Stillman School of Business Dean Karen Boroff said she has decided to step down from her position mostly because she felt it would be best for the organization of the school.
According to Boroff, the Stillman School of Business was just re-accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business and will come up for re-accreditation again in five years. Boroff said she felt it would be unfair to leave in the middle of the next re-accredidation process.
"I could see myself doing this job for two, maybe three more years," Boroff said. "But could I see myself doing this job for five more years? No."
Boroff added she would not want to have to leave and have her successor come in with only two or three years left to go before the re-accreditation process needed to be completed again.
Boroff also said she enjoyed the idea of making a switch in jobs because of the corporate atmosphere she worked in previous to switching to academe.
"I used to work at AT&T and one of (the business's) policies was to rotate employees every two or three years," Boroff said. According to Boroff, this policy kept the business on its toes and prevented the sort of corruption and cronyism that sometimes develops in governments because employees stay in one position for a very long time.
Boroff said she was appointed acting dean of the school in 2000 suddenly and unexpectedly after the then-dean fell ill.
"It was a little faster than expected…because of the age of my children at the time," Boroff said. "(But) I believe the Lord gives us talents and we have a duty to use them."
The next year, Boroff competed for the position and was appointed dean of the Stillman School of Business. Since she has become dean, U.S News and World Report has named the school among the Top 10 undergraduate business programs at Catholic Colleges and in the Top 100 of all undergraduate business programs ranked, according to Seton Hall's website, (according to Boroff, the school was most recently ranked No. 56 out of 100.) In addition to this year's re-accredidation, the business school was granted a specialty accreditation for accounting.
Boroff said while it was hard to pinpoint what specifically leads to certain accomplishments, she especially enjoyed her tenure as dean because of the level of feedback from students, parents, faculty and administration, which buoyed her throughout her tenure.
"At orientation, we always tell students not to wear clothing from other schools, because now they represent Seton Hall. Does that one thing lead to bigger things?" Boroff said.
"Dean Boroff is a key asset to the Stillman School of Business," junior business student Kerry Magro said. "She exemplifies everything that Stillman believes in regards to integrity and professionalism. She is going to be a hard person to replace considering everything she has put into the business school."
While Boroff is stepping down as dean, she will remain at Seton Hall and return to her original position as a management professor. She will take a year's sabbatical in order to do research in her field as well as in technology and teaching before returning to the classroom.
"I haven't been in the classroom since 1998, so I have to catch up some," Boroff said.
She said one of her main goals would be to be a good ex-dean by helping the new dean in whatever way she can and not criticize him or her.
Boroff said that she truly enjoyed her tenure as dean because "you could take the school wherever you want it to go."
Caitlin Carroll can be reached at caitlin.carroll@student.shu.edu.
