The McDonough School of Business’ search for a new dean has been unsuccessful, leaving Provost James J. O’Donnell and the McDonough School Dean Search Committee to postpone the search until the beginning of the fall semester.

John Mayo began a two-year term as interim dean in 2002 and will return to the business school faculty this fall. The university will appoint an acting dean for the 2004-05 school year until the search committee chooses the next permanent dean.

In an e-mail to the business school community, Associate Dean Ann-Mary Kapusta said that many universities have been unsuccessful in finding new business school deans this year.

Keith Ord, a business professor who chaired the search committee, explained the high turnover rate for the position.

“There are many demands on the modern business school dean – running academic programs, undergraduate and graduate, stimulating faculty research and increasing fundraising and contracting with alumni and parents,” Ord said. “There are a lot of balls to keep up in the air at the same time.”

Ord also said that rankings from Business Week, U.S. News and World Report and the Financial Times add to the pressures that business school deans face.

“Alumni and parents see these rankings and get concerned if their school has slipped,” he added.

Mayo replaced Christopher Puto, who left the university in 2002 after serving four years as dean. Ord said that most business school deans serve five-year terms because the job is demanding.

“[There’s the idea] that if the dean is good after five years they’ll be promoted, if they’re no good they’ll be booted out,” he said.

The search committee formed last June, and began advertising the position in the national press. The committee conducted off-campus interviews in September. In January, the candidates were interviewed on-campus and met with faculty representatives and deans from the other schools to assess how they would fit in at Georgetown.

“The best are nominated to the university president and provost who negotiate with the candidates,” Ord said.

While he said that the failure to locate a dean last year will have a minimal impact on business school students, he said that the long-term effect means that it will be harder to build a stronger reputation for the McDonough School, which dropped in this year’s U.S. News rankings by nine spots.

“We’re disappointed that the search didn’t end on a positive note,” he said.

– Hoya staff writer Arianne Aryanpur contributed to this report.