New Dean Endorses the ‘Merrick Way’
Category: Noteworthy
photography: Chris Hartlove
With decades of experience in business and academia in his portfolio, Murray Dalziel—the new dean of the Merrick School of Business—could have started at UB by saying, “Let’s do it my way.” Instead, Dalziel is listening and taking notes.
He remembers overhearing references to the “Merrick way” even before his August arrival at UB, and his initial impression of the idea, he says now, is that it’s an approach to learning how to succeed in business through hard work, applied knowledge and determination: “[It’s about] students who get things done.”
That’s an idea on which he wants to build with help from the School of Business community. In an Oct. 14 article on the Technical.ly Baltimore website, Dalziel (pronounced “D-L”) recalled that a student reporter interviewed him during his first week at UB and asked for an explanation of the “Merrick way.” “That’s my question to the faculty and alumni,” he responded.
Defining that answer is a priority for Dalziel, a native of Scotland who came to UB after serving as the director of the University of Liverpool Management School since 2007. Previously, he had held various leadership roles for the global management consulting firm the Hay Group, where his focus was leadership training and development—an area of interest that he believes has rich potential at UB.
Dalziel says there is more than Merrick’s acclaimed accreditation from AACSB International—the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business—that sets it apart from many other business schools both here and abroad.
“Across the University, UB is truly a professional school,” he says. “We launch professionals into their careers, and we build careers or help people completely change their careers. That’s what makes us special.”
A fly fisherman and avid soccer fan in his spare time, Dalziel is intent on embracing Baltimore—including the Orioles.
“I’ve been a baseball fan since the 1975 World Series—Cincinnati Reds and Boston Red Sox,” he says. “I was living in Boston then, and I saw Carlton Fisk hit that winning home run in Game 6. Now I like what I see in the O’s.”
Dalziel likes what he sees in the School of Business, too. “We can find even more ways to help out the city and the region, with jobs, businesses and skills for this changing economy,” he says. “We want to make as big an impact as possible.”
