Ajay Patel, a non-resident Indian, has been appointed as dean of the prestigious Babcock Graduate School of Management by the Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
"Ajay has gained valuable experience over the past year serving in the role of interim dean, and he has proven to be a valuable addition to the university's administrative team," William C Gordon, acting president, said while announcing Patel's appointment.
The Babcock Graduate School of Management consistently ranks among the United States' top accredited graduate schools of business.
Patel, 45, has been a faculty member at the Babcock School for 11 years and associate dean for faculty and alumni affairs for the past two years.
Patel was named dean following a comprehensive and nationwide recruiting search led by a committee that included faculty, staff, students and alumni.
"He has a clear understanding of the school's great assets, as well as its current challenges, and he has the interpersonal skills needed to work effectively and collaboratively with all of the school's constituencies," Gordon said.
"Importantly, he is widely respected within the Babcock School as an excellent teacher and scholar," he added.
"One of my goals is to see the Babcock community network grow, become stronger and to develop to its full potential," said Patel.
"We have an extremely energised board of visitors and an extremely energised alumni council to help make this happen, " he added.
During Patel's time as interim dean, the Babcock School received capital campaign commitments in excess of $5 million.
Patel, who lives in Winston-Salem with his wife, Aparna, and their two children, received a bachelor's degree from St. Joseph's College in India, a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Baltimore and a doctorate from the University of Georgia.
Before joining the Babcock School faculty in 1993, Patel served faculty appointments at the University of Missouri and Bentley College.
In 2001, he was appointed as the first Babcock Research Professor of Finance. The professorship was endowed through pledge gifts from investment counseling firms and Babcock School alumni Raymond F Bourne, Bryan Somerville and Margaret Beasley.
During his tenure at the Babcock School, Patel has won numerous professional awards and teaching honours. He received the Educator of the Year Award in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002, and the 2001 Kienzle Teaching Award, given to the faculty member who represents the highest standards of teaching excellence.
The recipient of the Kienzle award is chosen by Babcock alumni in a survey taken two years after their graduation. In 1997 and 2000, Patel was honoured with the Outstanding Faculty Award for the Babcock School's Charlotte evening MBA programme.
Patel's expertise is in corporate financial management and international finance. His current research focuses on executive compensation, corporate governance and foreign direct investment strategy. His work has been widely published in scholarly journals, and he has earned several awards.