Wharton Dean Erika James Discusses AI Major, DEI and Crisis Leadership at Aspen Business & Society Summit
During the 2026 Aspen Business & Society Summit, Wharton School Dean Erika James engaged in a conversation with Ellen McGirt on the DB|BD podcast, emphasizing the concept of radical collaboration. Since taking on the deanship on July 1, 2020, James has navigated the challenges of leading two deanships amid the pandemic, having accepted the position in February 2020 and moving to Philadelphia in June. She co-wrote The Prepared Leader with Lynn Perry Wooten, released in fall 2022, which promotes crisis management as a vital field. In response to the emergence of ChatGPT, she introduced an AI major at Wharton in November 2023. Additionally, James criticized the misuse of DEI language, highlighted the need for grading reform, and discussed business's role in restoring trust while reflecting on her experience as Wharton's first Black dean.
Key facts
- Erika James became Dean of the Wharton School on July 1, 2020, having accepted the role in February 2020.
- The Prepared Leader, co-authored with Lynn Perry Wooten, was published in fall 2022.
- Wharton launched an AI major designed through a faculty-driven process, with courses in AI ethics, machine learning, data science, neuroscience and marketing.
- James said no Wharton student graduates without significant exposure to the application of AI in business.
- The conversation was recorded at the 2026 Aspen Business & Society Summit for the DB|BD podcast, hosted by Ellen McGirt.
- James described DEI language as weaponized and said Wharton now refers to related work as impact.
- James identified grading as the convention in business education most overdue for overhaul.
- James discussed Reid Hoffman's doomer, gloomer, zoomer and bloomer categories for attitudes toward AI.
Entities
Artists
- Erika James
- Ellen McGirt
- Lynn Perry Wooten
- Reid Hoffman
Institutions
- Wharton School
- University of Pennsylvania
- Aspen Business & Society Summit
- Aspen Institute
- DB|BD
- Fortune
- Good Morning America
- DesignObserver
- Penn Press
- ChatGPT
Locations
- Aspen
- United States
- Philadelphia
- Silicon Valley