The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Honour for Indian professor at American institution

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Monday, Jul 14, 2008
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Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Honour for Indian professor at American institution

Special Correspondent

Endowment chair being created for the professor at the institution by his students
“He opened many doors … gave us a fresh perspective of the world”

CHENNAI: The desi story in American business schools has come of age. First, it was the Indian students who flocked their classrooms. Then it was the Indian management gurus who made their name there.

And now, for the first time, an endowment chair is being created for an Indian professor at an American institution by his students.

In six months’ time, the Kellogg School of Management will have an endowed professorship in accounting in the name of Bala V. Balachandran.

Prof. Bala, as he is known, has just stepped away from full-time teaching as a professor of Accounting Information and Management to spend more time on his responsibility as founder of the Great Lakes Institute of Management (GLIM) in Chennai.

Kellogg’s dean emeritus Donald P. Jacobs, the retired deputy chairman of Ernst and Young Roger Nelson and Baxter’s former chairman and CEO Harry Kraemer Jr. have led a campaign to raise $1 million for the endowment chair, according to S. Sriram, executive director of GLIM. Prof. Bala’s students, now in the corporate world, are among the biggest contributors.

Several of his students based in Chennai, praised Prof. Bala’s legacy, not just in terms of academics or his practical teaching style, but also his impact on relationships.

“He acted as a father figusre to the few Indian students who were there in the early days. In more ways than one, he was a mentor to us,” said Ashok Leyland chief operating officer Vinod K. Dasari.

“He opened many doors… he introduced us to his wide network, which gave us a fresh perspective of the world,” said Atlas Advisory principal Sameer Mehta.

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