MINDING HIS OWN BUSINESS (SCHOOL)

by Doug Harrison

After a 16-year hiatus from UM-St. Louis, Doug Durand has returned to become the dean of the business school where his professional career began over 20 years ago.

"I remember working in the old (Bellerive golf course) clubhouse," Durand said. "It was a real fire hazard. So much so that I kept my (doctoral) dissertation within arm's reach in case I had to leave the building quickly."

Nowadays, he doesn't worry about the business school burning down, but rather about how to make it grow.

"My goal is to build the premiere public university school of business in this region," Durand said. "And that's what we're going to do."

Since he arrived on campus July 1, Durand has been meeting personally with the school's 40 faculty members and other staff to discuss their ideas and goals. Durand considers the faculty one of the school's biggest strengths.

"Many of the faculty here have wonderful ideas," Durand said. "And many of them have said to me that this is the first time anyone has asked them what they thought."

In the coming semesters, the business school will offer one-night-a-week graduate classes and Saturday course offerings, the last school of business in the area to do so.

Durand succeeds Robert Nauss as dean, who left the position earlier this year. The school of business was the youngest school ever to receive full accreditation from the American Association of College Schools of Business in 1973. This semester, Durand expects the school's enrollment to grow by "about seven or eight percent."