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USF picks Texan as dean of business

The experienced leader impresses people on the St. Petersburg campus with her decisiveness, humor and management skills.

By HELEN HUNTLEY
Published June 10, 2006

Franklin is dean of the School of Business and a management professor at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, located in Odessa, in west Texas. It is one of nine universities in the University of Texas System.

"This will be a step up in terms of challenges and the size of the student body," she said. "My business school has doubled in size in the seven years that I've been there to about 700 students. There were 14 faculty when I arrived and there are 24 now. I'm going into a situation there with 1,500 business majors and 35 to 40 faculty members. But I have worked with some larger faculties in the past, so in some ways it's returning to my roots. I'm really looking forward to hitting the ground running."

The St. Petersburg campus community was impressed by Franklin's managerial skills and her experience with accreditation issues and state politics, said Mark Durand, vice chancellor for academic affairs. Her "high level of energy, humor and decisiveness" also earned praise.

Franklin, 45, recently led her school through the accreditation process and serves on the board of the accrediting group, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International. Next year, the College of Business in St. Petersburg will be going through its first accreditation review separate from the Tampa campus.

Franklin said she hopes to spark faculty and community discussion about programs of distinction the college might develop in addition to the current focus on corporate and social responsibility.

Her main interests are in human resource management, employment law, small-business management and entrepreneurship. "I'd like to see what we might do in the entrepreneurial area," she said.

One of Franklin's first challenges will be establishing ties with the St. Petersburg business community, which was miffed last fall when Hill was relieved of his administrative duties without explanation. Hill remains on the faculty; Blaine Brownell has been serving as interim dean.

"I would hope the business community is going to welcome me and the idea of moving the College of Business forward," Franklin said. "Every administrator comes in facing problems that have been the past and I need to better understand those, but they will not be my focus."

A lifelong Texan, Franklin received her bachelor's and master's degrees from Stephen F. Austin State University, where she later taught, chairing the Department of Management, Marketing and International Business. She received a doctoral degree from the University of North Texas. She also taught at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Franklin has had leadership positions in several national business organizations and is president-elect of the United States Association for Small Business Entrepreneurship.

The appointment means both the Tampa and St. Petersburg USF campuses will be starting the academic year with new business deans. The Tampa post went to Robert Forsythe, senior associate dean of the University of Iowa's Henry B. Tippie College of Business. Helen Huntley can be reached at hhuntley@sptimes.com or 727 893-8230.

[Last modified June 10, 2006, 05:54:49]