Professor Sudhakar (Sid) Balachandran has been appointed the first Assistant Dean for Teaching Excellence at Columbia Business School. Among his duties, he will lead the Samberg Institute for Teaching Excellence. Harriet Wagman, the Institute's Director since its founding in 2002, will move into phased retirement during the transitional period. Prof. Balachandran will work to integrate content across disciplines, contributing to a curriculum that will increasingly prepare students to “connect the dots” across industries and functions. Additionally, he will collaborate with faculty members to develop course materials that further unite scholarship with its real-world applications in both core and elective classes. He will also focus on strengthening the pre-MBA program to better prepare students for the School’s academic experience, lead the School’s mentoring program for new faculty members, and help professors more easily share best practices and proven pedagogical methods.