I write to inform you that Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., has decided to step down as Dean of the Gabelli School of Business, effective June 30, 2022. For more than fifteen years, Donna has advanced Fordham’s business programs through her distinguished service as Dean. She is excited to now be able to return to the Gabelli faculty and devote herself anew to teaching, learning and research.

In 2015, Donna led the unification of Fordham’s undergraduate and graduate business schools into a high-functioning Gabelli School of Business with a strong presence on the Rose Hill, Lincoln Center, Westchester, and London campuses. Overseeing significant growth in business enrollments at the undergraduate and graduate levels, she launched the school’s first doctoral programs: a Ph.D. program now in its sixth year; and a Doctor of Professional Studies program that trains international executives in the foundational principles of academic business research.

Donna has developed a number of multifaceted, highly visible corporate partnerships to support student learning, co-curricular opportunities, and faculty research. The Gabelli School now embodies a culture that values high-quality, high-impact research, as evidenced by faculty members publishing more than 500 refereed journal articles in the last five years with nearly seventy-five appearing in the Financial Times top-50.

Through Donna’s visionary leadership and commitment to the distinctive characteristics of Jesuit education, the reputation and standing of the school has been on an upward trajectory. Within the business education marketplace, Fordham has become widely recognized as a flagship institution promoting responsible and sustainable business and graduating leaders with purpose. The MBA program moved from being unranked in US News & World Report to the current position of #63. The school holds seven top-25 academic area rankings in US News, and the undergraduate program is currently ranked #22 by Poets & Quants.

I am pleased to announce that Lerzan Aksoy, Ph.D., Professor and Associate Dean in the Gabelli School of Business, has agreed to serve as interim Dean of the Gabelli School of Business beginning July 1, 2022. Lerzan has been leading undergraduate studies and strategic initiatives within the dean’s office for the past seven years, and she is well-positioned to serve as the School’s interim dean through June 30, 2023. This fall, we will commence a national search for the permanent dean of the Gabelli School of Business, with the expectation of appointing the successful candidate by July 1, 2023.

Please join me in thanking Donna for her many contributions to Fordham and wishing her every joy as she reengages in the fulfilling work of research and teaching.

Sincerely,

Dennis C. Jacobs, Ph.D.
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

Marleen S. Barr, Ph.D., A&S
adjunct professor of communication and media studies, has been awarded a Fulbright lecturing grant to the University of Dortmund, Germany.

Celia Fisher, Ph.D., GSAS
Marie Doty Professor of Psychology, was profiled in American Psychological Association’s Monitor (Vol. 37, No. 7, July/August 2006), about her work as chair of the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s human subjects review board.

Masaaki Hamaguchi, Ph.D., GSAS
associate professor of biological science, was awarded a $437,500 grant from the National Institutes of Health for study of the cancer-suppressing gene DBC2.

Robert Himmelberg, Ph.D., A&S
professor of history, has been named interim dean of the arts and sciences faculty, effective September 15.

Astrid O’Brien, Ph.D., A&S
associate professor of philosophy, received a full-year faculty fellowship to write a biography of Nineteenth-Century mystic Lucie Christine, tentatively titled Lucie Christine; a Mysticism of Kindness.

Robert J. Penella, Ph.D., A&S
professor of classics, recently published three articles: “From the Muses to Eros: Choricius’ Epithalamia for Student Bridegrooms” in C. Saliou, ed., Gaza dans l’Antiquite Tardive (Salerno, 2005); “Himerius and the Praetorian Prefect Secundus Salutius,” Prometheus 32 (2006): 85-90; and “In Praise of Cities and Men: Himerius’ Orations at Thessalonica, Philippi and Constantinople” in A. Gonzalez-Galvez and P.-L. Malosse, eds., Melanges A. F. Norman (Lyon, 2006).

Alan N. Rechtschaffen, J.D., LAW
adjunct professor of law, was named to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, the governing body of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., by President George W. Bush, for a term expiring in January 2011. The Council consists of 55 presidential appointees, 10 congressional representatives and three ex-officio members from the departments of Education, Interior and State.

Troy Tassier, Ph.D., BUS
assistant professor of economics, has had an article, “Labor Market Implications of Weak Ties,” named first runner up in the competition for the Georgescu-Roegen Prize for 2006. The prize is awarded each year to the author of the best academic article published in the Southern Economic Journal, an internationally ranked journal in economics. Tassier will receive the first runner up award at the November meeting of the Southern Economic Association’s conference in November in Charleston, S.C.