Marketing specialist Eugene “Gene” W. Anderson, senior associate dean for academic affairs and professor of marketing at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, has been named dean of the University of Miami School of Business Administration. Anderson will assume his role at the University on August 1, bringing with him a wealth of academic and administrative experience spanning more than 20 years at Michigan. Frances Aldrich Sevilla-Sacasa will continue to serve as interim dean until his arrival.

“Through his scholarship, teaching, and administrative experience, Gene Anderson leads by example,” said University of Miami Provost Thomas J. LeBlanc. “His interdisciplinary, institutional, corporate, and global outreach experiences at the Ross School are the ideal preparation for the next leader of our School of Business Administration, as we continue to create closer ties among our schools and colleges, with the Miami business community, and with the global business community.”

In addition to his academic leadership, Anderson has served in key administrative roles at the Ross School of Business, including founding academic director in 2000 for the school’s Executive MBA Program, a role in which he led the design, development, and launch of the program.

As associate dean for degree programs, Anderson successfully led the revision of the core curriculum of the full-time MBA program, working with faculty across all areas of the school to create and implement a more effective design for the first year. He also led the globalization of the school’s flagship field project course. In 2009 he was tasked as the school’s first academic director for action-based learning, partnering with more than 100 corporations, startups, and non-governmental organizations with an emphasis on projects focused on growth, innovation, sustainability, and social enterprise.

Anderson has worked extensively with various units across the University of Michigan to enhance the students’ college experience. His approach was evident when he was given responsibility for the Non-Profit Management Center, a collaborative venture among the Ross School, the School of Social Work, and the Ford School of Public Policy. In addition to working with the center to hire a new director and develop a new programmatic strategy, Anderson also initiated new activities that would bring together students from the three schools to work with nonprofit organizations throughout the United States. He also oversees the school’s 24 dual-degree or joint-degree options with other units.

Anderson was part of the team that created three new degree programs: MBA/MS of Higher Education, MBA/MM of Music, and MBA/MPH of Public Health. Anderson also spearheaded the creation of a student-initiated dual degree program, which allows MBA students to create their own dual degree. In the summer of 2010 he piloted a cross-disciplinary field project course for teams of business, arts and sciences, and engineering students. Most recently, he facilitated the development of a new Master’s of Entrepreneurship Degree, a joint venture between the Ross School and Michigan’s College of Engineering.

“Today’s students are looking beyond traditional careers, and Gene Anderson is an expert in applying business education principles to connect the dots between disciplines and industries,” said UM President Donna E. Shalala. “He will be able to quickly build on the School of Business Administration’s strengths and global profile and, working with our excellent faculty, take it to the next level.”

Anderson received his doctorate degree from the University of Chicago, and his master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, all in business administration.

“I’m deeply honored to be named the next dean of the School of Business Administration. It’s exciting to be joining a school with such remarkable talent in its student body, staff, and faculty,” Anderson said. “The school is widely recognized as one that is going places, and I really look forward to continuing that great momentum. I believe the opportunities for the school going forward are tremendous. It is well positioned to become the business school best integrated with its home university, best engaged with business and society, and best connected with international business—especially the fast-growing markets of Latin America.”

Anderson’s academic research on customer satisfaction has been published extensively in academic marketing journals, including the Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, Journal of Service Research, Management Science and the Journal of Consumer Research, among others. He has served as an area editor at both the Journal of Consumer Research and Marketing Science. He won the Marketing Science Institute/Journal of Marketing Competition on Linking Marketing to Financial Performance and is a recipient of the FedEx Excellence in Service Research Award, the Andy Andrews Distinguished Service Award, and the Victor L. Bernard Faculty Teaching Leadership Award.