Minnesota Carlson Names New Dean: Indiana Kelley Professor Jamie Prenkert
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Though it conducted a national search, in the end, Minnesota Carlson’s 10-month pursuit of a new dean only needed to look a few states over in the U.S. Midwest. The School of Management has named Jamie Prenkert to be the successor to departing Sri Zaheer, who will step down next year after more than a dozen years in the deanship.
Prenkert previously served the Kelley School as the chairperson of the Department of Business Law & Ethics and the associate dean of academics. In 2017, Poets&Quants named him to our annual 40-under-40 top undergraduate professors list.
He currently oversees the research mission of the Kelley School and serves as the chief administrator for nearly 400 Bloomington-based faculty members in almost 30 distinct degree programs. In a letter announcing Prenkert’s appointment, Rachel T.A. Croson, Minnesota’s executive vice president and provost, highlights the new dean’s “commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion,” adding that he “convened and served as ex officio on the Kelley School’s first diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) committee; organized a semester-long DEIB professional development series for faculty and staff; created and supervised the position of Kelley Bias Incident Support Ombudsperson; and envisioned, coordinated, and founded the Kinsey-Kelley Center for Gender Equity in Business, a collaboration with IU’s Kinsey Institute.”
Prenkert holds a J.D. from Harvard University and a bachelor of arts in political science from Anderson University in Anderson, Indiana. He also served as the president of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business for the 2021-2022 academic year.
Prenkert, the Charles M. Hewitt professor and executive associate dean for faculty and research at Indiana Kelley School of Business, was appointed the 13th dean of the Carlson School effective July 3, 2023, pending Board of Regents approval.
Anderson University is on a mission to educate students for lives of faith and service, offering more than 60 undergraduate majors, 30 three-year degrees, 20 NCAA Division III intercollegiate sports, alongside adult and graduate programs. The private, liberal arts institution is fully accredited and recognized among top colleges for its business, computer science, cybersecurity, dance, engineering, nursing, and teacher education programs. Anderson University was established in 1917 in Anderson, Indiana, by the Church of God.