Michigan Ross Dean to Step Down in 2016
Alison Davis-Blake has announced she will resign as dean of the University of Michigan Ross School of Business when her five-year term ends in June 2016, according to an e-mail sent to Ross School students and staff Monday.
Davis-Blake, who is one of only nine female deans heading a top-50 business school in the United States, says she is hoping to take up a broader university role, such as provost or president, to focus on the problems and opportunities facing universities.
The dean counts numerous successes during her tenure at Ross, including launching a successful capital campaign that has already raised more than $213 million; hiring 25 percent of all current tenure-track faculty; and tripling the number of undergraduate students who have a global experience as part of their education.
Before her deanship at the Ross School began in 2011, Davis-Blake had served as dean of the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota since 2006. Previously, she was a management professor and associate dean at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas. Prior to that, she was a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business.
“Beyond the business school realm, there are significant challenges that face all universities, in both professional and liberal education,” she tells Michigan news outlet MLive. “I find myself eager to contribute solutions to these larger challenges during what will surely be a time of significant change in higher education.”
With more than a year left in her term, Davis-Blake has allowed time for a smooth transition as university Provost Martha Pollack and President Mark Schlissel begin to recruit for her replacement.
