Q & A: Hi-Tech and Danos in Amos Tuck's future

Vermont Business Magazine, Aug 01, 1995 by Andrews, Richard

Ask a business person in southern Vermont to name a good local business school, and the odds are he or she will name the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College. That's no surprise: Tuck, as it is commonly known, has a world-class reputation, and its students frequently work with area businesses and governments to help solve problems and further their educations.

Dr Paul Danos came to Tuck from the University of Michigan, where he was known as a pioneer in distance education, and became Professor of Business Administration and Tuck's ninth Dean on July 1. He begins his tenure at a time when business schools face sharply increased competition for students and resources, raising the possibility of a shake-out among graduate business schools.

Dr Danos believes technology will enable Tuck to expand and reach a larger audience, without compromising quality. Richard Andrews interviewed him for Vermont Business Magazine at the dean's office on July 6.

VBM: What was your last job?

DANOS: I was at the University of Michigan for 21 years. I got my PhD at the University of Texas in Austin. I started at Michigan as an assistant professor, and worked through all the ranks.

I was the Arthur Andersen Professor of Financial Accounting at the end of my stay at Michigan, and I was also the Senior Associate Dean, in charge of a lot of the operational aspects of the program. I was in charge of all the degree programs, in charge of all of faculty matters, in charge of the international programs, and most of the academic staff and faculty reported to me.

VBM: For those of us who are not academics, just what is a dean, and what does he do?

DANOS: A dean is the chief executive officer of an academic unit, such as a business school; basically has responsibility for student affairs, finance, faculty appointments and public relations. It's comparable to a chief executive officer and the chairman of the board combined. Of course, you report to a provost and a president. The president is the chief executive officer of the whole institution, and the provost is the chief operating officer.

VBM: Do you have a major voice in setting the school's direction?

DANOS: Yes. Usually the dean is a member of the faculty, a full professor, so he has the voice of a faculty member. But he also has authority and responsibility for direction, for raising resources, making decisions about all the operating aspects of the school.

Of course, there are faculty committees and other governance procedures, especially for faculty appointments and faculty matters decided by votes or consensus of the faculty.

So the faculty has its prerogatives, and the dean is the chairman in those decisions. But in other aspects, the dean operates as a chief executive officer.

VBM: What interests do you have to reconcile?

DANOS: There are four primary constituent groups.

The students, of course, are the most important. All of this is set up to add value to their careers.

Then there are the people that hire our students -- a very important constituency - the business world. This is a professional school. Over 95 percent of our students go directly into corporations.

There are the alumni, who want their investment in the school to have more and more value.

And then there's the faculty. They are pan of the school, but they also are developing their careers and developing their research reputations.

And there are even other, more general aspects. For instance, the prime beneficiary of our research is business practice. So society in general benefits from research.

VBM: Why did you want to be dean at Tuck?

DANOS: Well, I'm in management of academic institutions. I really like the deaning I've done. I have been chair of a big department, and I've done almost every type of job in academics, from supervising PhD students to teaching core classes. But I really like administering academic programs and units such as business schools. It's fun, and it's challenging, because it has all the elements of academics -- research, traditions, teaching -- but it also is a competitive business. We compete with other major business schools for the best students, the best faculty and the best relationships with the business community.

I enjoy the strategy and the competition that's inherent. I don't think that's always been the case. Business schools have gotten much more competitive in the last 10 years.

VBM: Why Tuck rather than someplace else?

DANOS: Well, Tuck is unique. Tuck is the smallest scale of the major schools. Tuck is the most intimate, has the most personal kind of pedagogical style. And, of course, it has this beautiful setting and wonderful facilities, resources, and history.

Tuck has excelled in a personal, high-quality style of management education, where every student is considered to be an individual, where everyone Knows everyone else, where the living conditions and the faculty access are unsurpassed.

At the same time, it's a top-scale school. It's right at the top of the heap in terms of reputation among industry and students.