Principal of new Leicester Castle Business School reveals why she chose DMU

The new principal of Leicester Castle Business School said she was drawn to take on the role to help create “the kind of business school the 21st century needs”.

Professor Dana Brown was formerly the Director of the MBA at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School – one of the world’s most prominent and well-regarded schools for business.

But she said she snapped up the chance to head up DMU’s new business school because she was excited by the opportunity to play a key role in creating a new kind of institution for a rapidly changing world.

She said: “Existing business schools are being compelled to rethink their purpose and the way that we educate future business leaders.

“For me, DMU is well-positioned to create the type of business school that we need in the 21st century; a school that is responsive to the employment market, to industry, and the needs and interests of students in this field; a place where students are exposed to leading technology and new ideas.”

And she said she also admired how closely DMU works together, across all faculties. 

“The potential for cross-disciplinary work, especially in areas such as design, technology, health and others is particularly exciting,” she said.

“Many business schools do not have an opportunity to draw up on strengths in other areas in the university, yet here it both possible and welcome. This is attractive both to researchers and to potential students since we know that business skills are often only one component of addressing complex challenges. When business know-how is effectively combined with technical knowledge, innovation and insight into the social context, the potential is powerful.”

The Leicester Castle Business School will have its headquarters in historic Leicester Castle and will offer a portfolio of new courses for ambitious, high-calibre students from around the world.

Scholarships to study on six of the courses the new school offers will be available for eligible full-time and part-time undergraduate students. 

DMU is investing £4.2m in the refurbishment of the castle, parts of which date from the 12th century, after being granted a 125-year lease by Leicester City Council.

Supported by Leicester City Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby, the business school development will ensure that the Great Hall and its environs are reinvigorated.

This will ensure that the castle area plays a key role in the Mayor’s Connecting Leicester strategy and turn it into a vital part of the city’s tourist trail, which connects the Leicester of today with its medieval past.

And with the appointment of Professor Brown, the business school has a principal with the pedigree to realise its ambitions. Born in Philadelphia, Professor Brown holds a PhD in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and an MPhil in Russian and East European Studies at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar.

She has worked as a professor and leader in business schools across the world – including Russia, France and the US - for the past 10 years, has worked with world-leading businesses, including Amazon, where she was one of their first employees and oversaw operations during their start-up phase.

She and her family – husband Nils and daughters Petra, Greta and Annika – have embraced the opportunity to move to Leicester, a city she said was delightfully diverse and vibrant.

She said: “There is a link. My dad grew up in Leicester, he attended City of Leicester Boys Grammar School. I’d never been before I was invited to interview at DMU but I have found it to be an amazing city.”

It was Leicester’s connection and preservation of its past which helped draw her to the city.

She said: “Leicester really was the heart of the country’s industrial revolution and it is not trying to distance itself from its past. Yes, the Richard III discovery has drawn people to the city but there is much more to it than that. Without the mass production techniques born in Leicester, we wouldn’t have the global economy we now have.

“I feel very strongly that in this new business school, I want to show students this, let them draw on the lessons from the rich industrial history of Leicester to push forward into the future.”

She said it was the combination of DMU’s global and local commitments which drew her joining the university.

She said: “A big part of what I admire about DMU is its focus on supporting the local community, with projects like #DMUlocal. I feel that a university can and should make a real difference to its community and it excites me to see how DMU is doing this.

“Yet it is also clearly committed to preparing students to work in a globally connected world, with its emphasis on diversity, collaboration and with initiatives such as #DMUglobal.

“I am very impressed by what the university has achieved already, becoming a very important place in the higher education market. I look forward to being a part of DMU’s promising future.”