Native Arkansan takes charge at UA’s Walton College

The Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas has played an important role in Brent Williams’ life.

He was a graduate student there many years ago. Since 2011, he’s been a faculty member and administrator.

And on Feb. 1, after six months of filling the job on an interim basis, Williams assumed the role of Walton College dean full time. He replaced Matt Waller, who is returning to the classroom to teach supply chain management. Waller held the dean’s position since 2015.

Historically, Williams’ appointment is significant. He is the 11th full-time dean of the UA business school since 1926, but he is the first native Arkansan to have the job since it was renamed in 1998. And perhaps ever.

The college bears the name of Walmart Inc. founder Sam Walton due to a $50 million cash donation from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation in October 1998. The contribution marked the largest gift ever made to a public business college, leading to the establishment of the Sam M. Walton College of Business Administration, later shortened to the Sam M. Walton College of Business in 2000.

“I grew up in Arkansas, so this means a lot to me,” Williams said in a recent interview. “The Walton College and the University of Arkansas have been a huge part of my life. This business school and this university hold a special within the state. Leading it is quite an honor for me and something I take very seriously.”

JOURNEY TO LEADERSHIP
Originally from Newport in northeast Arkansas, Williams fondly recalls his tight-knit community and the natural beauty of the Delta region where he grew up. Despite a childhood dream of becoming a professional baseball player, he pursued economics in college, finding it intriguing to understand human decision-making and interactions.

Williams worked for a construction company after obtaining a bachelor’s degree in economics from Lyon College in Batesville. Still, he realized a gap in his inventory and supply chain management knowledge. He enrolled in Walton College’s transportation and logistics management program, mentored by Waller, leading to a shift toward academia.

Williams earned a master’s in transportation and logistics management and a Ph.D. in logistics. After that, he joined the faculty at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth as an assistant professor of supply chain management and then transitioned to Auburn University for a couple of years before returning to the UA.

As a professor, Williams taught both undergraduate and graduate courses and conducted research in supply chain management, focusing on how retail supply chains can improve their performance. He has consistently engaged industry partners throughout his career to bolster student success, research and innovation.

He said maintaining that robust and complementary relationship in the business community is critical to his job.

“That’s a big part of my job — interacting and telling the story of Walton College across the region and state,” he said. “That tends to get businesses excited, knowing that there’s a base of talent that we’re training and developing that’s going to better their businesses and ultimately our economy.”

According to UA figures, Walton College enrollment this past fall — including undergraduate (8,267) and graduate students (585) — totaled 8,852. That’s up 7.5% from 8,232 students enrolled in the business school in the fall 2022 semester.

Walton College is the largest college on the UA campus, just ahead of Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences (8,639).

Williams said focusing on the undergraduate experience is one of his goals.

“We want it to be experiential,” he explained, highlighting the importance of internships. “That includes opportunities in the classroom, but all the other pieces around the classroom experience provide students with what they need to be successful.”