Santanu Chatterjee, a widely respected scholar, teacher and leader in the University of Georgia’s C. Herman and Mary Virginia Terry College of Business, has been named the college’s 13th dean.

Chatterjee holds the Dr. Harold A. Black Distinguished Professorship of Economics and has been a member of the Terry College faculty since 2001. Before his appointment as dean, he served as director of both the full-time MBA and the Master of Science in Business Analytics programs, in addition to his role as associate dean for graduate programs. He succeeds Benjamin C. Ayers, who led the college from 2014 until his 2025 appointment as the university’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost.

Chatterjee’s appointment follows a national search led by an 18-member advisory committee composed of Terry College faculty, staff, students and alumni. The committee was chaired by Matthew R. Auer, dean of the School of Public and International Affairs, and was assisted by the UGA Search Group.

Chatterjee will begin his permanent appointment as dean on April 1, 2026.

“Dr. Chatterjee brings a strong record of teaching, scholarship and administrative experience to this important role,” said UGA President Jere W. Morehead. “With his years of dedicated service to the Terry College of Business, I am confident he will continue to advance the college’s reputation as one of the top public business schools in the country.”