Steve Salbu, dean of Georgia Institute of Technology's Scheller College of Business, says he is the only openly gay dean at a top U.S. business school. As a result, he feels a duty to speak out for openness and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students and professionals.

Though Mr. Salbu is at a relatively small school—Scheller has just 71 students in the first-year class of its full-time M.B.A., 415 more in an evening version and 1,332 undergraduates—he hopes to expand his platform on LGBT issues.

That has become more feasible since the Atlanta-based school cracked the top 25 on Bloomberg Businessweek's M.B.A. ranking in 2010.

But a larger stage brings with it more competition, particularly for top students and star faculty.

"We have gone from being a highly regarded regional business school to a business school that is playing in the big leagues," Mr. Salbu says.