Monterey Bay: The Magazine of CSU Monterey Bay Fall/Winter 2013, Vol. VI, No. II | Page 11

Breaking Ground
New dean, college and building grow business major

Artist’s rendering of the Business and Information Technology building.

by James Tinney

Provided

F

or Shyam Kamath, the
founding dean of Cal
State Monterey Bay’s
College of Business, leadership
is about collaboration and finding common ground.
He sees that philosophy as
important in the community as
well as the classroom.
“The biggest problem (in
the political sphere) today is
how entrenched the different
sides are,” said Dr. Kamath.
“I know that President
Ochoa is trying to bridge that
gap, I know that Secretary
(Leon) Panetta is, so it makes
sense for CSUMB to be the
place that encourages those
solutions that make sense for
business while also encouraging
environmental preservation,”
said Kamath, who took over as
dean on Sept. 1.
Business is the most popular
major among Cal State Monterey Bay’s undergraduates; it

had been a school within the
College of Professional Studies.
President Ochoa spearheaded
creation of a College of Business to grow enrollment and to
seek accreditation through the
Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.
In Dr. Kamath, the university attracted a founding dean
who has wide-ranging international, academic and private
sector experience.
He comes to CSUMB
from Saint Mary’s College in
Moraga, where he served as
professor of global business
and economics and associate
dean of graduate business and
global programs in the School
of Economics and Business
Administration.
Previously, Dr. Kamath was
at Cal State East Bay, which he
helped make a leader in international programs.
Along with a new dean

and a new college designation,
the College of Business is also
looking toward a new building.
The university plans to begin
construction on a new Busines