Farewell to Our Retirees
At Michigan Ross, we’re happy to celebrate the staff and faculty in our community for their many years of service and impactful work. Congratulations to the following individuals who are retiring:
- William Lovejoy, Raymond T. J. Perring Family Professor of Business Administration, professor of technology and operations, professor of art and design (effective May 31, 2025)
- Sugato Bhattacharyya, associate professor of finance (effective June 1, 2025)
- Lloyd Sandelands, professor of management and organizations (effective June 1, 2025)
- Joel Slemrod, David Bradford Distinguished University Professor of Economics and Paul W. McCracken Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy (effective June 1, 2025)
- Jim Walsh, A.F. Thurnau Professor, Gerald and Esther Carey Professor of Business Administration, professor of management and organizations, professor of strategy (effective June 1, 2025)
- Paul Kirsch, managing director, Office of Undergraduate Programs (effective June 3, 2025)
William Lovejoy
It has been a wonderful 30 years at the University of Michigan! I love it here. I love that U-M is a public institution with a social mission, and I’ve been privileged to work with the highest-quality research partners. I love the breadth and depth of the university; I have had informal coffees with passionate researchers from more disciplines than I knew existed. I love U-M’s decentralized structure, which allows cross-disciplinary activities to blossom. I have been fortunate to teach courses jointly with Michigan Engineering, the Stamps School of Art and Design, and Michigan Medicine. I’ve been privileged to instruct exceptional students who make me optimistic about the future. Over the years, I gladly accepted several leadership positions at Michigan Ross and in my field, in part because of my sincere gratitude for those opportunities.
The time has come to rebalance toward family, which will be just as rewarding but in some different ways. My wife and I will continue to enjoy our campus’s cultural vibrancy, from the University Musical Society to our outstanding museums and many exuberant student exhibits and performances. I hope and expect U-M to weather the current cultural storms and emerge even stronger and more dedicated to its core values — a leader and the best.
Sugato Bhattacharyya
After 31 years at Ross, the time has come for me to say goodbye. Though I don’t yet have a good idea of what I will be doing next, I will cherish the memories of so many bright, young students willing to put up with me over the years. And I will miss Ann Arbor. But there will be sweet recollections of this town where my two sons were born and did their entire schooling.
Joel Slemrod
My life philosophy, borrowed from some sage, is that if one looks forward to going to work in the morning and coming home at night, one has a good life. I’m grateful to Ross for helping to ensure that the first requirement of a good life has been met since I arrived here in 1987. Whatever I have accomplished was greatly facilitated by the people I worked closely with here, especially Mary Ceccanese, who was officially my assistant, but actually my partner in working with students and organizing and orchestrating the Office of Tax Policy Research activities.
I’m stepping away from my job as a professor and researcher to find out what life might be like without economics occupying a very large percentage of my brain and activities. I hope to replace that with spending more time with my 15-month-old grandson and two children, traveling the world, and just hanging out with my wife, Ava, who is principally responsible for my meeting the second requirement of a good life — looking forward to coming home at night.
Jim Walsh
Where does the time go? Forty-five years after walking into Northwestern University’s Leverone Hall to pick up the key to my PhD cubicle, I’m now turning in the key to my corner office here at Michigan Ross. How can I capture all that’s on my mind and in my heart after so many wonderful years in academia? Filled with memories and gratitude, the task feels impossible.
It’s hard to express what a privilege it’s been to make a living by asking and answering whatever scholarly questions pop into my head. I’ve tried to honor that trust by asking only the questions that truly matter. And in living this life of inquiry, I’ve had the joy of learning alongside hundreds of faculty colleagues and thousands of BBA, MBA, and PhD students — including, quite wonderfully, two of my daughters during their undergraduate years.
Grateful to the institutions that shaped and sustained me, I’ve done my best to give back throughout my career, first to Dartmouth College, then to U-M, and always, to the Academy of Management. Along the way, I’ve had the good fortune to work with an extraordinary group of gifted, generous, and kind people — including a woman I first met in Leverone Hall: my wife and Ross colleague, Professor Sue Ashford.
To all who shared this journey with me, thank you for your trust, support, and friendship. A lifelong Yankees fan, I find myself thinking of Lou Gehrig’s farewell as I write these words. I can’t sum it up any better than he did: “I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth.”
