Interim Dean Gets Down to Business

12/01/2014
By Ed Brennen

It’s been quite a year for Assoc. Prof. of Management Scott Latham. His book “ (http://www.uml.edu/News/stories/2014/MasteringStrategy.aspx) Mastering Strategy” came out in March. Over the summer, his research on troubled businesses made him a go-to media expert on the Market Basket standoff. And this fall, he was named interim dean of the Manning School of Business.

For Latham, who grew up in Billerica and earned his MBA from the university, the opportunity to steward the Manning School until July 2015 while a national search is conducted for a new dean is an honor and privilege.

“I love the university, I love the city, so I am truly honored to be doing it,” Latham says over a cup of coffee in his Pasteur Hall office. “We have the best students here at UMass Lowell. They’re incredibly respectful, hard-working and no-nonsense. So to be able to say I’m heading up the Manning School of Business, I’m honored.”

“We are delighted that Scott has accepted our invitation to serve as interim dean,” Provost Ahmed Abdelal said in announcing the appointment, which allows former Dean Kathryn Carter to fully assume her new role as vice provost for graduate and international affairs and strategy. “We are confident that Scott will provide continuity in the effective leadership of the school.”

Latham, who worked internationally in the software industry for 12 years before earning his Ph.D. in business policy and strategy from UMass Amherst, joined the Manning School faculty in 2009. While being dean was never on his radar, the interim position is a chance to “peek behind the curtain” at the administrative side.

It’s also a chance to play a role in the selection of the future dean. With the new $40 million Pulichino Tong Business Building slated to open in spring 2017, and with undergraduate enrollment eclipsing 2,000 students for the first time ever this year, this is a pivotal point in the Manning School’s history.

“The next dean is going to be critical,” says Latham, who is on the search committee. “We need someone who’s going to be a nice fit with our culture and do well by the college.”

Charting a Steady Course

While Latham jokes that he’s “keeping the seat warm,” that’s hardly the case. Besides serving on the building committee and reviewing the strategic plan, he’s helping revise the MBA to allow students more flexibility with regard to electives. He says this will help students tailor their degrees to career aspirations while providing more focus on ethics and sustainability.

He’s also in the midst of hiring six new full-time faculty members, a responsibility he doesn’t take lightly. “We have a student-first culture here, and you have to want to be engaged with the students, you have to want to be in your office with the door open,” says Latham, who stresses a balance of teaching and research. “I like to think of myself as kind of the gatekeeper with regard to that.”

Latham’s student-first approach was front and center at his recent Dean’s Forum, where the crowd spilled out of the auditorium doorways and into the hall. “As much as we’re rising in the ranks as a research institution, you’re the bread and butter, you’re why we’re here,” Latham told students.

And as he helps guide the Manning School for the next nine months, Latham’s strategic business mind sees a new era of possibility.

“In the past we’ve had to fight against the privates in the area. We’ve been that little engine that could, and we’ve done well,” he says. “But now, since the Great Recession, people look at the price tag of those institutions and then they say, ‘Huh, I’m going to go check out that college on the Merrimack.’

“So what has always been a challenge is now an incredible strength. I think that’s true for the university as a whole, but especially for the business school.’’