Outgoing George Washington Dean Reflects on His Tenure

In January, Georgia Institute of Technology’s Scheller College of Business will have a new dean.

Anuj Mehrotra will begin his first term at Scheller after leading George Washington School of Business (GWSB) since 2018. As his tenure at GW comes to a close, Dean Mehrotra recently sat down with The GW Hatchet and talked in-depth about some of his biggest accomplishments and challenges as dean.

INTRODUCTION OF THE 4+1 COMBINED DEGREE PROGRAM

During his time as dean, Mehrotra helped introduce the 4+1 combined degree program, which allows students to graduate in five years with both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in business. In 2023, GWSB expanded the 4+1 program to students outside the B-school.

Mehrotra says the decision to expand was made to meet employers’ demands for multidisciplinary education.

“The School of Business overall at this stage, if we reflect on where we are as an institution and as a school compared to other schools in the country or the world, is extremely well poised with our very good programming both at the graduate and undergraduate level,” Mehrotra says.

Additionally, under Mehrotra, the B-school expanded graduate certificate programs by offering flexible formats with increased access to online, weekend and evening classes. James Bailey, a professor of management and the Hochberg Professorial Fellow of Leadership Development, says Mehrotra prioritized providing faculty with quality equipment for online classrooms, including lavaliers to improve sound quality.

“He knew that this is the future, and so we need to get faculty and get the technology and put that into place to deliver high-quality stuff,” Bailey says.

LEADING GWSB THROUGH THE PANDEMIC

One of Mehrotra’s biggest challenges was leading the B-school through the COVID-19 pandemic. Faced with limited resources and challenging financial decisions, Mehrotra’s leadership was put to the test.

“For me, almost every challenge is an opportunity where you can do something about it, but there are some stories that you couldn’t do anything about it, like when people were sick,” Mehrotra says.

Bailey says Mehrotra showed “kindness” and “openness” when communicating budget decisions to faculty and always kept an open-door policy for faculty members to express their concerns.

“He kept us happy,” Bailey says. “Everybody looked around and said okay, we know this is a tough time, we know that there’s some budget cuts. We know this and we’re okay with it, because it was presented to us and described to us and we understood what was going on.”

WHAT MOHROTRA WILL MISS MOST

During his five-year tenure at GW, Mohotra has seen students and faculty reach new heights—a from academic accomplishments to successful job placements. One of Mohrotra’s fondest memories was seeing his daughter receive her diploma in systems engineering in 2022.

But, most importantly, Mohotra has built a real family at GW. When asked what he’ll miss most, Mohotra said: his leadership team and colleagues.

“It’s been a difficult decision to move from here because this has been home for five years,” Mehrotra says. “None of the people here whether they are students, staff, faculty, or alumni or the leadership at the University are making it easy because it’s home for me.”

Sources: The GW Hatchet, P&Q