Cornell Business Dean Soumitra Dutta has officially stepped down from his role, but no one is saying why.
Soumitra Dutta, who has served as the first-ever dean of the S.C. Johnson College of Business at Cornell University, resigned abruptly yesterday, and neither the school nor Dutta has provided any reason for his sudden departure, according to a report in the Cornell Daily Sun.
The College of Business, launched in July 2016, merged the Johnson Graduate School of Management, the School of Hotel Administration, and the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. Dutta also oversaw the Cornell Tech MBA program at Cornell’s campus on Roosevelt Island in New York City.
Cornell Provost Michael Kotlikoff sent an email to business college students and employees to say that he had accepted Dutta’s resignation, effective immediately, but he also did not offer an explanation for his abrupt departure, according to the Sun report.
Two days after the departure, the Cornell Sun is still looking for answers, leading with the recently released article headlined, “Cornell Silent for Second Day as Mystery of Business Dean’s Exit Grows.”
The official university response to questions has been that Cornell “does not comment on private personnel matters,” the Sun reported. Dutta has not responded to emails. His wife, Lourdes Casanova, a senior lecturer at Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, also declined to comment when approached by reporters at the couple’s home yesterday evening. “I’m sorry but we cannot say anything,” she told the Sun.
In his email announcing Dutta’s departure, Kotlikoff shared that L. Joseph Thomas, who serves as Johnson dean from 2007 to 2012, will assume Dutta’s role on an interim basis as Cornell searches for a permanent dean.
For more on Dutta’s background and the intrigue surrounding his sudden departure, read the full Cornell Daily Sun article.