Wharton Dean Erika James joins Pomona College board of trustees

Dean of the Wharton School Erika James will sit on Pomona College’s board of trustees effective on July 1, 2024.

The new trustees will oversee Pomona's leadership, planning, and resources, according to the announcement. James deferred the start of her service, while the five other newly elected trustees began their terms on July 1, 2023.

James graduated from Pomona in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She then went on to receive her Ph.D. in organizational psychology at the University of Michigan.

Previously, James has served as the dean of Emory University's Goizueta Business School, as well as senior associate dean for executive education and professor at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. She also was an assistant professor at Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business and a visiting professor at Harvard Business School. 

James’ research interests include crisis leadership, workplace diversity, and management strategy. She also serves on the board of several organizations, such as Morgan Stanley and The Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center, Inc. 

Pomona College was established in 1887 as a liberal arts college and is located in Claremont, Calif. The school ranked third in the 2022-23 edition of the U.S. News Best Colleges of National Liberal Arts Colleges.

Craig Hyland, who received his Master of Social Work degree from Penn, was appointed as the assistant vice president for development at Pomona last August. 

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Erika James serves on the boards of Survey Monkey, the Graduate Management Admissions Council, and Save the Children, when, in fact, she no longer serves on those boards. The DP regrets this error.