TSU Jones School of Business President Stepping Down at the End of the Year

The president of Texas Southern University (TSU)’s  Jesse H. Jones School of Business recently announced that he will be stepping down at the end of this school year. John M. Rudley has led the school for the past eight and a half years, guiding the school through hardship, inspiring new leadership and creating new academic opportunities such as the executive MBA program (EMBA).

As TSU Jones School of Business president, Rudley not only has been instrumental in expanding the school’s academic standards, he has also handled a number of significant challenges. “He will leave the university in a better position than when he came here,” Derrick Mitchell, chairman of TSU’s board of regents, said in a statement.

Before his appointment at TSU, Rudley’s roles included interim chancellor of the University of Houston System, interim president of the University of Houston and vice chancellor for business and finance at the Tennessee Board of Regents.

In 2008, Rudley replaced a president whose mismanagement of the school’s finances had resulted in criminal charges against her. His leadership since then has helped the school return to financial security. He additionally led the school’s recovery after Hurricane Ike, which damaged many buildings and left the university without power. Further hardships included shootings both on and near campus and a scandal involving unfinished dorms. Along the way, lawmakers in Austin cut millions from the TSU budget, making Rudley’s goals even more difficult to accomplish.

Despite these hardships, Rudley helped lead a major effort to rebuild the campus, oversaw construction of several new buildings and spearheaded new programs such as the EMBA, a civil and computer engineering program and a new executive master’s of public administration online.

Over the next few months, a transition team will be put in place to search for a new president. Rudley’s last day will be August 31st.

regions: Houston

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