UAH Names Clemson Administrator as Business Dean

Newswise — Caron St. John, the associate dean for research, graduate programs & outreach in the College of Business & Behavioral Science at Clemson University, has been chosen to lead the College of Business Administration at The University of Alabama in Huntsville. She has had direct management responsibility for Clemson’s MBA programs, the Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership and the Clemson Renaissance Center. She also has oversight responsibility for other college centers and institutes including Professional Advancement and Continuing Education (PACE), and the upstate South Carolina regional office of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC). She joins UAHuntsville in March 2010 and will be the successor to Dr. Jim Simpson, who has been serving as acting dean of the college for the past three years. He has held positions at the university since 1977 and became a member of the business faculty in 1990. Dr. Simpson will continue in his role as a faculty member in the college. Dr. St. John said she looks forward to the opportunity. “President Dave Williams and Provost Vistasp Karbhari have a compelling vision for the university and I look forward to being part of it. Their commitment to excellence in ‘the business of science and technology’ is a perfect fit with my interests and experience. I look forward to working with the college's outstanding faculty and the extraordinary Huntsville community to help realize that vision.” President Williams praised her appointment. “Caron St. John is an intellectual leader, an entrepreneurial expert and an academic with an extraordinarily broad background in business education and scholarly research,” he said. “She is ideally qualified to expand the important role that the UAHuntsville College of Business plays in the Huntsville community.” The announcement of her hiring was made by Provost Karbhari. “Caron emerged as the top candidate after an extensive search process that involved our faculty and leaders of the community,” he said. “She brings a deep understanding of the need and potential for interaction of academia with the larger community, an outstanding record of scholarship and administrative leadership, and a true interdisciplinary background. UAHuntsville is uniquely placed to lead the nation in areas related to the business of science and technology and I have no doubt that our college will continue its upward trajectory under Dr. St. John’s leadership building on the tremendous momentum set by Dean James Simpson.” Dr. St. John has received funding from the Small Business Administration, the U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Science Foundation. She has published articles in leading scholarly journals including Academy of Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Operations Management, Production and Operations Management, and Organizational Research Methods, as well as textbooks in strategic management. Her research has been profiled in an article in The Economist and recognized by the Decision Sciences Institute with a Best Interdisciplinary Paper award. She was the recipient of the 2007 Charles Townes Award for Individual Achievement in Innovation from InnoVision, a South Carolina non-profit organization focused on innovation and economic development. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses that address the business, operations, and technology strategies of firms, and is a two-time recipient of the MBA Student Association teaching award. During her tenure with the Spiro Institute, she created new entrepreneurship initiatives including courses and a certificate in technology entrepreneurship, an on-going funded assistantship program linking MBA students to the new venture creation and technology commercialization activities on campus and in the region, and helped launch a new immersion entrepreneur development program intended to assist young entrepreneurs in launching new ventures. She has participated in numerous new business development activities around the state. She is a founding board member of the Upstate Coalition for Entrepreneurial Development (now NEXT) and a founding board member of InnoVenture. She serves on the Clemson University Research Foundation board, chairs Clemson University's Intellectual Property Committee, chairs the university's Executive, Continuing & Professional Education Steering Committee, and participated in two of the university's strategic budget tasks forces during the recent budget crisis. Before pursuing an academic career, she was a research chemist with Celanese Corporation in Charlotte, NC where she was involved with new product development and new business development in high performance fibers. She has a B.S in chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), and a MBA and PhD in business administration from Georgia State University. Dr. St. John’s hiring was also praised by community business leaders that served on the search committee. Wallace Kirkpatrick, CEO of DESE Research Inc. said: “I am extremely pleased we were able to find such an outstanding candidate to fill this important position at UAHuntsville. I was pleased to be part of the process and I believe Dr. Caron St. John will be a great asset to the university and the community.” Edward Page, retired Executive Director of the Clemson Research Foundation and head of technology transfer at Clemson University, said she “brings a wealth of knowledge, talent, and enthusiasm to the job. She will be a huge asset to UAHuntsville and Huntsville’s entrepreneurial spirit.” Responding to the announcement of her hiring Jerry Trapnell, Executive Vice-President and Chief Accreditation Officer of AACSB International (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) was equally complimentary. “Dr. St. John is an outstanding hire with tremendous vision, technological focus, and an extraordinary ability to bridge the disciplines of business and science & technology. This is a big loss for Clemson and she will be a huge asset to UAHuntsville.”