Interim Provost Margaret Callahan announced last week that a search committee was formed to find the next dean of the College of Business Administration. Mark Eppli has served as interim dean since Linda Salchenberger stepped down last year to become associate provost for academic planning and budgeting.
The 12-member committee was chosen entirely by Callahan, following university guidelines. There are eight committee members from the college, including the co-chairs of the search committee, Michael Akers, the chair of accounting in the college, and Joseph Daniels, the chair of economics.
Daniels said the committee hopes to have a candidate selected by late March, adding that the new dean will have a wide range of responsibilities. He described the dean’s role inside the college as taking a “macro view” on college operations.
“(The new dean is) the CEO of that college,” Daniels said.
He also said the committee will make this a national search, and that they are looking for someone with “robust leadership experience,” and has a strong record of interacting with shareholders or alumni. The committee is looking for someone with a strong academic record who would be able to connect easily with the professors in the college.
Some students within the university said they are hoping the committee finds someone who combines a background in private industry with academic experience.
“I would hope that they find someone who has good real world professional experience along with a background in teaching,” said Henry Bremhorst, a senior in the College of Business Administration. “I find that I learn and connect with professors that apply what they’ve actually done in the business world to their teaching.”
Jon Harrington, a fellow senior in the College of Business Administration, also said he thinks it’s important to have a dean with a background balanced in business and teaching experience.
“I’d just want someone with real world business success as well as teaching experience in a college setting,” Harrington said.
External responsibilities of the dean include interacting with the provost and the deans of the other colleges in the university. The dean also needs to interact with the accrediting board of the college, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.
“One of our big priorities is our accreditation,” Daniels said.
William Henk, the dean of the College of Education is also serving on the committee and the academic senate representative is Ed Fallone, associate professor of law. The two members of the committee not affiliated with the university are Ann Marie Wick, the director of global business analysis at Johnson Controls, and Owen Sullivan, the retired CEO of Right Management.
