Four candidates will interview to become the next dean of LSU’s E.J. Ourso College of Business between April 6 and April 17, the search committee for the position announced Wednesday.
The business college’s current dean, Jared Llorens, stepped into his role in October 2020 after serving as interim dean since July of that year. In May 2022, then-President Joe Biden appointed Llorens to the U.S. Federal Salary Council, an advisory body that provides recommendations on pay differentials for federal employees.
The four candidates are:
Lara Khansa
Khansa currently serves as the associate dean for faculty affairs and human resources at Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business, where she is an endowed, tenured professor of business information technology.
She previously served as Virginia Tech’s associate dean for undergraduate programs. In that role, she spearheaded initiatives that resulted in a 50% increase in student enrollment, record-high placement outcomes and a redesigned curriculum that advanced career readiness.
Ronn Smith
Smith is the senior associate dean for the University of Wyoming’s College of Business, where he is a professor of marketing.
At the University of Wyoming, he has also served as the department chair of management and marketing, interim associate dean for academic programs and interim director of the Green Johnson Student Success Center. Before joining the university, he spent 14 years at the University of Arkansas’ Walton College of Business.
Kaushik Dutta
Dutta currently serves as the associate dean for the University of South Florida’s Muma College of Business, where he is a professor. He also serves as the director of the college’s School of Information Systems and Management.
He is responsible for overseeing 7,000 undergraduate business students across 15 majors. Notably, he spearheaded the first AI program in a Florida business college.
Russell Crook
Crook is the head of the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship at the University of Tennessee’s Haslam College of Business, where he is a distinguished professor and sits on the executive committee.
He has received a number of awards at the University of Tennessee, including the university’s overall teaching and service award. He previously served as president of the Southern Management Association, an affiliate of the global Academy of Management. The SMA is an organization with a stated goal of disseminating new ideas about the research, teaching and practice of business management.
