Raghu Tadepalli has been named dean of the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business following a national search.
He will begin his duties July 1.
Tadepalli comes to Elon from Babson College in Massachusetts where he serves as Murata Dean and Professor of Marketing in the F. W. Olin Graduate School of Business, successfully leading a major overhaul of the MBA curriculum at a school renowned for its graduate programs in entrepreneurship and business administration.
A recognized scholar in the field of marketing, he has written or contributed to many peer-reviewed journal articles and presentations on cross-cultural ethics, evaluation of performance for purchasing agents and salespeople, and the factors that affect salespersons’ customer orientation.
“Raghu Tadepalli brings to Elon a strong combination of intelligence, academic experience and leadership,” said Elon University Provost Steven House. “He is thoughtful, sincere and demonstrates a distinctive ability to motivate others. Raghu also understands the importance of an undergraduate business education in the context of a liberal arts university. His international and graduate education experience will be a tremendous asset for the Love School of Business, and we look forward to his leadership.”
Tadepalli said he looks forward to working with Elon’s outstanding faculty and staff who are advancing a vision of the Love School as a transformative leader in business education.
“Our collective goal will be to provide our students with an educational experience that transforms them into knowledgeable, responsible business professionals and leaders who make a difference in their professions, their organizations and the global economy,” Tadepalli said.
Tadepalli takes the helm of an Elon University business program that is accredited by AACSB International and celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2011. The Love School of Business employs nearly 50 full-time faculty members, working with more than 1,200 students in the departments of accounting, finance, management, marketing and entrepreneurship and economics.
Bloomberg Businessweek ranks Elon’s undergraduate business program among the top 50 in the nation, and also ranks the Elon MBA program as the nation’s #1 part-time program. The Princeton Review names Elon the #1 “best administered” school and also ranks Elon #5 in the “best campus facilities” category in its 2012 edition of the “Best 294 Business Schools.”
Prior to his tenure at Babson, Tadepalli was dean of the Graduate School and associate dean in the Williams College of Business at Xavier University. He led successful re-accreditation efforts for the Williams College of Business, and under his leadership the Xavier MBA program added two new off-site MBA programs.
Tadepalli also was chair of the marketing department at Xavier prior to being named associate dean. He served as co-editor of the ¬Journal of Marketing for Higher Education and has taught marketing strategy at the undergraduate and MBA levels, and international business at the Executive MBA level.
Tadepalli also taught at North Dakota State University and the University of Illinois at Chicago, winning numerous awards for his teaching, research and service. The students of the Williams College of Business named him “Delta Sigma Pi Teacher of the Year” in 2003. His research has been published in such journals as Psychology & Marketing, European Journal of Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Journal of Managerial Issues and Managerial and Decision Economics among many others.
Tadepalli has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in commerce with a major in accounting from Andhra University in India. He completed his Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration in marketing from Arizona State University and later earned his doctorate from Virginia Tech.
Tadepalli will succeed Scott Buechler, assistant professor of business communications and chair of the management department, who is currently serving as interim dean of the Love School of Business.