KNOXVILLE — Dr. Jan R. Williams has been named dean of the University of Tennessee College of Business Administration.
Williams, Ernst and Young professor of accounting and business law, has served as acting dean since July 2000, when Dean Warren Neel was named state commissioner of finance and administration by Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist.
Neel informed UT in February of his desire to resign as dean on July 1.
Williams’ appointment, which is effective July 2, was announced Tuesday by Acting UT President Eli Fly.
Williams was president of the American Accounting Association for 1999-2000 and was listed as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in 1998 and 1999 by Accounting Today.
“Jan has a national reputation in accounting and business education,” Fly said. “He has the experience and skill to continue the level of excellence for which the College of Business Administration is known.”
Williams came to UT as a professor in 1977 and has served as department head of accounting and, since 1995, as associate dean.
Prior to coming to Knoxville, he taught at Texas Tech and University of Georgia.
He earned the Ph.D. at the University of Arkansas, the M.B.A. at Baylor, and the B.S. at George Peabody College. He also worked for Arthur Young and Co. in Dallas.
He received the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ Outstanding Educator Award in 1994 and the 2001 Tennessee Organization of MBA Outstanding First-Year Faculty Award.
Williams- teaching and research have focused on financial reporting, professional practice issues and financial accounting theory.
In August he will be presented the Beta Alpha Psi accounting honor society’s 2001 award as the National Information Professional in Education.