Fairfield University's Dolan School of Business appoints two professors to endowed chairs

Fairfield University's Dolan School of Business appoints two professors to endowed chairs

Image: Lucy Katz The Charles F. Dolan School of Business at Fairfield University has announced the creation of a fourth endowed chair in the Dolan School, to which it has named Lucy Katz, J.D., professor of business law management. The School also announced that Winston Tellis, Ph.D., assistant professor of Information Systems & Operations Management, has been named to the already-established Stephen and Camille Schramm Chair in Business. Both appointments are effective in September. The other two chairs are the Gerald M. Levin Chair in Finance held, by Dr. Gregory Koutmos and the Rev. Thomas R. Fitzgerald, S.J., Chair in Marketing, held by Dr. Arjun Chaudhuri.

Dr. Katz's chair has a five-year renewable term. The official title of the chair, which is supported by the generous gift of Charles and Helen Dolan in 2000, has not been announced.

The chair is supported by a generous endowment and will enable Dr. Katz to enhance her research on business dispute resolution and women's issues. "I hope it allows me to do more research, but also to work on projects that would enrich the school," Dr. Katz said.

Dr. Katz teaches both undergraduate and MBA courses in the legal and ethical environment of business, negotiation and dispute resolution, human resource law and law, women and work. She joined Fairfield University in 1983 as an assistant professor of business law. She was one of two original co-coordinators of the Women's Studies Program and remains on the coordinating committee for the program. She recently finished a turn as chair of the Department of Management in the Dolan School. In all her work she seeks to highlight the importance of women in business and to promote women's voices on campus and in the classroom. Teaching law to business students, she believes, reinforces their ability to think beyond the "bottom line," to see justice and ethics as vital to business, and to avoid financial scandals such as those currently plaguing the business community.

Her work on dispute resolution allows her to emphasize the opportunities for creative management within the legal system. Recently she has focused on the use of arbitration to resolve business disputes in international commerce, particularly in developing nations. Arbitration is a boon to the economic development of those countries because it encourages outside investors who might be afraid of counting on local court systems to adjudicate a disagreement fairly, Dr. Katz said.

"They want a reliable way to resolve disputes," Dr. Katz said. Her recent writing on the topic revolves around Cuba and Vietnam, both of which she has visited. Dr. Katz parlays her research into class units that she uses for her undergraduate and graduate courses.

"Dr. Katz embodies the excellence that our faculty represents and the dedication each faculty member has to our students," said Norman Solomon, Ph.D., dean of the Dolan School. "We are proud to have her be honored with this Chair."

Dr. Katz holds a bachelor's in Government from Smith College and earned her juris doctor degree from New York University School of Law. She is a member of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business. Before coming to Fairfield she practiced law with Koskoff, Koskoff and Bieder in Bridgeport.

Dr. Katz has contributed to three books and is the author of numerous articles on law appearing in a variety of publications, including The New Republic, the National Law Journal, the Journal of Contemporary Law, the American Business Law Journal, the Journal of Legal Studies Education, the University of Missouri Journal of Dispute Resolution, the Thurgood Marshall Law Review, the Journal of Law and Inequality, and the Gonzaga Law Review. A forthcoming article, in the Willamette Journal of International Dispute Resolution will be published this spring.

"It's just an incredible honor," Dr. Katz said of her appointment. "It's a terrific affirmation of my years of work here."

Image: Winston Tellis Dr. Tellis holds a Bachelor of Commerce in accounting and economics from the University of Bombay in India. He earned a Master of Arts from Fairfield University and a doctorate from Nova Southeastern University. He joined Fairfield University in 1969 working in Fairfield's own Computer Systems department. He worked as technical advisor; director of technology; and director of Undergraduate Programs, Internships and Technology for the Dolan School before taking on a faculty role in the school.

Dr. Tellis served as interim dean of the Dolan School in 2000 following his position as assistant dean from 1997-2000 and in 2000 the Fairfield University Alumni Association honored him with the Distinguished Faculty/Administrator Award.

"I'm very grateful to the Schramm family that their generosity has resulted in this continuing academic endowment that will serve to benefit not just the school's reputation, but will allow the holder of the chair to work even more closely with the students," Dr. Tellis said, noting that the Chair will afford him more resources for that purpose.

Stephen Schramm served Marlin Industrial Division for more than 30 years as general sales manager and vice president. He died in 1988. Camille Schramm loved to paint and decorated their home with examples of her skill. When she was in her twenties, she was part of the Women's Air Corps during World War II. She died in 1997 at age 85. According to their attorney, Mr. Schramm wanted to donate his money to a school that promoted business studies.

"Dr. Tellis has a deep commitment to the Jesuit and Catholic identity that Fairfield represents," Dr. Solomon said. "He is clearly a faculty member whose belief in those tenets impacts our students everyday. He is well deserving of the Schramm Chair."

Dr. Tellis has made it a priority to engage his students in service learning projects in keeping with the University's Jesuit mission. Last semester he co-taught a Technology and Society course that required students to use their technological prowess to help prepare sophomores at Bassick High School in Bridgeport to take the standardized CAPT Test by enabling better distribution of preparation material. The students also installed computers at Prospect House in Bridgeport and taught residents how to use them for word processing and other functions. Students taking a networking course with Dr. Tellis this semester will practice by networking the Prospect House computers. Future classes would help residents in online job searches, which the residents are very interested in learning, Dr. Tellis said.

Dr. Tellis was also instrumental in helping to form Fairfield University's partnership with Universidad CentroAmericana (UCA) in Nicaragua, to which he took a group of students in the Latin American and Caribbean Studies program during spring break. Each of those students will conducted a research study on a topic of interest, such as the phenomenon of Americans purchasing coastal real-estate in Nicaragua, the impact of microfinance on the poor, and the status of women during the Sandinista movement and today.

Dr. Tellis co-founded the Center for Microfinance Advice and Consulting in 2001.

The Center works to help develop self-sustaining business operations in developing countries. He and some colleagues have helped develop self-sustaining businesses in poor rural areas of Haiti and Nicaragua.

"I see my life at this University as a seamless continuation of my normal life," Dr. Tellis said. "I want to make as many people as possible, in this affluent area, aware of the plight of people who don't have a fraction of the resources that we take for granted.

"In addition, I use many of the cases from those countries in my classes. The students thus learn about their own good fortune, and in Ignatian fashion, are called to reflect on what action they should take to redress the misfortune of others," Dr. Tellis said, in reference to St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits.

The Charles F. Dolan School of Business at Fairfield University is a leader in business curriculum innovation. An AACSB International-accredited program, The Dolan School annually serves 1,500 students in its undergraduate and graduate programs, preparing students to advance within their professions and empowering them to become leaders in their fields. In addition to substantial professional business experience, faculty members are recognized nationally and internationally for their scholarship. The School itself is housed in a technology-rich building dedicated to excellence in a business-learning environment - a facility that is among the best in the nation. For more information on the Dolan School of Business program offerings, call (203) 254-4070, or e-mail kcraig@mail.fairfield.edu.

Posted On: 03-17-2005 10:03 AM

Volume: 37 Number: 196