The University of Maryland last week announced that G 'Anand' Anandalingam, 54, currently senior associate dean and Ralph J Tyser Professor of Management Science at the Robert H Smith School of Business, has been appointed dean of the school beginning July 1.

Nariman Farvardin, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Maryland, who made the announcement at the conclusion of a national search, said, "Anandalingam, who will succeed Howard Frank, takes over the Smith School at a time when strong leadership and vision are needed to implement the university's bold new strategic plan, which charts a course for Maryland to be one of the world's best universities within 10 years."

He predicted that Anandalingam's "expertise in the vital area of electronic markets, his experience forming global partnerships, and his teaching excellence will help lead the Smith School to further success in producing graduates who contribute to the state and the nation and who are globally competitive."

The school has been ranked among the Top 25 business schools in the country and in the Top 10 for its cutting-edge research.

The England-born, Cambridge-educated, raised in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Bengaluru and New Delhi man Anandalingam said, "I am very honored to be appointed to this role and look forward to working with everyone in the school and across the campus."

He said, "I've had the pleasure of taking part in the Smith School's rise for the past seven years and I am excited to continue the progress. As we go forward, I could not be more committed to utilizing our resources, location and remarkable thought leadership to develop strong global business leaders for sustainable innovation."

Frank, who oversaw an aggressive fundraising campaign and rapid expansion of the school putting together an internationally renowned faculty and emphasizing on leadership in entrepreneurship and technology, said, "I am thrilled that the Smith School will be led by Anand, a visionary and dynamic leader with a strong foundation in academia." 

He said, "I've worked with Anand for many years, when he was a faculty member and very closely in his current role as senior associate dean, and I have complete confidence in his abilities to continue the school's upward momentum."

In an interview with Rediff India Abroad, Anandalingam acknowledged that his top priorities would be to continue the aggressive fundraising of his predecessor to boost the school's endowment and try to double it to $100 million and expand its global focus and presence and attract even more high-profile and renowned faculty, not to mention recruiting top quality graduate students from across the nation and internationally.

"We have to do fundraising for both programs and endowments," he acknowledged, and noted, "We have a lot of well-placed alumni on Wall Street and other places, so that will be a high priority for sure."

Anandalingam said besides the income from endowments providing "a stable source of funds, it also helps to attract top-ranked faculty. We need to give them endowed chairs and things like that. So that's my hope."

"Another high priority is going to be really to expand our globalisation," he added, and pointed out that "we are already in China and India and also in Europe."

Anandalingam came to the US in 1975 to do his PhD at Harvard University, after receiving both his BA and MA in electrical sciences from Cambridge University, England.

After his PhD, he taught at the University of Virginia briefly and then at the University of Pennsylvania for 15 years where he was the National Center Professor of Resource and Technology Management with appointments in Systems Engineering at its Wharton School.

Anandalingam joined the University of Maryland in 2001 and before taking over as senior associate dean, was chair of Smith's decision, operations and information technologies department.