The position of the Director at IIM-Calcutta comes to the hands of Anju Seth from Saibal Chattopadhyay- the former director.
IIM Calcutta is one of the oldest B-school in India and certainly, never in its history has a woman taken the charge to lead. In IIM-Calcutta’s history of 50 years, it is for the very first time that a woman has been made the director proceed. Anju Seth -who is a professor, a celebrated academician and also an alumna of the same institute; has been recently declared as the new director of IIM-Calcutta. She has been given this position held by the former director Saibal Chattopadhyay; after several processes took place and she was shortlisted amongst the very few. She has been a professor of business administration at the University of Illinois and has most recently held the position of Pamplin Professor of Management at Virginia Tech, USA. She has also received several awards for her research and teaching.Prof. Anju Seth completed her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and holds a highly regarded and esteemed academic career spanning over 25 years. She is also on the editorial board of many scholarly journals. Her keen areas of interests hold the dimensions of the corporate strategy, corporate governance, joint ventures and ethics, globalization, strategy in emerging economies restructuring, strategic alliances and acquisitions. She has also been embroiled as a member of AICTE committee for developing policy guidelines and reference points for grading AICTE approved PGDM institutions across the country.We welcome aboard Professor Anju Seth as the Director of IIM Calcutta!#IIMC #alumnus https://t.co/VNNVoHMCK6 pic.twitter.com/3CdddEmb5D
— IIM Calcutta (@IIM_Calcutta) November 19, 2018
IIM-Calcutta board chairperson Shrikrishna Kulkarni said, “We are indeed delighted that Anju will be the first woman director of the IIM-C. She was the collective choice of the Search-cum-Selection Committee and the Board of Governors.” Professor Anju Seth said, “It is of extreme honor and privilege to be appointed to serve for IIM-Calcutta in the Director’s position. I look forward to working with faculty, staff, students, Governors, and all other stakeholders to build on the Institute’s strong foundations and accomplish new heights of eminence for sure.”The Board of Governors (BoG) met in the last week of October and discussed the three names and approved Seth’s candidature for the job. She is the second female head of an IIM, ever, and the third foreign-based academician to hold the post after Ashish Nanda’s appointment to IIM-Ahmedabad and Sushil Vachani to IIM-Bangalore in 2013 and 2014, respectively. As IIM-Calcutta gets its first woman director, it is certain that it isn’t the first time a woman has taken charge. This is the third instance in our country when a woman has taken the charge as a director in any IIM. In fact, it was only last year when a much-esteemed academician, Neelu Rohmetra became the Director of IIM Sirmaur (IIMS). Acting Director Prof. Leena Chatterjee will continue to officiate till Seth takes up the office. She even said, “All of us here at IIM-Calcutta are extremely happy about the decision. It is a good thing that women are now being appointed in key positions and leadership roles. The fact that she is an alumnus makes it even more fitting. I have been at the Institute for 34 years and have seen the presence of women increase in the field — especially in terms of female students. Traditionally, one of our main pools is engineering. How many women, though, take up engineering? Having said that, there was a time when 5% of students here were women, and now there are 30% women students at IIM-Calcutta. One of our deans is a woman and I am one of two women members of the faculty board that represents the Institute. So yes, we are hopeful.”
