CSU Monterey Bay President Eduardo Ochoa has named Shyam Kamath dean of the university’s College of Business Administration.

Dr. Kamath assumes leadership of the newly created college on Sept. 1.

“I am delighted to join CSUMB as the founding dean of the new College of Business. I look forward to building on the excellent foundations created by those who have established an outstanding school of business in the past two decades since CSUMB was established,” Dr. Kamath said.

“My decision to join CSUMB was based on its excellent reputation, outstanding faculty, staff and student body and the tremendous potential to build an regionally, nationally and internationally recognized College of Business.”

Said President Ochoa: “We are excited that Dr. Kamath has agreed to become the founding dean of our College of Business. He is a strong leader with an outstanding range of experience in both the private sector and academia. His international background will be a great asset as we develop a College of Business that educates students with a global perspective.”

President Ochoa said that the creation of a College of Business will allow enrollment to continue to grow; business is already the top undergraduate major at CSUMB. The university plans to enhance its academic programs that respond to regional needs, in areas such as hospitality management and agricultural business, and eventually seek accreditation through the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Dr. Kamath has more than 35 years of experience in international education, international development and management, sustainable enterprise formation, global business consulting and university teaching.

He comes to CSUMB from St. Mary’s College in Moraga, where he is a professor of global business and economics and associate dean of graduate business and global programs in the School of Economics and Business Administration. As director of St. Mary’s Trans-Global Executive program, he teaches graduate students to apply business solutions to social service needs in order to help people at the bottom of the economic pyramid

Prior to his stint there, he spent more than two decades as a professor of international economics and business at CSU East Bay and started the university’s Transnational Executive MBA program.

He previously taught at Dalhlousie and Simon Fraser universities in Canada and the University of Madras in India.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Delhi, a master of business administration degree from the Indian Institute of Management, and a master’s and Ph.D. in economics from Simon Fraser University.

He has served as a consultant to more than 100 firms, non-governmental organizations and nonprofits in 15 countries on four continents, and has been an economic consultant to the governments of Austria, Brazil, China, Indian and Thailand, to the United Nations Development Program, and numerous private foundations.

“I look forward to the opportunity to work with the faculty, staff, students and the administration to build new programs, hire new faculty and staff, initiate the accreditation process and grow the college to meet the challenges of the 21st century,” Dr. Kamath said.

Business classes have been offered at CSUMB since the founding of the university. The program has grown steadily and is now the largest program on campus, enrolling about 14 percent – 640 students – of undergraduates. Those students can choose to concentrate in accounting, agribusiness, entrepreneurship, hospitality and hotel/resort management, information technology and e-commerce, management and international business and marketing.

In addition, traditional and executive MBA programs are available online; approximately 200 students are currently enrolled. Next year, the university expects to break ground on a building that will house the College of Business and the School of Information Technology and Communications Design. Photo courtesy of St. Mary's College of California