The School of Management is looking to provide better course selection opportunities for students by hiring new professors for the 2004-05 school year, SMG Senior Associate Dean Michael Lawson said this week.
Lawson said the school is adding a number of faculty members, but most of the new professors will replace several professors who plan to leave at the end of the year. The school currently has 113 full-time faculty members.
SMG is looking for five new full-time professors and school officials are looking at both experienced faculty and younger candidates.
“Some faculty are quite experienced and will help us in leadership positions to work with younger faculty,” Lawson said. “We are also looking for new faculty that have just finished doctoral degrees and are looking to start careers.”
New faculty will improve SMG by offering a greater variety of classes and better research productivity in all departments, especially those of finance, accounting and information systems, he said.
“We are trying to add to our teaching capabilities to have a better course selection for students,” Lawson said. “We also are looking to increase research output.”
Finance and Economics Department Chairman Michael Salinger said the school is interested in educated faculty who will be effective in the classroom.
“We are trying to find people who are going to be really great classroom teachers and at the same time people who are great scholars,” he said. “It’s hard to find people who do both well.”
SMG Personnel Administrator Diane Schneeberger said the search for professors is being advertised on both a national and international level.
The hiring process begins at the department level, Lawson said. Each SMG department has a recruiting committee that looks at applications, performs a screening process and invites a small number of applicants to campus to meet with faculty and further demonstrate their academic abilities.
Although the final decision lies in the hands of President ad interim Aram Chobanian and Boston University’s Board of Trustees, recommendations are made through the collaborative effort of department faculty, SMG deans and Provost Dennis Berkey, Lawson said.
“After the departments decide, they make recommendations to the dean and the dean makes recommendations to the provost,” he said.
Although the school has not hired any new professors this year, Lawson said employment activity is expected to increase over the coming months. Lawson will begin to make preliminary offers to applicants starting next week, he said.
“Over the next couple of months, things will get hectic and exciting,” he said. “That is when the hiring will be done.”
Salinger said he accepted BU’s job offer several years ago not only because of BU’s academic standards, but also because of the university’s location.
“I came here because I thought it was a great department, great university and great city,” he said.
Several students said the expansion can only help the school. Freshman James Miele said the new professors will help SMG’s reputation.
“I think it helps the school’s reputation as well as my own,” he said.
SMG freshman Frankie Gaeta said increasing course selection will also help students further in making career decisions.
“I think it’s a good idea,” he said. “It will probably give students more options for choosing a future career.”
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