Manhattan College dean of business set to leave

The dean of Manhattan College’s O’Malley School of Business has announced he is stepping down at the end of the spring semester.

Donald Gibson served as the dean of the O’Malley School of Business and a professor of management and marketing at Manhattan College for six years.

“Don’s contributions to the O’Malley School of Business during the past six years have been plentiful and significant,” interim provost Rani Roy wrote in a statement released by the school.

The statement also read that Gibson would be leaving Manhattan College to return to his home state of California and resume his career as the dean of the School of Economics and Business Administration at Saint Mary’s College of California.

During his tenure Gibson assisted in the redesign of the school’s MBA program, creating career-targeted concentrations and launching a revised online MBA program. Part of his work with the MBA program also included adding new minors such as real estate, sports management, and an insurance and risk management concentration.

His work supported the creation of the Thieke Student Fellowship, which was created specifically for students performing research in economics and finance. The goal of the fellowship is “to enable undergraduate students with high potential to develop their intellectual abilities, gain valuable insights into the research process, and to prepare them for success in potential graduate students and in their careers.”

In 2022, four student projects were funded by the fellowship, including one by student Kelly Cwik, an economics major, on the topic of the impact of environmental, social, and governance disclosures on investment decisions.

“The Thieke fellowship has provided me with an incredible hands-on experience to learn about the process of conducting research,” she said. “Through this fellowship, I was given the opportunity to examine a topic I am passionate about and want to explore further. I have enhanced my analytical and critical thinking skills throughout my time as a fellow.”

Prior to working with Manhattan College, Gibson was the vice provost for academic affairs and dean of the Dolan School of Business at Fairfield University. He has conducted research that has been published in multiple scholarly journals. Gibson’s research focused on emotions, specifically anger in the workplace, mentoring and role models, and conflict management.

Gibson was also responsible for the launch of the Entrepreneurship Center which “intended to serve as an intellectual and collaborative hub for the College’s extensive entrepreneurship initiatives.”

“This is an incredibly important opportunity for any student who wants to turn their entrepreneurial dreams into reality,” Gibson said about the center. “This center will create an ecosystem for student entrepreneurs and allow their projects to flourish. We eagerly anticipate all the innovative business plans and compelling ideas that will be generated in this exciting new space.”

The center was created in partnership with the annual Innovation Challenge. The challenge helps to establish student startups by offering a reward of over $10,000 in prize money.

Last year’s first-place winner for the Innovation Challenge was a group of students — Dylan Davis, Sabrina Scalzo, John Polifroni, and Lydia Gialluca — who won a total of $6,000 for their creation of a toy entitled NumberHop, which caters to individuals with Down Syndrome.

Entrepreneurs at Manhattan College, nicknamed E@MC, was another project produced with the help of Gibson. The program is intended to give students a head start into tangible businesses. It mixes academia and encouragement to help foster student entrepreneurs and their ideas.

Gibson will finish out the spring semester before leaving. A replacement has not been announced.