Poets&Quants, USC Marshall Dean Geoffrey Garrett To Step Down Ahead Of Planned No-Confidence Vote:

Seven months ago, Geoffrey Garrett appeared firmly in control of one of the nation’s most prominent business schools.

In November, the University of Southern California announced that Garrett would serve a second five-year term as dean of the Marshall School of Business, extending the tenure of a leader who had spent more than six years reshaping the school’s global profile while leveraging his stature as a former dean of both the Wharton School and Australia’s University of New South Wales Business School.

On Wednesday (June 10), that confidence came to an abrupt end.

USC announced that Garrett will step down as dean in August and assume a newly created role as Special Advisor to the President for Global Strategy and Engagement. The move comes just weeks before Marshall faculty were scheduled to hold a July 1 vote of no confidence in his leadership.

Faculty criticism of Garrett surfaced publicly this spring, with professors raising concerns about enrollment trends, MBA program performance, governance, administrative decision-making, and the school’s competitive standing.

The dispute became public in April when 52 Marshall faculty members signed a letter warning that the school was on a “downward trajectory.”

As reported by Poets&Quants, professors cited declining enrollment, concerns about proposed cuts to doctoral programs, slipping rankings [from 16th to 25th], and what they viewed as an increasing concentration of decision-making authority among administrators.

• L.A. Material, Inside the Turbulent Departure of USC’s Business School Dean
• California Post, Top California College Quietly Shuffles High-Paid Dean Into New Role as Staff Revolt
• L.A. Material, USC’s Famed Business School Is In Jeopardy, Faculty Say
• California Post, Doomsday Letter From Faculty at Top California Business School Warns of Disturbing Trend
• The College Investor, 52 USC Marshall Professors Sign Letter Warning Of Business School’s “Downward Trajectory”
• USC Annenberg Media, Marshall School of Business Faculty Express Concern Over Worsening Academic Reputation

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