IUSB Names Business Dean

Kolbe begins his new job January 1.

Indiana University South Bend has named Richard Kolbe dean of its Judd Leighton School of Business and Economics. He most recently served as dean of the Haile/US Bank College of Business at Northern Kentucky University.

Kolbe’s 30 years in higher education also include faculty positions at Washington State University and the University of Missouri. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Marketing, an MBA and a Master of Science in Marketing from the University of Cincinnati.

Kolbe begins his new job January 1. He succeeds Rob Ducoffe, who left IUSB last year to be provost and vice chancellor at the University of Wisconsin – Parkside.

The former first-generation commuter student says that background allows him to "relate to the many needs and challenges IU South Bend students may face in balancing their educational and personal lives."