Duke Fuqua saw a jump in applications to its Daytime MBA this year. Duke photo

Duke University has chosen a long-time veteran professor of marketing at its Fuqua School of Business to be interim dean for two years. Mary Frances Luce, who joined Fuqua 20 years ago in 2004, will assume her new position on Aug. 1.

She succeeds Bill Boulding, who has served as Fuqua’s dean since 2011 and will return to the faculty.

An expert in behavioral marketing, Luce has taught undergraduate and graduate students, including Ph.D. candidates, with a focus on health care marketing electives and marketing core materials. Her research interests focus on the role of negative emotion in decision-making. She was an early proponent of the view that emotions are deeply intertwined with cognitive processes and has been particularly interested in how emotions influence patient health care decisions — a context in which negative emotion is both frequent and potentially problematic.

NEW INTERIM DEAN HAS TRACK RECORD OF LEADERSHIP JOBS

Fuqua marketing professor Mary Frances Luce will become the interim dean for two years starting in August

Luce will arrive with a track record of academic leadership at both Duke University and Fuqua itself. Since February 2023, she has been an associate vice president in Duke’s Office for Research & Innovation, where she has focused on support for social and behavioral sciences, humanities and the arts. Luce also recently served as interim executive vice chancellor for Duke Kunshan University (DKU). She will continue to serve on the Board of Trustees of DKU, which oversees strategic planning, maintains fiduciary duties and provides strategic direction to the joint venture university in China. At Fuqua, she had been associate dean and senior associate dean of the faculty for a half dozen years.

Her appointment apparently came out of the search committee, appointed in November, which is leading the search for a permanent successor. Executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles has been enlisted to support the committee which is chaired by Fuqua leadership professor Ashleigh Shelby Rosette.

Having earned her Ph.D. in business administration with a concentration in marketing from Duke in 1994, Luce spent 10 years at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, rising to associate professor before joining Fuqua in 2004. She also earned a bachelor’s degree from Ball State University in 1989.

“Mary Frances is an outstanding leader who has earned respect and admiration within the Fuqua community and across the university,” said Duke Provost Alec D. Gallimore in a statement. “Her deep knowledge of Fuqua will be an asset that enables her to move the school in new directions over the next two years, and I look forward to seeing her vision implemented.

“I am honored to serve my Fuqua colleagues and the Duke community in this interim role,” said Luce in a statement. “Due to the dedication and excellence of our current academic leadership, faculty, staff, students and alumni, I believe Fuqua is extremely well positioned for the future. I am excited to re-engage with Fuqua stakeholders in my new capacity, and I will strive to take a fresh perspective on Fuqua’s many options and possibilities. Our Team Fuqua spirit has always been a secret weapon, and I am excited to lead this team of extraordinary scholars, professionals and learners.”

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