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In Review

ADMINISTRATION Eastman and Simon Introduce New Deans Highly regarded academic leaders in business and music move into new roles.
deansNEW DEANS: Jamal Rossi (left) will lead the Eastman School, and Andrew Ainslie will lead the Simon School. (Photo: Adam Fenster)

Two of Rochester’s major academic units have new leaders going into the 2014–15 school year.

Eastman School of Music

Jamal Rossi, a member of the Eastman faculty and administration who has served in leadership roles in music for more than two decades, was named the Joan and Martin Messinger Dean of the Eastman School of Music.

A saxophonist and professor of woodwinds, Rossi joined Eastman in 2005 as senior associate dean. In 2007, he was named executive associate dean, supervising the award-winning $47 million project to renovate Eastman Theatre and construct the Eastman East Wing. Rossi was dean of the music school at the University of South Carolina before joining Eastman.

Rossi was formally named Messinger Dean in May, presiding over the school’s commencement ceremony this spring. Last fall he was appointed dean when the late Douglas Lowry, who had served as dean from 2007 to 2013, resigned because of illness.

As executive associate dean, Rossi was responsible for Eastman’s academic programs and personnel, including faculty hiring and promotions, and for academic and student affairs and enrollment management, among other duties. He oversaw a review of the undergraduate curriculum and led the school’s reaccreditation review by the National Association of Schools of Music. He also founded RocMusic, a collaborative partnership of arts and education institutions in Rochester to establish a free after-school music program for Rochester inner-city students.

Simon Business School

Andrew Ainslie, an administrator at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, was named dean of the Simon Business School. He succeeds Mark Zupan, who finished a 10-year tenure as dean on June 30.

An associate professor of marketing at Anderson, Ainslie joined the faculty there in 2000. From 1997 through 2000 he was an assistant professor of marketing at Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management. As senior associate dean for Anderson’s full-time MBA program, he had responsibility for admissions, student services, and career placement. During his tenure, the school increased its admissions more than 60 percent, increased placements more than 20 percent, and revised its curriculum.

Before beginning his academic career, Ainslie had a 10-year career in business, including as an electrical engineer, in sales and marketing, and in corporate finance.