Dean Mazzola highlighted in Charlotte Observer article

Belk College Dean Joseph B. Mazzola was featured in an article in The Charlotte Observer on Sunday, Aug. 31. Titled “UNC Charlotte hits professor jackpot,” the article discussed some of the distinguished faculty who have joined UNC Charlotte this academic year.

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UNC Charlotte hits professor jackpot
A crop of 7 distinguished educators gives the university a higher profile and more grant money.
By David Perlmutt
dperlmutt@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008

In the academic world, it’s akin to the Charlotte Bobcats signing LeBron James or Kobe Bryant – an instant profile boost.

That’s what the newest crop of star professors, occupants of seven endowed chairs, could do for UNC Charlotteharlotte, university officials say.

The seven distinguished professors include cancer researcher Pinku Mukherjee and Joe Mazzola, UNC Charlotte’s new business school dean and the Belk Distinquished Professor in Business Administration, lured away from Georgetown University.

They arrive at a time when many public universities are experiencing a significant “brain drain,” as more prosperous private or public schools raid prominent faculty by offering more salary and better research opportunities.

So to UNC Charlotte, the seven hires are major free-agent acquisitions.

“Because they actively publish in high-quality journals and are invited to speak at other institutions … they put the university out there in a highly visible way,” said Provost Joan Lorden.

UNC Charlotte’s haul has surprised some.

Lorden said she recently spoke with leaders at UNC Charlottehapel Hill’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center who knew Mukherjee was on her way to Charlotte from the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix.

They thought she was going to Carolinas Medical Center.

“We don’t have a medical school, so someone with Pinku’s research profile is not an obvious person for us to recruit,” Lorden said.

It helped that her banker husband was offered a job here and that Charlotte is home to major hospitals already doing important cancer research.

Beyond raising a school’s profile, star professors are important mentors to junior faculty.

“These are the kind of people who create an intellectual environment that help us attract other senior faculty and top graduate students,” Lorden said.

They also bring significant grant money with them. Mukherjee, who couldn’t be reached for comment, currently has about $1million in grants that help pay for her research, Lorden said.

Haul is called ‘outstanding’

UNCGreensboro Provost David Perrin was impressed with UNC Charlotte’s recruiting. “For UNC Charlotte to recruit seven distinguished professors in one year is outstanding,” he said.

“Clearly, one strategy for moving our institutions forward as research universities – as UNC Charlotte and UNCG are doing – is to recruit outstanding and established scholars from other institutions throughout the country.”

UNC Charlotte’s connection to Charlotte is making that effort easier.

It made a difference with Mazzola, though his new dean’s office and the prestige of a named chair helped ease his decision to leave Georgetown for Charlotte.

“For someone who is in the business of educating new managers and researching new knowledge for management, the relationship this university has with Charlotte is absolutely a part of the appeal,” Mazzola said. “This is an exciting place to be. We have a young university that is growing … and propelling rapidly into the ranks of being a really great research university.”

‘A new model’

Mazzola said he wants to build a unique business school that uses the resources of Charlotte.

“I want us to always be thinking about a new model that doesn’t replicate existing models,” he said. “We can do that because of our relationship with the city of Charlotte.”

That aligns with the school’s proposed mission statement, identifying UNC Charlotte as the 17-campus UNC system’s lone “urban research university” and Charlotte as a significant partner.

At the same time, UNC Charlotte’s growing stature as a research university bolsters Charlotte’s economic development beyond its reputation as a banking center.

Years ago, when leaders began plans to raise Charlotte’s status as a “world-class city,” one of the critical needs identified was a strong research university.

In the years since, business leaders have invested in UNC Charlotte emotionally and financially.

Lorden and Mazzola said the relationship is starting to pay handsome town-gown dividends.

“I never thought of this city needing the university as much as the university needing the city,” Mazzola said. “Together we’re destined to do great things.”

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