Dean Appointed to Head Kenan-Flagler Business School

Posted on July 25, 2008

James W. Dean Jr., a professor of organizational behavior and strategy and senior associate dean of academic affairs at the Kenan-Flagler Business School, will become the school’s next dean effective Aug. 1.

The UNC Board of Trustees on Thursday approved the appointment of Dean, a member of the Kenan-Flagler faculty since 1997. Dean succeeds W. Steven Jones ’74, who will complete his five-year term as dean on July 31.

Dean’s research, teaching and work with companies focus on leadership, organizational change, strategic decision making, international management and organizational performance improvement.

He has served in key leadership roles at Kenan-Flagler. Dean assumed the business school’s top academic position, senior associate dean for academic affairs, on July 1, 2007. He also served as associate dean of executive development and associate dean of the master of business administration program.

As associate dean for executive development, Dean increased the number and global reach of UNC’s nondegree programs, which are ranked among the world’s best. The school is noted for its custom-designed programs and has developed programs for Exxon Mobil Corp., the Navy, Duke Energy Corp., Cisco Systems Inc. and Nucor Corp., among others.

As associate dean of the MBA program, Dean led an innovative curriculum redesign, created corporate advisory boards and developed a professional team to guide admissions, student services and career services.

He has participated in research, teaching and/or consulting projects with many companies, including Alcoa Inc., Boeing Co., Corning Inc., DuPont, Exxon Mobil, General Electric Co., Honeywell International Inc. and the Navy.

His research has been published in top academic and business journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Harvard Business Review, Organization Science and Strategic Management Journal.

He served as program director of the National Science Foundation research program, Transformations to Quality Organizations, which was jointly sponsored by the government and the private sector. He served as an examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for six years.

Dean earned his doctorate and master’s degree in organizational behavior from Carnegie Mellon University. He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the Catholic University.

Kenan-Flagler is one of the nation’s oldest accredited business schools. Its degree programs include the MBA, MBA for Executives (Evening, Weekend and OneMBA Global), master of accounting, undergraduate bachelor of science in business administration and doctoral Programs. Executive development programs are taught at the Paul J. Rizzo Conference Center at Meadowmont. The Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, founded at Kenan-Flagler in 1985, promotes private enterprise worldwide and leverages private-sector resources and expertise to serve the public interest.

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Related coverage is available online:

• New Dean at Chapel Hill Brings Apt Name to His Post
  From The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 30, 2008. (Content may be restricted to registered users.)
• Dean Set to Take Helm at Kenan-Flagler
  June 2008 news report
• Jones to Leave Deanship at Kenan-Flagler
  November 2007 news report

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