University administrators announced Monday that Douglas Breeden, dean of the Fuqua School of Business, will resign effective June 30, 2007.
Breeden has led the school since 2001. He will resume teaching and researching after he steps down, retaining his appointment as the William W. Priest Professor of Finance at Fuqua.
Breeden said in a statement that although he enjoyed his time as dean, this was the right time for him to step down.
"My major goal during the past year has been raising funds for our new classroom building and library. I am now confident that we will have the building under construction in the near future, well before I step down as dean," Breeden said. "We have also just completed our new strategic plan, and while I will move forward with implementing the plan between now and 2007, I feel like it is a natural time to pass the baton to a new dean."
He leaves his post with several years left in his contract. He was reappointed as Dean for a second five-year term in February 2005.
During his tenure, he oversaw increases in both faculty and students at the school He also created several research centers, including the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship and the Fuqua/Coach K Center of Leadership and Ethics.
Breeden also was forced to close the chool's Frankfurt, Germany campus in 2002 because of a lack of interest among European students. In 2003, however, the school partnered with Frankfurt University's School of Business and created a dual degree with the school in 2004.
Despite these achievements, Fuqua fell out of the top 10, slipping from seventh to 11th, in the 2005 U.S. News and World Report Business School Rankings. The school did not improve in the 2006 rankings.
A search committee has been created to find a successor. It is chaired by Christine Moorman, the T. Austin Finch, Sr. Professor of Marketing at Fuqua.
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