Message From The Dean

The theme of this issue, "Looking Forward, Looking Back," aptly describes
the juncture at which The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) School of
Management finds itself as it continues its quest to become one of the
leading public business schools in the nation.

It is fitting that we should take a moment to look back as we mark the
tenth anniversary of Executive Education at UTD. The lead article traces
the development of this important area in the School and includes
reflections of current and former students and faculty as well as the
observations of Dr. David Springate, SOM's associate dean for Executive
Education and founder of our first executive program in 1992.

We recognize these accomplishments as important building blocks that
provide the SOM a firm foundation for current and future objectives. One
of these goals, construction of our new building, is fast being realized.
As the building report in this issue shows, construction of the SOM's new,
204,000-square-foot facility is proceeding on schedule. We are planning to
move into the state-of-the-art quarters - designed to enable us to operate
at the world-class level to which we aspire - next summer.

Our new building would not have been possible without the generous support
of The U.T. System Board of Regents and friends and alumni such as Nancy
and Chuck Davidson, whose impressive successes we feature in this issue
even as we honor them as the recipients of our 2002 Distinguished Alumni
Awards.

The added space of the new building is not the only way in which the SOM
is expanding. To better serve a student body that now totals more than
forty-three hundred, we have added twenty-two new members to our faculty,
all introduced in this issue. New members include several internationally
renowned senior scholars as well as outstanding junior faculty. They are a
welcome addition to the ranks of our already excellent faculty, who
continue to gain national prominence. Last summer, two of our professors,
Dr. Rajiv Banker and Dr. Ted Day, garnered national recognition with
prestigious "best paper" awards. Dr. Banker and his co-authors earned the
American Accounting Association's "Notable Contribution to Management
Accounting Literature Award" for 2002. Dr. Day's co-authored paper won the
prestigious "Fama/DFA Prize" as the best paper on capital markets and
asset pricing published in the Journal of Financial Economics during 2001.
These awards add to the distinction brought to the School by Dr. Yexiao
Xu, who, with his co-authors, won the Smith-Breeden Prize for having the
best paper published in the Journal of Finance during 2001.

Recognitions such as these bring well-deserved attention not only to our
faculty but also to the entire SOM. Our status as a school now fully
accredited by AACSB International - The Association to Advance Collegiate
Schools of Business also opens new opportunities for excellence and
heightened visibility. With achievements such as these, and aided by
crucially important continuing support from our friends and alumni, we are
making significant strides toward our goal to provide the best in
management education, now and in the future.

Best wishes,

Hasan Pirkul

Visit our site on the worldwide web http://som.utdallas.edu