Nicole Woolsey Biggart joined the Graduate School of Management in 1981 as one of the School’s first faculty members. In 2002 she was awarded the Jerome J. and Elsie Suran Chair in Technology Management. She served as dean of the Graduate School of Management from July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2009.

Professor Biggart is an expert in organizational theory and management of innovation. Her research interests include economic and organizational sociology, firm networks, industrial change and social bases of technology adoption. The author of seven books or book-length reports, she has also written more than 30 articles and chapters and numerous book reviews, and is a frequent presenter at international meetings.

She has held leadership positions in the Academy of Management, the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics and the American Sociological Association, and has served on the editorial boards of several professional journals.

Professor Biggart has studied a wide array of sectors, organizations and markets around the world, including research on the auto industries of South Korea, Taiwan, Spain and Argentina; the U.S. commercial building industry; Japanese management strategies in the U.S.; management and organization in the Far East; organizational explanations for scandals in the White House; organizational change in the U.S. Post Office; the sociology of labor and leisure; and the direct sales market. She is an expert in the formation of business clusters.

Professor Biggart has served on the editorial board of Comstock’s business magazine and on the board of Sacramento Area Regional Technology Alliance, a non-profit supporting entrepreneurial programs, companies and technology investment throughout the region. She is a member of the Business Development/Entrepreneurship Action Team of Partnership for Prosperity, a diverse group of stakeholders that is building a business plan for the Sacramento region that leverages its unique strengths and market opportunities. Professor Biggart also represents UC Davis on the Bay Area Council, a business-sponsored, public-policy advocacy organization for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.