Annette Ranft, a UT management professor, has been recognized as a “shining star” among the ranks of business school administration, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Ranft, who is also the associate dean of academic programs and the Reagan Professor of Business in the College of Business Administration, was one of eleven women recently honored by the newspaper.
Women are a relatively rare sight in the top ranks of business school administration, accounting for only about 18 percent of US business school deans in 2011, the Journal noted. But that is changing, as schools are aggressively recruiting female administrators.
The Journal asked executive search firms and current deans to name the industry’s shining and rising female stars—those who either have made it or are well on their way. The inquiry produced the eleven names.
“It’s an honor to be in the company of this incredible group of business school leaders and a privilege to be working at UT,” Ranft said. “I believe in the value of higher education and its ability to impact a society one individual at a time.”
Ranft joined UT in 2011 from Florida State University.
She received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Appalachian State University, her master’s degree in management from Georgia Tech, and her doctorate in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Ranft is an active member of the Strategic Management Society, the Academy of Management, and the Southern Management Association. She currently serves as an associate editor of the Journal of Management and is on the editorial review boards of the Academy of Management Review and the Strategic Management Journal.
Her research interests are primarily in the areas of knowledge management, strategic leadership, and innovation, particularly in the context of corporate acquisitions. Ranft’s work has been published in top journals, including the Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, the Journal of International Business Studies, and the Journal of Management.
Ranft has served as department head of management at Florida State University and on the faculties at Wake Forest University and West Virginia University.
Prior to joining academia, she worked as a systems consultant at AT&T and an account manager at EDS.
Joining Ranft on the Wall Street Journal‘s list are:
- Susan J. Ashford, management and organizations professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and academic director of the school’s executive MBA program
- Sally Blount, dean of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management
- Alison Davis-Blake, dean of the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business
- Janice C. Eberly, assistant secretary for economic policy, US Department of the Treasury
- Joan T. A. Gabel, dean of the University of Missouri’s Robert J. Trulaske Sr. College of Business
- Sarah Gardial, dean of the University of Iowa’s Henry B. Tippie College of Business. Gardial joined Tippie this summer after more than twenty-five years at UT, where she was a faculty member and administrator in the College of Business Administration and vice provost for faculty affairs.
- Judy D. Olian, dean of the University of California, Los Angeles’s Anderson School of Management
- Christine A. Poon, dean of Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business
- Karen Hopper Wruck, finance professor and associate dean for graduate programs at Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business
- Sri Zaheer, dean of the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management
Read the complete article at the Wall Street Journal.
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CONTACTS:
Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lalapo@utk.edu)
Cindy Raines (865-974-4359, craines1@utk.edu)