First hired in 2007 as an assistant dean, her primary responsibility in that role was managing surveys and rankings for the school. The MBA Program and the Jindal School’s Career Management Center also reported to her. In 2009, she took on the graduate dean role along with a colleague. After two years, the colleague departed and she became the sole graduate dean, a role she kept until her retirement. In the 2015-16 academic year, she was promoted to senior associate dean and maintained the dual role for the remainder of her career at UT Dallas. In her new role she took on all aspects of academic operations, managing accreditation, digital analytics and webservices, which included data management for the Jindal School.
Always one to give credit where credit is due, Powell was quick to point to her team when asked to recall her proudest accomplishments during her time at UT Dallas.
“It takes a great team to achieve amazing results, and I have been blessed to have had the best team members throughout my tenure at JSOM,” she said. “This team has helped me to dramatically advance our reputation in a wide variety of rankings including U.S. News & World Report, Financial Times, Bloomberg BusinessWeek to name a few. Our MBA programs have excelled in the rankings during my tenure, and it has been such fun to watch our rankings soar. Our online programs (MBA and specialty masters) along with our individual MS rankings have also soared. Building our rankings has helped build incredible enrollment and attract talented faculty.”
At the request of Dr. Hasan Pirkul, Caruth Chair and Jindal School dean, Powell started the Jindal School’s Dean’s Council in 2008.
“This organization had a very specific mission and was able to help in two critical ways: one to help build the culture of the school and two to help build our reputation,” she said. “You can look at the Dean’s Council website to see all the amazing accomplishments over the last 15 years. The sweetest accomplishment for me is the creation of the OWLIES “annual” awards ceremony. Over the last 10 years, it has become a formidable spring tradition that recognizes excellence in all JSOM stakeholders.”
Pirkul said the Jindal School and UT Dallas have been fortunate to have Powell as a colleague.
“She is irreplaceable,” he said. “The Jindal School would not be where it is today if it weren’t for her efforts and leadership. She is truly an outstanding person in every sense of the word. She will be missed.”
Powell said she is very proud of the accomplishments that the program directors have had under her leadership in building the Jindal School’s graduate programs.
“We were committed to help grow JSOM enrollment to become one of the largest graduate business programs in America,” she said. “I also played an important role in our reaccreditation in 2008, 2013, 2018 and 2023. As I look back, I will always stand in amazement of what JSOM accomplished during the pandemic. The transition required long, tedious days. Somehow, we survived and thrived. As the dean who lived closest to campus, I came to the building every day for well over a year to be the dean available in JSOM. I was thrilled to bear that responsibility and glad to help our school traverse an incredibly challenging time that required every aspect of our school to be modified to meet the needs of students, faculty and staff.”
Powell said she hopes that her colleagues and students will remember her as someone who always did her very best on their behalf.
“I never shied away from hard work, and I was always willing to get the job done regardless of how hard it might be or how long it might take,” she said. “I hope that I inspired others to be enthusiastic and to bring relentless energy to serving students, day in and day out, regardless of other demands of their time.”
Powell began her academic career as a resident assistant in a 1,000-student female dormitory at the University of Alabama.
“I loved working with students and especially freshmen — helping them in their transition to college and to be successful students,” she said. “I continued to work for university housing until I graduated with my master’s degree four years later.”
After graduation, she went to work as a news producer and occasional reporter for an ABC affiliate television station in Gulfport, Miss., where she said she learned a lot, and thrived in a very fast-paced environment. When her spouse brought them to Dallas in the mid-1980s, she decided to return to academia. She went to work for SMU where she stayed for well over a decade running graduate programs including Executive, Part-Time and Full-Time MBAs.
“Because of a random fluke phone call from headhunter, I left SMU to work for a global financial services firm running college recruiting,” she said. “It was terrific to see the other side of preparing students for work but confirmed for me that I needed to obtain a PhD and get back to academia.”
After earning a PhD, she decided to work for UT Dallas, a public institution where she said the democratization of higher education can make more dreams come true for a much more diverse group of students than can access private education.
“Now, after 17 years of doing what I love — “helping manufacturer student’s futures” — I have lived the dream,” she said. “Who gets to impact thousands of students’ lives and watch their futures happen and their lives blossom? I did — and I’m so honored to have had the privilege and opportunity to serve so many great students, colleagues and faculty.”
When asked about retirement plans, Powell said that her family will be her primary focus.
“My husband and I have been blessed with nine grandchildren with whom I hope to spend more time,” she said. “I would also like to get away from the hustle and bustle of the big city and explore America in a nice recreational vehicle. A trip to Ireland, Scotland and Australia are also out there for additional adventures.”
