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While the authors found no evidence that a low score in the U.S. News rankings affected the likelihood of dean turnover, they found that a low ranking from BusinessWeek did. Deans and Rankings Does a bad ranking by a top publication cause a dean to leave a business school? Maybe, if that low ranking appears in BusinessWeek. Probably not, if the ranking appears in U.S. News& World Report—but if a school's stu- dent placement score deteriorates in the eyes of U.S. News, a dean is more likely to depart. Those are some of the overall find- ings in "Business School Rankings and Business School Deans: A Study of Nonprofit Governance" by C. Edward Fee, Charles J. Hadlock, and Joshua R. Pierce, which appeared in the spring 2005 issue of Financial Management. The authors examined the careers of all the deans who served at the schools ranked by BusinessWeek or U.S. News from 1990 to 2002. While the authors found no evidence that a low score in the U.S. News rankings affected the likelihood of dean turnover, they found that a low ranking from BusinessWeek did. Their conclusion is that "schools behave as if they evaluate deans based on factors that are captured in the BW ranking measure." Further- more, they note that deans are more likely to be penalized for a drop in rankings than rewarded for upward movement. But does it do a school any good to replace a dean who has presided over a change in rankings? The authors say no. "We find little evi- dence of large changes in rankings or program characteristics after a change in dean, indicating that new deans may be limited in their ability to change a school's direction," they write. Reclaiming the Land Heavily polluted land will be cleaned up and made productive again thanks to a new partnership between the nonprofit Cherokee Property Foundation and the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School in Chapel Hill. The Cherokee Property Foundation accepts donations of environmentally damaged property, or "brownfields," and turns them into tax-producing community assets. UNC students will help the foundation negotiate the donations, contract to clean up the land, and then resell it. "The donated property might be an old gas station, an industrial site, or a former shopping center with a dry cleaner," says Dave Hartzell, North Carolina Real Estate donation of the land. Profits from land sales will support future deals, with excess proceeds donated to community human service and eco- nomic development efforts. With the new partnership, up to six MBA students will work with the foundation annually. "Last year was our startup year," Hartzell said. "We hope to close on several deals this year. Students get exposure to devel- opers, different markets, and due diligence. They also get a good feel for how contaminated and fallow properties can be remediated and brought back into economic use." The PhD Project Turns Not-for-Profit The KPMG Foundation has announced that The PhD Project has been established as a separate not-for-profit corpora- tion known as The PhD Project Association. The organization has been instrumental in encouraging minorities to pur- sue doctoral degrees in business and take positions as faculty at business schools. According to BernieMilano, president of the KPMG Foundation and lead administra- tor of The PhD Project, "With over 1,200 universities issuing degrees in business, the need for a more diverse faculty is quite Educational Foundation Professor and director of the Center for Real Estate Development at UNC Kenan- Flagler. Owners of such properties often don't know how to clean them up, he explains, and they fear legal liabilities if they sell. The foundation, which is closely tied to the private equity fund Cherokee Investment partners, plans to indemnify owners against such liability in exchange for apparent." The KPMG Foundation will continue to provide support to The PhD Project Association. Since The PhD Project was found- ed in 1994, the number of minority professors at U.S. business schools has more than doubled, from 294 to 751. Further, 415 minorities are cur- rently enrolled in doctoral programs and could take a place at the front of the classroom in the next five years. BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2005 13