Provost Peggy Agouris sent the following message to the campus community on Jan. 11, 2022. – Ed.
Dear William & Mary Community,
William & Mary Raymond A. Mason School of Business Dean Lawrence B. Pulley ’74 has advised me that he is planning to retire effective June 30, 2022, from the dean’s position and the William & Mary faculty.
Dean Pulley, who has led the business school since 1998, also serves as the T.C. and Elizabeth Clarke professor. He joined the faculty of the business school in 1985.
Under Larry’s leadership, the business school has expanded greatly. We see this tangibly in the physical plant at the business school’s Alan B. Miller Hall. Yet the expansion evidenced by the increased scope of academic offerings and revenue-generating programs over 20-plus years is even more transformational.
Dean Pulley led the design, funding procurement and construction of Miller Hall, which in 2009 united undergraduate and graduate business programs together for the first time in W&M’s history. A gem of our campus, the building was funded in majority by $50 million in private donations, which Dean Pulley played no small part in inspiring.
On the academic side, since 2012, the business school has launched five new online degree programs (including the first at the university), as well as a residential master’s degree in business analytics. The programs were facilitated in large part by the business school’s ongoing investment in remote education, including the $10 million Center for Online Learning. These programs help William & Mary meet and educate the most promising future business leaders in the world, wherever they may be physically, and at every stage in their careers.
Dean Pulley received his undergraduate degree in math and economics from William & Mary in 1974 before going on to earn his doctorate in economics from the University of Virginia. Before joining W&M’s faculty in 1985, he taught at Brandeis University, University of Virginia and Wellesley College. His scholarship has focused on the banking industry, international payments and portfolio management. At William & Mary, he was associate professor, associate dean, professor and interim dean before his current role and has been recognized rightly with multiple teaching and service awards. More information about Dean Pulley and his contributions to William & Mary is included in this university press release.
We will be conducting a national search for the next dean of the business school; I am currently working on identifying a search committee that will include faculty, staff and students, and will share more about the process in the coming weeks.
I am deeply appreciative of Larry and his more than two decades of leadership at the business school. Like any talented leader, his vision expanded the idea of what William & Mary thought it could accomplish. He has provided an example of principled and intelligent leadership to more than one generation of business students, faculty and alumni.
Finally, I’d like to add a personal note of gratitude. When I joined William & Mary, Larry was generous with his time and institutional knowledge, providing valuable insights into the functions and culture of this unique university. In the years since, he has consistently worked with me and supported initiatives I’ve undertaken, and I’ve relied on him as a steady advisor. Even as I celebrate his successful transition to retirement, I will miss him.
Please join me in wishing Larry well in the coming months as he prepares for retirement this summer.
Sincerely,
Peggy