Knight takes helm of Bauer Leadership Center as chancellor names him executive director of Bauer Leaders Academy

Dean Mike Mazzeo has appointed Andrew Knight director of Olin’s Bauer Leadership Center for the 2024-2025 academic year.

In addition, Knight, a professor of organizational behavior, has been named senior advisor to the chancellor for leadership and executive director of the university’s Bauer Leaders Academy. 

Earlier this year, WashU alumnus George Bauer and his wife, Carol Bauer, made a $20 million commitment to establish and endow the academy, an innovative initiative that places values-based leadership development at the center of the WashU experience for all students. 

The academy will offer students opportunities to build leadership skills inside and outside the classroom, Chancellor Andrew D. Martin said at the time.

“I am inspired by George and Carol Bauer’s vision for WashU—to be an institution that develops leaders of character and capability,” Knight said last week. “And, I’m delighted to have an opportunity to serve as executive director and make this vision a reality.”

At the Bauer Leadership Center, Knight steps in as Kurt Dirks, who’s been at WashU for 23 years, departs to serve as dean of the Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah.

“Founding the Bauer Leadership Center (in partnership with Stuart Bunderson) is one of the achievements of which I am most proud due to the impact it has had,” Dirks wrote in a letter in the center’s new annual report.

The Bauer Leadership Center focuses on developing leaders of competence and character. It also supports faculty with their work in the classroom, encourages research from across campus on leadership and works with other universities to develop best practices.

Knight’s faculty office will remain in Bauer Hall. His Bauer Leaders Academy office will be in the Danforth University Center.