News Release

Yash P. Gupta, an innovative educator who has led three prominent business schools, has been appointed the first dean of The Johns Hopkins University's new Carey Business School, launched this year to re-invent business education by arming students with both business skills and critical knowledge from other disciplines.

After 14 years at the helm of three prominent, established business schools, Yash P. Gupta (photographed here at the University of Southern California) says that being involved with a startup 'is a great opportunity.' Photo courtesy of USC

Gupta, who most recently served as dean of the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business from 2004 to 2006, was confirmed Sunday by the Johns Hopkins board of trustees on the recommendation of President William R. Brody. He will begin in his new position Jan. 1.

"Yash is a visionary academic leader," Brody said. "He is a creative and resourceful strategic planner. He is a scholar and a teacher. And he has been a builder of close and meaningful relationships, within schools, within universities, and between the university and business communities.

"He has the imagination, the energy and the skill to build the Carey Business School into one of the nation's most innovative and respected," Brody said.

The Carey Business School was launched Jan. 1 on the strength of a $50 million gift from trustee emeritus William Polk Carey through his W. P. Carey Foundation. The university committed to raise an additional $50 million to complete the school's initial funding.

"This is a great opportunity to create a world-class business school in a world-class university," Gupta said.

The Carey School is being built on a tradition of business education at the university that dates to 1916. Johns Hopkins began offering the MBA degree in 1999 and also offers graduate degrees in fields such as finance, marketing, real estate, information technology and organizational development.

The new school also collaborates with other Johns Hopkins divisions to offer joint master's/MBA programs in biotechnology, nursing, public health, communication, information and telecommunications systems and government. It offers an MBA in medical services management and certificate programs in the business of medicine and business of nursing. These programs are the basis for the new school's focus on educating broadly prepared leaders with interdisciplinary knowledge and skills.

"We have a strong base to leverage from to create a new kind of business school," Gupta said. The key, he said, is for the Carey Business School to form even stronger working relationships with other Johns Hopkins schools where faculty and students are hatching new ideas in science, health, technology, international relations and other fields.

"The issue is one of innovation," he said. "The business schools that can teach students how to be innovative and how to understand the process of innovation will be the anchor points for the evolution of new businesses."

Gupta has served as dean for a total of 14 years at the University of Colorado at Denver, the University of Washington and, most recently, USC, where he led the creation of a new five-year strategic plan.

"Yash Gupta is a rare university administrator, an academic entrepreneur with impeccable academic standards," said Lloyd Armstrong, provost emeritus at USC and former dean of arts and sciences at Johns Hopkins. "He sees opportunity where others see problems. He is a superb strategist and knows how to implement his strategies effectively."

During his tenure, USC's Marshall School raised more than $55 million; expanded its faculty; increased emphasis on faculty research; created research centers focused on such areas as global business, bio-business, sports business and brand management; reorganized the job placement center for students and alumni; and developed a new innovation-focused MBA curriculum.

"Dr. Gupta is an energetic leader with a great appetite for work," said Kristina M. Johnson, Johns Hopkins' provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. "He will build relationships across Johns Hopkins, establishing programs of selective excellence, thus distinguishing the Carey Business School and deepening the Johns Hopkins brand."

John J. Fernandes, president and chief executive officer of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, said he has followed many dean searches. Johns Hopkins, he said, has chosen well for the daunting job of starting a new school.

"I said that Johns Hopkins is going to need someone who is going to put heart and soul into the job, someone who knows curriculum, a successful innovator, a relationship builder and a prolific fund raiser," Fernandes said, "someone who will work tirelessly, who has the vision, the energy and the human relations skills.

"Yash has been successful in all those areas," he said. "This situation requires someone who can go in a lot of directions, the right way, at a hundred miles an hour. I think you've got the right person."

Gupta was dean of the University of Washington Business School from 1999 to 2004, a period in which its endowment grew from $44 million to $82 million, the MBA program was redesigned to enhance students' global perspective, and the school's entire curriculum was re-examined. The school also established a technology management MBA for scientists and engineers.

Gupta also headed the College of Business and Administration at the University of Colorado at Denver from 1992 to 1999, doubling the number of research grants, expanding the faculty and student body, establishing mentoring programs and setting up a program where teams of graduate students and faculty provided consulting for local businesses.

A widely published scholar in operations management, Gupta also has served on the faculties of the University of Louisville, University of Manitoba and Memorial University of Newfoundland. He is a 1973 graduate of Panjab University in India, holds a master's degree in production management earned in 1974 from Brunel University, West London, and earned a Ph.D. in management sciences in 1976 from the University of Bradford in England.

Gupta is married with two sons. One is participating in the Teach for America program and the other is a senior at the University of Washington.

Follow this link to Facts on the Carey Business School: History and Overview