Stevens Appointed Associate Dean Of Undergraduate Program

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (July 27, 2004)—John “Jack” Stevens, professor of management at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, will assume the role of associate dean for undergraduate programs at the college in August. He will replace David Christy, who has been appointed dean of the Orfalea College of Business at California Polytechnic State University.

“Under Dave’s leadership, the program has flourished, with significant changes to the student advising structure, a comprehensive program renewal, and the upcoming introduction of a new program for advanced students among the many initiatives he spearheaded during the past four years,” said Dean Judy Olian. “Jack’s expertise and longstanding engagement with the college in a variety of roles will insure that the undergraduate program continues to advance in quality and in the breadth of opportunities available to our students."

Stevens, who joined the University in 1976 and transitioned into Smeal from the College of the Liberal Arts in 1993, is also director of Outreach and Cooperative Extension for Smeal. He has won teaching honors at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, most recently receiving the 2004 Fred Brand, Jr. Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. During his career he has taught a range of courses to undergraduate students at Penn State and other universities including management strategy, managing the environment of business, principles of management, and organizational behavior and administration.

With expertise in managerial commitment, strategy and policy implementation, business-government relations, and the use of information systems in decision making, Stevens’ research has been published in many outlets including the Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, Organization, and the Journal of Management. In 1998, the Academy of Management recognized Stevens as one of its 10 most cited authors.

“Penn State and the Smeal College have long been an important part of my life, first as a student and then as a member of the faculty,” said Stevens, who graduated from the University in 1964 with a B.A. “I look forward to helping Smeal undergraduate programs to excel even further, and working to provide our students with a superior educational experience that will serve them well throughout their lives.”

Christy joined the Smeal faculty in 1983 as a member of the Department of Management Science and Information Systems, where he served in a variety of roles including chair of the department. Active in several streams of research in production planning and control and strategic decisions in manufacturing organization, Christy chaired a group tasked with developing guidelines for the MBA core curriculum in the 1990s, was a member of the joint business and engineering task force that investigated the feasibility of an inter-college master’s degree in manufacturing, and conducted seminars for executives around the world in the area of manufacturing strategy.

He was named associate dean and director of the undergraduate program in October 2000. One of the major accomplishments during his tenure was the complete renewal of the program in 2002 in response to input solicited from alumni, students, corporate partners, and faculty. Elements of the renewal included new requirements for majors, a stronger focus on international studies, and the enhancement of the business ethics curriculum.

Christy has also served as the co-chair of the college's new building committee. Construction broke ground in October 2003 and will be complete in July 2005.

“I’ve been fortunate to play many roles at Smeal during the past 21 years,” Christy said. “Each has presented its own set of challenges and opportunities, and has prepared me for what lies ahead at Cal Poly. I leave feeling confident that the Smeal undergraduate program with Jack as associate dean will continue to progress in the years ahead.”