University to form College of Business

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Provost John Miller sent out a memo last week informing faculty and staff that there will be a fifth college added to Pacific.

Within the next three to five years, Miller hopes the Board of Trustees will be able to generate $5 million worth of funding.

Of that, $3 million will go to the endowment of the college, while the other $2 million will be offered as scholarship money to incoming students. This money will only be available to students enrolling in the College of Business.

With cooperation between the Director of the School of Social Sciences and the business faculty, they were able to create and lay out a 10-point plan which would enable them to plan the creation of the new college. It also served as a basis for the Case Statement, which was issued to support the funding of the program.

One of the key points of this 10-point plan is that the new College of Business will allow students to accomplish their degree in three years. However, students will only be permitted to enter this program after applying and being accepted into it.

For the last year, the business department has been discussing separating their department from the College of Arts and Sciences. As a result, the president and her cabinet agreed to implement a College of Business.

At the State of the University Address, held on Oct. 4, the president shared the new information with, as was stated in the memo, “the campus community.”

In order to create a fifth college, Miller needed to appoint a founding dean that would manage the responsibilities of taking the College of Business through the approval process. He is also responsible for finding funding to support the creation and endurance of the college.

A potential candidate for the founding dean position came to light in January. Dr. Howard Smith fits all of the qualifications for the job and was hired as dean. He will begin his duties upon his appointment July 1.

A memo sent out to faculty and staff described Smith’s qualifications for the job: He served as Vice President of University Advancement, Dean of the College of Business and Economics and as a tenured professor of management at Boise State University. He has also served as the Dean of the University of New Mexico’s Anderson Schools of Management and School of Public Administration.

Smith will be reporting to Miller himself, the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Lisa Carstens and the Director of the School of Social Sciences Sarah Phillips.

Once Smith accomplishes his first two goals of guiding the program through the approval process and fundraising the proper total for the entire operation, Miller said Smith will stay on as dean of the college.

As of right now, there is no place to put the new college. The business department is currently located in Berglund and the creation of a new college will not fit within the confines of that single hall. Also, the campus in Forest Grove is full so adding another college will only clutter an already cramped space.

Miller said, “When optometry moves to Hillsboro, it could open up a place to put it.” Miller went on to say that this was not a concrete plan for the placement of the new college and declared that they would face this dilemma when the time came.

There is another interesting aspect of adding a new college to Pacific. When a new college is implemented, usually more faculty has to be hired. Miller said this was true, “Eventually we will have to hire new faculty.” With the hiring of new faculty, there is also the question of where to place them as well. Again, this is to be addressed at a later date.

A lot of change will be taking place over the next three to five years. Smith is going to have his hands full directing the operation and raising $5 million to fund it.

At this time, Provost Miller was unable to offer any more information, but said there will be more to be disclosed at the end of April, including more on the 10-point plan and what it will entail for Pacific.

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