Unification complete under the Gabelli School name
Announcements | Feb 25, 2015 | Nicole Gesualdo
Today, February 25, the University announced the official unification of the undergraduate and graduate business schools under one name: The entire institution is now the Gabelli School of Business. Dean Donna Rapaccioli is the leader of the unified institution. Below is the Provost’s message.
Congratulations to all of our students, alumni, faculty and administrators!
Dear Members of the Fordham University Community,
Father McShane and I are very pleased to announce the appointment of Donna M. Rapaccioli, Ph.D., as dean of Fordham’s unified undergraduate and graduate business programs. The new school will be named the Gabelli School of Business and will be housed across two campuses: in Hughes Hall on the Rose Hill campus and at Lincoln Center, in the former Law School building and at 45 Columbus Avenue.
Dr. Rapaccioli has served as dean of the undergraduate school since 2007 and as interim dean of the Graduate School of Business since July 2014. Working closely with Fordham’s business faculty, she will advance the Gabelli School of Business as a world-class center of research and teaching. She is an articulate advocate for Fordham’s Jesuit mission and values, and is committed to fostering the development of business leaders who are dedicated to making a difference in the world, and equipped to meet the demands of a changing global environment.
Dr. Rapaccioli earned her bachelor’s degree from Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business and her master’s and Ph.D. in accounting from New York University’s Stern School of Business. She joined the Fordham faculty in 1987 and was appointed to a tenured position in 1993. She has held academic and administrative positions of increasing responsibility since, including her appointment as University Professor in 2010. Under her leadership, the Gabelli School’s research centers have strengthened the culture of faculty and student scholarship, pedagogical innovation, and student professional development. She has engaged Fordham’s worldwide network of talented business alumni, expanded key partnerships with the academic, corporate, and philanthropic communities, and increased support for programmatic initiatives, endowed chairs, and state-of-the-art facilities.
Over the past year, Dr. Rapaccioli has headed the unification process and overseen the development of a rigorous and distinctive business curriculum, including a new Ph.D. program, generously funded by Mario J. Gabelli, GSB ’65, Regina Pitaro, FCRH ’76, and the Gabelli Family Foundation.
We are profoundly grateful to Mario Gabelli, Regina Pitaro, and the Gabelli Family Foundation for their generous support of business education at Fordham University. Mario Gabelli’s historic gift to the University in 2010, and his continuing support and commitment to the Gabelli School of Business, has helped position Fordham as a global leader in business education for the new millennium.
Please join us in wishing continued success to Dr. Rapaccioli and the faculty, students, staff, and alumni of the Gabelli School of Business.
Stephen Freedman, Ph.D., Provost
Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
