Pace University Business School Names a Dean

Former Blockbuster Entertainment Corp. President Joseph Baczko on Wednesday was named dean of Pace University’s Lubin School of Business in New York.

Baczko, 59, whose executive experience spans the nursery, video and toy industries, said in a release that he hoped his international business experience would contribute to the development of competitive educational programs at the school.

The 40-year-old business school has 5,100 undergraduate, graduate and professional students. Its alumni include Mel Karmazin, chief executive of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., and Ivan Seidenberg, chairman of Verizon Communications Inc.

The school’s part-time MBA program ranks 17th in the U.S. and 9th among private schools in U.S. News & World Report’s latest survey.

Baczko succeeds the current dean, Arthur Centonze, on July 1, a university spokesman said. Centonze will take a one-year sabbatical and then return to the faculty in 2006.