Business School Dean Bob Dolan, announced yesterday that he won’t seek a third term as dean after his current term expires in the summer of 2011.

Dolan — who has served as dean of the Ross School of Business since 2001 — is best known for changing the curriculum of the school’s MBA program to focus on real world learning and the construction of the new Stephen M. Ross School of Business facility, which he oversaw. And while Dolan said he feels it will be time to move on next year, other University administrators and Business School faculty said they are sad to see him go.

Dolan said his decision to leave after 10 years at the Business school was partially based on the actions of his colleagues at other universities. The deans of both the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business and the Harvard Business School, stepped down from their positions in December 2009, after serving for 10 years. Dolan said it has now become typical for business school deans to serve in their positions for 10 years.

“Both of them sort of said ‘Well, ten years is time for you to execute your vision and maybe it’s better for somebody else with a new view on the world to come along and have their chance to mold the school,’” Dolan said.

Having thought about this decision over the past year, Dolan said he first told University Provost Teresa Sullivan last summer that he was considering not serving another term. He then discussed his decision with University President Mary Sue Coleman this academic year. Dolan said both Sullivan and Coleman asked him to reconsider.

“I was pleased that they were both happy enough with the job that I’ve done that they both thought, ‘Gee it would be great if you stayed on for another couple of years,’” he said. “So it was nice having that reaction from both of them.”

Dolan said that, to his knowledge, a search process hasn’t yet begun to find a new dean, and that he presumes Sullivan and Philip Hanlon, the University’s vice provost for academic and budgetary affairs — who will be stepping into Sullivan’s position come July — will begin putting together a search committee this summer, with the interviews taking place early in the fall semester.

Dolan also said he hasn’t made any decisions yet about what he’ll do after he leaves, adding that he’ll start considering his options this summer.

Dolan said one of the things he is most proud to have accomplished during his time as dean is changing the Business School’s educational approach to one that focuses more on “action-based learning.”

Cultivating the Multidisciplinary Action Projects program — in which first-year MBA students participate in real-world projects, many times abroad, during March and April — is a component of this educational outlook that Dolan said has become a distinctive feature of the school.

“It’s really become sort of the signature element of the school, that we’re known for this,” Dolan said. “And it’s the way we differentiate ourselves to say that we really think in terms of developing leadership capabilities.”

Kathleen Sutcliffe, associate dean for research and faculty at the Business School, said Dolan’s success as dean can be seen by the fact that he was able to implement the action-based learning program — something that previous deans had tried to do, but weren’t able to accomplish.

“He’s really solidified our identity in a way, as being a school that is really grounded in this idea of leading in thought and action and action-based learning,” Sutcliffe said.

The Business School’s new building is also a main highlight of Dolan’s work as dean, Sutcliffe said.

With its $145 million price tag — $100 million of which covered by a donation from Stephen M.