Business dean finalists will address public
Four finalists have emerged in the search for a new dean of the Terry College of Business, according to Arnett C. Mace Jr., chairman of the search committee and dean of the Warnell School of Forest Resources. The candidates, all of whom are business school administrators, will each spend two days on campus over the next six weeks. Mace says the search committee expects to forward its recommendations to Vice President for Academic Affairs William Prokasy and President Michael Adams by Thanksgiving.

During their campus visits, each finalist will deliver a public lecture on the future of business schools and the dean's role in shaping that vision. Each lecture will begin at 10:15 a.m. in the Chapel. The candidates and the dates of their visits are as follows: Oct. 15, P. George Benson, dean of the management faculty at Rutgers University; Oct. 20, Melvyn R. Copen, senior vice president for academic affairs at the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird) in Glendale, Ariz.; Oct. 22, John W. Seybolt, dean of the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah; Nov. 3, Timothy McGuire, dean of the Charles H. Lundquist College of Business at the University of Oregon.

This is the second search for a successor to Albert W. Niemi Jr., who resigned in July 1996 and is now dean of the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University. Accounting professor J. Don Edwards has served as interim dean.

Sanford Hall dedication Oct. 3: The Terry College of Business will dedicate Sanford Hall, the college's new student center and classroom building, Oct. 3 at 10:15 a.m. The $6.7 million building, located between Brooks Hall and Park Hall, was funded by private contributions and opened in time for fall-quarter classes, although workers continue to add final touches and get the facility's instructional technology online.

"Sanford Hall was built for our students, so we have made sure every classroom seat will have a computer hook-up and a connection to the Internet," says interim dean J. Don Edwards. The building also offers 15 classrooms, ranging in size from the 330-seat Bernard B. Ramsey Auditorium to small seminar rooms, a student advising center and the Coca-Cola Company Student Lounge.

The three-story, 38,000-square-foot building is named for the Sanford family, whose affiliation with the university began with Shelton Sanford, an 1835 graduate. Steadman V. Sanford taught English at UGA, founded the journalism school and served as president of the university and chancellor of the university system; the stadium is named after him. His grandson, Charles S. Sanford Jr., a 1958 graduate and retired chairman and C.E.O. of Bankers Trust New York Corp., gave the largest gift for Sanford Hall and will speak at the dedication ceremony. Also giving remarks will be former dean Albert W. Niemi Jr., who initiated the building campaign, UGA President Michael F. Adams and Sanford Hall steering committee chairman Dudley L. Moore Jr.

Journalism college takes on new media: Dedication of the Dowden Center for New Media Studies is scheduled for 11:45 a.m. on Oct. 3 in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. Dean J. Thomas Russell and UGA President Michael F. Adams will be joined by Thomas C. Dowden, whose gift established the center. The public is invited to tour the new facilities, devoted to teaching and research at the intersection of computer and telecommunications technologies.

Business students win $10,000 prize: Three MBA students--Corrine Arata, Anne Cooper and Manish Gupta--won first prize in a computer-programming competition sponsored by Sybase Inc., a major database company. They received their $10,000 prize in Nashville Sept. 7 at Sybase's Users Conference. The students, all members of the MBA-student organization Volunteer Dawgs, developed a database system for the Foundation for Excellence in Education, a non-profit organization located in Athens, using a software development tool developed by Sybase.

Auditors okay accounting procedures: An auditing team has reported to the state board of regents that the accounting procedures used for sponsored research at UGA are "adequate." The same word was used to describe research accounting procedures at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Georgia State University but not the Medical College of Georgia, which was found to have "serious operational inefficiencies." The audit was ordered by Chancellor Stephen Portch following the February indictments of two professors at the medical college for diverting research money to their private control.