Association of Business School honours LUMS Dean Professor Sue Cox

​Professor Sue Cox, Dean of Lancaster University Management School, has been honoured by the Association of Business Schools at their inaugural ‘Women Deans of Distinction Lunch’ in June.

The event, which will now be an annual fixture in the ABS calendar, was held in honour of Professor Cox's award of an OBE in the 2011 New Year's Honours list for services to social science. Leading LUMS since 2001, Professor Cox is the longest serving dean in a UK business school.

During Sue Cox's deanship at Lancaster, LUMS achieved triple accreditation by AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS in 2008. Sue has overseen Lancaster University Management School's expansion nationally and internationally, tripling income and increasing student numbers. Sue currently chairs the Work Foundation, a London-based think tank which Lancaster University acquired in October 2010.

“I continue to enjoy my role as dean after a decade because I work in such a vibrant and very supportive community, made up of its students, faculty, support staff, alumni and external partners,” said Professor Cox. “This sense of community is tangible and the collegiality is spontaneous and warm. The strength of the whole is important. Academic enterprise and mutual support of colleagues are common themes throughout my career.”

Julie Davies, Head of Research and Executive Development at the Association of Business Schools (ABS), noted at the lunch that 24% of ABS member business schools are now headed by a woman which has changed from 8% five years ago. Julie thanked Sue for her significant contributions to the UK business school community, in particular as a former Chair of ABS and facilitator for the Development Programme for Deans and Directors.

Professor Cox believes business schools based in a multidisciplinary university benefit from drawing on integrative and critical thinking in a range of fields beyond the social sciences. “In my view, people’s imaginations are fired by this creative juxtaposition of ideas, techniques and perspectives in innovative and interdisciplinary teaching and research that draws from all parts of the University where the School is located. A full-service business school can leverage synergies in research and third stream activities as well as undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral and executive education.”

Follow link to view a video interview with Professor Cox by the Association of Business Schools.

Pictured left to right:

Back row: Jane Houzer, LSBU; Susan Hart, Strathclyde; Monica Gibson-Sweet, Glamorgan, Ruth Ashford, Manchester Met;
Gioia Pescetto, Canterbury Christchurch, Jean Woodall, Westminster; Jenny Anderson, Southampton Solent
Front row: Rita Marcella, RGU, Aberdeen; Ann Ridley, Portsmouth; Sue Cox, Lancaster; Sharon Mavin, Northumbria; Julie Davies, ABS