Appointment of Dr. Arun Upneja as Dean of the School of Hospitality Administration
From Dr. Jean Morrison, University Provost and Chief Academic Officer
This past fall, we commenced a national-level search for a new Dean of BU’s School of Hospitality Administration (SHA). We sought candidates who would bring the dynamic leadership, experience, commitment to excellence and vision essential for charting the future of SHA. After a rigorous and competitive search process that considered several strong candidates, I am delighted to announce that Dr. Arun Upneja will be joining Boston University as Dean of the School of Hospitality Administration.
Dr. Upneja comes to us from The Pennsylvania State University, where he is Professor of Hospitality Financial Management and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the Schreyer Honors College – a position that includes oversight for more than 200 honors courses and academic advising and career development for 1,800 honors students. Dr. Upneja has spent his career as both a practitioner and teacher of hospitality administration. He earned his B.S. in Hotel & Restaurant Management, his M.B.A., and his Ph.D. in Accounting from the University of Houston. He also holds a B.A. in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Jammu in India. Following six years of hotel management with Mumbai-based Indian Hotels Company Limited, Dr. Upneja has spent the last 15 years sharing and building on that knowledge at Penn State, where he has established new interactive honors programming for faculty and students and won numerous awards for his research, including the John Wiley & Sons Lifetime Research Achievement Award (2007) from the Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education. Through extensive conversations with him about his vision and ambitions for the School of Hospitality Administration, it became clear that Dr. Upneja’s scholarly credentials, passion for the industry and exceptional leadership experience are an ideal match for our needs at SHA.
Dr. Upneja’s official start date at Boston University will be July 1, 2013. I hope that you will join me in formally welcoming him to the BU community in the months ahead. In the intervening months, we are grateful that Dean Gloria Waters of the College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (Sargent College), who served as a member of the SHA Dean Search Advisory Committee, has agreed to serve as dean ad-interim of SHA from January 1 – June 30, 2013. Dean Waters will work closely with Dr. Upneja during the transition. My office will provide full support to both Dr. Upneja and ad-interim Dean Waters to ensure a smooth transition in leadership.
I want to express my gratitude to the members of the SHA Dean Search Advisory Committee whose considerable efforts within an aggressive timeframe were vital to the success of the search. As we prepare for spring term and Dr. Upneja’s arrival in the summer, I would also like to thank you for your assistance throughout this process and for your work ensuring continued excellence within the School of Hospitality Administration.
Appointment of Dr. Arun Upneja as Dean of the School of Hospitality Administration – 12.21.12