▼ Tips for advancement from three women deans
● These women in top leadership positions talk about their career paths and offer lessons for others
The gap between women and men in leadership roles at US business schools has been shrinking, especially as more women are promoted to positions that are steppingstones to deanships. In 2023-24 women deans at 368 US business schools represented 30% of the total, according to research by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. That’s an increase from 17% in 2007-08. What’s more, the AACSB found, women now account for 43% of associate business school deans, a position that often leads to a deanship; 34% currently in that role were once associate B-school deans.
Women still lag men considerably when it comes to deanships. The vast majority of women who are deans now have spent most of their careers underrepresented as faculty members and in leadership positions, says Sharon Matusik, dean of the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.
One reason for the scarcity is that women have had more difficulty gaining tenure and full professorships at B-schools, which are often prerequisites for the top job, Matusik says. Women make up 40.3% of tenure-track faculty at business schools globally, “but that’s where the progression stalls,” according to a 2022-23 AACSB survey. Only 25.7% are full professors, the survey found.
We asked three women deans to describe their paths and share what experiences they think can help others advance to the top. They’ve run programs at large and smaller schools and in locations throughout the US. Their remarks have been edited for clarity and length.
● WEN MAO
Villanova School of Business
Before being named dean in 2023, I was vice dean overseeing all our internal programs. And prior to that, I served as associate dean of faculty, so I have an in-depth knowledge of how the school runs. Now my focus has shifted more to telling our story to alumni, business partners and others.
The best way to encourage women to be leaders is to give them examples of success. Four of the five associate and assistant deans here are women, and I’m not the first female dean—i’m the second. Our students see women leadership in all forms.
My mentors convinced me that you don’t need a certain personality to lead. You can be shy or assertive. When I first stepped on this campus, as an assistant economics professor after coming to the US from China and then getting a PH.D. at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, I felt at home. There was a sense of community and belonging to something that’s greater than me. Being a dean wasn’t my original plan, but having a community that has been and is excited for me to do well pulls you in.
● SHARON MATUSIK
University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business It’s important that women faculty make it to full professor, because that opens up other leadership opportunities. Getting tenure is superhard; you have to stay very focused. It’s not uncommon for women to take their foot off the gas, especially because they’re often having and raising children at the same time as they’re trying to advance their careers. Women need support at home as well as in the office. I have two daughters, and I have a superengaged husband. His involvement raising our children helped me to become a full professor and dean at Leeds School of Business [at the University of Colorado].
Another thing that’s been helpful: My field is strategy and entrepreneurship, which involves understanding how all the pieces in an organization operate and work together. I was in leadership roles at Leeds [as academic director at the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship and senior associate dean for faculty and research] before becoming dean there. At the center we were trying to build a bridge between internal and external constituents, between what students want and what industry wants. Now, as a dean, so much of my role is acting as a bridge between the school and external stakeholders.
My daughters are close in age to our students, and that’s helped me see things from the lens of students when attracting and onboarding them at Ross. It makes for a more nuanced understanding.
● LISA ORDÓÑEZ
University of California at San Diego’s Rady School of Management
Women not only need to do everything well to get tenure and promotions, they need to be able to speak up for themselves and take credit when they’ve earned it and say they’re thinking of leadership positions. It’s also helpful to have a group of people or someone who champions you to others, who will say, “Put her on that committee.” In my own case [at Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona for 25 years], I had my view on all aspects of the school. I didn’t know anything about executive education until I started teaching it. And I didn’t know about budgets, but that was part of being the vice dean there. By doing different things, I got to see what was going on in a lot of different areas.
At Rady, which is a young and small school, I’m trying to create an environment where everyone can be heard and be themselves. I think we need leaders who are OK knowing they aren’t always the smartest person in the room. I’m surrounded by brilliant researchers and staff, and I have to be willing and able to listen. I’ve had feedback that isn’t so pleasant sometimes, and I have to be able to examine myself. Carol Hymowitz
THE BOTTOM LINE US B-schools have seen a major rise in the representation of women deans over the past 15 years. They now constitute 30% of the top leadership roles at these institutions.
To read interviews with two more women deans, visit bloomberg.com/ businessweek