Hugh Courtney to conclude tenure as dean of D’Amore-McKim School of Business

September 5, 2012 – Hugh Courtney is the new Dean of the College of Business Administration.

Hugh Courtney will complete his tenure as dean of the D’Amore-McKim School of Business during the 2016-17 academic year.

James C. Bean, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Northeastern, announced the news in an email to the university community on Monday. He thanked Courtney, who will remain a member of the tenured faculty, for his leadership and contributions to the business school.

“During his years as dean, Hugh applied his expertise in business strategy and strategic decision-making to develop many new programs and initiatives at DMSB,” Bean wrote. “Through Hugh’s leadership, the DMSB offers exceptional undergraduate and graduate programs and cultivates a pioneering entrepreneurial ecosystem for students as they engage in experiential learning and international programs.”

Courtney was appointed dean in January 2012, and he led the business school as the university renamed the school later that year the D’Amore-McKim School of Business—made possible by a $60 million gift from two alumni: Richard D’Amore, BA’76, and Alan McKim, MBA’88. The business school raised approximately $50 million more in the four years that followed.

Under Courtney’s leadership, D’Amore-McKim established itself as a leading provider of online graduate business programs. The school also boasts highly ranked undergraduate programs: the entrepreneurship program was ranked No. 5 in the nation by the Princeton Review and the International Business programs were ranked No. 8 by US News and World Report.

The school’s undergraduate student body has grown by 16 percent, while the number of students participating in co-op has increased by 36 percent—including more global co-ops and co-ops at startups. Under Courtney’s direction, D’Amore-McKim launched the MS in Innovation program in 2014, and is launching new full-time MBA tracks in healthcare and entrepreneurship as well as new programs that include online versions of the MS in Innovation and MS in Business Analytics. The school also became a degree-granting school in the International Partnership of Business Schools, leading to an MS in International Management program.

D’Amore-McKim has led the way in unbundling graduate education at the university level, with 10 new credit-bearing certificate programs that can be “stacked” into master’s degree programs. At the university level, Courtney helped lead the development of Northeastern’s curricular flexibility initiative that has created new pathways for students to more fully explore their diverse interests.

Bean also underscored Courtney’s hiring of outstanding faculty who have “advanced the school with their entrepreneurial and innovative research, teaching, and thought leadership.”

“It is an extraordinary honor and privilege to serve the D’Amore-McKim School and Northeastern University as dean, and I am thankful to all of my colleagues for their support and dedication over the past four years,” Courtney said.

Bean will form a search committee early in the fall to move forward with finding Courtney’s replacement.