BREAKING: Temple Fox Announces New Interim Dean Ronald C. Anderson
Just two weeks after the resignation of longtime dean Moshe Porat, the Temple University Fox School of Business announced that Ronald C. Anderson, professor and chair of the Fox finance department, will become the school’s interim dean.
Porat was forced to resign six months after the school’s rankings debacle with U.S. News & World Report. The publication removed the Philadelphia metro business school from all of its annual rankings after discovering falsified data was submitted. The turn of events occurred right after the publication revealed is annual Online MBA rankings, in which Temple had won first place for the fourth year in a row.
Fox School of Business Interim Dean Ronald C. Anderson / Photo via Ryan S. Brandenberg
In a new statement, Temple president Richard M. Englert says, “Ron has led significant growth in the department of finance, which is one of the most popular majors at Temple. He is an accomplished researcher and a well-regarded teacher who takes great pride in his students’ success. His professional experiences, both in industry and academia, are well suited for this critical leadership role.”
Anderson, who earned an MBA at the University of Pittsburgh Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration and his finance Ph.D. and doctorate at Texas A&M, joined the university in 2012 as a professor and department chair. As a respected member of the Temple community, news that Anderson would be manning the Fox School of Business ship at a tumultuous time seemed to earn praise from several members of the university.
Speaking with the Philadelphia Inquirer, Fox finance professor and deputy chair of the finance department Jonathan Scott says, “We were just hoping we could get through the process of identifying an interim dean and get on with righting the ship. Ron is the right person to get us back on track.”
Still, there is plenty of trepidation at Fox, with lingering lawsuits from several dismayed students hanging overhead, as well as the school’s upcoming accreditation re-approval this winter. Temple Association of University Professionals President Steve Newman, speaking with the Inquirer says, “This scandal has damaged the trust that students in and outside of Fox as well as the general public place in our university.”
“This scandal is in part the result of an unhealthy fixation on rankings that warps the priorities of our university as a whole. We understand that rankings matter in recruiting students, but their effect on fiscal and pedagogical decisions at Temple is entirely too strong.” – Temple Association of University Professionals President Steve Newman
Stay tuned with MetroMBA as this story continues to unfold.
