Following a national search, Siena College has named Rashmi Assudani, Ph.D., as dean of the School of Business effective July 1.
Assudani is currently associate provost of academic affairs at Xavier University in Cincinnati. She was promoted to that position in 2020; she has been a professor of management and entrepreneurship at Xavier since 2005, serving consecutive terms as department chair. As associate provost, Assudani manages faculty teaching and research, student experiential learning, assessment, accreditation, and non-traditional adult student programming. She also co-chairs Xavier’s strategic plan on behalf of the president.
Margaret E. Madden, Ph.D., Siena’s provost and senior vice president, noted Assudani’s experience as a university administrator and business scholar.
“The search committee sought a proven leader in higher education who possessed a rich background in business and a demonstrated passion for student success, inclusion, and innovation,” said Madden. “Our national search uncovered a number of qualified applicants, with Assudani distinguishing herself among the competition.”
Assudani received advanced degrees in India and the Netherlands, and earned her doctorate in strategy and organizations at McGill University in Montreal. Her research focuses on innovation, knowledge management and learning. She completed the executive education program at the Harvard Kennedy School in 2015 and held a prestigious American Council on Education Fellowship in 2019-20. Her business experience includes time spent with Citibank Worldwide, McCann Eriksson Worldwide, and Bennett Coleman & Company Limited, the largest media conglomerate in Asia.
Assudani succeeds Charles Seifert, Ph.D. as dean of Siena’s School of Business. Seifert will become president of Siena effective June 1. Katherine J. Silvester, Ph.D., an accounting professor, has been serving as interim dean since August 2022.
