RIT College of Business Dean in Transition

Thomas Hopkins, dean of the College of Business at Rochester Institute of Technology will step aside from his post on June 30, 2006—upon completion of eight years as dean.

In September 2007, Hopkins will resume his role as professor of economics on the faculty of RIT’s College of Liberal Arts, where he taught from 1988 to 1998.

The past year has been a season of highlights for Dean Hopkins, who has presided over the successful reaffirmation of RIT’s College of Business accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (which now extends through 2011), and was instrumental in launching new initiatives such as the Fast-Track MBA to be completed by full-time students in one year, and a 15-month Executive MBA degree program whose classes meet on alternate weekends.

Stanley McKenzie, RIT provost, and vice president for Academic Affairs, has established a search committee to recruit the next College of Business dean, who will effectively take office on July 1, 2006.

“Replacing Tom Hopkins is going to be an awesome task,” McKenzie says. “His integrity and ethics are unparalleled, and he has brought acclaim to RIT from his national reputation as a cost analyst of regulatory initiatives. In addition to his administrative talents, I will be losing a valued friend and colleague among the deans.”

A noted economist on government regulation of business, Hopkins has participated in studies such as the Exxon Valdez oil spill and has testified on economic issues before committees of the U.S. Senate and House, and of Canada’s House of Commons. Familiar with the Washington scene, Hopkins also served in the Executive Office of the President during the Ford, Carter and Reagan Administrations.

“I'm ready for a change and after taking a 12-month sabbatical leave, I look forward to resuming what I most enjoy—teaching economics and scholarship in regulatory policy and benefit-cost analysis," Hopkins explains. “I'm not leaving RIT; I'm just returning to the classroom after completing a most satisfying term as dean.”

NOTE: RIT’s College of Business is recognized nationally as a leading provider of career-oriented business education, offering undergraduate and graduate level programs in accounting, finance, international business, management, management information systems, marketing, and graphic media marketing. U.S. News & World Report ranks RIT’s College of Business among the top 4 percent of undergraduate business programs in the country.