Duane Ireland (center) and his family have established an endowed scholarship for Mays Business School students pursuing a graduate degree in the Entrepreneursial Leadership track of the Professional Program of Accounting at Mays.
Duane Ireland and his family – including his wife Mary Ann and their two adult children – have stepped up to endow a $50,000 scholarship to Mays Business School. The scholarship targets students pursuing a graduate degree in the Entrepreneurial Leadership track of the Professional Program of Accounting at Mays.
Ireland, who is executive associate dean of Mays Business School, is the second Mays top administrator to fund a scholarship for students. Dean Eli Jones and his wife Fern recently endowed a $50,000 gift to Mays for undergraduate students who are pursuing a degree in marketing and the Professional Selling and Sales Management career track.
Both said they wanted to ensure the growth of their disciplines – entrepreneurship and strategic management for Ireland and sales for Jones. Ireland is a University Distinguished Professor of Management and holds the Benton Cocanougher Chair in Business. He has authored or co-authored more than 20 books, including Entrepreneurship: Successfully Launching New Ventures, which is in its fifth edition this year, and Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization, which is in its 12th edition.
“Entrepreneurship is one of our Grand Challenges here at Mays, and Entrepreneurial Leadership is one of the areas we’re focusing on for our students,” Ireland said, referring to the strategic plan that has emerged from a schoolwide effort.
In addition, Ireland said, the fact that the PPA is in a program outside his home department of management supports the goal of working synergistically throughout Mays and the university.
Ireland is also prolific in academic journals, having published numerous articles in journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Learning & Education, Strategic Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Decision Sciences, Journal of Management, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice,Journal of Business Venturing and Journal of Management Studies, among others. He is a former editor of the Academy of Management Journal and served as the 69th president of the Academy of Management, a worldwide association with approximately 20,000 members.
He received his Ph.D. from Texas Tech University and previously worked at Baylor University before coming to Texas A&M in 2004. “This university means a lot to us,” he said. “We feel very honored and blessed to be here. It’s a university with a great vision and mission, and Mays Business School is an exciting organization of which to be a part. It is such a positive, invigorating environment.”
The gift is part of the Lead by Example campaign at Texas A&M.
By Kelli R. Levey
This article was originally published by Mays Business School.
