Worcester Polytechnic Institute has hired Mark P. Rice as dean of business.
Rice will start this summer, replacing McRae Banks, who has led the department of management for 15 years.
Rice previously spent six years at Babson College as dean of the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business. Before that, he worked for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s School of Management and Technology, with responsibilities including leading an incubator program. In his new position, he will lead the transformation of the department of management to a business school. The program achieved accreditation as a business school under Banks. BusinessWeek recently named its MBA program the best part-time MBA program in the nation.
WPI is creating academic dean positions for the first time, citing a need for leadership created by the university’s growth. Rice is the first of three inaugural academic deans WPI plans to appoint this year. The university is working to hire deans for the engineering and arts and sciences areas.
