May 2024
Dear Atkinson Alums,
I hope this finds you all well and enjoying the beautiful Oregon spring. We’re in high gear with the wrap-up of the school year and preparing for the May Commencement ceremonies. This year’s graduation will be especially nice for Atkinson because we will celebrate the graduation of our first crop of twelve students in the new undergraduate program. This is a milestone for our school. And, we will mark another milestone -- the 50th anniversary of Atkinson. From a handful of visionary professors who founded this school in 1974 and graduated its first class in 1976, Atkinson has come a LONG way.
We started off this school year freshly re-accredited for another seven years by the Network of Affiliated Schools of Public Affairs & Administration (NASPAA). We’ve been working very hard since to prepare for re-accreditation for another five years by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Our full-time MBA program is the only full-time program accredited by both accreditors, something we’re very proud of but takes much work to maintain. I’m very confident that we will successfully secure AACSB re-accreditation. The Willamette MBA continues to do very well in national rankings; Bloomberg Businessweek once again ranked the program # 1 in Oregon and # 2 in the Northwest. At the same time, like so many schools of our kind across the nation, we continue to work to address our MBA enrollment challenges. We’re making good progress, but further work is still ahead.
As announced by President Thorsett last month, I will be retiring from Willamette on June 30 and returning to my family in Minnesota. My wife Mary and I have had a “commuter marriage” arrangement for the past six years – she in Minneapolis and I in Oregon -- and I’ve been traveling to our home in the Minneapolis area on average every other week. This arrangement started when I took my previous position in Salt Lake City and has continued since I moved to Oregon. Our family is more worn out from this arrangement than we expected when I took this job, and we feel it’s best to get me off the road and have me home year-round.
I leave this wonderful university with mixed emotions, as I’ll miss so many people I’ve had the pleasure to work with, our students, and my great home state. But I know in my heart that I’m doing the right thing for my family. I’m so appreciative of the many good wishes I’ve received since the President’s announcement. Dr. Romana Autrey, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, has been appointed Interim Dean and will start on July 1. Romana has been a wonderful Associate Dean, and I am confident she’ll do an excellent job leading our school. I wish her Godspeed and all the best.
Have a wonderful Summer, and thanks to all of you for your support and friendship.
All the best,
Dean Örn Bodvarsson, Ph.D.
Atkinson Graduate School of Management