Dean Sue Lehrman leaves extraordinary legacy

As Dr. Sue Lehrman completes her final year as RCB dean, she is riding a wave of successes that began shortly after her arrival eight years ago. These accomplishments span the construction of the College’s first-ever home — Business Hall — to a year of 50^th anniversary events, capped off with a celebratory gala.

The opening of Business Hall — the College’s most visual accomplishment — set the stage for many other achievements. During the last eight years, student enrollment grew by more than 35 percent, faculty increased dramatically and the Princeton Review twice named the RCB’s entrepreneurship program among the top 50 in the country. Graduate programs expanded, along with certificate programs or stackable credentials on emerging topics.

Many of these successes would not have been possible without Lehrman’s commitment, noted Dr. Tony Lowman, University provost.

“Dr. Lehrman encouraged cutting-edge research and hired business leaders as executives-in-residence to teach and mentor students,” Lowman said. “She expanded the role of four key Centers of Excellence and launched the School of Innovation & Entrepreneurship. Students throughout campus now have an opportunity to appreciate the importance of an entrepreneurial mindset, experiential learning, professional development and responsible leadership.

“In short, Dean Lehrman’s vision helped propel the College to become one that emphasizes ‘business for the greater good,’ he continued. “As our students develop business acumen, they also learn to play a role in creating a better world — and for that we can all be thankful.”

“I’m overarchingly proud that we came together as a college to be a real team during the last eight years,” Lehrman said. “We have a great administrative team, as well as faculty.”

The College’s accreditation body effusively commended their work during the recent reaccreditation visit.

“The AACSB review team spoke very highly of everything they saw — the strategic plan, the centers, the enthusiasm of the faculty and how committed they are to the students, as well as the members of the various advisory councils,” Lehrman said. “It was very affirming of the work everyone has done as a group.”

Dr. Eric Liguori, founding head of Rowan’s School of Innovation & Entrepreneurship, praised Lehrman’s vision in moving the College forward.  “She accomplished a tremendous amount in a relatively short period of time, and we’re just beginning to see the dividends that her work is going to pay,” Liguori said.

Lehrman is deeply invested in students’ success and looks forward to returning to the classroom as an entrepreneurship professor, where she will be able to engage with them more actively. “I love teaching practical subjects, where there is opportunity for engagement with the real world and real-world topics and challenges. Entrepreneurship is all about that,” she said. Beginning this summer, she will take a year-long sabbatical to prepare.

To help Rowan students meet the challenges of the future and adapt as those demands shift, the dean chaired the University’s Education of the Future Task Force. The team mapped out ways to build student-centered programming to help students develop an entrepreneurial mindset and be socially aware — values reflected in the RCB’s Centers of Excellence, Liguori said.  

In addition, Lehrman is eager to return to research.“During the past eight years, RCB’s research has grown dramatically in terms of its quality and quantity, and we have hired excellent faculty,” she said. She believes they are well positioned to contribute to the University’s effort to attain Research 1 status, indicating very high research activity.

Lehrman’s influence extends far beyond the University. “Rowan has benefited greatly from the dean’s leadership, but that encapsulates only a portion of her impact,” Liguori said. “She’s served on numerous boards of directors, regionally with the Mid-Atlantic Association of Colleges of Business Administration, as well as internationally with AACSB. Unquestionably, her impact is much broader than the work she has done at Rowan and the contributions she made at her prior institutions. She has helped shape the future of business school education.”

As she reflected on the last eight successful, memorable and impactful years, Lehrman acknowledged that stepping down is bittersweet.

“Rowan has been the pinnacle of my career — between the new building and the size of the student body. But more than that, all that we have accomplished. I wanted to leave on a high note. This year could not have been a higher note.”