Anderson, Ira Dennis, 1907-

Ira Dennis Anderson was born in Mentone, Indiana on September 8, 1907, the son of Emra D. and Lenna A. (Coplen). Anderson joined the faculty of Northwestern University in 1937, and together with Delbert Duncan, established the Graduate Internship program in Retailing and Advertising. Anderson chaired the Marketing Department from 1950-53 and served as Associate Dean and Director of the Undergraduate Division of the Business School from 1953-63. Co-author of several marketing texts, Anderson retired from Northwestern in 1974. He died January 25, 1993.

Anderson attended Indiana University, from which he received a Bachelor of Science in 1929; and Northwestern University from which he received a Master of Business Administration in 1930, and a PhD in Commerce in 1944. Anderson married Virginia McCarty on August 22, 1931. He taught merchandising at the University of Notre Dame, 1931-32, marketing and merchandising at Indiana University, 1932-1933, and business administration at Ohio Wesleyan University, 1933-35. He also served as the Assistant Chief of Retail Trade of the U. S. Bureau of Census, 1935-37.

Anderson joined the faculty at Northwestern in 1937 as an Assistant Professor of Marketing; was promoted to Associate Professor in Marketing in 1944; and was appointed Professor in Marketing in 1949.

Immediately upon joining the Northwestern faculty, Anderson and Delbert Duncan, a colleague in the School of Commerce, established the “Graduate Internship” program in Retailing and Advertising which placed students enrolled in the School of Commerce with Chicago-area firms as part of a work-study arrangement negotiated with the respective firms.

Anderson chaired the Marketing Department from 1950-53 and served as Associate Dean and Director of the Undergraduate Division of the Business School from 1953-63. He also taught marketing at UCLA as a visiting Associate Professor in 1949. He was the president of the American Marketing Association in 1955, and the American Consul to the Special Committee on Commerce Education in India during the summer of 1959.

Dean Anderson was involved in program design and curriculum innovation on many fronts, utilizing national key resource personnel and special funding from the Ford Foundation. For a period during 1956 through 1963 a new “liberalized” focus was sought to broaden the undergraduate business course of study. A grant of $250,000 provided for visiting faculty members, consultants, and the release of additional faculty time for course development, preparation of case studies, and other teaching materials, ultimately redesigning the business curriculum within a liberal arts framework.

Course scheduling and staffing were additional responsibilities of Dean Anderson, as well as involvement in curriculum changes for the MBA program and the College Recruit Program, an experimental eight week program for recent college graduates, sponsored by the Bell System.

Co-author of several marketing texts, Anderson retired from Northwestern in 1974. He died January 25, 1993.

From the guide to the Associate Dean and Director of the Undergraduate Division of the Business School, Ira D. Anderson (1907-1993) Records, 1937-1963, (Northwestern University Archives)