Equity Analyst Expert Named Dean of UIC College of Business Administration

Michael B. Mikhail, the KPMG Professor and director of the School of Accountancy at Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business, has been appointed dean of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Business Administration. The appointment is subject to approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees at its July meeting.

Mikhail has published widely on forecast accuracy and factors affecting security analysts’ performance.

“Professor Mikhail is a proven leader with outstanding academic credentials, and I am delighted that he is coming to UIC,” said Lon Kaufman, UIC provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. “We look forward to his leadership as dean of the College of Business Administration.”

Mikhail served as director of the ASU School of Accountancy from 2008 to present. Under his leadership, the school restructured the freshman experience to increase retention and student success by introducing a mandatory course in leadership, ethics, accountability and professionalism. Freshmen participating in the LEAP program had a first year retention rate that significantly exceeded average business student retention and the university’s overall rate. The program was awarded the 2010 Huizingh Award for Classroom Innovation.

“I am honored and thrilled to be joining the exceptional faculty, staff and students of the College of Business Administration of the University of Illinois at Chicago,” Mikhail said. “I eagerly look forward to playing a part in the university’s bright future.”

Mikhail was honored at ASU as a Dean’s Council of 100 Distinguished Scholar. In addition to his role as director of the accountancy school, he taught an accounting Ph.D. seminar in capital markets research and courses in financial accounting and taxes and business strategy. He helped significantly enhance undergraduate programs for high-achieving students by increasing the number of honors sections and by developing the Accounting Scholars Program, an integrated five-year bachelors/masters degree program designed for students pursuing careers in public accounting.

He joined the ASU faculty in 2006 after six years at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business as assistant and associate professor and three years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management, where he was named the Theodore T. Miller Career Development Assistant Professor.

Mikhail received his undergraduate degree in computer science and master’s degree in accounting at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He earned his MBA in accounting and finance and his doctoral degree in accounting from the University of Chicago. He is the author or co-author of many articles on accounting and finance.

Mikhail will succeed Michael A. Pagano, dean of the UIC College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, who also served as interim dean of the College of Business Administration for the past two years. Under Pagano, the college completed and moved into its new home in the renovated Douglas Hall, featuring state-of-the-art learning technology and LEED Gold certification for sustainability.

“I thank Dean Pagano for his outstanding service to UIC and the College of Business Administration,” Kaufman said.

The UIC College of Business Administration is a research-based institution located in the heart of Chicago that cultivates a spirit of entrepreneurship through real-world experience. The college is home to more than 2,000 undergraduates and more than 600 students in the Liautaud Graduate School of Business. The college is also home to prominent centers for learning that contribute to the education of students and success of the global business community.

[Photo of Mikhail at newsphoto.lib.uic.edu/v/mikhail/.]