Source: Tim Grant, 785-532-7525, timg@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Olivia Blanco, 785-532-2753, oblanco@k-state.edu

Thursday, May 5, 2011

FITTING TRIBUTE: COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION SCHOLARSHIP NAMED FOR LONGTIME DEAN YAR EBADI

MANHATTAN -- The Dean's Advisory Council at the Kansas State University College of Business Administration has established an endowed scholarship fund in honor of Yar M. Ebadi, the dean of the college who is stepping down after 15 years in the post.

"For any strong respected leader, whether in the academic or corporate environment, the ultimate measure of success is the strength of the organization and the legacy you pass on," said Joleen Moden, chair of the Dean's Business Advisory Council. "Yar Ebadi is passing on a great organization. The business community, represented by the members of the Dean's Business Advisory Council, recognize this success and have founded the Dean Yar M. Ebadi Scholarship Fund in support of Yar's commitment to attracting the best and brightest to K-State's College of Business Administration." 

The Dean Yar M. Ebadi Scholarship will be awarded annually starting in August 2011 to one of the best students in the College of Business Administration.

"The Business Advisory Council members have been very generous in providing for this scholarship. I'm honored and humbled about its establishment, and I am looking forward to it benefiting our bright students for many years to come," Ebadi said.

Ebadi's commitment to the College of Business Administration has led to the establishment of multiple professorships and endowed chairs that have allowed the college to recruit and retain top faculty. He is the first Paul Edgerley Endowed Dean of the college, which is the first endowed deanship at K-State.

Under his leadership the college earned accreditation in 1998 and reaccreditation in 2008 from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the premier business accrediting agency in the world. He also has brought national attention to the college. The undergraduate program has been listed among BusinessWeek's top undergraduate programs for 2010 and 2011, and the master of business administration program was ranked among the Global 100 Best in the Aspen Institute's Beyond Grey Pinstripes biennial survey and alternative rankings in fall 2009.

A native of Afghanistan and naturalized U.S. citizen, Ebadi joined the K-State department of management in 1983. In 1992 he was named associate dean of the College of Business Administration, interim dean in 1995 and dean in 1996. He was named the college's Outstanding Teacher of the Year in 1987 and has served as the Robin Hagens Maupin Chair in Business since 1992.

Ebadi received his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Kabul University in Afghanistan in 1968. His junior and senior years were completed at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He continued his work at Georgia Tech, completing his master's in mechanical engineering in 1970. After serving on the faculty at Kabul University for several years, Ebadi returned to the United States in 1973 to work on a master of business administration degree at Indiana University, specializing in production and operations management. He earned the degree in 1974, and then went on to earn a doctoral degree from Indiana in 1977.

He is active in numerous academic, professional and university organizations, and is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Beta Gamma Sigma, Sigma Iota Epsilon, Tau Beta Pi and Pi Tau Sigma honoraries. His professional memberships include the Academy of Management, the Decision Sciences Institute and The Institute of Management Science.

Ebadi has served on numerous committees, including the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business Pre-Accreditation Committee, the board of directors of Commerce Bank in Manhattan, the University Strategic Committee, Council of Academic Deans and several major search committees. He served as president of the Midwest Business Deans Association in 2001-2002.

He is an active member of Rotary and the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce, and serves on the board of directors of the K-State Center for Leadership, the advisory board of directors of Commerce Bank in Manhattan, and the board of directors of the National Institute for Strategic Technology Acquisition and Commercialization Center.

Ebadi's tenure as dean will end June 11. After a six-month sabbatical, that he will use to learn how technology can improve classroom experience, he will rejoin the faculty of the department of management at the College of Business Administration.