Leavey says goodbye to Dean

By Jesus Diaz

Starting this July, the Leavey School of Business will obtain a temporary dean, as Barry Posner steps down after 33 years at Santa Clara--12 of them as dean.

Posner will travel to various countries next year to learn more about global leadership and will return for the 2010-2011 school year as a member of the faculty.

He will interview business leaders in Asia, Australia, Turkey, South Africa and Italy, among other places.

"We're in the education business," Posner said. "We, as a school, are to always learn new things."

He leaves behind the legacy of a new business building, Lucas Hall, for which he helped raise funds.

Many new programs were also started under Posner, such as the Executive Education Program, which offers a variety of professional development and post-graduation classes. Santa Clara's Executive MBA is now ranked 15th in the nation according to U.S. News & World Report.

"He is phenomenal, has a tremendous sense of leadership and is supportive as a manager," said Senior Assistant Dean Elizabeth Ford. "We're going to miss him a lot."

Ford has known Posner since before he became dean and assures that no one loves Santa Clara as much as Posner does.

"I've learned from him the importance of relationships," Ford said. "He says it's better to try something, have it fail, than to not try it at all."

A thorough search to select a new dean was conducted by a committee earlier this school year. Ultimately, the committee did not agree on a candidate, and an interim dean was selected.

The new face of the business school next year will be professor Andrew Starbird, who will be acting dean starting this July until a new dean is selected for the 2010-2011 school year.

"As interim dean for next year, I will be a caretaker and will make sure that the school runs smoothly" said Starbird.

The San Jose native said his emphasis as dean will be to serve the students and continue to work for a higher education. "I am trying to gather information to prepare to be acting dean," Starbird said. "Unfortunately, there is no class on how to be a dean."

Ford has known both deans personally and professionally. .

"I am looking forward to working with Andrew (Starbird)," she said. "He is very different in style, personality and is very even-tempered. He is much more of a 'numbers' person and will ask for more 'supporting data' from us."

Ford explained how Posner was more of a visionary in that he would tend to build relationships with people outside of the university.

Starbird, according to her, is more internally focused and will ask for more support from the faculty.

"This of course does not mean either one is wrong. It's just going to be different," Ford said.

Freshman business student Anthony Prieto is looking forward to next year's new dean.

"I've heard about significant things Dean Posner has done for Santa Clara and I am interested to see what the next dean will do," he said.

Starbird said he looks forward to learning more about what everyone is doing, meeting new people and providing a different contribution to the mission of the school.

With nostalgia, Posner looked back at his years as dean -- "We've taken a good school, and we've made it an even better school."

Contact Jesus Diaz at jadiaz@scu.edu.