, 2000, as well as an Evening MBA program which began in 1998. He led the charge to completely redesign the school’s full-time MBA, and added several new programs including the Agribusiness MBA, Supply Chain Management, and Manufacturing and Technology Management programs.

Under his direction, the school developed a unique undergraduate program in international business. In 1998, UW–Madison was named a Center for International Business Education and Research with an $880,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

Working with generous alumni, friends, and the University of Wisconsin Foundation, Policano has seen the School of Business endowment grow from $6 million to over $100 million.

Business school alumnus Michael Lehman, vice president and chief financial officer at Sun Microsystems, Inc., credits Policano with having done “a remarkable job as dean of the business school. His innovative approach to partnering with the business community and university administration has resulted in the business school achieving a high level of national recognition and prominence.”

An economist who received his Ph.D. from Brown University in 1976, Policano previously taught at Brown University, Fordham, the University of Iowa and the State University of New York-Stony Brook.

Policano chaired the Department of Economics and was senior associate dean of academic affairs at Iowa, and served as dean of social and behavioral sciences at Stony Brook.

Policano’s research in macroeconomic policy and finance has been widely published. He has received three teaching awards and has chaired two national committees on business education.

A search-and-screen committee will be named to seek candidates for the business dean post.