Powerful Promise Campaign Outcome: Norman and Ruth Carroll Endowed Business Chair
The Norman and Ruth Carroll Endowed Chair in Business and Economics, honoring the legacy of the late Norm Carroll, founding dean of the business school, and his wife, Ruth, long-time residents of River Forest. The Chair is made possible by an anonymous $1.5 million gift to the university’s current Powerful Promise Campaign.
In addition to providing critical resources to enhance the reach and profile of the Brennan School of Business, the Endowed Chair will serve as a lasting tribute to the deep relationship Dr. and Mrs. Carroll shared with the university.
One of Dominican University’s most influential and beloved leaders, Norm Carroll had a 50-year history with the institution, filling a number of senior administrative and faculty roles, including provost and vice president of academic affairs, academic dean, chair of the economics department and professor of economics.
He was a stable fiscal steward and an academic visionary, spearheading the business school’s internationalization efforts and establishing executive MBA programs in Poland, Czech Republic, China and India. He initiated the process for the Brennan School’s accreditation by the prestigious Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) in 2014.
Dr. Carroll also was responsible for launching the university’s School of Education and School of Social Work.
“It was Norm Carroll’s entrepreneurial leadership, over many years, that built the foundation for Dominican University. He was market-sensitive and disciplined, while always keeping the best interests of the institution in mind. He was a terrific academic partner,” said Donna Carroll, president of Dominican University.
Ruth Carroll, a former Trinity High School teacher, shared her husband’s commitment to values-based education. The Carroll children grew up at Dominican University and they continue to be involved in the life of the institution, sharing meaningful relationships with the faculty, staff and Sisters.
The Endowed Chair will enhance the Brennan School of Business’ growing network of partnerships with premier universities in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Chair holders, who will be recruited from an international field of outstanding researchers and scholars, will be expected to collaborate with Brennan faculty on research, teaching and publishing activities. The inaugural Chair is expected to be appointed in fall 2019.