James Anderson Fitzgerald

James Anderson Fitzgerald
Dean of the College of Business Administration
1926-1950
 
As its longest-tenured dean, J. Anderson Fitzgerald played a large part in the development of the College of Business Administration. After being successfully persuaded to come back to the University where he had been a professor from 1918-1921, Fitzgerald was named dean of the business school in 1926. Fitzgerald worked endlessly to improve the school’s stance as a premier institution, from installing ceiling fans in the “Speedway Shacks” to implementing the first business Ph.D. program in the entire Southwest in 1930. His other accomplishments included overseeing the establishment of the Bureau of Business Research in 1926, dividing the school into five departments after the business school was officially made into a college in 1945 and setting up the master’s in professional accounting program in 1948. He left office in 1950 to serve as a consultant to the U.S. Mutual Security Agency in Thailand. Later, Fitzgerald returned to the University and served as consulting business dean until his retirement in 1959.
 
Recognized for his keen sense of humor and respected for his fairness and intense interest in students, Fitzgerald led the business school through the Depression and World War II. He displayed a true passion for education, even refusing to have associate deans to help with administrative work and sharing an office with his secretary in order to maximize the amount of classroom space.
 
J. Anderson Fitzgerald believed in the value of real world business experience, himself being named one of the top 22 economists in the United States by the New York Sun in 1940. His determination and devotion helped establish the College of Business Administration as a top-flight school, and his influence lives on today at the McCombs School of Business.