Stetson School of Business hires new dean

Mercer University has hired a new dean for its Eugene W. Stetson School of Business and Economics. The new dean is Dr. Susan Gilbert, a former faculty member and administrator of Rutgers and Emory Universities. She will become the new dean of the school of Business on April 1.
Mercer Provost D. Scott Davis announced the appointment of the new dean on Feb. 13. Dr. Gilbert has also been the Dean of the school of Business and Technology of Thomas Edison State University in Trenton, N.J. since 2010.
When asked how they conducted the search for the new dean, Dr. Davis said, “A search committee was formed that included the faculty across SSBE, the Dean of CLA, and external stakeholders including the Chair of the SSBE Board of Visitors, the Regional Vice President of BB&T, and the Publisher of the Atlanta Business Chronicle. The committee completed an initial screening of candidates.”
According to Dr. Davis, after the committee completed the first screening, “They then conducted phone interviews with a pared down list and from those interviews invited candidates to campus for an onsite interview.”
Members of the search committee included Dr. J Michael Weber, associate professor at University’s Atlanta campus; Ed Baker, publisher of the Atlanta Business Chronicle; Robert F Hatchet Jr.; Dr. Linda L. Brennan; Dr. Lake Lambert, dean of Mercer’s college of Liberal Arts; David Lanier, regional president of BB&T; and Dr. Julie A. Petherbridge.
Dr. Davis described the applicants who expressed interest in the job as a “very diverse group of candidates.” Dr. Davis claimed that the applicants included “current and former deans, associates deans, department chairs, and a number of people who had demonstrated success in the business community.”
When asked why they chose Dr. Gilbert, Dr. Davis responded by saying, “She has developed nationally ranked programs, both at Emory and Rutgers.  She understands recruitment of students in a competitive market.  She has overseen programs with a presence in numerous locations.  She has improved every program where she has worked.”
According to a Mercer press release, while Dr. Gilbert was the dean of the school of Business and Technology at Thomas Edison State University, she helped the school achieve a 14 percent increase in enrollment rates. She also won numerous teaching awards during the 20 years she was a member of the faculty and associate dean at Emory’s Goizueta School of Business. She chaired the President’s Commission on the Status of Women at Emory from 2001 to 2005.
When asked how he felt about the choice of Dr. Gilbert, Dr. Davis responded that he was enthusiastic about hiring Dr. Gilbert. He also said that he believes that, “Dr. Gilbert will take advantage of her broad contact network to develop and recruit very strong faculty and students” when she arrives.
Dr. Gilbert graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Ph.D. in economics. She obtained her undergraduate degree from the University of Birmingham.