Peters Named Senior Associate Dean for Walton College

University Relations

Gary F. Peters has been named the senior associate dean for Walton College.

Gary F. Peters has been named the senior associate dean for the Sam M. Walton College of Business. Peters, who holds the S. Robson Walton Endowed Professorship of Accounting, previously served as the chair of the William Dillard Department of Accounting from 2016 through 2023. 

"I can't think of a better person to help move Walton College forward with our strategic plans and initiatives," said Brent Williams, interim dean for the Walton College. "Gary has done so much to strengthen and shape our accounting department and will use that same vision and strategy to help advance the college."

In his new role, Peters will oversee the college's academic departments and operations. 

Peters' research and teaching focus on factors that influence audit risk, accounting disclosure and corporate governance. His research emphasizes the roles of audit committees, external auditors and internal auditors and has been published in the Journal of Accounting Research, The Accounting Review and Contemporary Accounting Research, as well as cross-discipline studies in journals including MISQ and Journal of Business Ethics. 

In 2018, he received the Honors College Distinguished Faculty Award and, in 2016, the Outstanding All-Around Faculty Member Award from the Walton College. In February, Peters was honored with the Joseph Silvoso Faculty Merit Award by the American Accounting Association, the largest community of accountants in higher education.

Peters received a Ph.D. in accounting from the University of Oregon Lundquest College of Business, a master's degree from the University of Missouri Trulaske College of Business and a bachelor's degree from Arkansas Tech University. He served as the director of the Master of Accounting Program from 2006-2016 before becoming the chair of the department. Peters joined the U of A as a professor in 2003. Prior to his tenure at the U of A, he served as an assistant professor at the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business.