After fostering almost a decade of innovative educational, research and business initiatives at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management, Robert J. Swieringa, the Anne and Elmer Lindseth Dean, will step down at the end of his second five-year term on June 30, 2007. He will return to the Johnson School as an active member of the accounting faculty after a sabbatical leave.

"During his tenure as dean, Bob Swieringa has taken the Johnson School into the top ranks of American graduate schools of management through innovations in the curriculum, a strong commitment to diversity, and initiatives that capitalize on the strengths of the larger university," said Cornell President Hunter Rawlings. "Thanks to his vision and leadership, the Johnson School is known the world over for distinctive programs of the highest quality."

Cornell Provost Carolyn A. "Biddy" Martin also emphasized Swieringa's success in making the Johnson School one of the most responsive of its kind to students' needs in a quickly changing national and international environment. "In addition to his contributions to the school's successes," Martin said, "Bob has been a generous and significant contributor to the university more broadly, serving on numerous important committees. His input into the university's workforce planning efforts was invaluable. During his tenure, the Johnson School has enhanced its research and teaching quality and has attracted more women and underrepresented minorities."

Swieringa assumed the Johnson School's deanship in July 1997 as the school was preparing to move into the renovated, historic Sage Hall. During his tenure, the Johnson School launched a variety of innovative strategic initiatives, which significantly raised its stature and enabled it to gain a solid place among the world's top-tier business schools. Recently, the school created an aggressive five-year plan that will continue to guide it through 2009.

"My years as dean have been both an honor and a pleasure," said Swieringa. "I have had the good fortune to work with an extremely capable and committed group of faculty, students, alumni and friends. Together, we have created an outstanding program for teaching and research that is closely tied to needs of the global business world."

During Swieringa's first term, the school launched several "performance learning" experiences: the Roy H. Park Leadership Fellows Program, designed to attract top MBA talent to the school; the Jeffrey P. Parker Center for Investment Research; the student-run Cayuga MBA Fund LLC, a market-neutral hedge fund that gives future MBAs hands-on portfolio management experience; and BR Ventures, a student-managed venture capital fund. The core curriculum was transformed to provide a more natural flow of integrated material and to emphasize teamwork and interpersonal skills. Immersion learning was expanded to capitalize on the school's intense collaborative community and provide "performance learning" experiences in five disciplinary areas.

Swieringa was also instrumental in establishing what is now the Johnson School Office of Diversity and Inclusion. The office's "pipeline initiatives," aimed at raising awareness of business-career opportunities among underrepresented minorities, include programs to introduce pre-college students to careers in business and recruit high-talent students and faculty.

During Swieringa's second term, the Samuel C. Johnson Professorship in Sustainable Global Enterprise and, later, the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise were created to prepare students to lead ethical, equitable and economically and environmentally sustainable enterprises. A pilot program in the business of science and technology, a Program for International Education and two new executive MBA programs -- the Cornell Executive MBA and the innovative Boardroom Executive MBA Program, in partnership with Queen's University School of Business in Kingston, Ontario -- also were launched.

In the past nine years, the school faculty has grown by nearly 30 percent; seven new faculty members will join the school later this year. Faculty recruiting has emphasized not only strength in the traditional functional areas, but also in the cross-functional streams of leadership, entrepreneurship, technology and globalization.

Prior to becoming dean in 1997, Swieringa, an expert in corporate financial reporting, taught at the Stanford Business School, the Johnson School and the Yale School of Management. From 1986 to 1996, he was a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the key accounting standard-setting organization in the United States. The past chair of the board of the Graduate Management Admissions Council, Swieringa also has been actively involved with the American Accounting Association and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. He also is a member of the board of General Electric.

Swieringa has received awards and honors in recognition of his teaching and scholarly and professional work. He is the author or co-author of four books and more than 60 articles in academic journals. He received his Ph.D. in 1969 from the University of Illinois.