Joel Podolny, an expert in leadership and management at the Harvard Business School, will become the new dean of the Yale School of Management, Yale President Richard Levin announced Tuesday morning.

The director of research at HBS, Podolny specializes in economic sociology, status dynamics and market competition. He will assume the Yale deanship for a five-year term beginning July 1, replacing Jeffrey Garten, who is stepping down after serving at the helm of the SOM for 10 years.

“Professor Podolny brings scholarly distinction, administrative experience and an infectious enthusiasm that will serve us well,” Levin wrote in an e-mail to the SOM community announcing the appointment.

Podolny is the co-author of a textbook on strategic management, just completed a book on the sociological study of market competition that will be printed this fall, and has authored or co-authored 25 papers. At Harvard, he has taught MBA courses in the areas of organizational behavior, strategy and global management.

After Podolny received his Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard in 1991, he joined the faculty of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he worked for the next 11 years. There, he was tenured at age 30 and later appointed senior associate dean for academic affairs. In 2002 he returned to Harvard to assume the Novartis Professorship of Leadership and Management.

Garten will go on sabbatical next year and will return to Yale in the fall of 2006 to teach and write full-time, Levin wrote in the e-mail. The Yale president credited Garten with revitalizing and strengthening the SOM over his term as dean.

“He leaves as his legacy a vigorous SOM community, a strong and productive faculty, and an engaged and supportive alumni body,” Levin wrote. “Although Jeff is always quick to credit others with the School’s development, he was the architect of SOM’s revival.”

Please check www.yaledailynews.com and Thursday’s edition of the Yale Daily News for more complete coverage of Podolny’s appointment.