Are Deans Selected from Academia Preferable to Deans Selected from the Nonacademic Community? The Pro Position.

To move a business school from where it is to the next higher level of programmatic quality, which is generally the goal of the dean, requires an individual who can provide intellectual leadership and who has first-hand knowledge of how a faculty grows and develops. Also, in the current resource- constrained environment that higher education finds itself, it takes a dean who can passionately sell the intellectual ideas and vision of the faculty for the school to prospective donors. A dean from academia is a better candidate to perform both of those essential tasks.