Dean Search Status At HBS Is Unclear

Lawrence H. Summers’ resignation as University president leaves the status of the dean search at Harvard Business School (HBS) uncertain.

Summers appointed Acting HBS Dean Jay O. Light last June after the abrupt departure of the school’s then-leader, Kim B. Clark ’74, who took a post as president of Brigham Young University-Idaho.

Though Summers has been leading the search process, some HBS professors have expressed doubts about the course of the dean search following Summers’ resignation.

In an interview with The Crimson yesterday, Summers said he will guarantee that HBS and the Graduate School of Education (GSE), both of which lack long-term deans, lie in steady hands.

He said he will consult with the Harvard Corporation, incoming Interim President Derek C. Bok, and faculty in the dean search process.

“I think it’s clear that there needs to be leadership in place in July in these schools,” Summers said.

However, Summers did not say whether the new appointments will be temporary or permanent.

“There will be a dean or acting dean of the HBS and the GSE on July 1,” he said. “Of that I’m confident.”

Summers has progressively been adding more key players to the dean search, acknowledging in a press conference last Tuesday a more visible role for the Corporation, and adding yesterday that he would also consult with Bok.

HBS professors contacted by The Crimson this week were not aware of the status of the dean search in the wake of Summers’ resignation.

“In this state, we are in a kind of blackout period,” said Baker Foundation Professor Robert S. Kaplan, who is also a member of the 15-member faculty advisory committee to the dean search. “I’ve heard nothing.”

Last Thursday, Light sent a statement to members of HBS expressing uncertainty about the direction of the dean search.

“At the moment, we don’t know how President Summers’ resignation will affect the search for a dean of the Harvard Business School,” Light wrote.

Kirstein Professor of Human Relations Jay W. Lorsch said HBS professors are questioning whether the Corporation or the next president should make the appointment instead of Summers.

“There is a substantial number of people who are worried,” Lorsch said.

Lorsch added that Summers’ dean appointment may not have legitimacy, as the outgoing president is a “lame duck.”

But Shad Professor of Business Ethics Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. wrote in an e-mail that Summers is in a position to make a well-informed decision.

“For what it’s worth, I haven’t heard anyone say a delay makes sense,” Badaracco wrote.

In addition to creating a faculty committee for the search, Summers met with HBS professors and put together an alumni advisory board.

“Larry has put in a lot of the work, and to undertake a similar search a year from now would be a significant amount of effort,” said Roth Professor of Retailing Rajiv Lal. “It’s the president’s prerogative to appoint the dean. I don’t see how one can question that prerogative,” Lal added.

Without a new dean, HBS will not be able to reevaluate the school’s focus on globalization, entrepreneurship, technology, and ethics established by Clark, according to Baker Foundation Professor F. Warren McFarlan ’59, who is also a member of the dean search committee.

In October, The Crimson reported that seven candidates had emerged as frontrunners in the dean search. HBS professors contacted by The Crimson this week said they did not know about any changes to the list.

Dickinson Professor of Accounting Srikant M. Datar, who was named a favorite for the deanship by both the Financial Times and Business Week, said he did not know how the dean search would proceed.

“At some levels, only the president would know because he is the one that has to make the decision,” said Datar.

—Staff writers Nicholas M. Ciarelli and Javier C. Hernandez contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Madeline W. Lissner can be reached at mlissner@fas.harvard.edu.