Tepper School Appoints Female MBA Program Head: MBA News

Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business has appointed Kathryn Barraclough to lead its MBA program. Barraclough arrives from the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University, where she has served, since 2010, as director of the school’s master’s in finance program.

“Kate Barraclough brings an impressive and broad background, ranging from academia to financial services. Her achievements as a scholar, researcher and educational leader were fundamental qualities that led to her appointment,” said the Tepper School’s dean, Robert Dammon.

A former manager at KPMG and a PhD graduate of the Australian National University, Barraclough described her appointment as a “privilege”. Her role will see her chart the strategic direction of the Tepper School’s MBA and oversee all aspects pertaining to the program's administration, from admissions and financial aid to student and career services.

Highest faculty positions is where gender gap persists in AACSB survey

In this light, the Tepper School’s appointment is certainly one that increases the number of female academics holding key leadership positions at business schools in the US, at a time when the gender gap among business faculty still receives less attention than that of female student enrollment.

Indeed, the gender gap for administrative roles at assistant dean and director level have been narrowing, according to figures from the 2015 edition of AACSB’s Business School Data Guide, which show that women holding a role equivalent to ‘assistant dean or director: MBA programs’ now represent 46% of the total in the US and 48% in the world outside the US.

However, the situation is far less positive when considering the gender gap at the very top leadership position of dean and among faculty with full professor status, according to AACSB’s figures.

There have been some notable female appointments – both in the US and internationally – in the past academic year, such as at Rutgers and McGill Desautels. But, the proportion of female deans in the US has risen by a single percentage point since 2013-14 and still stands at less than a quarter, or 23%. Outside the US, AACSB finds a similar predicament in an average of just 22%.

Furthermore, while the gender gap at assistant professor level is said to be narrowing, at professor level, proportions of female faculty are often less than 25%. Some of the worst-performing subject areas found in AACSB’s survey of US schools include finance and real estate – where just 11% and 9% of faculty, respectively, are female. At the level of assistant professor, both these areas have proportions closer to 25%. By comparison, in the field of management, 41% of assistant professors and 27% of full professors are female. So, in all these instances, there is at least hope that we will see more progress in the near future.