Welcome to what undoubtedly will be another exciting academic year. It promises to be a period of unprecedented activity--with new faculty and staff joining as we continue hiring, new members signing on to our Board of Advisors, our strategic planning effort entering a decisive stage, and our new branding platform rolling out.

We are fortunate to have a number of highly talented people join the faculty. Conor Henderson, assistant professor of marketing with a PhD from the University of Washington, studies strategic trade-offs in investments in relationship marketing, customer loyalty, and customer engagement. Nicole Bastian Johnson, assistant professor of accounting earned her PhD from Stanford University and researches managerial incentives and performance measurement. Hong Yuan, associate professor of marketing, earned her PhD at Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. Her research interests include firm pricing and promotion strategies, consumer responses to pricing and promotion strategies, consumer information, and experimental and behavioral economics. Michael McQuaid, instructor of decision sciences holds a PhD from the University of Arizona and focuses on visual analytics, data visualization, visualizing security, and privacy issues.

Additionally, Ryan Wilson, PhD, University of Washington, joins us as associate professor of accounting and has an established reputation in the field of empirical tax research. Frank R. Veltri, EdD, University of Northern Colorado, is an instructor of marketing and studies the economic impact of sports, sport marketing, and sport sponsorship. Tom Durant comes to the college as an instructor in management, has an MBA from the University of Southern California, and teaches global business management, strategic planning, social enterprise, and entrepreneurship. And Jessyca Lewis, instructor of marketing, has an MBA from Northwest Christian University and teaches social media marketing, advertising, and marketing.

Also, we are fortunate to welcome three new members to our Board of Advisors:

• Mark Edlen "75, MBA '76, is internationally recognized for his expertise and success in creating sustainable communities in mixed-use commercial, residential, educational, and retail developments. As CEO of Gerding Edlen, he leads a company that is grounded in a socially responsible approach to real estate investment
• Ross J. Kari "80, MBA '83, recently retired from the position of chief financial officer of Freddie Mac, where he was responsible for the company's financial controls, accounting, investor relations, financial planning and reporting, tax, capital oversight, and compliance, among other duties
• Merritt Richardson leads Nike Golf's efforts to create premium apparel and footwear for modern, athletic golfers around the world. She is responsible for providing strategic guidance and aligning the creative ideas and energy of a team of product managers, designers, and merchandisers against the needs of athletes to drive profitable growth for the business.

As you may know, earlier this year, we retained Songlines Communications to “create a unifying brand story that succinctly, elegantly, and emotionally communicates the Lundquist College of Business's unique identity and differentiates our value proposition from that of our competitors." The brief stipulated that the story should help to answer the question “Why Lundquist?" or “Why Oregon's business school?" relative to all the alternatives. Moreover, it should leverage and blend with the overall University of Oregon brand story and positioning. This summer we carried this effort forward by conducting focus groups around different messages and taglines. Once we make a final selection, the task force will help guide the development of a full marketing communications campaign that we can roll out in 2014.

Finally, a lot of progress has been made on the college's strategic plan. During the summer, I have met with our associate deans, program directors, and many others to codify our strategic direction. This effort will culminate in a number of presentations to the faculty and staff in the fall, with a final presentation to the Board of Advisors on November 15.

As multiple initiatives reach actualization, we invite you to join us for an invigorating academic year at the Lundquist College of Business.

Cordially,

Cornelis A. "Kees" de Kluyver
Dean and James and Shirley Rippey Distinguished Professor