Jeff Stambaugh, associate professor of management, believes that there are two sides to the coin of taking on a new responsibility. Stambaugh will be the new dean for the Dillard College of Business Administration as of fall 2017, following former dean Terry Patton’s retirement.

”Anybody who follows Terry Patton better feel very, very nervous because he is going to leave enormously large shoes to fill,” Stambaugh said. “Dr. Patton has done a fantastic job as dean; he has the college going in a great direction. The good news is everything is going in the right direction, the bad news is you [the new dean] are going to get compared to him, and that’s not a very comfortable place to be.”

Stambaugh shed light on how he emerged as the successful candidate for this position.

When Patton said he wanted to step down from being the dean and just retire to being a faculty member the provost —then Betty Stewart — formed a dean search committee and posted an advertisement in various national publications in the fall, and had more than 58 applicants for the position.

In addition to carrying out the president’s strategic plan for the university, Stambaugh said he plans to carry on with the non-stop mission of continuously improving the education and continuously increasing the impact of the college of business.

“Everyone across the university is going to be implementing the president’s strategic plan with a new provost inbound, and we’ll see whether the provost has some specific directions,” Stambaugh said. “Here in the Dillard college, part of it being Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business accredited is a never-ending cycle of innovation and improvement and so just like we have not been standing still for the past five years, we will not be standing still for the next five years. We will be continuously accessing our student’s learning, finding out how we can improve student learning, launching innovations, measuring students learning, finding out whether student learning is improving and, as always, continuing to increase the impact of the business college.”

Stambaugh said that it is a privilege to be associated with MSU and to serve the Dillard college.

“Dr. Patton has been an exceptional servant leader, and it’s not about him, it’s about our students and their success and I hope that I continue to do the same thing,” Stambaugh said. “It’s not about me, it’s about our students, their success and working with a great group of faculty, which is what we have in the Dillard college.”

The outgoing dean, Patton, said Stambaugh went through a rigorous review and interview process, and his organizational skills and knowledge of what needs to be done to move the Dillard College of Business Administration to the next level are outstanding.

“Dr. Stambaugh went through a rigorous review and interview process, and was determined to be the best of all that applied or were interviewed,” said Patton.

Stambaugh built an outstanding entrepreneurship center in the college of business and according to Scott Manley, assistant professor in the college of business, he is a man of high moral character and intergrity,

“Personally, I believe he is a person of high moral character and impeccable intergrity,” said Manley.”I’m excited that he will take over as dean, replacing Dr. Patton who has served admirably and done an outstanding job for the last five years.”

One student from the college of business described Stambaugh as a friendly and understanding person, and thinks that he will be an outstanding dean.

“I think Stambaugh will be an outstanding dean because he has been here for a very long time, and he has a good relationship with the students. He is very friendly and understanding, and we can always go and talk to him. I believe that he will maintain good discipline and management within the students, and in the college as a whole,” said Shehan Karunaratne, accounting junior.

Jeff Stambaugh Quick Fact Box

• Born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky.
• Undergraduate program- U.S Air Force Academy
• Became a fire pilot of the U.S Air Force
• Travelled all over the world on duty as Air Force officer for 24 years
• Retired from Air Force, enrolled at Texas Tech University, Lubbock
• Got a doctorate in management
• Married with two children (ages 16 and 20)