New B-School Dean at George Washington University

Posted by: Louis Lavelle on June 15, 2010

George Washington University’s School of Business (GW Full-Time MBA Profile) yesterday announced that it has a new dean, plucked from the faculty at New York University Stern School of Business (Stern Full-Time MBA Profile). Doug Guthrie taught at Harvard Business School (Harvard Full-Time MBA Profile), INSEAD (INSEAD Full-Time MBA Profile), Stanford (Stanford Full-Time MBA Profile), Columbia (Columbia Full-Time MBA Profile), and Emory (Emory Full-Time MBA Profile), and holds a joint appointment at NYU’s College of Arts and Sciences.

In a press release issued by GWU, Guthrie is quoted as saying he plans to focus on globalization, leadership, corporate social responsibility, and ethics, and that he will encourage students and faculty to go beyond a narrow definition of business and to “think more broadly about the role of the corporation in society and what that means to train our future leaders.” He went on:

I am thrilled about joining the GW community. At the School of Business we will be continuing the process of building a business school that truly stands at the center of business, politics and society. With the advantages of the Washington, D.C. community, we plan on making this a school that educates future leaders in a way that no other business school can. It is going to be a business school that is different than any other.

I find it interesting that GW is now the second b-school that recently named a dean with academic specialties in ethics and leadership in the wake of a financial crisis during which b-schools have been cited as one possible cause. At Harvard, it was Nitin Nohria.

What’s everybody think about that? Is it a reaction to the crisis, and can we expect more? (Chicago is on the verge of naming a new dean even as I write.) Is it the right way to transform b-schools, if you believe b-schools are in need of a post-crisis transformation?