Union Graduate College’s board of trustees has named Bela Musits its interim president beginning Aug. 1.
The news comes more than a week after the Schenectady college announced it’s exploring a merger with Clarkson University in Potsdam and five months after President Laura Schweitzer announced her plan to retire.
Musits was appointed vice president for academic programs last summer and serves as dean of the School of Management since 2011. He has more than two decades of experience in adjunct and full-time positions at higher education institutions, including Babson College in Massachusetts and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy.
He helped lead the development of the School of Management’s first online degree programs and its first new degree program in more than 20 years. He also established a new online master’s degree in healthcare data analytics and created new partnerships with regional companies.
“This unique combination of academic knowledge and industry know-how, together with his familiarity with the college’s people, programs and systems, makes Bela an outstanding choice to serve as interim president, and if the merger occurs, to assume a leadership position on the Schenectady campus,” the college said in a news release. “Please join us in congratulating Bela on his pending appointment.
