Steven Currall, a vice dean and faculty member who holds joint positions at University College London and the London Business School, has been appointed dean of the UC Davis Graduate School of Management.

Currall was selected following an international search and will begin work July 1. He succeeds Nicole Woolsey Biggart, who announced in September that she is stepping down after six years as dean to return to full-time teaching and research.

"Already a gem of a school, the Graduate School of Management at UC Davis is positioned for even greater visibility and impact on the state, national, and international stage," Currall said. "My aim is to ensure that the Graduate School of Management is one of the truly great global business schools."

“Steve Currall is the right person at the right time for our Graduate School of Management,” said Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef. “He is an academic entrepreneur, with an impressive record of achievement in raising visibility and generating resources for his prior universities. The school is certain to continue to grow in quality and stature under his leadership.”

At University College London, Currall is vice dean of enterprise; founding chair of the Department of Management Science and Innovation within the Faculty (Department) of Engineering Sciences; professor of management science and innovation; founder of UCL Advances, an entrepreneurship center; and a member of the UCL Enterprise Board, which oversees technology commercialization activities for the college.

At the London Business School, he is visiting professor of organizational behavior and entrepreneurship and serves as faculty co-director of the Institute of Technology.

Before joining UCL and London Business School, Currall was the William and Stephanie Sick Professor of Entrepreneurship at Rice University in Houston. He founded the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship during his tenure at the university. During the five years of his leadership, the alliance helped to launch more than 160 technology start-ups that together raised more than $300 million in equity capital and more than $4.5 million in external funding.

Currall's research has been published in both management and science/engineering journals, including Organization Science, Nature Nanotechnology and the Journal of International Business Studies. He has served on the editorial review boards of five academic journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review and Organization Science.

He has been the recipient of $16.9 million in research funding, more than 80 percent of it from the National Science Foundation. He is a past member of the U.S. Nanotechnology Technical Advisory Group which provided input to the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Currall was listed among "Outstanding Faculty" in Business Week's 1997 Guide to Best Business Schools. His other honors include Stanford University's Price Foundation Innovative Entrepreneurship Educator Award and Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

He has served on the boards of BioHouston, Leadership in Medicine Inc. and Nanotechnology Foundation of Texas.

Currall received his bachelor's degree from Baylor University, master's degree at the London School of Economics and doctorate at Cornell University. Before attending graduate school, he worked as a professional fundraiser for Baylor University.

As dean, Currall's annual salary will be $365,000. In keeping with UC policy, additional compensation will include a relocation allowance, participation in the Senior Management Supplemental Benefit Program, and eligibility for a Mortgage Origination Program loan. Additional details about his compensation will be available online, http://universityofcalifornia.edu/news/compensation/salaryactions.html.

About the UC Davis Graduate School of Management

Established in 1981, the UC Davis Graduate School of Management provides management education to more than 500 students enrolled in Daytime MBA and Working Professional MBA programs on the UC Davis campus, in Sacramento and in the San Francisco Bay Area. It also offers a technology management minor for undergraduates and business development programs in which doctoral science students develop skills to commercialize research. The school has been ranked among the top 50 business schools in the nation by U.S.News & World Report for 13 consecutive years. This fall the Graduate School of Management will move to a new, state-of-the-art campus home, Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. Hall, a three-story, 40,000-square-foot building with an adjoining conference center will include a restaurant and meeting facilities. For more information, visit http://www.gsm.ucdavis.edu.

About UC Davis

For 100 years, UC Davis has engaged in teaching, research and public service that matter to California and transform the world. Located close to the state capital, UC Davis has 31,000 students, an annual research budget that exceeds $500 million, a comprehensive health system and 13 specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and more than 100 undergraduate majors in four colleges — Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science — and advanced degrees from six professional schools — Education, Law, Management, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.