CBA Spotlight: Paul Jarley

Dean

There is a new face in the College of Business Administration, and one you will be seeing often. Dr. Paul Jarley is the new dean, and he plans to meet as many people as possible. He is interested in hearing your perspective of the college.

A native of Norway, Michigan, Jarley joins UCF from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where he served as Dean and Professor of Management for the past five years. Prior to that position, he was the Senior Associate Dean and the Gatton Endowed Professor of Management at the University of Kentucky. He has also held faculty and administrative positions at Louisiana State University and the University of Iowa. He earned a Ph.D. in Industrial Relations from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

He chose to come to UCF because it projects an atmosphere of “positive restlessness” where people embrace change. On a more personal note, he selected UCF because of the large amount of first generation students.

“I am a first generation college student. College was a transformative experience for me.  It opened my eyes to a world of possibilities, helped me make good choices, and gave me the confidence, knowledge and skills to know that I could compete with anybody, anywhere,” he said.  “Providing that kind of experience for students is what gets me up in the morning.”

Jarley has identified the top three things he’d like to accomplish within his first six months:

• First, I want to earn people’s trust by addressing concerns in a transparent and forthright manner. I also want people to be excited to come to work every day and know that they are being recognized for the valuable contribution they are making toward the achievement of our goals.
• The second priority is to listen. I want to understand what defines the UCF experience, what external stakeholders think of us, our aspirations and challenges, where we have a common sense of purpose, and how we can implement a credible shared vision for the future.
• Third, I want to become a visible advocate for UCF, the CBA, and to promote the value of a major research university.  If we want to maintain our leadership in the world economy, create high-paying jobs and provide our citizens with the opportunity for meaningful, high-quality lives, we need to invest in the places and activities that cultivate new ideas and translate them into practice. If we don’t do this, we will surely fall behind.

When he is not busy at work, he enjoys baseball (specifically the Detroit Tigers) and has a very large collection of memorabilia. He is a movie buff and also likes to read, especially history.

He also admits to something that not everyone may have the courage to do. 

“I once owned a white polyester leisure suit.  Hey it was the late 1970s and that’s what people did then.  I’m not proud of it, but there are pictures!”

We are happy that he has traded his leisure suit in for a business suit and look forward to working with him to help the college reach the next level and gain more national recognition.

In the meantime, be sure to read and subscribe to his blog. It comes out each Monday and many of the posts are directed toward students and how they can get the most out of their UCF CBA experience. 

To subscribe to the blog go to: www.bus.ucf.edu/dean and click on the dark tab at the bottom of the page that reads follow.