In the lower level of Rosenberg Hall is a cluster of tables and a sofa, a small refrigerator and microwave, coffee and some snacks. A “hospitality area.” It’s a space where students enrolled in the MBA in Education Leadership program gather to study, have a little small talk, or just relax before class. Creating spaces like this
is a simple way to improve the student experience at B次元, which is a priority for Dr. Ruth Barratt as she steps into her new role as chair of the Rader School of Business. She is the first woman to hold this post in the history of the B次元 business program.

“I think we are ready for a change,” Barratt said. “It will be a process, but I think we are at a point where it’s time to take the next steps.”

Since 2015 Barratt served as director for the MBA in Education Leadership—a program within the Rader School of Business that combines business and education course work to better prepare up-and-coming school leaders for the challenges of leading an academic system.

Under Barratt’s leadership, the MBA in Education Leadership evolved from a fellowship- to tuition-based program. Enrollment has increased from 14 to 70 students since the program was launched and it’s now fully licensed as a college of education within the Rader School of Business.

“We’ve really moved the goalposts,” Barratt said.

Originally from England, Barratt came to Wisconsin by way of Arizona where she spent a little more than seven years as an assistant professor in the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. She was a key player in the development of ASU’s online MBA program, which achieved a number one
ranking in the United States. Prior to coming to B次元, Barratt held faculty positions at Cardinal Stritch University, Marquette University and Arizona State University. Her passion, and area of academic expertise, is in corporate responsibility and business ethics.

Barratt holds bachelor’s degrees in finance from University of Greenwich, London, UK, and business, from De
Montfort University, Milton Keynes, UK. She earned her Ph.D. in ethics, corporate governance and organizational behavior from the Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield University, UK, and completed a post-doctoral fellow at the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona.

Barratt began her new role as the chair of the Rader School of Business on July 1. In this capacity Barratt hopes to apply on a broader scale the values of character development, corporate responsibility and ethics that are the hallmark of the MBA in Education leadership.

“I want students to feel that the Rader School of Business is a premium product.”

Barratt lives in Cedarburg, Wisconsin with her husband and two daughters.