From Michael W. Quick, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
On behalf of President Wanda Austin, I write to announce the search for the new dean of the USC Marshall School of Business.
This search comes at an important time for our university and for the Marshall School. We want to continue the tremendous momentum at the school, which is renowned for its academic rigor, strong interdisciplinary research, and attracting the most talented students and faculty from across the globe. Recent successes include achieving a top ten undergraduate ranking, becoming the first business school to have more than 50% women in an MBA class, creating cutting-edge programs such as the World Bachelor in Business and the Master in Business for Veterans, and opening new facilities, such as the Jill and Frank Fertitta Hall.
Because of the Marshall School’s vital importance to the university, I will lead the advisory search committee, co-chaired by Andrew Guzman, dean of the USC Gould School of Law, and holder of the Carl Mason Franklin Chair in Law, and Professor of Law and Political Science. This committee will identify and recruit the best candidates. Members of this committee represent a range of expertise and experience from across the Marshall School. The roster is attached to this memo. Please join me in thanking these faculty for agreeing to take on this significant task.
The committee and I will be reaching out to the faculty, staff, students, and supporters of the Marshall School during the search process. I thank you in advance for your input.
Supporting the search committee in their work will be Kristine Johnson and Chuck Jordan from the executive recruitment firm Spencer Stuart, and Robin Romans, Associate Vice Provost.
I am also pleased to announce that I have a created a special group of advisors who represent important Marshall constituencies and who will be available to the committee throughout the search. These advisors include Jaime Lee, CEO of Jamison Realty and member of the USC Board of Trustees; Eric Holoman (Marshall ’83), president of Magic Johnson Enterprises and member of the USC Marshall Board of Leaders; Sharoni Little, associate dean and chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer at USC Marshall; Sunny Donenfeld, senior associate dean for finance and administration and chief financial officer at USC Marshall; Weber Wong, president, USC Marshall Undergraduate Student Association; and Parin Patel, president, USC Marshall Graduate Student Association. I want to thank them in advance for their guidance during the process.
As the advisory search committee moves forward, the same rules of engagement will guide its work as have been observed in all our dean searches: (1) All nominations will come before the advisory search committee without filtering; (2) during the entire process, there will be no votes by any group or constituency, including the advisory search committee; (3) those who have views about the final candidates will be invited to send their comments to the search committee or to me directly and confidentially; and (4) the final choice of the dean is made by the president.
I am grateful to Dean Ellis for his leadership during this transition. Dean Ellis and President Austin have agreed that he will stay on as dean of the school until a new dean is announced, after a national search.
cc: Wanda Austin
Marshall School of Business Board of Leaders
Academic Senate
President’s Cabinet
Provost’s Cabinet
Academic Deans