Ritu Agarwal Directory Page

Ritu Agarwal has retired from the Smith School. She came to the Smith School in 1999 and served in a broad range of administrative posts, culminating most recently in her role first as Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research and, then, Interim Dean of the Smith School. In her incredibly distinguished academic career, she has published more than 100 papers in top academic journals, testified before government agencies such as the U.S. Department of Health, and collaborated with Fortune 500 companies such as Cisco Systems, Johnson and Johnson and Pfizer.

She founded, and was the Director of, the Center for Health Information and Decision Systems (CHIDS). CHIDS, established in 2005, was the first research center within a business school to study the use and application of information technology in healthcare. 

Ritu is also recognized as a master teacher, having taught at every level and received all of the Smith School’s major teaching awards,  as well as the University’s Distinguished Scholar-Teacher award. 

In 2017, Ritu was appointed as a Distinguished University Professor, the highest academic appointment bestowed on University of Maryland faculty.  In 2021, she received the President’s Medal, the highest honor at the University of Maryland. The only other Smith faculty to have ever received this honor is Dean Rudy Lamone.  Ritu also received the LEO Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Association for Information Systems in 2019.