There are a lot of expectations riding on Sally Blount, the first woman to be appointed dean of one of the top-tier US business schools. She will take over as dean at the Kellogg school at Northwestern University this summer, arguably becoming the most influential female dean in the world.
Prof Blount's trailblazing appointment is part of a growing trend for women to pin the top job in business school. In North America there has been a rush of female appointments in the past few years – the Universities of Miami and South Carolina and Loyola's Sellinger school, to name three. The deans there join a list of extremely experienced women who have been running the show for years – Alison Davis-Blake at Minnesota, Carol Stephenson at Ivey, Linda Livingstone at Pepperdine, Judy Olian at UCLA and Carolyn Woo at Notre Dame.
Prof Woo, dean at Notre Dame's Mendoza school for the past 13 years, argues that business schools are behind the trend. Four of the eight Ivy League universities – Brown, Harvard, Pennsylvania and Princeton – already have women presidents. It is because of these presidential appointments that women have finally broken through the credibility barrier, says Prof Woo.