Leadership transition

Dear Quinlan community,

We write to share the news that Kevin Stevens, dean of the Quinlan School of Business, will be stepping down as dean and transitioning to a faculty role on June 30, 2021. Dean Stevens will return to the faculty for the 2021-22 academic year, after which he is planning to retire from the University.

We are grateful that Maciek Nowak, associate dean of faculty and research at Quinlan, has agreed to serve as the interim dean. During his last year at Loyola, Dean Stevens will continue to use his experience to support some important ongoing administrative tasks, including the reaccreditation of Quinlan by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).

We are deeply grateful for Dean Stevens’ leadership since joining Loyola University Chicago in 2015. Under his leadership, Quinlan has deepened its commitment to helping address income inequality, promote social responsibility, and aid social enterprises. In 2019, the Financial Times, a leading global newspaper, recognized Quinlan for its leadership in social purpose.

Other accomplishments during Dean Stevens’s tenure include:

• Hiring several leading ethicists and increasing the diversity of the Quinlan faculty;
• Starting new degree programs, including the successful Next Generation MBA, Baumhart Scholars MBA, and MS in Business Data Analytics;
• Raising more than $15 million for scholarships, capital projects, programs, and other priorities;
• Launching the Loyola Mentors networking and mentorship platform and building the Q Mentorship program into the undergraduate business curriculum;
• Launching the Loyola Business Leadership Hub, which provides the best of academic thought and practical solutions to the business community through seven targeted centers;
• Relaunching the Baumhart Center for Social Enterprise and Responsibility, which is now seen as a leader in critical topics such as responsible business leadership, and diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace;
• Overseeing the grand opening of the Schreiber Center in fall 2015 and welcoming faculty, staff, students, alumni, and the community to the innovative and sustainable home of Quinlan.

During Dean Stevens’s tenure, the rankings of Quinlan have continued to strengthen and Quinlan students have been very successful at domestic and global competitions. Students have brought home top honors from the Teradata Universe data analytics competition for six years in a row and have also placed highly at the international APICS supply chain competition, among others.

Before becoming dean of the Quinlan School of Business, Dean Stevens served DePaul University for more than 25 years. While there, he served as director of the School of Accountancy and Management Information Systems and as the KPMG distinguished professor of accountancy. Dean Stevens earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Loyola University Chicago. He studied at the John Felice Rome Center before obtaining his DBA at the University of Kentucky.

Dean Nowak, a professor of supply chain management, joined Loyola’s faculty in 2008. He has served as the chair of the Information Systems and Supply Chain Management Department and founding director of the MS in Supply Chain Management. He was also a Fulbright Scholar at the Warsaw School of Economics and held visiting faculty positions at Northwestern, Creighton, and University of Tunis – El Manar. Dean Nowak earned his doctorate from Georgia Tech.

A national search for the next Quinlan School of Business dean will begin during the fall 2021 semester.

Please join us in thanking Dean Stevens for his continuing service to Loyola and in welcoming Dean Nowak into his new role.

Sincerely,

Jo Ann Rooney, JD, LLM, EdD
President

Norberto Grzywacz, PhD
Provost and Chief Academic Officer