Dean of Spears School of Business resigns

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Larry Crosby has announced that he is resigning from his position as dean of Oklahoma State University’s Spears School of Business after three years.

The 63-year-old Crosby has been instrumental in leading the Spears School to a number of new initiatives, including the creation of the Watson Graduate School of Management, the Ph.D. in Business for Executives program, and several new academic centers. He also launched fundraising efforts for a new state-of-the-art business building on the Stillwater campus.

“We appreciate Dean Crosby’s leadership in raising the Spears School’s already strong profile,” said OSU President Burns Hargis. “New initiatives and a new business building will take OSU’s business school to even greater levels of success. We wish him all the best.”

During his tenure, the Spears School steadily climbed in the prestigious U.S. News & World Report rankings. In addition, the Spears School is one of only four schools in the United States in which 100 percent of the full-time MBA students received jobs within three months after graduation. The master’s programs offered in the Watson Graduate School of Management were selected No. 37 in the U.S. News Best Online Education Program rankings.

“We’ve accomplished quite a bit in the past three years. I am thankful for the support and major contributions from Oklahoma State University’s administration and the Spears School’s faculty, staff and students as we’ve worked together to make a difference,” said Crosby.

“The Spears School is on solid footing and poised to accomplish many great things in the coming years. Oklahoma State University will always hold a special place in the hearts of the Crosby family,” he said. 

Crosby will begin Aug. 1 as the Dean of the Drucker School at the Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, Calif.

Crosby began his tenure as dean of the Spears School of Business on May 17, 2010. He served as chief loyalty architect of the Customer Experience Practice at Synovate Ltd., before being named dean. Prior to that, he founded and served as chairman and CEO for Symmetrics Marketing Corporation, a customer loyalty research and consulting business. He sold Symmetrics to Synovate in 2004. 

OSU will name an interim dean and develop a timetable for a national search for a replacement.