Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/62199
Dean Pool Diving into the Meet four new administrators who've just taken on the task of managing a thriving business school. Each brings to the job a unique set of credentials, and with it, a fresh outlook on what it means to be a dean. by Tricia Bisoux The newest class of deans is diving headfirst into the whirlpool of responsibili- ties that accompany managing a business school. They are strategizing, global- izing, amortizing, publicizing, and visualizing in those spare moments between the advisory board meeting and the lunch with the student body president. They are adopting new technologies, emphasizing ethics, integrating curricula, and sometimes even achieving the impossible to keep their schools moving in the right direction. The dean's role has perhaps never been so extensive, so intense, or so integral to a school's ultimate success. After all, business schools are increasingly being run like businesses, which means that their deans are serving as both scholars and academic CEOs. During this time of transition for business schools, management education is experiencing what BusinessWeek magazine calls a "boomlet" of new deans with extensive careers and experience outside academia. Meet four new administrators whose curricula vitae reflect a nontraditional path to the dean's office. Although they each have different visions for their schools, all agree on one important point: It just may be the most remarkable time to be a business school dean. 36 BizEd MARCH/APRIL 2003