Building The Isenberg Advantage Building The Isenberg Advantage

Investing in The Isenberg Advantage
For the Isenberg School of Management, 2007-2008 was a
year of progress on all fronts. In September 2007, D. Anthony
(Tony) Butterfield began a multi-year appointment as the
School’s interim dean, replacing Soren Bisgaard, who had
served the previous year in that role following Tom O’Brien’s
retirement in 2006 after 19 years as the School’s dean. An
Isenberg School faculty member since 1972 and the former
director of the School’s Ph.D. program and chair of its
management department, Dr. Butterfield led the School’s
successful initiatives in strengthening alumni and state support,
which brought significant new investments in the School’s
students, faculty, and programs.
Exceptional Students: Brooke Naylor ’08 and Ryan Durkin ’08 (front)
were among nine students honored by the UMass Amherst campus as
21st Century Leaders. Adam Ferrarini ’08 (center) was one of two seniors
at UMass Amherst to receive the Jack Welch Scholarship, a full-support
award from the GE Fund.
Investing in New
Faculty Members. “Our
investments begin with
our faculty,” emphasizes
Dean Butterfield. For the
fall 2008 semester, three
new tenure-track faculty
members have joined the
School—two in operations
management who focus
on supply chain analysis
and a tenured professor
in accounting. Two new
faculty members will join
the Isenberg School’s
Hospitality and Tourism
Management program
in January, including a
new nationally recruited
department head,
Haemoun Oh. In addition,
a new professor will
join the School’s Sport
Management department
in January, and searches
for two additional tenure
track faculty members
in accounting and one
Eugene ’50 and Ronnie Isenberg, the
Isenberg School’s greatest benefactors,
have energized the integration of
business, science, and technology on
the UMass Amherst campus. A photo
of their annual Isenberg Scholarship
recipients and a description of the
interdisciplinary Technology Innovation
Challenge appear on page 11.
in management will also take place. And the School will
complete its campaign to create its first endowed professorship
in accounting, which will honor that department’s legendary
teacher’s teacher, Richard Simpson. During the past year,
graduates of the School’s accounting department collectively
raised $1 million toward the new endowed position, which
Professor Simpson will hold until his retirement. After that, the
position will go to another exceptional educator.
Outstanding programs for exceptional students. This year,
the Isenberg School welcomes the most academically
accomplished student body in its history. The fall’s entering
freshman class has mean high school grade point averages
of 3.7 and SAT scores that for the first time exceed 1200. “To
prepare our students for a rapidly changing world, we stress
not only the classroom learning that takes place, but also the
importance of experiential learning,” observes undergraduate
dean Carol Barr. The latter includes industry internships and
practicums, community activities like the school’s annual
VITA tax assistance program, and dozens of international study
options, including two-week home-grown class trips to eight
different countries.
The Isenberg School will strengthen the diversity of its
student body with a $500,000 gift from the Ernst & Young
Foundation. Four-fifths of the grant funding the initiative—
1