Lehigh welcomes new dean: Georgette Phillips aims to improve CBE reputation, resources

Donuts, pizza and wings are the sorts of foods one normally gets with friends. Despite her prestigious position, Dean Georgette Chapman Phillips hosted meals with students featuring such foods in an effort to become better acquainted with them.

Phillips was appointed the new dean of the College of Business and Economics in July 2014.

“She brings a very personable, engaging personality into the dean’s office,” said Paul Brockman, senior associate dean for faculty and academic affairs.

Phillips was previously at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania for 22 years, serving as the vice dean for technology-enhanced learning; the vice dean of the undergraduate division; and a professor of real, law and Africana studies. She said one of the things that attracted her most to Lehigh was its interdisciplinary nature of education.

“By definition, I’m interdisciplinary,” she said. “I cross a lot of boundaries, so I like the idea that Lehigh makes it easy for the College of Business and Economics to cross boundaries.”

Andrew Ward, associate dean of graduate programs, believes that Phillips’ appointment will aid in making the business school more visible along with helping improve the reputation and the resources of the school.

Ward said Phillips will tweak some things for the undergraduate programs, but the more drastic changes will take place on the graduate side. Phillips is currently most focused on developing new programs for the graduate school that are both market-relevant and play on Lehigh’s strengths.

“My vision for the business school is intellectual thought leadership, transformative student experiences across disciplinary boundaries and generation of societal value,” Phillips said.

She also wishes to make the business school more prominent, which she hopes to do by creating multi-layer curricular opportunities for undergraduate, masters, MBA, PhD and executive education. Phillips said those five areas aren’t currently being covered, but need to be.

On Wednesday, there will be a vote for an initiative pertaining to pre-experience masters, which will be a program for people who don’t have undergraduate business education and want business skills for the job market. If the initiative passes, the program will be open to everyone, regardless of whether they are Lehigh students. However, students cannot come from the business school.

The students would gain more than just a business core. The program also focuses on how to develop one’s personal brand, business etiquette, presentation skills, career exploration, understanding of strengths and weaknesses and intense career counseling.

“I think she’s changed the tone,” Ward said. “I think she’s come in, and she’s already making her mark on the school. She started the process of introducing some new programs, especially new graduate programs. A lot of these things take time to come to fruition, but she’s got a very clear sense of where she wants the college of business to go and how to get there.”

Ward added that Phillips has been very clear in communicating her vision to faculty, students and the administration.

“I move very quickly,” Phillips said. “I move with deliberate speed in that I’m not reckless, I’m not rash, I don’t make spur-of-the-moment decisions. I think very carefully; I weigh options, pros and cons, but I see no sense in going slow for the sake of going slow.”

She said she plans to help the school start thinking of itself as a business school and not just an undergraduate program that is part of the university. She also hopes to instill more pride in students for being part of the College of Business and Economics.

“There’s a lot of Lehigh pride, and that’s really great because there’s a lot to be proud of in being part of this university, but I think that we within College of Business and Economics have a lot to stand up and be proud of,” Phillips said.

Phillips said she loves that economics is part of the business school because she believes economics is the foundation for all business curricula. This allows for the economics faculty to inform and help the business students, enabling them to build off of one another, according to Phillips.

Since her appointment, Phillips has gotten to know an array of people. Ward said she has meet with a remarkable amount of people, both within the university and externally in the community. She has met with local businesses and constituencies, along with alumni.

“She’s been hearing a lot of voices to get a good sense of what Lehigh is all about and what she needs to do,” Ward said.

Phillips also hosts open office hours every Wednesday afternoon. On the first day of classes, she had donuts with the dean for underclassmen, pizza with the dean for graduate students, and, on another occasion, had wings with the dean for the juniors and seniors. There were vegetarian options available at the wings with the dean meal, as fried green beans were served.

“They’re like vegetable crack because once you start in on those boys, you can’t stop,” Phillips said.

Ward noted that, for a dean, she has been very accessible to students and interacts with them in an informal manner. Brockman said that students can see her enthusiasm to interact with them and that there is mutual respect among them.

“Dean Phillips brings a unique and powerful combination of experience, energy and fresh perspective that holds great promise for leading substantive improvement in what is already an outstanding business school,” said Katrina Zalatan, associate dean and director of undergraduate programs.

Thus far, Phillips believes that she has had a smooth transition to Lehigh. She said she couldn’t have asked for a more warm welcome and that she can’t believe how genuinely nice everybody has been to her.

“She obviously is very well acquainted with what it takes to be a premier business school, and I think that gives her the ability and the credibility to come here and take the college of business to the next level,” Ward said.