Erika H. James has been reappointed to a second term as dean of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Her new contract extends her appointment through June 30, 2032.
In 2020, Dr. James became the first woman and first African American to lead the Wharton School since its founding in 1881. The school has long been considered one of the most prestigious business schools in the United States. According to U.S. News & World Report, Wharton offers the best undergraduate business education and the second-best MBA program in the country.
“It takes exceptional leadership to advance the world’s most exceptional business school,” said University of Pennsylvania President J. Larry Jameson. “Doing so through a global pandemic and historic headwinds for higher education makes Dean James’s first term all the more impressive. After reviewing Wharton’s investments in academic excellence, innovative new programs and initiatives, strengthened alumni relations, outstanding faculty and students, curricular reforms, revenue growth, and increased operational efficiency and effectiveness, the Consultative Review Committee unanimously endorsed Dean James’s reappointment. I agree and look forward to all she and Wharton will accomplish in her second term.”
Before joining the Wharton School, Dr. James was the John H. Harland Dean of the Goizueta Business School at Emory University in Atlanta. Prior to her tenure at Emory, she was senior associate dean for executive education at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. Earlier, she was a faculty member with the Freeman School of Business at Tulane University in New Orleans.
As a scholar, Dr. James, the Reliance Professor of Management and Private Enterprise, is known for her expertise in crisis leadership, workplace diversity, and management strategy. Her latest book is The Prepared Leader: Emerge from Any Crisis More Resilient Than Before (Wharton School Press, 2022).
Dr. James is a graduate of Pomona College in Claremont, California, where she majored in psychology. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in organizational psychology from the University of Michigan.
