Open forum: Dr. Ben Blackford, dean candidate for College of Business, Mathematics and Technology
The Office of the Provost invites Northwest employees to attend an open forum with Dr. Ben Blackford, who is a candidate to be the dean of Northwest’s College of Business, Mathematics and Technology.
The forum will begin at 10 a.m. Thursday, April 3, in Room 3520 of the Garrett-Strong Science Building.
Primary responsibilities of the dean
The dean serves as the College’s chief academic and administrative officer. The dean is charged with ensuring the College’s academic programs, research, faculty development and student outcomes are of the highest quality and continue to grow. The dean must bring administrative acumen and nimbleness in strategically allocating resources to advance the College’s mission.
The dean also serves as the chief external representative to the broader community, with donors and alumni and other University leaders. The dean will lead a vision that leverages diverse strengths, manages the College organizationally and financially, supports faculty and staff, is actively engaged in building community relationships and advocating for the College within the University, continues and enhances its fundraising success, and effectively builds a strong collaborative group of faculty and staff. The dean leads and collaborates on student enrollment, retention, graduation, assessment and accreditations.
About Dr. Ben Blackford
Blackford has served since 2020 as director of the Melvin D. and Valorie G. Booth School of Business and previously had served as its assistant director since 2015.
He joined the Northwest faculty in 2009 and attained the rank of professor in 2023. He has taught coursework related to innovation and entrepreneurship and organizational policy and decision-making in addition to developing Northwest’s annual New Venture Pitch competition.
He has a Ph.D. in business from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln; he has a Master of Business Administration degree with a management information systems emphasis and a Bachelor of Science degree in management, both from Northwest.
