Dr. Caroline Fisher has been appointed dean of the School of Management and Information Systems at the University of Missouri-Rolla. Fisher replaces Dr. Arlan DeKock, who is retiring from UMR.

Dr. Caroline Fisher

Fisher came to UMR in August of last year, when she was named chair of the business administration department and associate dean of the School of Management and Information Systems.

From 1985 to 2005, Fisher taught at Loyola University in New Orleans. She also served as the university’s director of graduate programs for two years.

Fisher holds a Ph.D. in psychology from Bowling Green State University, where she was a National Science Foundation fellow. She also earned a master’s of business administration degree from the University of New Orleans, a master’s degree in psychology at Eastern Michigan University and a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Kalamazoo College.

In 2004, Fisher was a visiting professor of marketing at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. From 1976 to 1980, she worked as a psychologist in Louisiana state and public schools.

Among Fisher’s research interests are the theory of quality management, customer satisfaction and loyalty, management in the music industry and the hotel needs of business travelers.

Fisher’s research has been published in a variety of professional journals. In 2003, she published a book with a co-author on service development and improvement. She is also a past Baldrige National Quality Award examiner and has served as president of the Louisiana Quality Foundation.

Fisher becomes the second dean of the UMR School of Management and Information Systems. DeKock had served as the dean since the school’s inception in 2001.

One of Fisher’s primary concerns will be to oversee the creation of UMR’s new master’s of business administration degree program, which starts in January of 2007.

Fisher also remains a professor and chair of business administration, the department that will house the MBA program. Under a reorganization plan to be implemented in the next year, department chairs will report directly to UMR’s new provost, Dr. Warren Wray.