On April 19, faculty, staff and friends of the Cal State Fullerton College of Business and Economics gathered to celebrate the career and accomplishments of dean emeritus Anil Puri, who led the college from 1998 to 2016 and is now retiring from teaching and college leadership. Puri will continue to present the periodic economic forecasts, such as the recent Economic and International Trade Forecast, through the Woods Center for Economic Analysis and Forecasting.

For generations, Puri’s influence and leadership have defined the largest accredited business college on the West Coast.

The Journey Begins: From Punjab to Fullerton

Anil Puri’s life journey began in Punjab, a state in northwestern India bordering Pakistan and home to one of the oldest civilizations on the planet, the Indus Valley Culture that flourished prior to the time of Abraham.

In India and many other developing countries, an education in economics is often viewed as the most prestigious career path a person could achieve.

Puri devoted himself to the study of economics, earning a bachelor’s degree and then a master’s degree from Punjab University in the 1970s.

“In India, we worked hard, but it was more structured with directed instruction,” Puri told the Orange County Register in 2006 about his educational experience. “Here, the burden of learning is on the student – and that’s an advantage for real-life training. You are better off in the working world with that independence and managing of yourself.”

After coming to the United States and earning an economics doctorate at the University of Minnesota, Puri accepted a lecturer’s role at Cal State Fullerton in 1977.

“On my first day of class at Fullerton, I was nervous and wondered if I would connect with the students,” recalls Puri. “Turned out that I liked the excitement of the give and take.”

Within a year, Puri accepted a tenure-track faculty role, the beginning of a meteoric rise to leadership at the college that included chair of the Department of Economics and interim associate vice president for academic programs.

Puri also established himself as an authority on divining the ups and downs of the economy, becoming the keynote speaker of the college’s economic forecast conferences that many Orange County businesses, policymakers and community leaders rely on to understand the next chapter in the ever-changing modern economic landscape during an era that spanned the Dot Com bubble, Y2K worries, 9/11, the Great Recession and the COVID pandemic.

Leading the Business College – and Giving It a Home

When Puri interviewed for the dean’s position in 1998, he was asked to name his top priority if selected. Without hesitation, Puri replied that he would focus on finding a permanent home for the college.

Since the founding of Cal State Fullerton 40 years prior, the business college had grown to become one of the largest of its kind in the United States, yet it had migrated from locations such as Langsdorf Hall, McCarthy Hall and the Pollak Library.

A state-of-the-art college needed a state-of-the-art home.

And Puri would make that a reality.

With the support of Paul Folino and James Woods ’67, both wealthy businessmen and longtime friends of the college, Puri led a $15 million campaign for private financial backing for the construction project.

A cold call to alumnus Steve Mihaylo ’69, who had built a fortune on selling office telephone system technology, upped the ante to a $50 million capital campaign.

During the second half of the 2000s, Puri oversaw the construction of the building, which would win accolades for modern and efficient design.

On grand opening day in October 2008, the global economy was in the midst of the worst downturn since the Great Depression, but Puri and the entire college community could be proud that the next generation of business leaders would be assured a permanent home for learning and growing into the high-tech future that awaited the business world.

Leading a Coming of Age at the College of Business and Economics

Puri’s second decade as dean would arguably be the period of greatest growth and development in the history of the College of Business and Economics.

Always a teaching dean with a passion for sharing his knowledge and expertise in economics with students, Puri envisioned in-house and on-site tutoring, advising and career services programs, ensuring Business Titans would have the mentoring and support needed to overcome challenges and quickly achieve high-ranking opportunities in the work world.

These new initiatives and more became a reality between 2009 and 2012, with heavy support from private donations.

Puri also established the Business Honors Program, which was funded through the Executive Council, a roster of business leaders who financially supported the college. And Titan Capital Management, a student-managed portfolio program, got its start in fall 2012 under Puri’s leadership and with private funding.

This cohort-based program for high-achieving business students from diverse backgrounds has made a large college small for hundreds of graduates over the past decade while setting the bar higher for what it means to be a business grad at Cal State Fullerton.

During Puri’s deanship, about half of the current Centers of Excellence were founded, including the Center for Corporate Reporting and Governance, the Center for Entrepreneurship, the Center for Insurance Studies (now the School of Risk Management and Insurance), the Center for Leadership, and the Center for Entertainment and Hospitality Management.

Each center is committed to bridging the gap between academia and industry, providing the local business community with continuing education and applicable thought leadership while providing networking opportunities for students and keeping the college’s curriculum update and relevant.

“I feel that all public universities need to be involved in the community,” says Puri. “Schools of business have a special obligation and responsibility to provide expertise, and support economic development in the region. Our Centers of Excellence have been a good bridge between college and community.”

Puri himself serves as director of the Woods Center for Economic Analysis and Forecasting, which not only hosts twice annual economic forecasts, but also periodic updates and research papers on economic trends.

“Economics is a difficult topic for most people because there are so many things that are interconnected,” he says. “Our focus is to present complicated, difficult issues in a form that people can relate to and make use of in their own decision-making.”

The Legacy of a College Transformed

When Puri took office as dean, the College of Business and Economics followed the traditional public school model of reliance on state funding.

By the time Puri agreed to serve as the Cal State Fullerton interim provost and vice president for academic affairs in 2016, the college’s Dean’s Advisory Board, Executive Council and Centers of Excellence offered bright new paths for financial support.

During Puri’s tenure, the college’s student body achieved minority majority status, featuring a diverse local student population as well as international students from dozens of countries across the world.

When Puri became dean, the college was viewed solely as a teaching institution. By the time Puri left office, the college’s teaching excellence had expanded, but the school was also recognized for faculty research in every branch of business, from information systems to economics.

“My first love is solving problems and building exciting programs,” says Puri. “I am most pleased with the way the internal constituencies – faculty, staff and students – as well as external stakeholders have come to have pride in the college, and I hope that the positive branding is long-lasting.”

Looking back on Puri’s career, we can safely say that Puri has kept his first love, and transformed the lives of thousands of students, alumni, faculty, staff and members of the California community in the process.