Saturday, July 2 2005 13:26 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: An Indian professor was chosen yesterday (July 1, 2005) to direct the 3000 student undergraduate programme of Kelley School of Business, one of the most prestigious business schools in the United States.

Chennai-born M A Venkataramanan, 47, now a Professor of Decision Sciences with Indiana University's Percentelley School of Business in Bloomington, will direct its Bloomington undergraduate programme, one of the largest and most distinguished undergraduate business programmes, the School said in an announcement.

The professor, often called "Venkat", has gone from learning about programming without having a computer in his first Indian college course to becoming the first person from India to lead a 3,000-student undergraduate programme at the major business school.

The son of an engineer for the Indian Telephone and Telegraph Company, Venkat earned a bachelor's degree in the Guindy Engineering School at the University of Madras.

He came to US in early 1980s and where he earned a master's in business computing science at Texas Administration and Management University in 1984 and a doctorate in management from the Texas school in 1987. He joined Kelley School faculty in 1987, where he also chaired Department of Operations and Decision Technologies.

"Professor Venkat is a visionary and innovative leader with an incredible work ethic and a contagious 'cando' attitude. He is also well respected by the faculty, has excellent relationships with many of our corporate supporters and is committed to the best interests of our students. Venkat will be an exceptional leader of our undergraduate programme," said Dan Smith, interim dean of the Kelley School.