Dear Colleagues,
I write with the news that Ann Harrison will be stepping down as the dean of the Haas School of Business on July 31, 2024. She will transition to serve on the Haas faculty on a part-time basis, which will allow her to spend more time with her family, who have relocated, and to focus on her research.
Dean Harrison has led Berkeley Haas since January 2019, when she became the second woman to lead this top-ranked business school. Her deep ties to Berkeley — she earned her bachelor’s from UC Berkeley in economics and history, and served as a professor in the College of Agricultural and Resource Economics for 10 years — have allowed her to make far-reaching changes at Haas in a short time.
Dean Harrison’s top priority was to embed a sustainability mindset in all of Haas’ programs and operations. This resulted in a sustainability certificate and a dual degree in business and climate solutions with the Rausser College of Natural Resources at the MBA level, as well as a summer minor in sustainable business and policy.
During her tenure, Dean Harrison appointed the first-ever Haas chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer and chief sustainability officer. She orchestrated a major diversity, equity, inclusion, justice and belonging (DEIJB) effort that broadened the profile of the school’s faculty, board and student body, and created learning opportunities and anti-bias training for the entire Haas community. Her focus on innovation and entrepreneurship resulted in a new faculty group and an entrepreneurship hub, slated to open this fall, for students from across the Berkeley campus to envision new companies and products.
In addition, Dean Harrison expanded the school’s degree offerings with the Flex online MBA cohort and worked closely with the Berkeley School of Public Health, the School of Engineering, Biological Sciences and the School of Law to bolster their joint programs. Haas hired 40 new ladder faculty (FTE) during her five-year tenure, 19 of whom are women. She also nearly doubled the number of faculty positions that are funded by Haas or by philanthropic funds.
Under Dean Harrison’s leadership, Haas has also stepped up fundraising and raised $236 million since 2019. This includes the largest single gift in the school’s history — $30 million from alumnus Ned Spieker, B.S. ‘66, and his wife, Carol, B.S. ‘66 — to turn the upper-division undergraduate business program into a four-year program.
When naming her Dean of the Year in 2023, the publication Poets & Quants called her tenure an “unimaginable and nearly breathtaking record of achievement.”
We will send a request regarding nominations for an interim dean in the coming days. Although search timelines often change, our current goal is to post the advertisement for the permanent dean position in early fall 2024, conduct interviews in late fall and/or early spring, and announce the new Haas dean in spring 2025, aiming for a July 1, 2025 start date.
Please join me in thanking Dean Harrison for her incredible leadership and numerous accomplishments during her term as the dean.
At a personal level, as can be attested by anyone who has had the pleasure of working with her, Ann is wonderful to partner with. She is full of innovative ideas that go beyond Haas; hence, not only has she made Haas better, but she’s also made the campus better. Her leadership will be sorely missed.
Sincerely,
Benjamin E. Hermalin
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost