Dr. Srilata A. Zaheer was named dean of the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management Mar. 8, according to an announcement by the university’s Provost Karen Hanson.
“Dean-designate Zaheer is a rare combination of someone who is renowned for her insights on international business, highly regarded for her understanding of the global and local businesses that drive the Minnesota economy, and acutely aware of the needs of the Carlson School as it continues to educate the world’s current and future business leaders,” Hanson said in a press release.
Zaheer’s work as interim dean during the past nine months, which included strengthening business partnerships, developing innovative business and research practices, and a commitment to diversity, makes her appointment consistent with university president Eric W. Kaler’s other recent appointments, and with the Carlson School’s mission, added Hanson.
Zaheer, the Elmer L. Andersen Chair in Global Corporate Social Responsibility, joined the Carlson School in 1991 and most recently held the position of associate dean of faculty and research prior to her appointment to interim dean in June 2011.
She earned a Ph.D. in international management from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a master’s in business from the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad.
Zaheer, whose research has centered around the risks faced by multinational corporations and on the impact of technology on international location and organization, has won several international awards for her research, including the Eldridge Haynes Award for the best interdisciplinary work in international management.
The Indian American professor was named a 2007 Fellow of the Academy of International Business, the highest honor in the field, and was a consulting editor of the Journal of International Business Studies.
She is a founding member of the International Academic Council of the Indian School of Business, set up by McKinsey, Kellogg, and Wharton in Hyderabad. Zaheer also served as co-director of the Center for Integrative Leadership at the University of Minnesota.
The salary of the new dean will be $480,000, of which $270,000 will be paid for with private funds from the Elmer Andersen Chair, which Zaheer will continue to hold, and the Leadership Distinguished Chair, which was created to support the deanship.
The university is located in Minneapolis.