The UT Dallas School of Management will hold a memorial service at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 16, to honor the memory of the director of its Executive MBA program.
Dr. Jasper H. Arnold III died unexpectedly Dec. 20 after a brief illness.
Dr. Jasper H. Arnold
The service will be in the Executive Education Center in the School of Management Building. Parking can be accessed from Armstrong Drive (see campus map).
Under Dr. Arnold’s 10-year term as director, the UT Dallas EMBA program gained national and international recognition. For the past two years, Financial Times has ranked it as the overall top EMBA program in Texas and among the top 20 EMBA programs in the world. In December, The Wall Street Journal ranked it No. 6 among EMBA programs in return on investment for alumni.
Dr. Arnold assumed directorship of the program in 1999.
“We are grateful for the leadership Jasper provided in helping us achieve our goal to make the UT Dallas EMBA program one of the best in the nation,” School of Management Dean Hasan Pirkul said.
“He was always concerned that UT Dallas offer cutting edge executive education, and he cared a great deal about the students and their future success,” Dean Pirkul said.
Comments from both Dr. Arnold’s former students and executive education colleagues at other universities echoed Dean Pirkul’s remarks.
Larry Solomon, executive vice president of human resources for beverage company Dr Pepper Snapple Group in Dallas and a 2002 graduate of the UT Dallas program, credited Dr. Arnold’s encouragement for his success in the program.
“I found the program a fantastic experience and a huge growth opportunity for me that has triggered wonderful opportunities in my career. His encouragement made that possible,” Mr. Solomon said.
Noting that Dr. Arnold was more than just a lecturer and professor to his students, Mr. Solomon said, “He was more like a personal friend. He encouraged each one individually and took a real interest in our careers.”
Another former student, Renée Underwood, a 2007 graduate of the UT Dallas program who is now an independent marketing consultant in Lubbock, Texas, pointed to Dr. Arnold’s ability to relate the practical experience he gained from his career in industry to business theories in his classroom teaching.
“He challenged you to think, and the way he related real-world experience to everything helped you understand how to use the theories he was teaching in your daily work,” she said.
Dr. Arnold is survived by his wife Betty Rae “B.R.” Richter; three children, Charlotte, Jasper, IV, and Natalie Arnold; a sister Ann Quinn McLaughlin; a niece, Susan Coffield Quinn; and one grandchild, Brayden Arnold.