Former Walton College staffer at University of Arkansas set to become provost at Auburn

A former professor in the University of Arkansas’ Sam M. Walton College of Business is set to become the top academic officer at Auburn University.

Effective Jan. 1, Bill Hardgrave will become the university’s provost and vice president for academic affairs. Auburn announced the appointment Nov. 10, following a unanimous vote of the board of trustees. Auburn’s previous provost announced his retirement from the university in September.

Hardgrave, a Clarksville native, has served as dean of the Harbert College of Business at Auburn since 2010. Before that, he spent 17 years at the UA. He was an endowed chair and professor of Information Systems in the Walton College, and served as the founder and executive director of the Information Technology Research Institute, which he established in 1999. He also founded and directed the RFID Research Center, which moved from the UA to Auburn in 2014. Hardgrave has worked with Amazon, Wal-Mart Stores, Microsoft and other companies on the use of RFID in global supply chains.

Hardgrave is also a member of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s 2003 Forty Under 40 class.