2023-24 Dean’s Report Page 1
Reflections and Gratitude: A Message from the Interim Dean
Last year at this time, our AACSB accreditation had recently been reaffirmed and I did not
imagine that I would be preparing a dean’s report for the 2023-2024 academic year. It has truly
been an honor to serve as Interim Dean of the Davis College of Business and Economics during
the past eight months. I am grateful for the trust that has been given to me by both my
colleagues in the College and the University community as a whole. As I reflect on the
accomplishments of this academic year, I believe it is important to recognize that the successes
achieved in the Davis College are a testament to the dedication and hard work of our College
leadership, faculty and staff. Your unwavering commitment to excellence has been the driving
force behind our collective achievements, and I am immensely appreciative of your
contributions. Together, we have navigated challenges and seized opportunities, strengthening
Radford University and fostering an environment of academic excellence. I am grateful to have
been a part of our close-knit college family since 2003. Thank you for your invaluable
partnership and dedication to our shared mission.
Accomplishments During AY 2023-2024
While I have served as Interim Dean throughout this academic year, I also maintained all of my
responsibilities as Associate Dean. Despite the inherent challenges in managing multiple roles, I
undertook this endeavor willingly, recognizing the importance of maintaining continuity and
stability within the College during this transitional period. The accomplishments highlighted in
this report are not mine alone; they are a testament to the collaborative efforts of our Davis
College family.
Maintenance of AACSB Accreditation
Compiled the Davis College Annual Report
Prepared and submitted the following AACSB required annual reports:
o The Staff Compensation and Demographics Survey
o The Business School Questionnaire (BSQ) Program Module
o The BSQ Employment Module
o The BSQ Finance module
Led the Strategic Management Committee (Drs. J. Kopf, W. Stanton, M. Chatham, C.
Dogan) in successfully (1) developing the Operational Plan to guide the work of the
College in meeting our strategic goals, (2) aligning our College strategic plan with the
Division of Academic Affairs 2023-2025 goals, and (3) publishing the current 2023-2028
Strategic Plan on the Davis College website.
Curricular and Program Development/Management
Serve as the Dean’s Office representative to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee
(Drs. R. Gruss, T. Duncan, J. Hill, and Mr. D. Rieley) and the Graduate Curriculum
Committee (Drs. M. Thakkar, A. Kaushik, C. Dogan, Z. Collier).
Undergraduate Curriculum
o The College approved aligning the final Major GPA for all of the BBA programs
and the BS in Economics with the University Overall GPA requirement to enhance
students’ progression to graduation.
2023-24 Dean’s Report Page 2
o The UCC approved the elimination of the online degree completion concentration
for the BS in Economics. There were insufficient resources to create and teach
the courses necessary for a fully online program.
o The UCC approved changes to requirements to the BS in Information Science
and Systems to better match the focus of the Davis College, the needs of
employers, and the ending of ABET accreditation.
Fast Track MBA: Collaborate with the Associate Provost of Research, Faculty Success &
Strategic Initiatives and the DCOBE Graduate Program Coordinator (M. Butler) in the
management and evolution of the MBA program.
o Enrollment in the MBA program has increased 75% (from 72 to 126 students)
from 2023 to 2024. While we are pleased that the MBA is growing, it has created
new challenges. In partnership with our graduate faculty and the Graduate
Curriculum Committee, we are examining how to manage growth moving
forward.
o Received approval to trial an academic coach in Spring B in MKTG 641.
o I am currently in the process of contacting other universities with AP-managed
MBA programs to examine faculty compensation practices with the goal of
developing a proposal approved by the GCC and the College to present to the
Provost.
o Examining a revision of the MBA course carousel beginning in AY 2025-26.
o The Radford University MBA was recognized as a
U.S. News 2024 Best Online
MBA Program
and the Radford University MBA with a concentration in Business
Analytics was ranked as the nation’s #11 most affordable online MBA in Analytics
program by AnalyticsDegrees.com in Fall 2023.
BBA Online Degree Completion Program: This program began during the pandemic and
has grown to 69 active students (both full-time and part-time) as of Spring 2024. This
program was developed to provide non-traditional students with a transferrable
associate degree as well as non-degree completers who are unable to take courses on a
college campus a pathway to earn a bachelor’s degree in business. This program
allowed us to recruit new students in the DCOBE but it has also served as a mechanism
for retaining students who needed to leave the on-campus community due to life
circumstances. I am responsible for the overall management of the program,
coordinating course offerings with the department chairs, and supervising the Director of
Academic Support, Engagement, and Retention (M. Butler) who handles the bulk of the
inquiries and advising responsibilities for the program.
Creative Media Degree: Continued the discussion to partner with the College of Visual
and Performing Arts and the College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences for an
interdisciplinary degree program.
Assurance of Learning
Manages the College’s Assurance of Learning efforts for AACSB and SACSCOC in
collaboration with the Assurance of Learning Committee (Drs. R. Hernandez, J. Jeong, C.
Bradberry, E. Tanellari, W. Li, A. Yim).
2023-24 Dean’s Report Page 3
Student Recruitment and Retention
Transfer VA Initiative: Created the Radford University transfer pathways for all of our
BBA majors and concentrations that are now on the VCCS transfer portal and became
effective with the 2023-24 Radford University Catalog.
Community College Pathways to the BBA: Revised the pathway documents to map each
of our majors/concentrations to the transferrable associate business degree programs at
each of our Virginia Community College partners who have not yet adopted the common
Associate of Science in Business Administration degree from the Transfer VA Initiative.
High School Recruitment: Due to the efforts of Mr. A. Travers, the Davis College
developed a partnership with Junior Achievement of Southwest Virginia to provide
programs on the Radford campus for high school students. My role was to facilitate the
events, meet with groups during campus visits, and provide event funding.
o By the end of Spring 2024, 13 high school groups from around the region will
have visited campus and interacted with both students/faculty – special thanks
to Mr. A. Travers, Dr. S. Steidle, Ms. Macie Rice for coordinating and running
these events with support from Ms. A. McEldowney.
o Ms. J. Elias is providing Bloomberg Market Concepts certificate courses to
students from Radford High School.
o The Davis College hosted the inaugural Jobs for Virginia Graduates (JVG) IGNITE
Competition (a shark tank style event) in February 2024 and awarded prize
money to the winning team.
o The Davis College hosted the Jobs for Virginia Graduates (JVG) Annual State
Conference in March 2024 for more than 250 high school students and faculty
from across the commonwealth.
Recruitment of New Freshmen and Transfer Students
o Coordinate faculty participation in University Open House and Highlander Days
events for the Davis College.
o Present to prospective Davis College students and their families at University
Open House and Highlander Days events.
o Designing a new Highlander Days format for prospective students and their
families for Spring 2024 to showcase experiencing business in the Davis College.
Special thanks to Dr. L. Liska, M. Butler, and M. Rice for their working in creating
interactive student activities.
o Meet with campus tour groups, student athletes, and individual families
interested in majoring in business.
o Engage newly admitted and deposited students through regularly scheduled
contacts to make them feel a part of the Davis College community.
o Meet with the deans and advisors at our Community College partners.
o Welcome students and their families at Quest on behalf of the College.
o Attend all DCOBE Quest advising sessions to answer students’ questions and
assist with course selection.
2023-24 Dean’s Report Page 4
Overall Davis College Marketing Initiatives
o Developing a new social media strategy for the College.
o Developing a new brochure for the College.
o Updated the Davis College website.
Retention Initiatives
o Working with the Davis College Advisory Board to enhance student engagement
and internship opportunities.
o Partnering with the new Director of the Center for Career and Talent
Development to enhance internship and employment opportunities for both
undergraduate and graduate students in the Davis College.
o Collaborate with students on the Davis College Student Advisory Council to
obtain student input on a variety of issues.
o Hosted the DCOBE 2
nd
annual Game Day in Fall 2023 as a way to engage with
students outside of the classroom.
o Supervise the Director of Academic Support, Engagement, and Retention – this
position was specifically created to help enhance students’ sense of belonging in
the College and to provide the support they need to be successful in their
academic journey.
o Updated the guide on the minors and courses available for students to meet the
Humanistic or Artistic Expression (E) component of REAL to ensure timely degree
progression.
o Maintain an advising load, even as Interim Dean, to maintain currency on issues
facing our students.
o Coordinate efforts to contact students who have not registered for courses.
o Keep students informed of activities, professional development opportunities,
internships, etc.
o Deal with all student issues that require Dean-level interaction.
o Participate in the review of all suspension appeals for the College.
o Approve academic petitions to assist students with degree progression.
Faculty Evaluation and Development
Conducted annual evaluations of 41 faculty. My objective was to leverage the annual
evaluations for both faculty and department chairs as a feedback mechanism to assist in
professional development.
Prepared reappointment recommendations for 10 tenure-track and 9 special purpose
faculty.
Provided a letter of support for the promotion to Professor for Dr. D. Farhat.
Recommended 1 faculty for Faculty Professional Development Leave.
Provided professional development opportunities and resources to support faculty career
advancement, including funding for $27,000 in internal research grants.
Foster a supportive and inclusive work environment that values faculty contributions,
encourages collaboration, and promotes work-life balance.
2023-24 Dean’s Report Page 5
Collaborated with faculty on the Davis Activities, Research, and Teaching Seminar
(DARTS) committee to explore new avenues of engaging faculty in discussions related to
professional and pedagogical contributions.
Exploring additional ways to recognize faculty excellence in teaching, research, and
service.
Work with HR and Department Chairs in handling H1B visa and permanent residency
applications.
Collaborate with the Faculty Policy and Procedures Committee (Drs. A. Stanaland, S.
Childers, E. Tanellari, L. Shao) to ensure our College’s manual complies with the T&R
Handbook, meets AACSB requirements, and provides clear guidance to faculty.
Work closely with Human Resources, the Office of the Provost, and the University
Attorney regarding personnel policies and procedures.
Fiscal Management
Lead the College in obtaining and managing fiscal, human, and physical resources
necessary to meet the college’s vision, curricular, and programmatic goals.
Responsible for the $6 million Davis College budget, ensuring alignment with strategic
priorities and prudent allocation of resources to support college initiatives.
Collaborate with department chairs and center directors to optimize resource allocation.
Successfully managed a 3% budget reversion, in consultation with the Department
Chairs, to minimize negative impacts on the College. Our College was spared a larger
budget reversion as we were cited as managing our resources effectively.
Advocated for additional/permanent budget resources for the College to support the
Venture Lab.
Provided guidance and support to staff members on budget planning, expense tracking,
and financial reporting, promoting best practices in fiscal management.
Ensure compliance with University guidelines, regulatory requirements, and accreditation
standards.
Prepare adjunct and faculty overload estimates/requests for the College each semester.
Our College was cited as an exemplar for the management of adjunct/overload
resources.
Approve all spending requests across the College from both E&G and Foundation
accounts.
Relationship Building and Fundraising
Work with our College’s University Advancement liaison (S. Hall) and Alumni Relations to
build connections with alumni, donors, and corporate partners to enhance engagement
with and raise funds to support the Davis College.
Partner with the Davis College Advisory Board to enlist support and involvement in
College initiatives, programs and events.
Manage the College’s $6.6 million endowment which has grown 40% since 2020.
2023-24 Dean’s Report Page 6
Since the beginning of this fiscal year, we have added just over $200,000 to our
endowment.
Represent the College at alumni events to facilitate engagement.
Facilitation of Experiential Learning and Internship/Employment Opportunities
Build relationships with corporate and non-profit partners to facilitate experiential
learning and internship opportunities for students. Recent examples include:
o President Danilowicz and I met with the Pulaski Town Manager, the Executive
Director of Pulaski on Main, and representatives from startup organizations to
include Moog Technologies and Vegg, Inc. to explore internship opportunities
and experiential learning activities for students.
o Participating in discussions of partnerships with Virginia Western Community
College, the City of Roanoke, RBTC, and Virginia Tech to explore work-based
learning/talent opportunities in the biotechnology sector.
o Met with the Regional Recruiter for Fastenal to develop an
internship/employment pipeline for students.
o Provide support to facilitate faculty efforts in experiential learning and career
development. Assisted with funding for:
o Firm Night to continue its successful record in creating internship and
employment opportunities for Accounting and Finance majors.
o A team of Economics students to participate in the College Fed Challenge in Fall
2023 and attend the Fed Challenge conference in Spring 2024.
o A team of Marketing students to participate/compete in the American Marketing
Association (AMA) International Collegiate Conference.
o Winning team monetary awards and t-shirts for the Truist Innovation
competition.
Administrative and Managerial Responsibilities
Draft agendas and preside over meetings of the DCOBE Leadership Team
Meet with department chairs and center directors to address
issues/concerns/developments.
Host semi-annual meetings of the Davis College Advisory Council and semi-annual
meetings of the Executive Committee.
Supervise Ms. Melanie Butler, Director of Academic Support, Engagement and Retention
and Coordinator for Graduate Programs.
Supervise Ms. Shelley Adkins, College Coordinator, and Ms. Jennifer Reece,
Administrative Assistant to the Office of the Dean.
Ensure all UCC and College-approved curricular proposals are processed through
Curriculog.
Work with the Department chairs in schedule planning, course enrollment monitoring,
room assignments, etc.
2023-24 Dean’s Report Page 7
Manage DCOBE adjunct and faculty overload payments in FLAC with the Academic
Budget Office.
Coordinate the Davis College Award ceremonies.
Organize and chair monthly College meetings.
Host the Truist Global Capitalism Lecture Series Luncheon each semester. In Fall 2023,
we hosted Mr. Eugene Naughton (class of 1989), CEO of Dollywood. In Spring 2024, we
are hosting, Mr. Steven Smith, President and CEO of K-VA-T Stores (parent company of
Food City).
Prepared the final proposal sent to SCHEV to change the name of the Department of
Accounting, Finance and Business Law to the Department of Accounting, Finance, and
Information Systems. The new name became effective on 15 March 2024.
Data Analysis Efforts
I believe that most of you know how much I love data and analyzing data. During the
current academic year, I have produced, analyzed and reported data for the College to
include:
o Tracking of deposits during the recruitment cycle
o Creating college enrollment profiles
o Retention by major
o DFW rates by course
o DCOBE new freshmen profiles
o Average course enrollments
o Tracking of student registrations
o Faculty sufficiency
o BBA-M for DCOBE programs
o Use annual IR reports for college-wide trends to include FTE, enrollments,
graduation rates, faculty-student ratios, SCHEV program productivity (and the
degree to which they were met), etc.
o Biennial comprehensive assessment of the challenges and opportunities facing
the University and the DCOBE (in conjunction with the Director of the Center for
Innovation and Analytics, W. Stanton) – this data was used by the new VP for
Enrollment Management and Strategic Communication as she developed the new
recruitment strategy for the University.
Assisted Drs. W. Stanton and C. Bradberry in providing the Provost with analyses to
show the connection between majors and courses taken across all academic programs
at the University.
Davis College Representation
I had the honor of representing the Davis College of Business and Economics at the following
events during since my appointment as Interim Dean:
Board of Visitor meetings
Open House events
Highlander Day
2023-24 Dean’s Report Page 8
New Faculty Orientation Luncheon & Reception
Enrollment Management Forums on Vision Setting, Data, and Strategy
Virginia Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers Fair
State of the University address
Academic Partnerships/Radford University Semi-Annual Meetings
Partners in Excellence
Wicked Festival
Volunteer Summit
Presentation to Community College Partners on DCOBE Programs
SMIPO Board Meeting
Tartan Transfer
Regional Biotechnology Partnership Exploration
University Committee Membership
In my role as Interim Dean, I represent the Davis College on the following University leadership
committees:
President’s Leadership Council
Academic Affairs Leadership Team (AALT)
Dean’s Council
Academic Program Review and Enhancement Committee (APREC)
I have also just been appointed by Provost Usher to serve as a Dean’s representative to the
Bookstore Selection Committee
Teaching
Since my appointment to Interim Dean, I have taught the following courses:
Business Analytics Foundations (MKTG 625), a required course in the Analytics
certificate/MBA concentration in Business Analytics and an elective course in the in the
Fast-Track MBA program. I taught this course in Summer B 2023 (22 students) and
Spring A (33 students). I made a significant revision in Spring A by incorporating
Tableau in the course.
Marketing Research (MKTG 446), a required course for the Marketing major.
o In Fall 2022 (27 students) my students conducted a research project on how to
effectively brand the business major to increase enrollments.
o In Spring 2024 (38 students) my students are conducting a research project on
determining the effectiveness of online business courses.
Special Topics in Marketing: Digital Marketing Practicum (MKTG 471), a marketing
elective. I taught this course in Fall 2023 (8 students). The students in this course
participated in the Google Nonprofit Immersion program. Each team was assigned a
non-profit client by Google where they developed and managed an online advertising
campaign using Google Ads.
2023-24 Dean’s Report Page 9
Professional Contributions
I continue to maintain my status as a Scholarly Academic (SA) for AACSB. During the past 5
years, I have co-authored 4 articles that have been published in refereed journals (2 of which
were published within the last year).
Stanton, Angela D’Auria and Wilbur W. Stanton (2023), “A Regional Comparison of the Skills
Sought by Employers for Entry-Level Data Scientist, Data Analytics, Business Analytics,
Marketing Analytics, and Digital Analytics Professionals.”
Applied Marketing Analytics
, Vol
8(4), pp. 367-388.
Stanton, Angela D’Auria and Wilbur W. Stanton (2023), “A Regional Comparison of the Skills
Sought by Employers for Entry-Level Marketing Analytics Professionals.”
Applied
Marketing Analytics
, Vol 8(3), pp. 283-301.
Stanton, Wilbur W. and Angela D’Auria Stanton (2020), “Helping Business Students Acquire the
Skills Needed for a Career in Analytics: A Comprehensive Industry Assessment of Entry-
level Requirements,”
Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education
, Vol 18 No 1, pp.
138-165.
Stanton, Angela D’Auria and Wilbur W. Stanton (2019), “Closing the Skills Gap: Finding Skilled
Analytics Professionals for a Dynamically Changing Data-Driven Environment,”
Applied
Marketing Analytics,
Vol 5 No 2, pp. 170-184
.
As I bring this annual report to a close, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the
productivity and resilience exhibited throughout the year. Despite facing challenges, you have
remained steadfast in your commitment to our students and their success. I am deeply
appreciative of your collaborative spirit, and I am confident that by continuing to work and think
together, we will continue to achieve great things. Thank you for your support and collegiality.
My wish is for our next year to bring continued progress and success for the Davis College of
Business and Economics.
Respectfully,
Angela Stanton, Ph.D.
Interim Dean, Davis College of Business and Economics
