Wanda Costen to step down as Dean of Smith School of Business
Posted on August 29, 2024
Principal Patrick Deane appoints Lynnette Purda as Interim Dean starting in January 2025
Kingston, Ont. – Principal and Vice-Chancellor Patrick Deane announced today that Dean Wanda Costen is stepping down to end her term as Dean of Smith School of Business as of December 31, 2024, to take on the role of Provost and Vice-Principal Academic at Dalhousie University, effective January 1, 2025. Lynnette Purda will serve as Smith’s Interim Dean as of January 1, 2025, for an 18-month appointment.
“I would like to congratulate Dean Costen on her new appointment at Dalhousie and thank her for her numerous contributions to Queen’s and to Smith School of Business,” says Principal Deane. “Under Wanda’s leadership, the school has made important progress in several key areas, including a new strategic plan, greater integration of teaching and research, and improved access and inclusion for students. While she will be greatly missed, I wish her the very best as she takes this exciting next step in her career.”
Dean Costen joined Queen’s in 2021 and during her tenure led the business school and its key stakeholders through a process to develop a comprehensive new strategic plan. She increased focus on research at Smith including more exposure in the undergraduate Commerce program. Dean Costen invested in the future of Smith’s faculty by adding 10 new assistant and associate professors with a diverse set of experiences and backgrounds. She worked with a generous alumni donor to establish the Quinn Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Professorship, and expanded the school’s partnership agreements for exchange and double degrees in the Global South including in Costa Rica, Morocco, and Nigeria.
Before joining Queen’s, Costen was Dean of the School of Business at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta for three years. Before this, she was a professor at Northern Arizona University’s W.A. Franke College where she also served as Executive Director, School of Hotel and Restaurant Management. Prior to her career in academia, Dr. Costen held senior leadership roles at several large private sector companies, including Aramark Services, Greyhound Lines, and Pepsi-Cola Company.
Principal Deane announced that Lynnette Purda will serve as Interim Dean of Smith School of Business as of January 1, 2025, for 18 months. Dean Costen and Dr. Purda will work together in the months ahead to ensure a smooth transition.
Dr. Purda is currently Professor and Associate Dean (Graduate Programs), and RBC Fellow of Finance at Smith School of Business. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst with industry investment banking experience and is an editor of the book Corporate Fraud Exposed. Her primary research area is corporate finance with a focus on governance. Her work appears in leading academic journals, and she has worked with policymakers and practitioners including the Bank of Canada, the Accounting Standards Oversight Council of Canada, and FP Canada. She is Past President of the Northern Finance Association.
Dr. Purda has been nominated for teaching excellence awards at both the undergraduate and master’s levels. She has taught in programs across the Smith portfolio including Bachelor of Commerce, MBA, Master of Finance (both Toronto and Beijing), Master of International Business, and more. She also supervises the research of master’s and doctoral students and won the 2022 PhD/MSc Award for Research Supervision.
She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba and a PhD in Finance from the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.
About Smith School of Business
Smith School of Business at Queen’s University is renowned for its excellence, innovation, and leadership in business education and research. From establishing the first undergraduate business degree a century ago to ground-breaking work in analytics and artificial intelligence, leadership, entrepreneurship, social impact, sustainability and more, Smith is at the forefront of creating new knowledge and preparing students to have positive impact on business and society.