Unfinished business: Conway to return for second term as dean

One thing about being a dean is that you don't accomplish anything yourself, says Allan Conway: "Your job is to help faculty, students, staff and graduates realize what they can accomplish."

UWindsor provost Leo Groarke announced last week that Dr. Conway has accepted a second term as dean of the Odette School of Business.

"I'm delighted that Dean Conway has accepted another term as dean," Dr. Groarke said. "I am thankful for his wisdom managing the Odette School; for his tireless commitment to students, faculty, and alumni; and for the many initiatives he has undertaken to integrate the university with business interests in Windsor-Essex and internationally. These are valuable assets that Odette and the University of Windsor can build on as we enter a new phase of our development initiated by the university's strategic plan."

Conway highlighted several initiatives from his first term, including bringing together student engagement strategies under the rubric of the Odette experience.

"We have introduced and sponsored a number of co-curricular activities, such as our award-winning chapter of Students in Free Enterprise and the debate programs, which give our students experience in public speaking and have resulted in the creation of high school debating competitions which now attract about 200 participants twice a year," he said.

The faculty established the Odette Careers and Placement Service Office two years ago and is in the process of consolidating student services under a single umbrella. The redesign of the curricula for undergraduate programs as well as the MBA program was a major accomplishment that required a lot of work by a lot of people, said Conway.

In addition, the support of donors enabled substantial upgrades to facilities, including the Michael Zin B.Comm. meeting space; the Odette financial markets lab, which includes Bloomberg and Thomson-Reuters data access; the video-equipped syndicate rooms for analyzing team process and skills; and the MBA Corporate Centre, built to facilitate the newly-structured MBA program.

Even so, Conway said, there is much to be done to continue to build on previous foundations, including for example:

• Completing the "very long process" of accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business;
• Following up on the Centre for Enterprise and Law model to create new joint programs with other faculties;
• Continuing to build on international partnerships.
• "We have had a lot of success attracting international students and establishing an international reputation for our faculty," Conway said. "The challenge is how to handle new relationships in a way that is manageable."

Conway originally came to Windsor from the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary where he was associate dean for MBA and executive programs.