New business school dean at IU South Bend begins duties on January 1

The Judd Leighton School of Business and Economics at IU South Bend has a new dean — Richard Kolbe — whose duties officially begin on New Year’s Day 2017.

Kolbe most recently served as dean of the Haile/U.S. Bank College of Business at Northern Kentucky University and is a former associate dean for faculty at Kent State University’s College of Business. A marketing professor, Kolbe also chaired Kent State’s marketing department for five years.

Kolbe succeeds Rob Ducoffe, a former member of IU’s Council for Regional Engagement and Economic Development (CREED), who left IU South Bend to become provost and vice chancellor of the University of Wisconsin — Parkside. During the search for Ducoffe’s replacement, current CREED member and accounting professor P.N. Saksena served as Leighton’s interim dean.

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