The McDonough School of Business has gained both leadership and resources this week, as the school attained its fundraising goal of $62 million for a new business school and announced the appointment of Reena Aggarwal as interim dean.

The $62 million, which was raised by the school’s targeted date of Sept. 1, will be used to fund initial infrastructure work in the first stage of design and construction of the new MSB building, slated to be constructed within the next two years.

“With the new business school building we’re in an exciting place right now,” University President John DeGioia said yesterday at a meeting with campus press. The design process of the new business school building is in its second year, and an additional $23 million – for a total of $85 million over two years – is set to be raised by next September in order to begin the initial construction of the project.

At the same time the business school continues its search for a permanent dean to serve in the coming years.

Reena Aggarwal, who has worked as a professor at the MSB since 1986 and currently teaches corporate finance and investment banking, will serve as dean for the 2004-05 school year, while the search for a permanent MSB dean continues.

“I’m absolutely thrilled that Reena Aggarwal has accepted the position for this year, and I’m also very grateful to John Mayo who did an exceptional job as interim dean for two years,” DeGioia said.

Aggarwal will be taking over for Mayo, a business school professor who served as the interim dean since 2002 and will return to the faculty this fall. Last spring, the ongoing search for a permanent business school dean was postponed after proving unsuccessful.

Aggarwal will serve as acting dean for the business school this year, until the search committee resumes its search and finds a permanent dean.

“We were all disappointed that the search did not produce a candidate in the spring but we’re going to move forward with the search this fall,” DeGioia said. He added that the search for a dean has been restructured this fall, and the search committee will be chaired by Provost James J. O’Donnell.

“I am thrilled to have someone of Reena’s expertise and ability in this position,” O’Donnell said. “She is a scholar of institutional and international distinction and knows the McDonough School and business community well.”

In the short term, Aggarwal said she plans to focus on fundraising for the new MSB building, as well as supporting faculty development. She added that she hopes to “provide our faculty with the resources necessary for their teaching and research needs.”

Aggarwal specializes in international stock markets and initial public offerings. As a Fulbright Scholar, she visited Brazil and Chile to research their stock markets and privatization plans. She was a Visiting Research Scholar at the International Monetary Fund in 2003, and also has worked on major consulting projects sponsored by the IMF.

Aggarwal has been published in many academic journals, appears regularly on local and international radio and has been quoted by many major newspapers, including the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.

“My background and experience in the international business community, in both the private and public sectors, will help me in my new role,” Aggarwal said.

Aggarwal said she plans to look for new opportunities both locally and abroad for the undergraduate program, as well as for the school’s MBA and International Executive MBA programs.

“My overall objective is to solidify the institution’s position as one of the world’s leading business schools,” Aggarwal said.

Aggarwal received her master’s of management studies at Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani , India . She earned a doctorate in finance from the University of Maryland .

Christopher Puto, the most recent permanent dean of the MSB, left Georgetown in 2002 to become the dean of the University of St. Thomas College of Business in St. Paul , Minn. Puto served as dean for four years, during which the MSB rose into the top 25 business schools in US News & World Report’s annual rankings.