B-School deans: back to basics

For the last 15 years, Mahendra R. Gupta has been a beloved professor of accounting and management at the Washington University in St. Louis' Olin School of Business. Students have honored him with the school's prestigious Reid Teaching Award for excellence seven times since 2001. And faculty and administrators have showered him with praise.

So it was no surprise when the school chose Gupta, 49, as its new dean, effective July 1, replacing Stuart Greenbaum, who's retiring after 10 years in charge. Or was it? An academic insider was chosen for Olin's top job instead of a well-known personality from the corporate world.

LESS FLASH, MORE RESPECT. For all his high standing as a teacher, Gupta isn't widely known in the business world. He grew up in India and received his BS from Bombay University before earning his MS at Carnegie Mellon and PhD in business at Stanford University. His expertise is in accounting, and his research focuses on the economics of health care.

But it seems Gupta's appointment is part of a back-to-basics trend among the appointment of new B-school heads. In the wake of corporate scandals and the falloff in MBA enrollment nationwide, many colleges are turning away from flashy corporate types and bringing in solid, likeable, and respected academics instead.

Indeed, since early April, both Yale and American University's Kogod School of Business in Washington, D.C., have tapped strong academics as their new deans. Whatever the new chiefs lack in flash, they make up in scholarly standing and the respect of their peers.

"NEW REALITY." Gupta is typical of the new breed. Far from talking about making expensive new additions to the school's facilities or raising tons of new money, his main focus will be nuts-and-bolts improvements, with a heavy emphasis on academics. "My wish is for the school to be recognized as a global leader in education and research," says Gupta, who's already leading efforts to completely revamp Olin's career-services operation.

He'll have his work cut out for him. After cresting at 16 in 1996, Olin had fallen steadily in the BusinessWeek B-school rankings before bumping itself up one place to 23 in 2004. In the past, the school had lost points with students for poor job-placement efforts. Only about 64% of graduates had a job offer by commencement last year, and by three months after commencement the figure had only climbed to 80% -- relatively low compared to other top-tier schools. Students said the few recruiters Olin could attract lacked diversity.

Olin recognizes that it needs to boost its performance. "Every school has to think about positioning itself in the new reality, where admissions are down and B-schools are under duress," says Joe Fox, Olin's associate dean for MBA Programs.

DECENCY AND LIKEABILITY. Adds Anjan Thakor, the college's John E. Simon professor of finance and head of the search committee: "Things have changed in B-schools since the 1990s. Because of this structural shift, building strong ties with the business community and deciding whether we should offer more niche programs will be important." Indeed, developing relationships with recruiters, investing in the MBA program, and globalizing executive-education offerings top the priority list, says Gupta.

Olin insiders argue that Gupta is up to the challenge, but when they explain why, one of the main reasons they give is his decency and likeability. "He's just such a good person -- genuine, enthusiastic, passionate, and fun," Fox says. The question now is whether these nice-guy deans can make the tough decisions necessary to get their schools rising in the national rankings again.

•	B-School deans: back to basics In the tough post-corporate-scandal era, respected academics have been picked instead of prominent business names to head MBA programs MSNBC.com, Monday, May 9, 2005 Byline: Francesca Di Meglio, BusinessWeek Online

	Story also ran in 1 others:  BusinessWeek Online