The Amos Tuck School of Business Administration named last week one of its professor the director of the school's new $13 million international business program, which will expand opportunities abroad for students and professors.
Dean of the Tuck School Edward Fox named Tuck Professor Joseph Massey as the center's director March 24.
The new program, called the Whittemore Center for International Business, will facilitate development of foreign contacts, enhance research possibilities and create new jobs for graduates, Fox said.
The center is the school's latest step in increasing international trade knowledge and skills, mirroring the growing importance of global commerce in today's world.
The center's creation was made possible by a $6 million bequest from Earl Daum '24, T'25, a former member of Tuck's advisory board. The money supplements $7 million in donations earmarked for international business raised through the school's on-going $35 million capital campaign, according to a press release.
Massey advised president Ronald Reagan while serving as Deputy Assistant Director for Commerce and Trade in the Office of Policy Development. He is also the former assistant U.S. trade representative for Japan and China.
Massey's responsibilities will include uniting Tuck's current globalization efforts and leading the center in underwriting new programs.
Fox said the centralization of resources would help expand the "internationalization of the school" and that dedicating one person to its coordination would strengthen the current school's programs.
Massey said he strongly believes the center should work with the Tuck faculty. "I want to make sure the center serves the interests of the school and the need of Tuck in its growing international capacities."
Recently, in an effort to increase its globalization efforts, Tuck has created an international business magazine called Global Competitor, formalized relationships with international institutions such as the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and required all students to take an international business course.
"The Tuck school has made a commitment to give its students in their education an international perspective," Massey said. "Global world trade has grown four times as fast as the world global product."
Fox said Tuck had in the past been "unjustly faulted" for inadequately emphasizing international trade. He added that the school's isolation and small size contributed to this perception.
He said Tuck is dedicating a large percentage of its budget to international development, a commitment that will enhance the school's reputation.
"We'll definitely be a player. We definitely won't be left behind," Fox said.
Massey said the center will concentrate on establishing new connections with institutions abroad, to complement the current ones in Japan, Spain and England.
Massey, a specialist in Chinese and Japanese business relations, will be able to expand Tuck's contacts in Asia and in the Pacific Rim countries, Fox said.
The center is named for Frederick Whittemore T'54, chairman of the U.S. National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation, member of the Council on Foreign Relations and advisory director at Morgan Stanley and Co. Whittemore was also a former chairman of the Tuck Board of Overseers.
Daum's bequest is the second largest gift in the history of the Tuck school.
