Fuqua dean tapped for 2nd term

Douglas Breeden, dean of the Fuqua School of Business since 2001, was reappointed to a second five-year term last week.

“I am pleased to be able to continue to be a part of this exciting University and see more of our efforts come to fruition,” Breeden said in a statement.

Provost Peter Lange said he and President Richard Brodhead were “strongly committed” to Breeden’s reappointment because of his successful work at Fuqua over the past three and a half years.

“He’s really pushed up the quality of hiring and intellectual tenor in this school,” Lange said. “He’s done a very significant job of financially restructuring the school, and he’s done a very good job in the development area—building financial resources.”

Under Breeden’s leadership, Fuqua’s faculty has expanded to 98 and its enrollment has increased to more than 800 students after the addition of a sixth section to its Daytime MBA program. Breeden has helped build international programs in Europe and Asia and overseen the creation of several research centers, including the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship and the Fuqua/Coach K Center of Leadership and Ethics.

Breeden has also managed Fuqua through a series of significant challenges, including a national economic recession after Sept. 11, 2001. Fuqua cut 10 staff positions in 2003 in an effort to reduce its budget and respond to the weak economy.

The school also closed its Frankfurt, Germany campus in 2002 because of a lack of interest among European students. A year later, however, Fuqua established a partnership with Frankfurt University’s School of Business and created a dual degree with the school in 2004.

Despite institutional growth, Fuqua’s status among peer schools has slipped recently, dropping from seventh to 11th in the 2005 U.S. News and World Report business school rankings. Lange, however, said he is confident Breeden will continue to “identify and improve peaks of excellence.”