University of California-Irvine named Ian Williamson dean of its Paul Merage School of Business, effective Jan. 1.
“Professor Williamson brings the depth and breadth of experience across disciplines, industries and continents [needed in] a global economy,” said UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman in a statement.
Williamson is pro vice-chancellor and business school dean at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. His work there has included helping direct commercialization of academic intellectual property, launching an innovation space to foster entrepreneurship, and raising external funding from the community; all are areas of focus for UCI.
His academic specialty is human resources management. He received his Ph.D. in organizational behavior from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and has held faculty positions at universities in the U.S., Switzerland, Australia and Indonesia.
The Merage School’s current dean, Eric Spangenberg, will return to the classroom as a faculty member.
