Prof. Kathryn Graddy (ECON), the Fred and Rita Richman distinguished professor in economics and senior associate dean at the Brandeis International Business School, has been appointed the school’s new dean, according to a May 1 email from University President Ron Liebowitz and University Provost Lisa M. Lynch. 

Since coming to Brandeis in 2007, Graddy has served as chair of the economics department and program director for the IBS doctoral program. At IBS, Graddy developed a new master’s degree in business analytics and strengthened the school’s partnerships with other colleges and universities around the world. 

In a press release included in the May 1 email, Graddy said that IBS is “built on a solid foundation of being rigorous, global and experimental.” Moving forward, IBS will rely on those principles as they prepare students to “succeed in the global economy.” 

Lynch affirmed her support for Graddy in the same release, asserting that Graddy would increase Brandeis’ impact on the “global marketplace of ideas” and uphold Justice Louis D. Brandeis’ belief that business can serve as a positive societal force.

Graddy’s academic focuses are the economics of art and culture and industrial organization, per the press release. Graddy is an editor emeritus of the Journal of Cultural Economics and has published in the RAND Journal of Economics, Management Science, the American Economic Review and other highly regarded publications.

Prior to arriving at Brandeis, Graddy was a fellow of Exeter College at Oxford University and an assistant professor at the London Business School. Graddy received her bachelor’s degree from Tulane University with majors in mathematics and Russian, her MBA from Columbia University and her doctoral degree in economics from Princeton University. She also has an honorary doctorate from Copenhagen Business School.

The search committee that chose Graddy was led by Prof. Blake LeBaron (IBS), the Abram L. and Thelma Sachar professor of international economics at IBS.