After 33 years, Bud Barnes is leaving the dean’s office and returning to teaching BY KEVIN TAYLOR
Clarence “Bud” Barnes is a short-timer at Gonzaga University this autumn as dean of the School of Business Administration. Finally. Barnes is set to return to teaching at the end of the calendar year. Which brings an end to his leadership of the business school only, oh, a mere 30 years later than he himself had predicted and places him among the longestserving business deans in the nation. “I only expected to do this a few years. It was a job I didn’t seek,” Barnes said, sipping from a mug of coffee during an early morning interview. Crammed with books, art and mementos, his office is functional, not showy. And it illustrates the dramatic changes that have come during Barnes’ tenure – changes that have brought a higher profile to the business school on campus, in Spokane and nationally. “At the time Bud came to Gonzaga, the business school consisted of four faculty members with five or six offices in the basement of the Administration Building,” said his longtime friend, attorney and Trustee Emeritus Tom Tilford (’66). Now, Gonzaga’s School of Business Administration has been nationally accredited for 30 years, attracts highly credentialed faculty, hosts popular business forums in the community and has earned high national rankings for several programs.
WINTER 2014 | GONZAGA MAGAZINE
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