$2 Million Gift Supports UM School of Business Faculty Recruitment

Endowed Chair and Other Appointments Underscore School’s Commitment to Research Excellence

Coral Gables, Fla. – Oct. 2, 2008 – The University of Miami School of Business Administration has announced eight new faculty appointments including a new chaired professorship. Robert Meyer joins the School as the Warren Johnson Chair, professor of marketing, after 18 years at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Meyer will continue to serve as co-director of the Risk Management and Decision Processes Center at Wharton, where he was also the Gayfryd Steinberg Professor and professor of marketing. The new endowed professorship held by Meyer will be funded through a $2 million estate gift provided by the late Warren Johnson, who earned his BBA from the School of Business in 1950.

Also joining the School as full professors are Dhananjay Nanda and Andrew Leone, both professors of accounting. Nanda joins the School after six years at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, where he was an associate professor of accounting. Leone comes to UM from Penn State’s Smeal College of Business where he was an associate professor of accounting since 2005.

“These individuals are recognized as among the best researchers and teachers in their fields and we are delighted that they have decided to join the UM School of Business,” said Barbara Kahn, dean of the University of Miami School of Business Administration. “Endowed chairs, such as the one established through the Warren gift, are critical to our efforts to attract standout faculty and join the ranks of the world’s top research institutions.”

Meyer, who earned his PhD from the University of Iowa, is an internationally recognized expert in consumer decision analysis, decision making under uncertainty, natural hazard perception and response, dynamic decision making, and behavioral game theory. Nanda, who has his PhD from the University of Rochester, specializes in the use of accounting information in resolving incentive problems in organizations; corporate governance and board structure; and earnings management. And Leone, who earned his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh, focuses on economics-based empirical research on the interplay between management incentives, accounting choice, and capital markets, as well as research involving healthcare organizations.

The School also announced the appointments of Scott Hoover, visiting associate professor in finance; Chris Cotton, assistant professor of economics, Marie Dasborough, assistant professor of management; Juliano Laran, assistant professor of marketing; and Sammi Tang, assistant professor of management.

Hoover, who earned his PhD from Indiana University, is the Lawrence Term Associate Professor at Washington and Lee University where he has been on the faculty since 2000. Cotton, whose research focuses primarily on political economics and applied game theory, joins the school after earning his PhD from Cornell University. Dasborough, who earned her PhD from Australia’s University of Queensland, was most recently an assistant professor of management at Oklahoma State University since 2005. Laran, whose research interests include the cognitive properties of goals, self-regulation and associative learning, comes to UM after earning his PhD from the University of Florida. And Tang, whose research areas include supply chain management and the economics of operational processes, joins the School after earning her PhD from Washington University’s Olin Business School.

About the School of Business Administration
The University of Miami School of Business is a leading business school, offering undergraduate business, full-time MBA, Executive MBA, MS, PhD and non-degree executive education programs. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Miami, the School is located in a major hub of international trade and commerce and acclaimed for the global orientation and diversity of its faculty, students and curriculum. The School delivers its programs at its main campus in Coral Gables as well as at locations across Florida and abroad. More information about the University of Miami School of Business can be found at www.bus.miami.edu.