University’s Management School appoints new dean

3 November 2014

University’s Management School appoints new dean

University of Waikato Vice-Chancellor Professor Roy Crawford is pleased to announce the appointment of Canadian economist Professor Don Ross as Dean of the University of Waikato Management School.

Professor Ross is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Commerce and Professor of Economics at the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa. He also holds a part-time position as Program Director for Methodology and Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Analysis of Risk at Georgia State University in the USA. He says the time was right for a change.

“Having been with UCT for the past 18 years, and having thoroughly enjoyed my past four and a half years as Dean, I was looking for another university at which to try my hand; in particular, at a business school where both undergraduate and graduate programmes are combined,” he says.

“I’m looking forward to working with a new group of people, to listen to their ideas on the way they think the Waikato Management School should be growing and then look to amplify, nurture and consolidate those ideas,” says Professor Ross.

“I was also attracted to this role because it comes with an appointment in a highly ranked Economics Department” he adds.

Leveraging the international relationships formed through his current roles in Africa and the USA, has led Professor Ross to deliver a number of successful ventures. Under his leadership, UCT launched ‘Across Africa’, a premium online suite of graduate and postgraduate programmes and qualifications with private sector partners, as well as the introduction of the externally-funded African Institute for Financial Markets and Risk Management, subjects not taught previously through a structured programme at the postgraduate level in Africa.

“As a way forward for the Waikato Management School, I’m looking forward to taking the ‘Across Africa’ model and rolling it out on a global level supported by a three university consortium which would include Waikato, UCT and Georgia State. I also see my continued affiliation with Georgia State as a solid basis for new research collaborations at Waikato,” he says.

“I will also look to continue to grow the School’s research portfolio, as it is always crucial to be doing anything one can to pump up the resource basis for producing high quality, globally cutting-edge research. Strengthening relationships with the business community to help resource the School to a greater extent is another top priority.”

Professor Ross has a PhD from the University of Western Ontario and has published widely. His active research portfolio encompasses experimental economics of risk and time preferences, addition and impulsive consumption, scientific metaphysics, and trade and industry policy in Africa and political economy of international trade.

Professor Crawford says Professor Ross will be a welcome addition to the University and the staff and the business community are looking forward to seeing the positive impact of his leadership.

Professor Ross will make the move to New Zealand with his wife, who is currently the Director of Postgraduate Studies at UCT, in early 2015.

ENDS

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