Simmons University’s Board of Trustees announced that Dr. Lynn Perry Wooten has been unanimously selected to serve as Simmons’ ninth president effective July 1, 2020.
Wooten will succeed Helen G. Drinan, who ends her term in June after serving as Simmons’ president for the past 12 years. Simmons University offers the only undergraduate program for women in Boston and numerous nationally recognized graduate programs open to all.
Wooten is a scholar and academic, and throughout her career she has assumed a number of leadership positions. Most recently, she served as the David J. Nolan Dean and Professor of Management and Organizations at Cornell University’s Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management.
“With its robust graduate programs and commitment to educating the next generation of female leaders, Simmons University plays a significant role in today’s world,” said Wooten. “The university’s model — with its focus on liberal arts and professional development — is the future of higher education. I couldn’t be more excited to join this community and to further the institution’s distinctive and vital mission.”
Wooten’s expertise lies in crisis leadership, positive organizing routines, strategic human resource management, workforce diversity and competitive advantage, and development of emerging leaders. She has been a prolific author of journal articles and has published two books – “Positive Organizing in a Global Society: Understanding and Engaging Differences for Capacity Building and Inclusion” (2015), and “Leading Under Pressure: From Surviving to Thriving Before, During, and After a Crisis” (2010). Her scholarship also includes 15 edited, authored and coauthored book chapters.
Wooten grew up in Philadelphia and is an alumna of the University of Michigan (PhD). She received her undergraduate degree from North Carolina A&T State University, where she graduated as valedictorian, and her MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
She is married to David Wooten, a chaired marketing professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, and they have two children — Justin and Jada.
