Singapore, 29 Nov 2011 (Tuesday) – The Singapore Management University (SMU) has appointed Professor Bryce Hool from the University of Auckland as Dean of the School of Economics from 1 January 2012 for a five-year term. Currently a Professor of Economics at the New Zealand university, Professor Hool has served in senior management and leadership positions at universities in the US and New Zealand for 21 years.
Professor Hool has spent 15 years with the University of Auckland between 1996 and now, holding the positions of Professor of Economics, Head of the Department of Economics and Associate Dean (International) of the Faculty of Business and Economics. Under his leadership, the department rose to top national research ranking and became among the top economics schools in the southern hemisphere. Professor Hool also chaired and served on many leadership committees and advisory groups on academic review, academic staffing and funding, including being a member of the Academic Standards Council of Universitas 21, a consortium of universities in Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Americas.
Prior to that, he was with the State University of New York at Stony Brook for 17 years, in various appointments as Professor of Economics, Chair of the Department of Economics, Director of the Institute for Decision Sciences, Dean of the Division of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Chair of the Council of Deans and rising to Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. Among his achievements at Stony Brook were major interdisciplinary programme developments, including the expansion of the Institute for Decision Sciences and the establishment of the Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
Professor Hool graduated with a Bachelor of Science (First Class Honours in Mathematics) at the University of Canterbury before obtaining his Master of Commerce (First Class Honours in Economics) at the same university. He completed his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley. Professor Hool began his academic career at the University of Wisconsin at Madison as an Assistant Professor of Economics for five years before moving on to the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He was also a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics' International Centre for Economics and Related Disciplines.
Professor Hool's primary research interest is in natural resources. His current research focuses on the extraction of exhaustible resources and optimal payment schemes for extraction contracts.
SMU President, Professor Arnoud De Meyer said, “Professor Hool shares our vision of a broad-based, multi-disciplinary education and is attracted to the dynamism and aspirations of the university. He has also demonstrated an ability to work across teams to achieve results that benefit the university as a whole. This includes the academic reviews and task forces he has chaired, while at the University of Auckland. We look forward to working with him and the rest of the team to jointly realise the SMU vision of excellence in research and teaching.”
SMU Provost and Deputy President (Academic Affairs), Professor Rajendra K. Srivastava said, “ Professor Hool is an acclaimed scholar in economics with more than 30 years of experience in research and teaching. He has shown his multi-disciplinary edge and versatility when as Dean of the Division of Social and Behavioural Sciences, he set up the Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. ”
Dean-designate of SMU School of Economics, Professor Bryce Hool remarked, “I am truly excited about joining the leadership team at SMU and the opportunity to contribute to realising the great potential of the School of Economics. The University has been remarkably successful in setting and achieving clear goals and directions for innovative undergraduate education and high-quality research with particular relevance for Singapore.”
In the most recent edition of Tilburg University's Top 100 Worldwide Economics Schools research ranking, SMU School of Economics ranks 5th in the world and 1 st in Asia, in the field of Econometrics, based on research publications in top journals for 2009-2010.
Professor Bryce Hool said, “The School of Economics has already established itself as one of the leading economic research centres in Asia; indeed, in the field of financial econometrics, it ranks among the best in the world. We will build on the existing strengths to expand other areas of research excellence, again with an emphasis on Singapore's economic interests. We will continue to deliver an innovative and relevant undergraduate curriculum and develop multidisciplinary postgraduate programs with those same qualities.”
Professor Phang Sock Yong (潘淑莹), the current Interim Dean of the School of Economics, who has helmed the school for the last 17 months, will take a one-year sabbatical.
In appreciation, Professor Arnoud De Meyer said, “I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to Interim Dean Professor Phang Sock Yong for her very effective leadership of the School of Economics over the past 17 months. I look forward to her continuing contributions to the overall growth and development of SMU. ”
Please refer to the Annex for details.