Dr. Ramin Maysami has been named dean of the School of Business at UNC Pembroke. He was acting dean during the 2011-12 academic year.

A faculty member for eight years, Dr. Maysami teaches economics and finance. Previously, he served as chair of the Department of Economics, Finance and Decision Sciences; director of the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies (BIS) program, and chair of the Faculty Senate.

Dr. Kenneth Kitts, provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs announced Maysami’s appointment.

“I have enjoyed working with Rami this year,” Kitts said. “He is an energetic and focused leader. I am confident that he can provide the direction necessary for the School to meets its goals and to serve our students well and to provide excellent outreach to our partners in the local business community.”

Dr. Maysami said he was delighted to accept his new position and that his role as acting dean inspired him.

“I have been acting dean for eight months, and I like the job. I enjoyed the job, and I was good at it, I think,” he said with a smile. “As a successful School of Business, we know what we need to do, and now it’s time to go out and do it.”

           

Dr. Maysami outlined his plans beginning with the alignment of the goals and mission of the School of Business with those of the university. “Recruitment and retention, for example, are currently big opportunities for the university, and they should be our opportunities too,” he said. “Every faculty member should be aware of their ever-increasing role in recruitment for the university.

“The next goal is to work with faculty, students, administration, alumni and the wider business community to prepare a strategic plan for the next five years,” he said. “This is a strong business school that meets all objective standards, and we need a plan in place that looks to the future with a clear direction, one that ties our mission and core values to our financial strategies.”

Dr. Maysami plans to employ a multi-pronged approach to help the School of Business operate more like a business entity.  He explained: “We teach our students how businesses should ideally operate, and the school should move towards operating in a similar manner.”

By that he means that faculty will use their considerable skills outside of the classroom to consult, write grants and engage with the region’s business community.  These goals are all important to a strong business school, Dr. Maysami said.

“This approach relies on getting out into the community to reach out to all our constituents, whether it is for fundraising, consulting, finding student internships and bringing in guest lecturers,” Dr. Maysami said. “These are the activities that surround our core function of excellence in the classroom, scholarship and service.”

As dean, Dr. Maysami said he would continue to teach, publish and attend academic conferences. “A dean must be involved, so I will continue to teach, and I will continue to be an active scholar,” he said. “I will lead by example.”

Dr. Maysami noted that research and faculty scholarship are clearly on the rise in the School of Business. New faculty members have been recruited from top research universities and publish their research in highly respected academic journals.

“The scholarship-oriented approach to teaching builds excellence in the classroom,” he said. “The most recent theoretical and pedagogical knowledge will form the basis of our teaching.

“Our professionally qualified faculty will bring to class the professional and practical approach to an outstanding business education,” Dr. Maysami continued. “They should increasingly get involved in the ‘profession-oriented’ side of their teaching areas. Interaction with professionals in the business world is the key to success as a professionally qualified faculty member, be it accounting and finance or management and marketing.” 

Prior to arriving at UNCP, Dr. Maysami was deeply involved in applied research at the Nanyang Business School in Singapore where he served as the deputy head of the central banking policies research unit and head of the interest-free banking research unit.

“There was an expectation of business faculty to be involved in business activities and consulting,” he said. “I was heavily involved in consultation in the banking industry, especially in the areas of regulation and new financial services. The government picked up on our research on interest-free banking and designated that financial service as a national targeted area of growth.”

Dr. Maysami said he would continue to be an active leader who will communicate frequently with all constituencies.  To foster transparent communication internally and externally, Dr. Maysami will establish three advisory boards for the constituencies of the School of Business.    

Dr. Maysami has established an undergraduate student advisory board and an MBA student advisory board, and he is currently establishing a business advisory board. “Links between students, faculty and administration are necessary for success as we look to the future and establish a clear direction,” he said. He expects all three boards to be involved in the affairs of the School of Business.

“Within the school, each faculty member serves on at least one of several task forces established to work on different parts of the school’s strategic plan—retention, recruitment, assurance of learning, and faculty qualifications, as required by the specialized business school accreditation body, AACSB International.”  

Dr. Maysami said change will come “slowly and firmly, but it will happen.” Inheriting an already strong School of Business is the new dean’s best asset, and Dr. Maysami brings many of his own assets to the job.

“As acting dean, the interaction I’ve had with other deans and the administration has been valuable,” he said. “As chair of the Faculty Senate, I learned a lot from my interaction with faculty members from various disciplines, and because I have always been active in the classroom, I know our students’ needs firsthand.

“I feel that I have a lot to contribute, so this is very exciting,” Dr. Maysami continued. “I really care about this university, and I want to make the School of Business shine.”

Dr. Maysami has made an impact on campus since he arrived in 2003. He received the School of Business’s Facultyship Award in 2006 and 2007, the Adolf Dial Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Work in 2008, and in 2009 two awards: the Peter B. Vail Award and UNCP’s Outstanding Teacher Award. But the prize that he holds most dear, he says, is the 2011 Outstanding Business Professor Award, which was voted on by students.

Dr. Maysami earned a Ph.D. from Iowa State University, where he also earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He is also a Certified Financial Planner. He lives with his wife Joanne and their three sons in Southern Pines.

For more information about the School of Business, please contact them at 910.521.6214 or email business@uncp.edu.