John T. Delaney is a Professor of Business Administration at the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration, where he also served as the Henry E. Haller, Jr. Dean of Business from 2006 until 2015. During his deanship, the school experienced increased enrollments, better student quality, improved student satisfaction scores, greater diversity, and enhancements on virtually all key metrics. These outcomes stimulated a dramatic improvement in rankings and the generation of significant financial resources – which allowed an expansion of the faculty, renovation of facilities, and provision of new faculty and student support. He also expanded the school’s interactions with alumni, hosting events across the U.S. and in Brazil, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and the U.K.
He is a passionate advocate for experiential learning, which reflects the notion that students learn more from doing and practicing than from listening. He believes that hybrid educational models combining web-based approaches and experiential learning options will come to dominate higher education.
Delaney earned a B.S. degree from LeMoyne College and A.M. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Illinois. He held faculty positions at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, University of Iowa, and Michigan State University before joining Pitt. At Iowa, he also served as Director of the Industrial Relations Center, University Ombudsperson, and Chairperson of the Department of Marketing. At Michigan State, he served as Associate Dean for MBA Programs. His administrative efforts have been credited with stimulating curricular innovations and enhancing student satisfaction at Iowa, Michigan State, and Pitt.
He is widely recognized for his scholarship in negotiation, dispute resolution, and labor-management relations. He has given expert testimony to the National Labor Relations Board and the Subcommittee on Labor of the U.S. Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources and has regularly served on business school accreditation review committees for the AACSB. While serving as dean, he wrote a monthly blog on the Huffington Post and regularly interacted with members of the media regarding a variety of news stories. He has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Society for Human Resource Management – University of Iowa Hawkeye Chapter – Outstanding Professor Award (1994-1995), the University of Illinois School of Labor and Employment Relations Distinguished Alumni Award (2011), and the Katz School’s H.J. Zoffer Medal for Meritorious Service (2015).