Page 6 - Endowed Professorships | Simon Business School

rOn schMidt

JANICE M. AND JOSEPH T. WILLETT PROFESSOR
of Business Administration for Teaching and Service

“Those who know, do. Those who understand, teach.” These words,

widely attributed to Aristotle, underscore the mandate of every
university—to inspire students to think, reason, question, and reach
higher than they might have imagined.

At Rochester, that charge is embodied by faculty like Ron Schmidt,
who has challenged, prodded, and motivated Simon School of

Business students for more than four decades.

Janice and Joe Willett, whose lives were touched by Schmidt when

they were MBA students in the ’70s, have honored his career by
establishing a professorship that emphasizes teaching.

“My teaching responsibilities are primary,” says Schmidt, who has
earned multiple teaching awards. “My research has been driven by

issues that deserve full attention in the classroom.”

The Willetts, longtime Rochester benefactors, know the value

of an exceptional business education. Joe served in CFO and
COO positions with Merrill Lynch until his retirement; Janice, a

University of Rochester trustee, is senior manuscript editor for The
Journal of Financial Economics and former editor for The Boston

Consulting Group.

“Joe and I both attended the Simon School on full scholarship,”

Janice notes. “This is our way of repaying the University for the
M
chance it took on us and saying ‘thank you’ for the terrifc education
we received.”