On June 13, Edward Mathis, Ph.D., relieved Dean Stephen Stumpf of his duties as interim dean of the College of Commerce and Finance.

Dean Mathis will serve the next year aiding the C & F College with various projects and facilitating efforts to find a new permanent dean.

In November of 1966, Mathis came to the University and assumed a full-time faculty position until August 2002 when he retired.

During his 36 years of teaching, Mathis served two times as chairman, first from 1977-1983, and later from 1986-2002.

After retirement, he continued working part-time teaching at various MBA programs within Villanova’s C & F College.

Dr. John Johannes, the vice president of academic affairs, appointed Mathis to be the interim dean while the University continues to look for a full-time dean this year.

In regards to future plans for the C & F College, Mathis has decided to work primarily with “the programs that are in place, and improve them where they can be improved and to help where I can to find a new dean.”

Mathis said that an effort is underway “to complete some projects that were started under Dean Stumpf and follow them to completion – namely, the new Executive MBA classroom in the Villanova Conference Center and the Applied Finance Lab in Bartley Hall.”

The Institute for Research and Advanced Financial Technology (IRAFT), directed by Dr. David Nawrocki and Dr. Michael Pagano, will provide students with all the technology available on a trading floor.

Providing many services to students, the IRAFT is an integral part of a new MBA program being offered in fall 2005, the Master of Science and Finance.

During the 2004-2005 school year, four new centers will be added to the College of Commerce and Finance.

One of these centers, the Center of Responsible Leadership and Governance, headed by Dr. Jonathon Doh, will be hosting a prestigious conference in October that will be attended by high level executives of 30-50 various corporations.

Keynote speakers include retired Marine Corps General Anthony Zinnia and Jack Brennan, CEO of the Vanguard Mutual Fund Group.

With hopes of being fully staffed and operational this year, the Center of Marketing and Public Policy is being developed under Dr. Raymond Taylor and Dr. John Kozup.

The College has just received approval for the Center for Church Management, which Dr. Charles Zech will monitor.

Mathis said there will be a new internship program beginning in the summer of 2005 in Madrid, Spain, with Dr. Kenneth Taylor.

“The most important work we will be doing this year will be finding a new dean and staying on top of our undergraduate and graduate work while we are doing so,” Mathis said.

He plans to return to part-time teaching when he completes his work as interim dean.

Mathis obtained a bachelor’s degree from Iona College in economics in 1963, a master’s degree in 1966, and a Ph.D. from the State University of N.Y. at Buffalo in 1971.

Mathis is particularly interested in forensic economics and state and local government finance.

He has written essays for several publications

The dean before Mathis and Stumpf was Dean Thomas Monahan. He retained the position of dean for seven years before retiring.