New Texas A&M Deans Named For College Of Education And Human Development And Mays Business School

Texas A&M University officials have appointed two new deans: Joyce M. Alexander as dean of the College of Education and Human Development and Eli Jones as dean of the Mays Business School.

Their selections were announced by Provost and Executive Vice President Karan Watson following confirmation by The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. The successful candidates for the two key positions emerged from national searches by broad-based university committees, officials noted.

Alexander, currently executive associate dean in the School of Education at Indiana University, Bloomington, and a professor in the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology, will assume her new position June 1.

Jones, presently dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business and holder of the Sam M. Walton Leadership Chair at the University of Arkansas, will assume his new position July 1.

“I’m pleased to add these leaders for the College of Education and Human Development and Mays School of Business, respectively. Each brings unique strengths in their scholarship and administrative experience,” Watson said. “I know they will work with our faculty, staff and students to build on these colleges’ strong foundations of success.”

Alexander’s primary research interest is focused on the precursors and longitudinal consequences of early interests in science-related fields. She earned a Bachelor of Science in psychology from Texas Wesleyan University, and a Master of Arts and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Georgia.

Prior to being named to her current position, she served as chair of the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology at Indiana. She has received numerous awards and honors, including the Indiana University Teaching Excellence Recognition Award, the Indiana University Outstanding Junior Faculty Award, and the American Psychological Association Division 15 Outstanding Dissertation Research Award.

She will succeed Douglas Palmer, who has served as dean of the College of Education and Human Development for almost 10 years and has requested a return to his faculty position as professor of educational psychology.

Jones’ research interests are in sales, sales management, and marketing strategy. His teaching interests are strategic selling, advanced professional selling, key accounts selling, sales leadership, and marketing strategy. He holds three degrees from Texas A&M: Bachelor of Science in journalism, Master of Business Administration and Ph.D. in marketing.

Prior to his University of Arkansas deanship, he served as dean of the E. J. Ourso College of Business at Louisiana State University and held the title of E. J. Ourso Distinguished Professor of Business. He has published in the Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Management Science, and Journal of Applied Psychology.

Before entering academia, Jones worked in sales and sales management for three Fortune 100 companies.

He takes over from Ricky Griffin, who has served as interim dean since the previous dean, Jerry Strawser, was named the university’s vice president for finance and administration.