Associate dean for faculty at the Tuck School of Business Matthew Slaughter has been appointed the school’s 10th dean, the College announced Thursday afternoon. Slaughter, who is also the Signal Companies’ professor of management and has been at the College since 1994, will assume the role on July 1.
He will succeed Dean Paul Danos, who announced in March that he would not be seeking reappointment after 20 years in office. He will finish his fifth term in June 2015.
Slaughter currently serves as the associate dean for faculty and is the founder and faculty director of Tuck’s Center for Global Business and Government. Previously, he served as the associate dean of the MBA program and has public sector experience, serving on the Council of Economic Advisors in the Executive office of the President of the United States from 2005 to 2007. He also is a member of the Congressional Budget Office’s Panel of Economic Advisers.
In an interview with The Dartmouth, Slaughter said that he hopes to refine and strengthen aspects of Tuck’s MBA and undergraduate programs, such as the Tuck Business Bridge program. He also said that he plans to work with faculty and alumni to anticipate where business education will be in the coming years and how to best position Tuck to address those needs.
In addition, Slaughter said he hopes to create new undergraduate-focused spaces within Tuck’s opportunities, citing the popularity and success of the undergraduate-oriented December Tuck Bridge session as an example of undergraduate interest in business education.
Slaughter cited his work at the CEA as an experience that would help him in directing Tuck in an increasingly globalized business world. In this Senate-appointed role, Slaughter advised President George W. Bush and his cabinet on the international economy, currency and energy markets and the competitiveness of the U.S. economy.
“When I was working with the government, we thought a lot about the global economy, how the world is changing and how the U.S. fits into that,” Slaughter said. “I think it’s a good parallel for Tuck today. As the global economy and emerging markets change, the kind of academic thought process I used to think about how the U.S. fits in the world will help me see how Tuck can fit into that.”
Slaughter graduated summa cum laude from the University of Notre Dame in 1990 with a degree in economics. After receiving a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994, he came to Dartmouth to teach economics, until 2001, and moved to join the faculty at Tuck in 2002.
Tuck senior associate dean Bob Hansen, who served as the head of the search committee for the vacancy, said that the committee aimed to find someone who could understand and appreciate Tuck’s history and traditions while having the capability to move forward into the future. Hansen said that Slaughter’s experience and tenure at the College, as well as his positive relationships with students and faculty, makes him uniquely qualified to assume this role.
Hansen said there is a “delicate balance” between where Tuck is now and where it may end up.
“We were looking for somebody who could chart that new path for us, but one that starts from where we are,” he said.
Tuck finance professor B. Espen Eckbo expressed support of Slaughter’s appointment. He said that Slaughter’s work thus far at Tuck combines strong research with in-depth teaching, something he hopes Slaughter will continue to emphasize in his role as dean.
One challenge for Tuck, Eckbo said, is its isolation. While Tuck is positioned near the top of the business school rankings, he said its location in Hanover poses a challenge to recruiting strong faculty and students. The small town setting can make it difficult for spouses of potential students and professors to find jobs, which makes relocating to accept a position at Tuck less appealing. Eckbo said that Tuck can strengthen its recruiting power by building connections and collaborating with other departments and the Geisel School of Medicine for “dual-career opportunities.”
Hansen reiterated the importance of recruiting both students and faculty for maintaining Tuck’s reputation and standing in business education. He emphasized the increasingly competitive nature of business schools fighting for the top spots in the country.
“Students are not just looking for the best curriculum or the best career placement,” Hansen said. “They want the best overall environment, alumni networking and the two-year experience.”
Hansen also said that students are increasingly considering tuition and scholarships when picking a business school. While Tuck continues to do well in its scholarship offerings, Hansen said the bar is constantly being raised by other schools throughout the country.
Following the announcement that Danos would be stepping down, Provost Carolyn Dever reached out to Hansen to form a search committee. The committee then consulted with an outside executive search firm, Spencer Stuart, to complete the search. Hansen said that the firm helped to create a list of top leaders in business education who would serve well in the role. Hansen said that the position garnered a significant amount of interest from candidates.
“There are a lot of people who if they want to be the dean of a business school, Tuck is where they’d like to be,” Hansen said.
After several finalists were chosen, College President Phil Hanlon and Dever made their final selection.
Hansen also said that while Slaughter comes from the Tuck faculty and from the College’s economics department before that, his appointment should not be thought of as an internal recruitment. He emphasized that the search committee and the firm considered many applicants from a wide array of backgrounds in an open search, and that Slaughter ultimately emerged as the strongest candidate.
“I’m equal parts excited and humbled to take on this role,” Slaughter said. “I hope to do a good job to help Tuck succeed as part of Dartmouth and the broader business world.”
