Jarjisu Sa-Aadu, associate dean for the Tippie School of Management at the University of Iowa, was the third and final candidate to speak at an open forum for the College of Business dean’s position.

Sa-Aadu received his undergraduate degree from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana.

He received his master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Wisconsin in business with an emphasis on finance and real estate.

Sa-Aadu was a finalist who was nominated for candidacy. “I was nominated, but I do not know who nominated me. My understanding is that several people nominated me.”

Sa-Aadu said Iowa State is of the best public universities in the nation.

“I am attracted by the collaborations among the colleges that are already in place,” Sa-Aadu said. “The educational assets and programs assembled by the College of Business, and of course the university as a whole are very attractive to me.”

“I see an opportunity to work collaboratively with all faculty, staff, students, alumni and the community, to not only raise the research and teaching profile of the faculty but also the profile of the college as a whole which should culminate in branding the college.”

Throughout his speech Sa-Aadu spoke about different strategic plans that he had for the College of Business and how it would effect the college as a whole.

“My key strategy in propelling the college forward [it] involves broad engagement with stakeholders and forming strategic partnerships … my focus is on strengthening the reputation [of the college],” Sa-Aadu said.

Sa-Aadu described his knowledge of the College of Business in his speech and told of the things that could be done by any dean that would take the position to improve the college itself.

“I do not see anything broken as such, on the contrary, I think one can make a case that the College of Business probably is better than its reputation,” Sa-Aadu said.

“And therefore, the job of any dean coming here … is stepping back and looking at the assets that are in place, trying to identify what are some of those key attributes that we can use to differentiate the program.”

Sa-Aadu talked about the challenges the College of Business could face in the future and challenges in general that would have to be overcome in order to succeed.

“At the end of the day the way we are going to be … evaluated has to do not so much with the challenges that we face, but rather how we transform those challenges,” Sa-Aadu said.

Dawn Bratsch-Prince, associate provost in the office of the senior vice president and provost, hopes that all three videos of the three finalists will be posted on the provost’s website by noon Thursday.

The open forums for all three candidates, “were very well attended, they went very well. It was an appropriate topic, and a good turnout and good questions,” Bratsch-Prince said.

Individuals can watch the videos and fill out an evaluation form for all three candidates. Those who have attended the open forums are also encouraged to fill out an evaluation form.

“We are going to collect all the evaluated information then the search committee will meet again and we’ll sit down and have a conversation with all of the input from the different stakeholders and from the evaluation forms,” Bratsch-Prince said.

“We hope to have the process concluded by the end of the semester.”