After a nine-month search, Northwestern announced the Kellogg School of Management’s new dean Tuesday.

Sally Blount, a Kellogg alumna, is the vice dean of the Leonard N. Stern School of Business and dean of Stern’s undergraduate college at New York University. She will replace Kellogg’s interim dean, Sunil Chopra, in July, University Spokesman Al Cubbage said.

“She has a really wonderful combination of administrative experience and excellence,” Cubbage said.

Blount graduated from Kellogg with a Ph.D. in 1992, according to a University press release.

“People are really excited to have the final announcement,” second-year Kellogg student Sarah Clabby said. “She seems very qualified.”

Blount was also appointed by the NYU president and provost to special advisor for global academic integration, according to the release. Kellogg has made efforts to expand its global reach over the past few years; the school, along with The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, is an associate of the Indian School of Business.

The search team for Kellogg’s new dean included faculty members from every department in Kellogg, as well as students, alumni and deans from other schools within NU.

The position was formerly held by Dipak Jain, who served as dean from 2001 to 2009. He left his position to return to teaching, Cubbage said, and is currently a professor of marketing and the Sandy and Morton Goldman Professor in Entrepreneurial Studies at Kellogg.

During Jain’s tenure, Kellogg established a campus in Miami, developed an undergraduate certificate program, began planning for the school’s new building on the Evanston Campus and created a Kellogg alumni network. Chopra told The Daily last fall that he would direct many of his efforts over the 2009-10 school year toward maintaining and expanding student success in a difficult economic climate.

Clabby said she is excited to have a female dean.

“It speaks to the diversity we hold so dear,” she said. – Lark Turner