Published: June 29, 2008 10:49 pm            

Dr. Pati set to leave IUK

Served as dean of business for 7 years

A native of India, Dr. Niranjan Pati’s journeys have carried him from the Asian subcontinent to the Windy City and on to the City of Firsts with a side trip into America’s Dairyland.

His next journey begins Tuesday as he goes from Kokomo into the midst of America’s business nerve center.

After seven years as dean of Indiana University Kokomo School of Business, Pati has accepted a position as dean of Rohrer College of Business at Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J.

“It’s a professional growth opportunity for me,” he said. “This is the first public university to be endowed by a family and the College of Business was endowed by an older family as well so they have a good amount of endowment.

“There’s definitely access to better resources for a dean to do things outside the resources provided by a public university system.”

In 1992, the school changed its name from Glassboro State College to Rowan following a $100 million gift by industrialist Henry Rowan. The school of business was the recipient of a $10 million gift from the William G. Rohrer Charitable Foundation in 2005.

With Philadelphia just 30 minutes away, New York an hour and Washington a mere two hours distant, “Rowan is near the nerve center of American business,” Pati said.

Rohrer College of Business has 1,100 undergraduate students while offering majors in accounting, entrepreneurship, finance, human resources management, management, marketing and management information systems. Another 80 graduate students are in its master of business administration program.

Its undergraduate and graduate programs are accredited by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and it is home to the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the Entrepreneurs Forum of Southern New Jersey and a business incubator.

Pati will direct a faculty at Rohrer consisting of 32 full-time members in addition to adjunct faculty.

“Clearly, there are a lot of opportunities for a dean to go and make difference,” he said.

Pati emerged from a nationwide search on a short list of candidates that began last fall and he was offered the job in February.

Taking over as acting dean at Kokomo will be Dr. John Wellington, who spent eight years as dean of the Doermer School of Business and Management Science at IPFW. Wellington will serve for one year as IU Kokomo officials conduct a search to replace Pati.

While at IU Kokomo, Pati oversaw a school of business that has been named to Princeton Review’s best schools three times.

“A dean can’t do anything unless the faculty participates and offers its cooperation. We’ve been building excellence in our academic programs, building faculty and scholarships and getting involved in the community,” he said. “We identified a strategy and worked on getting AACSB International accreditation. We’ve reinforced learning and reinvigorated our academic programs.

“Our students have been scoring in the 90 to 95 percentile on ETS major field testing for undergraduates and MBAs. I’m cognizant of leading the ship and, as its captain, taking credit for that, but all of the people make it happen.”

Pati and his wife have two daughters and a son, who range in age from fourth grade to college.

“We wanted see and do what would be best for our family. That was uppermost in our minds,” he said. “I had contract here through 2010-11 so there was no reason to move on.”

Pati holds a bachelor degree in technology in production engineering from Ranchi University as well as a master’s degree in technology in industrial engineering and operations research from Indian Institute of Technology. He earned master’s and doctorate degrees in industrial engineering and management science from Northwestern University and attended Harvard University’s Institute for Management and Leadership in Education.

He came to IU Kokomo from University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse where he was chair of the Department of Management in the College of Business Administration.

“I’ve enjoyed every moment of being dean here at this campus,” he said.

John Dempsey may be contacted at (765) 854-6739 or by e-mail at john.dempsey@kokomotribune.com

        

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