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Dean Review Process

The primary goal of Northwestern’s dean review process is to ensure that school strategies are designed and carried out to enhance a school’s prominence and impact and are aligned with University priorities. The process takes place during the penultimate year of each dean’s five-year term and provides a high-level assessment of a dean's leadership.

The provost appoints a small faculty ad hoc work group to lead community engagement in the school and to provide the provost with advisory input regarding the dean’s performance. Guided by criteria provided by the Office of the Provost, the work group gathers perspectives on the dean's performance. The ad hoc work group conducts a focused set of meetings with dean’s staff, department chairs and program directors, and representative student leaders. Perspectives from the broader school community also are gathered through a survey of faculty and staff. Additionally, perspectives from additional stakeholders, including University leaders and selected fellow deans, are collected to inform a comprehensive view of the dean’s performance. 

Current Reviews

Dean of the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications

Dean Charles Whitaker will be reviewed through this process during Winter and Spring 2023. Provost Kathleen Hagerty appointed a three-person faculty ad hoc review group to lead the engagement process and provide advisory input.

The following faculty members comprise the ad hoc review group for Medill:

  • Peter Slevin, Professor of Journalism (Chair)
  • Ashlee Humphreys, Professor of Integrated Marketing Communications
  • David Tolchinsky, Professor of Radio, Television, and Film and Director of the Pritzker Pucker Studio Lab for the Promotion of Mental Health via Cinematic Arts

Members of the Northwestern community are invited to submit input or questions regarding the Medill dean review process to medilldeanreview@northwestern.edu.

Dean of the Kellogg School of Management

Dean Francesca Cornelli will be reviewed through this process during Winter and Spring 2023. Provost Kathleen Hagerty appointed a four-person faculty ad hoc review group to lead the engagement process and provide advisory input.

The following faculty members comprise the ad hoc review group for Kellogg:

  • Robert Korajczyk, Harry G. Guthmann Professor of Finance and Co-Director of the Financial Institutions and Markets Research Center (Chair)
  • Nour Kteily, Professor of Management and Organizations
  • Nancy Qian, James J. O'Connor Professor of Managerial Economics & Decision Sciences
  • Beverly Walther, Eric L. Kohler Chair and Professor of Accounting Information and Management

Members of the Northwestern community are invited to submit input or questions regarding the Kellogg dean review process to kelloggdeanreview@northwestern.edu.

Past Dean Reviews

  • Dean David Figlio in the School of Education and Social Policy (SESP) was reviewed through this process during Winter and Spring 2021. The review resulted in the announcement of Dean Figlio’s reappointment on Oct. 7, 2021. Figlio departed the University on May 15, 2022, to become provost at the University of Rochester.
  • Dean Adrian Randolph in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences was reviewed through this process during Spring and Summer 2019. The review resulted in the announcement of Dean Randolph’s reappointment on Nov. 4, 2019, with his second five-year term as dean beginning on Sept. 1, 2020.

If you have any questions or input on the dean review process, please email Associate Provost for Strategy and Policy Roma Khanna at roma.khanna@northwestern.edu.