Jones School dean agrees to two more years at helm

Jones School dean agrees to two more years at helm
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BY JENNIFER EVANS
Rice News Staff

Following a bullish
year for the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management
during which it opened the doors to its new home and saw
its status continue to rise in national rankings, the school
received more good news: Gilbert Whitaker announced last
week that he has agreed to a two-year extension of his appointment
as dean. He will continue to head the Jones School through
2005.

In a message
to his colleagues, Whitaker said his decision stemmed from
his desire to see to completion the funding for the new
Jones School building, to improve the school’s process
for faculty appointments, renewals and tenure and to continue
to improve the research culture of the school.

“We are
grateful that Gil Whitaker has agreed to an additional two-year
term as dean,” read a statement released by Rice President
Malcolm Gillis and Provost Eugene Levy. “This will
allow Gil to bring his accomplishments and initial agenda
to full fruition, and will leave the Jones School at a point
admirably situated to attract a successor able to carry
on along the rising trajectory that Gil has begun.”

A Rice alumnus,
Whitaker was named dean of the Jones School in 1997. Upon
taking the helm, he set his sights on making Jones one of
the top graduate business schools in the country, a vision
that is bearing fruit. In its 2002 guide to business schools
around the world, the Economist Magazine ranked the Jones
School’s finance program No. 1 among U.S. business
schools. The Jones School’s marketing program tied
for eighth in the world and was ranked second in the United
States. Jones tied for fourth in the world and tied for
third in the United States for faculty quality and for program
content. It tied for 14th in the world and for fifth in
the United States for program content. Also, the 2002 rankings
published by the Financial Times placed the Jones School
as the highest-ranked business school in Texas and in the
region.

The school’s
rise in status can be attributed largely to Whitaker’s
efforts to realize the strategic vision for the school’s
future.

“In just
a few short years, Dean Gil Whitaker — through vision
and energy as well as his vigorous and forceful leadership
— has brought the Rice Jones Graduate School of Management
from a state in which its continued existence was questioned
to one of rising excellence and prominence,” said Gillis
and Levy.

Among the efforts
Whitaker has overseen are:

• securing
accreditation by AACSB, the Association to Advance Collegiate
Schools of Business
• establishing the MBA for Executives program
• increasing student enrollment as well as diversity.
In 2001 Time Magazine even recognized Whitaker’s accomplishments
in promoting diversity.
• recruiting more faculty members
• revising the MBA curriculum to put more emphasis
on experiential learning
• constructing a state-of-the-art, 167,000-square-foot
building for the business school, which was dedicated in
September.

Said Whitaker,
“It has been and continues to be a joy to work with
this great faculty, student body and staff. Rice is a wonderful
place to be and the Jones School is well on its way to a
higher level of recognition for its quality and distinction.”

The search for
Whitaker’s successor is expected to begin in the middle
of the next academic year.