Worrell Named Dean of Sam M. Walton College of Business

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Dan L. Worrell, dean of the College of Business and Administration at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, has been named the new dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business, effective Aug. 22, 2005. His salary will be $250,000.

Worrell will replace Dean Doyle Z. Williams, who announced earlier this year his intention to return to the classroom after serving 12 years as dean of the Walton College. Williams will remain in the office through Aug. 21.

A search committee made up of faculty, staff, students and community and business leaders from the region was appointed by Chancellor John A. White and Provost Bob Smith in December. Vice Chancellor for University Advancement G. David Gearhart chaired the search committee.

“I would like to thank Vice Chancellor Gearhart and the members of the search committee for conducting a thorough search that has resulted in a very strong candidate agreeing to succeed Dr. Doyle Williams as dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business,” Chancellor White said. “Dan Worrell emerged from a group of extremely qualified individuals representing a number of outstanding institutions. His administrative experience and scholarly record provided the combination we were looking for in the next dean, and I eagerly look forward to watching the new heights the Walton College will achieve under his leadership.”

Established in 1869 as the state’s second teacher’s college, Southern Illinois University Carbondale enrolls more that 21,000 students in the 175 academic programs annually. The Carbondale campus houses 11 colleges and schools, including a School of Law and a School of Medicine. The College of Business and Administration offers master's degrees in two disciplines: accounting and business administration. The college also offers a doctoral degree in business and administration.

Worrell, 56, was named dean of the College of Business and Administration at Southern Illinois in August of 1999. As dean, he manages approximately 1,600 students, faculty and staff in four departments: accounting, finance, management and marketing.

He was very active in raising private support and created the Saluki Student Investment Fund wherein students manage a portfolio of private resources. He has overseen the renovation of several rooms within the SIU business building through the assistance of private and corporate gifts.

He is also the current holder the Rehn Professorship of Management in the management department of the college.

“I am extremely honored to be selected as dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business,” Worrell said. “Dean Doyle Williams and his entire team of faculty and staff have done a tremendous job in positioning the Walton College to be a national leader among business schools. I very much look forward to working with all Walton College stakeholders in continuing this most positive trajectory.”

Prior to serving as dean at Southern Illinois, Worrell was interim dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Texas at Arlington from 1996-98. There, he managed more than 100 full-time faculty and served approximately 4,200 graduate and undergraduate students.

Worrell also served as a liaison between the college and the numerous external business constituencies that comprise the Dallas/Ft. Worth area metroplex. He also held the Eunice and James L. West Chair in the management department at UT-Arlington from 1998-99.

Worrell served as senior associate dean for academic affairs within the college at UT-Arlington from 1995-96 and as the management department chairperson from 1993-95. He also held the management department chair within the John A. Walker College of Business at Appalachian State University from 1986-90.

“The Walton College has experienced exceptional growth and garnered national attention as one of the finest public business colleges in the nation during the past decade,” Provost Smith said. “I believe Dean Worrell is ideally suited to continue that progress as dean of the college. His record at SIU bespeaks an administrator of great talent and insight that will serve him, the faculty and the staff as they craft plans and implement strategies that will help the college achieve an enhanced level of excellence in business education, research and outreach.”

Worrell earned a Bachelor of Science in management from Louisiana State University in 1971. He earned a Master of Science in management from LSU in 1974 and received a Ph.D. in management with a minor in industrial/organizational psychology from LSU in 1978.

Additional professional experience includes service as a second lieutenant in the Army at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, in 1971. Worrell also held positions with the Louisiana Department of Public Welfare and the Louisiana Department of Education from 1972-73 and has conducted training sessions and consulting projects for the state of Louisiana and several corporations.

Worrell is married to Dr. Diane Featherston Worrell. She holds a doctorate in library and information studies and is an archivist in the Special Collections Research Center of Morris Library on the SIU campus. They have one child, Casey Worrell, who recently graduated from high school and will play baseball on scholarship at Miami University of Ohio in the fall.
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