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Announcement: Interim Dean, School of Communication

Dear Emerson Community,

I am pleased to announce that Dr. Brent Smith, Chair of the Marketing Communication Department, has accepted my invitation to serve in an interim role as Dean of the School of Communication, beginning this summer.

He will succeed Dean Raul Reis, who leaves Emerson in June to become Dean of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

As interim dean, Dr. Smith will work with department chairs and faculty within the School of Communication to advance the school’s mission of preparing students to be critical thinkers and innovative storytellers in a global, multicultural, and digital world. He will be tasked with strengthening existing programs and initiatives, as well as growing new ones, including the newly launched Health & Social Change and Media Psychology majors.

Dr. Smith is an accomplished scholar, educator, consultant, and entrepreneur with expertise in strategy, analytics, ethics, global business, and marketing education. His research has appeared in leading academic journals, including Journal of Business Research, Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Business Ethics, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Journal of Global Marketing, Technology in Society, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Journal of Sport & Social Issues, and Journal of Education for Business. He is the editor of two multi-authored texts, Mission-Driven Approaches in Modern Business Education (IGI, 2019) and Global Perspectives on Contemporary Marketing Education (IGI, 2016).

He has developed more than 20 courses in undergraduate, graduate, international, and online programs, as well as several teaching innovations, including the Five Creatures Lesson, which combines game theory and multicultural paradigms on value creation to help students better understand behaviors in industry. Dr. Smith’s professional experience extends to projects in web development, music, and research and analytics. A musician and a fan of multiple genres, he has written, produced, performed and recorded.  

Prior to joining Emerson as department chair in Fall 2019, Dr. Smith was professor of marketing in the Erivan K. Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, where he developed the Master of Science in Marketing program (International Marketing; Customer Analytics and Insights) and served as Interim Associate Director of the Pedro Arrupe Center for Business Ethics. He holds a PhD in Marketing from Drexel University, an MBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from Tulane University, and a BA in German and a BS in Economics from Xavier University of Louisiana.

Dr. Smith is well poised to further the important work of the School of Communication. Please join me in welcoming him as interim dean.

Sincerely,

William P. Gilligan, EdD
Interim President

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