I would like to thank the two Chicago GSB dean search committees that had the courage to appoint me as dean and then reappoint me for a second five-year term, as well as Presidents Hanna Gray and Hugo Sonnenschein, who accepted their recommendations. By July 1, 2001, I will have served as your dean for eight years.

I am currently 63 years old and am looking forward to a totally different challenge. I believe strongly that this job now requires a younger person infused with fresh energy to balance the interests of all the Chicago GSB constituents– –faculty, current and prospective students, alumni, the corporate community, media, donors, the university’s central administration, and non-GSB faculty and students at the university– –while adhering to the historical culture and traditions of the GSB that have made us great and world-renowned.

I, therefore, plan to leave the deanship on June 30, 2001. Since nine months is a reasonable time for a new dean to be selected, if the need arises, I will stay until August 31, 2001.

I believe many of my initiatives as dean have been completed– –such as internationalizing the GSB (Barcelona, Singapore, I.M.B.A. degree program); building the foundations for a strong alumni network; paying for Gleacher Center and establishing a conference center there; helping to build up the GSB’s general management, entrepreneurship, and marketing areas; having the honor of my Nobel laureate colleagues Merton Miller, Bob Fogel, and Myron Scholes teaching (or receiving the award) while on my watch; and doggedly adhering to the standards of scholarship historically required for our faculty. Other initiatives that I envisioned for the GSB are either in place or set in motion. These latter initiatives would include having raised at least $111 million in the first 11 months of our five-year, $175 million capital campaign; designing and siting the GSB’s new Hyde Park integrated campus; planning for an M.B.A.-dedicated modern residence hall; funding a permanent entrepreneurship center; establishing nondegree executive education; committing the GSB to be a leading player in distance learning; launching a major marketing initiative; ramping up our diversity program; and enlarging our chaired professorship and scholarship endowments. I am confident these initiatives will be completed even without my continued participation. I also realize that not everything is perfect; much more has to be done.

I have many people to thank, which I shall do privately. But I do believe it is absolutely necessary to thank publicly four faculty members who unselfishly gave up their academic careers while serving the GSB as deputy deans– –Gary Eppen, Robin Hogarth, John Huizinga, and Mark Zmijewski. I would also like to thank Dennis Keller, ’68, who generously accepted my invitation to be my first (and only) chairman of the GSB’s advisory council.