Walton College Dean Search Down to Four

The University of Arkansas has scheduled interviews and open forums for the four candidates selected as finalists to become the next dean of the Walton College of Business.

The finalists will visit the Fayetteville campus over the next month as the UA closes in on finding a successor for Dan Worrell.

Worrell announced in 2009 his intention to step down this summer and return to his faculty post in the college’s Department of Management. He has served as dean since August 2005.

Forums for each candidate will be held in the auditorium of the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development.

The schedule is as follows:

• Sarah Gardial, vice provost for faculty affairs and professor of marketing at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will speak at an open forum from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 23;

• David Urban, executive associate dean of the school of business and professor of marketing at Virginia Commonwealth University, will speak from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 30;

• Stephen Mangum, senior associate dean and professor of management and human resources at Ohio State University, will speak from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 6; and

• Eli Jones, dean of the business college and professor of marketing at Louisiana State University, will speak from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 13.

A recommendation is expected by March 1.

Gardial is the only candidate who is a U of A graduate.

Further information on the finalists can be found at the website Complete vitas for all of the candidates are available online at http://waltoncollege.uark.edu/dean-search.asp.

The 17-member search committee is expected to give its recommendation to Sharon Gaber, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, by March 1.