Freeman announces new administrative appointments

Freeman School Dean Paulo Goes has appointed Carmen Weigelt, associate professor of strategy, to serve as associate dean of the Stewart Center for Professional & Executive Education and Rajat Khanna, associate professor of management, to serve as faculty director of the full-time MBA program. The appointments are effective July 1, 2025.

“With technologies like AI transforming the way we do business, MBA programs are essential to providing leaders with the foundational and applied skills they need to manage organizations in times of change and disruption,” said Goes. “Carmen and Rajat each bring more than a decade of MBA teaching and administrative experience to their roles and are ready and excited to build high-value MBA programs for the future of business. I couldn’t be happier or more enthusiastic to see them take on the leadership of these important programs.”

Weigelt joined the Freeman School as an assistant professor of strategy in 2007 after serving on the faculty of Rice University’s Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management, and she was promoted to associate professor in 2013. She currently chairs the curriculum committees for the MBA program, the Executive MBA program and international master’s programs. She holds a PhD from Duke University and an MBA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

In her new role as associate dean, Weigelt will provide oversight to Freeman School graduate programs that serve working professionals: the Professional MBA, the Executive MBA and the Online MBA. Her responsibilities will include academics, curriculum, admissions and student services, and representation of the programs to the various academic entities within the Freeman School and at Tulane University. She will also provide guidance for the planning and evaluation of non-credit executive programs that interface with credit-based academic programs.

She replaces Alex Sleptsov, who served as executive director of the Stewart Center’s academic degree program and, prior to that, as assistant dean for executive education. Sleptsov will remain on the faculty as a lecturer in strategy and entrepreneurship.

Khanna joined the Freeman School in 2015 after earning his PhD in strategy and entrepreneurship from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was promoted to associate professor in 2023. In his new role, Khanna will support a range of services for full-time MBAs, including student programming and professional development, curriculum development, and academic planning and course scheduling. Khanna will also work with deans and directors to oversee full-time MBA program marketing efforts including website content, digital marketing and public relations. He will also work closely with assistant deans and directors across the school to admissions programming, international programs, and career services and alumni engagement.

He replaces Mark Ratchford, who served as faculty director of the full- and part-time MBA programs. Ratchford will remain on the faculty as a professor of practice in marketing.