MBA Profiles: Dean Erika James (part 1)
MBA Mama is ecstatic to publish our first exclusive interview with a top business school Dean. We recently connected with Erika James via Twitter and the rest is history. Erika James was appointed Dean of Goizueta Business School on May 19, 2014. Prior to this prestigious appointment, James served as Senior Associate Dean for Executive Education at the Darden Graduate School of Business (Virginia). She introduced the Women’s Leadership Program at Darden, which has the top-ranked faculty for open enrollment programs (Financial Times, 2014). Open enrollment programs at Darden are currently ranked No. 3 in the world (Financial Times, 2014).
Our interview with Dean James will be structured as a 3-part interview. In part 1, Dean James gives us an overview of what Goizueta is currently doing to increase the admission and enrollment of women and she highlights Goizueta recruitment events targeted towards women. One notable development is Goizueta’s involvement with #Engage, a new initiative that encourages business schools to take a hard look at how they influence the success of female students, faculty and staff.
“We have worked to solve gender imbalance in business schools for decades. Unfortunately, most attempts amount to platitudes and marginal gains. Even worse, business itself faces the largest burden if this segment of the talent pool fails to thrive. The public attention and research depicting the experiences of women in business schools and business is tiresome.
More women apply for college than men. Women submit half the applications for graduate programs in law and medicine. But in business, where we often talk about the pay gap, glass ceiling and inequality, little progress has been made. In business education, MBA programs regularly enroll classes that are less than 35 percent female.
We can choose to do things differently and yield different outcomes, or we keep the status quo and generate the same results that lead to leaky pipelines, challenging cultures, limited role models, and pay inequities.
- Goizueta Business School Dean Erika James
In parts 2 and 3 of her exclusive MBA Mama interview, Dean James speaks candidly about the controversial topic of disclosing your MBA mom status during the application process, offers advice for MBA moms, and shares details on childcare resources in and around Emory’s campus. Check out part 1 here and stay tuned for parts 2 and 3.
Click here to learn more about all that Goizueta has to offer prospective MBA candidates. For Dean James’ full bio, click here.
