Barrick
Murray Barrick
Ireland
R. Duane Ireland

Professor Murray Barrick assumed duties as head of the Department of Management in July. Barrick takes over for Bennett Chair R. Duane Ireland, who is stepping down from his administrative role this summer to guide scholarly efforts as incoming editor of the prestigious Academy of Management Journal.

Barrick, also the Paul M. and Rosalie Robertson Chair in Business, was recruited to join the faculty at Texas A&M in 2006. He came to Mays from the University of Iowa, where a distinguished research record of nearly 50 academic papers in top-rated management and psychology journals made him a natural fit for Texas A&M’s storied management department.

The management faculty has long been considered a leading group of scholars in terms of research productivity and most-cited scholarly works. The Academy of Management Journal has ranked Mays’ management researchers 10th in research productivity. A more recent survey shows that in 2004 and 2005, the Mays management faculty was tied with Harvard as the second most research productive faculty. And in a fall 2006 retrospective article in the Journal of Management, Mays faculty members were among the most cited authors and most frequent contributors in the 30-year life of the journal.

The incoming department head upholds that trend—Barrick was recognized as the 5th most published author in the Journal of Applied Psychology and Personnel Psychology in the 1990s, based on category rank. Though his new role makes him administrative chief of an already-strong department, he hopes to continue to make time for his research on human resources, organizational behavior, and personality on the job.

The management department at Mays is now home to four academic journals:
» Bennett Chair R. Duane Ireland’s Academy of Management Journal
» The Journal of International Business Studies, which Professor Lorraine A. Eden takes over as editor this summer
» The Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal under co-founding editor and Distinguished Professor Michael A. Hitt
» The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, edited by Fouraker Professor Richard W. Woodman
» Faculty members are also associate editors and members of editorial boards for some 35 other scholarly publications, including Organization Science, Personnel Psychology, Journal of Management and Journal of Business Venturing.His biggest goal for the department’s continued success? To ensure that management’s nine assistant professors—who by rank are the newest researchers and teachers working towards tenure—continue to develop their skills and have adequate resources and guidance from more senior faculty.

“Maintaining our record of research excellence will be a challenge,” Barrick said. “We are generally regarded among the top five management departments in the country, and we want to strengthen that position. I’m excited to be able to work with such a productive group of scholars and embrace the challenge of working with and guiding the ongoing development of the excellent set of researchers and teachers we have in our assistant professor roles, as well as continuing to improve the strength and quality of the PhD program.”

Mays’ Interim Dean Ricky W. Griffin has a simple statement of gratitude for the leadership Barrick will offer as an internationally known researcher. “We are fortunate to have someone of Murray’s caliber willing and able to assume this position,” Griffin said.

— Sommer Hamilton