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Geoffrey Garrett Installed as 18th Dean of USC Marshall

USC President Carol Folt, Provost Charles Zukoski, Trustees, faculty, staff, alumni and students welcome the new dean in online ceremony

September 23, 2020

09.23.20

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USC President Dr. Carol L. Folt formally installed Geoffrey M. Garrett as the dean of the USC Marshall School of Business and the Robert R. Dockson Dean’s Chair in Business Administration on Sept. 23, 2020.

Dean Garrett becomes the 18th dean of the Marshall School. He was previously dean of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania for six years until arriving at Marshall July 1.

For the first time, the installation ceremony took place remotely. Provost Charles Zukoski opened the program by welcoming watchers and well-wishers from wherever they watched. He then introduced President Folt.

“Today I have the great privilege of formally installing Geoff Garrett as the 18th Dean of the USC Marshall School of Business,” she said. “Geoff is known for his analytical mind, compassionate leadership, and highly imaginative thinking.”

Watch the Installation here.

Dean Garret spoke from conference room at Bovard Hall on the University Park Campus.

“I am so pleased and proud now to be dean ‘officially.’ I couldn’t be more excited or more committed to be leading Marshall at this pivotal time as the School embarks on what I am sure will be an extraordinary second century in its storied history.”

“Business schools are in the innovation business. We turn ideas into outcomes.”—Geoffrey Garrett, Robert R. Dockson Dean's Chair in Business Administration, Professor of Management and Organization

In his remarks, Garrett acknowledged his somewhat unorthodox background for a dean of a business school—his Ph.D. is in political science. But with a track record of success, he also expressed his enthusiasm to take the Marshall School to the next level.

“I am a political scientist who has been interested for decades in the ever-expanding role business plays in society,” he said. “And business schools play a vital role in developing leaders who will use business to meet society’s greatest challenges and opportunities.”

Those leaders, he said, must know much more than how to keep a strong bottom line. They must understand the importance of leading diverse and inclusive teams, how to harness the power of artificial intelligence while also mitigating its impact on society, and much more.

“What does it mean to lead diversity?” he said. “What about ethical obligations in this era of stakeholder capitalism? Those are big questions, and the Marshall School is poised to identify and implement the solutions.”

“Business schools are in the innovation business,” said Garrett. “We turn ideas into outcomes.”

Marshall and the Future of Business

Beyond creating the next generation of leaders, Garrett noted several other key areas he wants to drive the school toward, including the confluence of entertainment and technology, real estate, AI and Asia.

U.S.-China relations hold particular interest for him, and Marshall, with its strong business ties and unique scholarship, is particularly well-equipped to harness future opportunities, he said.

“Now that the Asia-Pacific region is having to react to the cooling of relations between the U. S. and China, there are challenges,” he said. “But there are also great opportunities for business. Marshall has the expertise to help realize these opportunities, not least for all of our students from Asia, but for all of our students interested in Asia.”

The technology driving changes in how we make and consume our entertainment and media is largely happening here in Los Angeles, he said. “Given our strengths in creative arts and data science, there is no university better positioned to understand and contribute to this revolution.”

As for real estate, Marshall, along with the Price School of Public Policy, are positioned to push the envelope in that industry as well.

“Real estate will be undergoing a seismic transition. From the affordability and access crisis to the coming commercial real estate shakeout caused by an increasingly virtual world from home,” he said. “Working with the Price school, Marshall can lead in charting the future in the foundations of urban life.”

A host of USC Trustees, alumni, faculty, staff and students welcomed the new dean of the business school.

“As a proud alumna, I look forward to working with you, dean Garrett,” said USC Trustee Carmen Nava ’84.

A Homecoming

Garrett rejoins USC, having taught here from 2005 to 2008 as a professor of international relations, business administration, communications and law while also serving as the president of the Pacific Council on International Policy.

Additionally, Garrett’s previous administrative appointments include service as dean of the business schools at both the University of Sydney (where he was also founding CEO of the United States Studies Centre) and UNSW Australia, and as founding dean of the International Institute, as well as vice provost of international studies, at UCLA.

A distinguished international political economist, Garrett has held academic appointments at Oxford, Stanford and Yale universities. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Social Sciences, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a winner of the Foreign Policy Association Medal and the Advance Global Australian Award.

Garrett is a LinkedIn influencer whose blog is widely followed by academic, business and thought leaders. His expertise in world politics, business and the global economy, as well as U.S./China relations, is sought after by major media organizations around the world.

Garrett holds a BA (with honors) from the Australian National University, and an MA and Ph.D. from Duke University where he was a Fulbright Scholar.