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Nicole Woolsey Biggart, dean of the Graduate School of Management and an influential ambassador to the Northern California business community, has announced her intention to leave her administrative post next July.

Biggart, who has served as dean since July 2003, will then complete a yearlong sabbatical before returning to full-time teaching and research.

Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef praised Biggart as "an accomplished academic with an interest in the sociology of business. Nicole is a natural as dean. She's taken the school into a new era, from securing a $10 million gift for a new education building to establishing a campus in the Bay Area and continuing to build the Graduate School of Management's reputation as an innovative, collaborative and excellent business school. And she is a true campus citizen, always looking for opportunities to leverage the strengths of ºÙºÙÊÓƵ in broader service to the region."

A national search for a new dean will begin immediately, with the goal of having Biggart's successor on board for the 2009-10 year.

As dean, Biggart's accomplishments include the launch of an annual survey of California women business leaders, which focused attention on the fact that only one in 10 top corporate executives and directors are women. She also oversaw the start of construction of Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. Hall, a new campus home for the Graduate School of Management.

The new building, on schedule to open its doors in September 2009, will help anchor ºÙºÙÊÓƵ' new gateway entry. Under Biggart, the school also developed a successful San Francisco Working Professional MBA Program, allowing ºÙºÙÊÓƵ' entry into one of the nation's most competitive MBA markets. Next month, the school will officially dedicate a new teaching suite for the program in the Bishop Ranch Business Park in San Ramon. Also, the school launched a technology management minor degree program for science and engineering undergraduates.

The school has continued to earn national and international recognition. The Financial Times ranked the school No. 1 in the world in the field of organizational behavior. Recruiters surveyed by The Wall Street Journal placed the school among the top 30 regional business schools in the country. The Aspen Institute's Beyond Grey Pinstripes survey ranked the ºÙºÙÊÓƵ MBA program among the top 30 worldwide for integrating issues of social and environmental stewardship into curricula and research. And, for the 13th consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report ranked the Graduate School of Management among the top 50 business schools in the nation.