Williams has served as dean of the College of Business and Public Administration at the University of North Dakota since 2014.
Margaret L. Williams, a professor of management and a dean at one of the top research universities in the country, has been named the new dean of the Jerry S. Rawls College of Business.
Williams, one of three finalists for the position, brings with her more than 30 years of experience as an educator and administrator in both management and psychology, most recently serving as the Page Endowed dean of the College of Business and Public Administration at the University of North Dakota.
"I am thrilled to be joining the Rawls family and am looking forward to working with its outstanding staff, faculty, students and alumni to continue to enhance the reputation of the college and Texas Tech University," Williams said.
Williams replaces Paul R. Goebel, the James E. and Elizabeth F. Sowell Professor of Finance who has served as the college's interim dean since Jan. 1, 2016.
"We are very excited that Dr. Williams has agreed to become the next dean of the Rawls College of Business," Texas Tech interim provost Michael Galyean said. "She has an outstanding record as a scholar and educator in the area of management, and she has a wealth of experience as dean of other high-quality programs. The Rawls College of Business has excellent students, staff and faculty, and Dr. Williams' exceptional leadership and communication skills will allow her to build on these strengths and continue to grow the national stature and prestige of the college."
During her time at North Dakota, Williams led a college with almost 100 full- and part-time faculty and almost 50 professional and administrative staff, managing a budget of more than $25 million in a college that enrolls 2,000 students in five departments and a school with 16 undergraduate majors and three award-winning graduate programs where on-campus and distance learning students share in synchronous classroom experiences.
She also managed the creation of a new School of Entrepreneurship, steered development and alumni relations, enhanced the college's research portfolio and addressed the college's curricular needs. Williams helped create a new workload allocation and merit process for faculty, developed a promotion and tenure process that had not previously existed and helped establish guidelines for salary equity adjustments.
"I am particularly excited to have the opportunity to play a role in solidifying Texas Tech's position as a national research university and fostering a collaborative, creative and collegial climate within the Rawls College," Williams said.
Prior to her time at North Dakota, Williams served as the department of management chair and later interim dean of the School of Business Administration at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. The college has an enrollment of 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students with more than 80 faculty members in four departments. As interim dean she oversaw the school's first doctoral graduates in 2011.
Williams also has held faculty and teaching positions at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business, the University of Tennessee, Purdue University, Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis and Indiana University. She served as president of the Southern Management Association, a domestic affiliate of the Academy of Management, and was the doctoral program director and leadership development program director at Virginia Commonwealth.
Richard Rosen, the interim dean of the Texas Tech School of Law who served as the chairman of the Rawls College of Business dean selection committee, praised both the choice of Williams and work done by the selection committee over the past year.
"I would like to express my deepest appreciation to the members of the Rawls College of Business search committee for their outstanding work, which resulted in a very successful search," Rosen said. "I wish Dean Williams the very best as she assumes the deanship at the Rawls College of Business."
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