Following a national search, Richard Robinson of Richmond, Kentucky has been named director of the SUNY Fredonia School of Business.
 
Currently a finance professor and the director of the M.B.A. program at Eastern Kentucky University, Dr. Robinson will take leadership of the SUNY Fredonia business programs in August. One of his first priorities will be to apply for national accreditation to the Association to Advance College Schools of Business (AACSB), which is considered worldwide to be the premier accrediting body for business and accounting education. Dr. Robinson led the successful effort by Eastern Kentucky University to achieve accreditation by the association in 1999.

He will replace the founding director of the school, Dr. James Hurtgen, who will resume teaching in the political science department. Dr. Hurtgen noted, "Richard Robinson’s familiarity with the challenges of gaining AACSB accreditation as well as his skills as a leader come at a very important point in the development of the recently-formed School of Business. He’s just what we need. We are delighted to welcome Rich and his wife, Mary Ann, to the community."
 
The Fredonia School of Business houses the departments of economics and business administration, six undergraduate degree programs, and one master’s degree program in accounting. The school offers bachelor’s degree programs in economics, accounting, and in four business concentrations: finance, management, management information systems, and marketing. It is the home of the SUNY Fredonia Southwestern Center for Economic Education, which serves the region’s school districts. Students enrolled in the school account for nearly 11 percent of the university’s student body.
 
Dr. Robinson is co-editor of the Journal of Economics and Finance, which will move with him and be housed at the SUNY Fredonia School of Business. His career has included teaching at the University of Nebraska, Berry College and Portland State University. Dr. Robinson holds the Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Oregon.
 
Published articles by Dr. Robinson appear in the Journal of Economics and Finance, Finance Decisions, Journal of Financial Research, Journal of Managerial and Decision Economics, and the Journal of Business and Economic Perspectives. Several of his articles are co-authored with his wife, Mary Ann Robinson.