Dear Rice community,
I’m delighted that Bernard “Bernie” Banks will join Rice University’s Doerr Institute for New Leaders as its director, effective Jan. 1. He is a noted expert on leadership and organizational change, a sought-after speaker and an Army veteran. I invite you to read more about Bernie’s experience in Rice News.
Bernie comes to Rice from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, where he serves as associate dean for leadership development and inclusion and clinical professor of management and organizations. He is accountable for leader development integration across the school’s global portfolio of programs and for its community experience initiatives.
Bernie retired from the Army as a brigadier general in 2016 after leading the U.S. Military Academy at West Point’s Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership. While at West Point, Banks directed its Eisenhower Leaders Development Program, which offers officers — primarily captains and majors who have been commanders in military organizations around the globe — the opportunity to pursue a master’s degree in social-organizational psychology through Columbia University.
We are grateful to have Bernie join us at Rice and build relationships across campus on behalf of the Doerr Institute. His experience, expertise and emotional intelligence will be invaluable in developing Rice students into global leaders.
A West Point graduate, Bernie is broadly educated. He holds graduate degrees from Northwestern, Columbia, and Harvard. Additionally, he earned his Ph.D. in social-organizational psychology from Columbia University.
Please join me in welcoming Bernie.
Warm regards,
Amy Dittmar, Howard R. Hughes Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs