Chuck Bonini, who traded in his slide rule for a computer but never lost the humanity that made him a quiet force behind the GSB, retires after 40 years. Photo by Robert Holmgren

Faculty Thanks Bonini for a Job Well Done

HE HAS TAUGHT thousands of Business School students, played a key role in executive education programs in Singapore, Iran, Australia, and the former Yugoslavia, and coauthored a widely-used textbook on quantitative analysis. In February Charles P. Bonini was honored with the GSB faculty's Robert T. Davis Award, presented for his extraordinary contributions to the School.

During his 40-year career at the Business School, Bonini taught courses in statistics and modeling to generations of students, including the MBA Class of 1984, which crowned him King of the Core. In the past two years, Bonini, the William R. Timken Professor of Management Science, developed and taught a new course in data mining, designed to introduce today's computer-literate students to the strategic use of business databases.

"In the early days, I got conned into being coauthor on a textbook," recalled former Business School dean Robert K. Jaedicke during the award celebration. "When it comes to writing, enthusiasm is not a good substitute for ability, so I turned to Chuck. Nine editions later, I'm still very grateful." The book, Quantitative Analysis for Management, coauthored with Warren Hausman and Harold Bierman Jr., has been used by an estimated 300,000 students.

In addition to scholarship and teaching, Bonini was cited for his commitment to working with minority students. The School's Partnership for Diversity fellowship program, which Bonini helped create when he served as associate dean and director of the MBA Program, is dedicated to increasing the number of minorities in professional management.

The Davis Award is named for the late Robert T. Davis, who joined the Business School faculty at approximately the same time as Bonini. In accepting the award, Bonini told his assembled faculty colleagues, "You supported me, taught me, challenged me, and made life in this profession very meaningful." Bonini is retiring from the Business School effective September 1.

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION chairman Robert Pitofsky named Jeremy Bulow to head the agency's Bureau of Economics, effective January 1, 1999. In his new office, Bulow, the Richard Stepp Professor of Economics at the Business School, oversees the bureau's role in providing economic analysis of the FTC's consumer protection and antitrust casework and advising the commission and other government entities about the impact of various regulatory reform initiatives on consumers and on competition. The bureau also periodically issues economic reports analyzing various aspects of the marketplace. Bulow expects to be at the FTC in Washington, D.C., for 18 months.

ON LEAVE THIS YEARAT THE CENTER FOR Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Jeffrey Pfeffer, the Thomas D. Dee Professor of Organizational Behavior, is addressing the subject of why organizations don't implement their knowledge and how many "prescribed" organizational practices destroy expertise and make experts into novices. Pfeffer's latest book, The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge Into Action, coauthored with Robert I. Sutton, is due in bookstores in October.

Jonathan Bendor, professor of public policy and public management, will arrive at the center as Pfeffer leaves. Bendor will use his fellowship for several projects. They involve the evolution of norms, models of adaptively rational strategic behavior (both analytical and simulation), a model of adaptively reliable (versus optimally reliable) organizations, and a study of ascriptive versus universalistic norms.

SEVERAL YOUNGER Business School faculty were honored recently. Michael W. Morris, associate professor of organizational behavior, won the 1999 Ascendant Scholar Award from the Western Academy of Management in March. Earlier, Morris won the award for the best paper on managerial and organizational cognition from the Academy of Management. Peter Henry, assistant professor of economics, received the 1999 National Economic Association Dissertation Award for the best thesis written between 1995 and 1997. The thesis deals with the effects of liberalization and reform on stock prices and investment in lesser-developed countries (see Stanford Business, March 1999). Manju Puri, assistant professor of finance, won the 1999 Nasdaq Award, presented at the annual Western Finance Association meeting, for the best paper on capital formation. The paper, coauthored with N.R. Prabhala of Yale, discusses how underwriter price support affects initial public offerings.

Additionally, two assistant professors of operations, information, and technology were recognized by Stanford University. Sunil Kumar was appointed by Provost Condoleezza Rice as Finmeccanica Faculty Scholar for 1998-2000, and Stefanos Zenios received a research incentive seed grant from Stanford's Office of Technology Licensing to continue his research into profit incentives and operational efficiency in kidney dialysis.