Dr. Dipankar Chakravarti, Eminent Scholar and Professor of Marketing at Virginia Tech, brings more than 45 years of experience as an educator, researcher, and academic leader to the Pamplin College of Business. His career reflects a willingness to embrace new opportunities, from a background in physics in India to business education in the United States, and he encourages his students to approach their own learning journeys with the same sense of ambition and openness to growth.

Dr. Chakravarti’s journey into the field of business began in India, where he earned a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Physics from Presidency College, University of Calcutta, before working at DCM, a major consumer products company. Seeking formal business education, he came to the United States in 1974 to pursue graduate study at Carnegie Mellon University, where he earned both his M.S. and Ph.D. in Industrial Administration. 

Since then, Dr. Chakravarti has held distinguished appointments at leading institutions, including the University of Florida, the University of Arizona, the University of Colorado Boulder, Duke University, and the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, where he helped design and launch their MBA program in 2010. His leadership roles have included serving as Vice Dean at Johns Hopkins, Interim Dean at Colorado’s Leeds School of Business, and Head of the Marketing Department at Arizona’s Eller School. 

At Virginia Tech, Dr. Chakravarti was the founding director of the Executive Ph.D. in Business Research program, growing it from just a handful of students in 2015 to more than 30 today. He remains committed to doctoral education, having directed Ph.D. programs at multiple institutions, and is consistently recognized for his impact as a mentor and teacher. 

In the classroom, Dr. Chakravarti applies a “tough love” approach. He believes that ambition fuels growth, and he challenges students to aim higher while celebrating their successes when their hard work pays off. Recently, he has embraced AI in teaching by promoting it as “a tool in their toolbelt”. When asked his thoughts on AI technologies in the classroom, he explained that he believes they are “great enablers but not substitutes for human thought”. He compares these new advances in AI to the invention of the calculator, which was once seen as a replacement for math abilities, but ultimately proved to be a powerful enabler of deeper learning and efficiency, rather than a substitution.

Despite a long commute, Dr. Chakravarti appreciates the flexibility and state-of-the-art facilities at the new Virginia Tech Academic Building 1, where he is located. He recognizes the new opportunities these new advancements provide, such as allowing for dynamic group discussions and collaborative learning. He also takes pride in the department’s growth, from innovative programs such as Digital Marketing Strategy, Professional Sales Program, and the experiential learning programs through our student organizations, to the college’s broader “One Pamplin” vision of connecting campuses through technology.

For Dr. Chakravarti, the highlight of his career remains working with students. “Without ambition, there’s no motivation,” he says. His own career, which is shaped by curiosity, challenge, and opportunity, reflects the very spirit of ambition he encourages in Hokies every day.