Towl, Andrew Renwick, 1910-....

Andrew R. Towl received a BA from Muskingum College in Ohio in 1932, an MA in Economics from Columbia University in 1933, and an MBA from HBS in 1936. In 1944 he joined the faculty at HBS and retired in 1975. While at HBS he also served as Director of Case Development and Director of the Intercollegiate Case Clearing House.

Andrew Renwick Towl was born in Nebraska to Mr. and Mrs. Roy N. Towl on December 8, 1910. He attended Muskingam College in Ohio and received his BA in Economics in 1932. In 1933, he received his MA, also in Economics, from Columbia University. From 1933-1934 Towl taught economics at the Municipal University of Omaha. Towl enrolled in graduate school at Harvard Business School and received his MBA in 1936. After completing his MBA, Towl accepted a position with the Provident Trust Company of Philadelphia. He stayed with this bank for eight years, working mainly with investment analysis and operations management. In 1944, Towl returned to HBS as a member of the faculty, and for 31 years was closely involved with the development and teaching of case studies. The positions he held during his tenure at HBS include: Research Fellow, Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Assistant Director of Research, Director of Case Development, and Director of the Intercollegiate Case Clearing House. Towl supervised the collection of thousands of case studies and their distribution both within HBS and to business schools around the world. During his time at HBS, Towl had five temporary leaves of absence to conduct seminars, workshops, and case development programs in 37 countries throughout the world. In addition, Towl published numerous papers, articles, and books, including To Study Administration by Cases, published in 1969. Towl was considered a leading authority on the case method teaching and research. He retired from HBS in 1975.