Experienced Educator and Administrator Named New Dean of Business School

By Danica Fisher ’05, May 24, 2022

Michael Johnson-Cramer will join Ithaca College on July 1, 2022.

New Ithaca College School of Business Dean Michael Johnson-Cramer. (Photo submitted)

Michael Johnson-Cramer has been named the new dean of Ithaca College’s School of Business. Since 2019 Johnson-Cramer has been a professor of management at Bentley University, serving there in 2019-20 as the dean of Business and the McCallum Graduate School of Business.

In announcing his appointment to the campus community, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Melanie Stein said Johnson-Cramer has a distinguished skill set that will serve the school well at this time.

“In seeking a dean for the School of Business, we were determined to find someone who would be a hands-on, inspirational, and collaborative leader for the school’s academic, teaching, and research enterprise, interested in the holistic development of our students and with an unwavering and proven commitment to the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” said Stein. “Michael has a demonstrable record of achievement in all of the above during his higher education career.”

“My passion is preparing students to confront society’s grand challenges, but neither business nor any other discipline can solve these challenges alone. As dean, I hope to forge stronger ties between the school’s faculty, IC’s other schools, and the business world. Together, if we can teach students to collaborate across disciplinary boundaries, we can have enormous social impact.”

Michael Johnson-Cramer

After beginning his academic career at Boston University and the University of Massachusetts, Johnson-Cramer joined the management faculty at Bucknell University in 2004. His leadership roles there included chairing the interdisciplinary global management program and serving as associate dean of faculty for the College of Arts and Sciences, founding director of the School of Management, and interim dean of the Freeman College of Management. He led efforts to plan for and establish the Freeman College, to achieve initial AACSB accreditation in three years, and to implement an interdisciplinary curriculum, including new majors and minors.

While at Bucknell, Johnson-Cramer partnered with the admissions office to help improve enrollment and with the alumni relations and advancement offices to increase donor engagement and support.

“My passion is preparing students to confront society’s grand challenges, but neither business nor any other discipline can solve these challenges alone,” said Johnson-Cramer. “As dean, I hope to forge stronger ties between the school’s faculty, IC’s other schools, and the business world. Together, if we can teach students to collaborate across disciplinary boundaries, we can have enormous social impact.”

Johnson-Cramer received his Doctor of Business Administration degree from Boston University, MBA from the Université Libre de Bruxelles, and Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University. His academic research focuses on the causes of conflict between companies and their stakeholders, and he has published work on how to cultivate stakeholder dialogue in global companies, the nature of managerial discretion in stakeholder relationships, and the processes of organizational decision-making. His professional affiliations include the Academy of Management, International Association for Business and Society, and Society for Business Ethics.

Johnson-Cramer will begin his new position at Ithaca College on July 1, 2022. He succeeds Alka Bramhandkar, professor of finance and international business, who has been serving as interim dean of the School of Business since 2020.