W. Frank Barton School of Business Dean Anand Desai has announced plans to retire from Wichita State University on Aug. 17, 2019. This date marks 25 years of service in higher education in the Kansas Board of Regents System. Desai has been dean since 2015. Prior to becoming dean, Desai was associate dean and associate professor in the College of Business Administration at Kansas State University.

Provost Rick Muma will work with the college faculty and staff to conduct a national search so that the next dean is in place prior to his departure. Shirley Lefever, dean of the College of Applied Studies, will chair the search.

"Dean Desai has made a tremendous amount of progress in the Business School by growing enrollment, launching several new academic programs, and most importantly, raising nearly $30 million for the school's replacement facility known as Woolsey Hall," said Muma. "Anand has been a great colleague and he will be missed. We wish him well in the next chapter of his life."

"I am most proud of my service at Wichita State,” says Desai. “Working together with business school faculty and staff and academic leaders across campus, we have made progress in the following key areas:

• Launching the Professional Edge program for business students, a career development program supported by Meritrust Credit Union at no cost to students.
• Launching several new academic programs in supply chain management, human resource management, and data analytics.
• Successfully securing private funding for the Institute for the Study of Economic Growth and the new Barton School facility.
  
  "I am proud to be associated with Wichita State University and will reflect fondly on my time here," said Desai.

The mission of Wichita State University is to be an essential educational, cultural and economic driver for Kansas and the greater public good. Wichita State is a doctoral research university enrolling nearly 15,000 students and offering 59 undergraduate degree programs in more than 150 areas of study in seven undergraduate colleges. The Graduate School offers 45 master's and 12 doctoral degrees that offer study in more than 100 areas. Wichita State's Innovation Campus is an interconnected community of partnership buildings, laboratories and mixed-use areas where students, faculty, staff, entrepreneurs and businesses have access to the university's vast resources and technology. For more information, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/wichitastate and Facebook at www.facebook.com/wichita.state.