By Mica Schneider

The Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia has announced that dean Robert Harris will step down from the job on July 31, 2005.

Harris says his decision stems from a lengthy upcoming capital campaign that will run from Darden's 50th anniversary in 2005 until 2011. At age 54, he simply doesn't want to be dean for so many years, preferring a sabbatical and a return to the classroom instead. He currently teaches a core finance course to MBAs.

Long-serving deans are a rarity in B-schools. Harris notes that those such as Donald P. Jacobs, who served at Northwestern's Kellogg B-school for more than 20 years, are probably a thing of the past. "It's a hard job," he says, though he believes continuity in leadership has some advantages. "If a dean stays longer, you're more likely to be able to carry through on some long-term objectives. With the capital campaign, someone who will stay to 2011 is an important feature."

SHORT BUT SUCCESSFUL.  Darden has had three deans in the past decade. Harris took over from Edward Snyder, who left the school in 2001 after a four-year term to lead the Chicago Graduate School of Business. Before Snyder came Leo Higdon Jr., who served from 1993.

Starting this autumn, Darden will be searching for a replacement dean, who'll be expected to help kick off and wrap up a capital campaign to raise $250 million for new facilities, scholarships, and faculty. (The school's endowment is already $250 million.) MBAs say while Harris' planned departure is "disappointing," he's stepping aside for the right reasons. Peter Coyne, president of the Darden Student Assn., says "it's probably more important to house an individual who will be there for the duration of the campaign."

Harris had a short, but successful ride at Darden. Since beginning his deanship, he helped secure $17.4 million in gifts, recruited seven full-time faculty members, increased the full-time MBA class size by 25%, and opened a $3 million Institute for Corporate Ethics, which is sponsored by the Business Roundtable and a dozen other B-Schools. BusinessWeek ranked Darden's full-time MBA program No. 12 in its 2002 listings.

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LBS Student Seeks Degree after Nine Years

Nine years after attending London Business School, Lawrence McCann, 51, is still waiting for his master's in finance degree. The former Wall Street trader and MIT graduate completed his courses in 1996 with good marks, then moved his wife and two kids back to Connecticut. He planned to return to London after about a week and write a final paper that would formally complete the master's.

But on a Sunday evening ahead of his trip back to Britain, McCann was hit by a car whose driver fled the scene. Doctors considered amputating a foot, and a priest even administered last rites. LBS gave him time to recover from his injuries and the numerous operations that were necessary to repair limbs and nerve damage. The school also sent him letters discussing extensions on his final paper.

In early 2002, after a court sentenced the driver who hit McCann to three years in jail, McCann returned to LBS to discuss a new final project. To his surprise, the school had failed him in 1999 because he didn't turn in his final paper. He says no one had notified him of the decision.

DISASTER RECOVERY.  What followed was a bureaucratic nightmare for McCann. After an appeal to the school's board of examiners, McCann was given another opportunity to complete his final paper. The school approved an outline of his project topic, and he submitted a 115-page dissertation titled Treasury Inflation Protected Securities: Today's Best Bond Buy. But LBS failed him in September 2003, reportedly saying that his subject was better suited for a PhD candidate and the paper lacked detail.

The school said he couldn't appeal the decision, but in January, 2004, after a few months of complaints and another trip to London, LBS officials told McCann he'd be allowed to write a new paper. Later in the year, when he was away from home, the school set his new topic deadline for July, which that was then moved to Sept. 10. McCann asked the school for more time to prepare, and some assurance that he'd get appropriate feedback on his next attempt. On Sept. 21, LBS said he could turn in another paper without a deadline. The catch: If he doesn't earn a passing grade, he won't have another chance to receive his degree.

With his faith in LBS waning, McCann says he's "somewhat less than trusting" that he'll come out on top. He's taking legal action to ensure, in the very least, that LBS offers a fair assessment of his new dissertation. Ideally, he'd like to resubmit his original paper for a full review, too.

ANOTHER TRY.  In a statement issued by the B-school, Judith Fry, secretary to the examinations committee and boards of examiners, says, "Lawrence McCann has not failed his Masters in Finance degree. Mr. McCann still has the opportunity to complete the requirements for the degree and thereby to obtain his degree from London Business School." Laura Tyson, dean of London Business School, reiterated Fry's sentiments.

Having paid about $100,000 for LBS's program, McCann says he's anxious to put the ordeal behind him and return to work -- with a degree in hand. "It would be very difficult to go back to Wall Street without my master's in finance," he says.

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