Dean Earl Walker, PhD, established a vision for The Citadel School of Business Administration shortly after becoming the founding dean on August 1, 2001. It states: “By 2007, the School will have: diversified and upgraded its undergraduate and graduate curriculums, embedded student career visioning and planning into its curriculum, provided opportunities and incentives for faculty and student involvement in regional and global activities, integrated practitioners into all programs, added at least three new leaders-in-residence, updated its classrooms to include state-of-the-art multimedia equipment, and deployed a Center for Leadership Development that includes a student mentoring program.”
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With 2007 quickly approaching and The School of Business Administration basking in the accomplishment of this goal, Walker has announced that he will step down as dean, returning to teaching and allowing a new dean to work to develop a new short-term vision.
“Having been privileged to serve for six years as founding dean of The Citadel School of Business Administration,” Dean Walker said, “I realized that we have achieved our goals for 2007 and that new leadership is needed into the future.”
Walker came to The Citadel as Dean and Robert A. Jolley Chair in 2001, bringing with him a prestigious résumé and a host of accomplishments. He was a 1967 Distinguished Graduate and Phi Kappa Phi from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he earned a PhD in Organizational Behavior and Political Science in 1980 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he served as a White House Fellow and a NATO Research Fellow, and he was President of the White House Fellows Association and Chairman of the Board of the White House Fellows Foundation.
Prior to his tenure at The Citadel, Dean Walker served as Director of Training at McLane Company in Temple, Texas, a wholly owned subsidiary of Wal-Mart. In that position, he started the McLane Leadership School and established company-wide management training initiatives for this $6 billion dollar company. He was also Professor of Public Policy, Program Director, and Division Chair in the Department of Social Sciences at West Point for 18 years and line Army officer who commanded armor units in Vietnam, Germany, and in the United States. He retired in 1993 as an Army Colonel.
Under his leadership at The Citadel, the School of Business Administration flourished. The school developed a mission statement and vision; created an Advisory Board to oversee its progress; created the Mentors Association which pairs business school students with knowledgeable business leaders for guidance in their academic and business careers; initiated the Business Hall of Fame to acknowledge business leaders within the community for their careers and contributions to the business world; and drew successful business leaders from across the country to address business students during the Leaders on Leadership forum, a series of talks held in the fall and again in the spring.
But teaching remains one of Dean Walker’s passions, and although he taught occasional classes, it is what he is now looking toward.
“After 26 years as an academic administrator, I long to return to teaching and voluntarily approached provost Don Stevens in the fall of 2005 to discuss this aspiration,” he said. “After considerable discussions, he and I agreed that I should stay on in academic year 2006-2007, so The Citadel will have the opportunity to search for a new dean to continue to develop this remarkable school and this most outstanding institution.”
The decision was completely voluntary, Dean Walker said, and he and his wife, Susan, plan to remain in Charleston. He will also remain at The Citadel, teaching as a tenured professor of management and leadership.
“I am so grateful to all of those that have helped us achieve our goals, particularly Citadel administrators, The Citadel School of Business Administration Advisory Board, The Citadel Mentor's Association, and so many others in the community whose encouragement and support have meant so much to the business school," Dean Walker said. "I am also enormously grateful to the faculty and staff who have worked so hard to establish the school and move it forward.”
Dean Walker's tenure as dean will end on June 30, 2007.
