Dr. Arthur Kraft

Arthur Kraft joined Chapman University as Dean of the George L. Argyros School of Business and Economics and Robert J. and Carolyn A. Waltos, Jr. Dean in Business and Economics in on January 1, 2006. He served as Dean through July 31, 2012. In his role as Dean, Dr. Kraft was responsible for academic affairs; fundraising; operational and strategic planning; academic planning and program review; faculty development and recruiting; external relations; research; alumni affairs; accreditation activities of AACSB International - The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business; evaluation and review of the faculty; and all academic, accreditation, budget and personnel matters.

Dr. Kraft’s involvement with AACSB International includes numerous activities in support of accreditation. He is Vice-Chair and Chair Elect of AACSB International. He served as Chair of the Board of Directors, 2006-2007. He was a member of the AACSB Board of Directors for five years, 2003-2008. He served as Chair of the Committee on Issues in Management Education (CIME), the Executive Committee, the Nominating Committee and the Board of the Global Foundation for Management Education. He served as Chair of the Pre-Accreditation Committee (PAC) and as a member of the Accreditation Coordinating Committee (ACC). He was a member of the 2010 International Conference and Annual Meeting Program Committee. He serves on the Doctoral Education and Doctoral Faculty Task Force, 2006-2011, and the Impact of Research Task Force, 2008-2011. He served on the Strategic Directions Committee from 2007-2009. He has served as the Business Advisor, Pre-candidacy Advisor, Peer Review team member and Peer Review Team Chair for several accreditation reviews of academic institutions in the United States and around the world.  He served as Chair of the Accreditation Application Review Committee (AARC), 2001-2003.  He was a member of the Blue Ribbon Committee (BRC) on Accreditation Quality, 2001-2003. Previously, he served on the Business Accreditation Committee (BAC), 1995-1997 and 2000-2003.  He has also served on accreditation visits for EQUIS accreditation through the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD). Serves as Co-Director of MBA Association for Working Professionals (MBAAWP), 1999-2010

A native of Eden, N.Y., Kraft served as business school dean at Georgia Institute of Technology, Rutgers University and West Virginia University before he joined DePaul.  He began his career in higher education at Ohio University in 1969 and was promoted to full professor of quantitative methods in 1975.  He served as professor and associate dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln from 1977-83.

Kraft served as Dean of the College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University from 1983-1987. In 1987, he joined Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey, as business school dean and professor of finance and management, becoming the first dean of the newly established School of Business at Rutgers’ New Brunswick campus.  Six years later, Kraft became dean of the School of Management at Georgia Institute of Technology, a position he held until 1997.   He was professor of international and strategic management from 1997-1999, and served as chair of the school’s doctoral program from 1998-1999.

Kraft, who has experience in both education and government, received his Ph.D. in economics in 1970 and a master’s degree in economics in 1969 from the State University of New York at Buffalo.  He received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics magna cum laude from St. Bonaventure University in 1966.

Kraft has published in major journals (Journal of Finance, Review of Economics and Statistics, Decision Sciences, etc.) and books, made numerous presentations to professional societies, written many working papers, and published a book, Statistical Analysis for Decision Making, with Jeffrey E. Jarrett in 1989.  His academic interests include managerial economics, corporate strategy, global strategic management, team building, leadership and motivation, strategic quality and competitiveness.