UCI won’t renew dean’s contract

Deirdre Newman

UCI CAMPUS -- University officials have chosen not to renew the

contract of the dean of the Graduate School of Management, who was

recently named a champion of innovation by a business magazine.

The UC Irvine administration recently informed David Blake that he

would not be at the helm of the school next fall.

Officials have not yet determined when the search for a permanent

replacement will start. The process of identifying an interim dean is in

progress, and someone could be selected in May, said Susan Menning, the

university’s assistant vice chancellor of communication.

Relief rippled through some of the senior faculty members upon hearing

of the administration’s decision, as a group of them had been extremely

critical of Blake’s performance, said Neal Stoughton, professor of

finance.

It will now be up to this cadre to assume a more forceful leadership

role for the school to remain competitive, Stoughton said.

“We cannot just leave it up to an administrator to guide the future

direction of the school,” Stoughton said, adding that monitoring staff

performance in the marketing area would be a top priority.

Blake, who did not return phone calls, is serving the final year of

his five-year term as dean.

Reservations about his leadership ability first surfaced about a year

and a half ago among the group of senior faculty members, Stoughton said.

They mainly charged that the Health Care Executive MBA program was in a

state of decline and marketing resources for the school were misguided.

“We attempted in some cases to initiate corrective actions among

ourselves, but it became apparent over the course of time that Blake was

not receptive toward our ideas and had a different view of the future

than the one advocated by the majority of the senior faculty,” Stoughton

said.

The faculty members also lamented the faltering rankings of the school

in sources such as U.S. News & World Report and the Financial Times.

In U.S. News, the school fell from 34th when Blake arrived at the

school to 45th and is not listed at all in the latest report of the top

50 schools, Stoughton said.

When Blake’s renewal process started last fall, half of the school’s

full-time professors signed a joint letter expressing their misgivings.

Once the decision was made, Blake sent an e-mail to the faculty and

students letting them know that he would not be back as dean next year.

In the e-mail, Blake said he would continue to teach, write and give

speeches, and will take a more active role in the corporate world. He

also countered his critics’ charges, noting his proudest accomplishments.

“Almost every single measure -- be it total enrollment, student

quality and GMAT scores, number of faculty, faculty salary and research

support, quality of programs, or financial health of the school -- has

improved substantially since I arrived in the fall of 1997,” he wrote in

the e-mail.

First-year business student Beau Schindler said he was surprised to

hear about the rejection of Blake’s leadership. While rankings are

important, he said they were not the only factor he considered.

“I think any levelheaded applicant would weigh all his options, not

just ranking, and certain other aspects of the school that are top of the

line would be reasons for attending,” Schindler said.