SMITHFIELD – Northeastern University’s associate dean of education at the D’Amore-McKim School of Business will head approximately an hour south to become dean of Bryant University’s College of Business.
Bryant announced Friday that it has appointed Todd M. Alessandri as the business college’s new dean and he will start his new role with the university on July 22. Alessandri said in a statement Friday he chose Bryant as his next professional stop because the university’s interdisciplinary nature appeals to him.
“Bridging business education with something else. It’s what corporate partners want. They need people who have a big-picture perspective,” Alessandri said.
At Northeastern, Alessandri, Bryant says, coordinated academic programming across its three campuses in Boston, Oakland, Calif., and London. Alessandri oversaw interdisciplinary curriculum development and administration while managing the advising and cooperative education staff, Bryant says, as well as developed strategic plans enhancing undergraduate business programming. Alessandri also developed new strategic initiatives that spanned across Northeastern as well, Bryant says.
Now, Alessandri comes to Bryant at a time when the College of Business moves into the 250,000-square-foot Business Entrepreneurship Leadership Center this fall, the university says. Along with new classrooms and lab spaces, Bryant says the College of Business’ new home will include a makerspace, and labs for data science, digital marketing and artificial intelligence. Alessandri says incorporating big data into the business conversation is “an absolute imperative.”
“The No. 1 concern of corporate partners is finding graduates who understand AI and can help businesses create value with it,” he said. “Educating and preparing students to use AI for productive outcomes by integrating it into the curriculum is an absolute must."
Alessandri also says he wants to help get the word out – nationally and internationally - about the strength of Bryant’s students and how the university prepares them for careers in business.
“I want to see how we can strengthen our student’s digital readiness and want to grow our corporate and alumni relationships across the U.S. and around the globe,” Alessandri said.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
