Michael Ginzberg will take over as the new Kogod School of Business dean this summer, coming to AU from his current position as associate provost and dean at Yeshiva University in New York.
He will replace retiring Kogod Dean Richard Durand, who has headed the school for about six years.
Ginzberg said he chose to apply for the position at AU because he saw it as a new challenge, as well as a place where he could make a contribution.
“It is a great school, at a great university, in a terrific location,” Ginzberg said. “It is the type of challenge I was looking for. It was the position that I wanted and to have been offered the job made me feel great.”
The challenge he sees in Kogod is how to make it better recognized by potential students, the organizations that rank schools, faculty and deans at other business schools, he said.
However, Ginzberg added that “[the school] has all the right pieces, staff, students, faculty, really across the board.”
To recruit those potential students, Ginzberg plans to tell a “compelling story” about what makes Kogod unique.
“We’ll put a fair amount of effort and work into communicating that,” he said.
Ginzberg said his goal is to create a clear image for Kogod, which he envisions as potentially business and government coming together in an international arena, although that is subject to a committee of faculty, staff and students to be established this summer to better determine the vision.
“The spot that Kogod has the greatest opportunity to draw on is the assets of the University, of Washington, D.C.,” Ginzberg said.
He said he speculates that is was his experience — with 10 years as a dean between the University of Delaware and Yeshiva — that made him stand out as a candidate.
“From that experience, there's a track record of accomplishment of bringing about change,” Ginzberg said. “I also have a management style in which I am accessible, fairly easy to get along with and very open.”
He describes himself as the type of leader that hires well, delegates and then stays out of the way of his staff.
“I don't believe any one person can or should do everything,” he said. “You bring in people as strong as possible in the areas they're going to be responsible for and empower them to accomplish what you want.”
To promote an image of an accessible dean, Ginzberg hopes to work through student organization leadership to keep his “finger on the pulse,” as well as conversing with as many students as possible, through Kogod events, e-mails and walks around the building.
Ginzberg plans to begin at Kogod June 1, a month before he officially takes office as dean.
kfroehlich@theeagleonline.com
