KNOXVILLE — Jan Williams, Stokely Foundation Leadership Chair and dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has been elected chair-elect of the board of directors of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the premier accreditation body for business colleges.
Williams becomes chair in 2011.
“I am honored to hold this esteemed position in such a prestigious organization,” Williams said. “Chairs are elected from AACSB’s membership across 70 countries. Recent chairs have heralded from the University of California, Purdue and the University of Warwick (England).”
AACSB was established as an accrediting body for business schools in 1916. Currently, AACSB accredits 579 business schools, 469 in United States and the remaining 110 across 35 countries.
“Less than 5 percent of the world’s business schools achieve the elite distinction of having AACSB accreditation,” Williams said. “UT’s College of Business Administration has been accredited since 1942, almost 70 years.”
In 1982, AACSB began accrediting accounting programs.
“UT’s accounting program was AACSB-accredited that first year and has remained accredited since,” Williams said. Currently, only 170 accounting programs worldwide are accredited; 166 of those are in the United States.
Securing accreditation is a very rigorous process. For more than 20 years, Williams has been involved in evaluating business schools and accounting programs for accreditation across the U.S. as well as in China (Hong Kong), Australia and Singapore.
As chair-elect, Williams’ 2010 responsibilities include serving as a member of the AACSB Executive Committee, chair of the Committee on Issues in Management Education and a member of the Compensation Committee and Accreditation Coordinating Committee. In addition, he remains chair of the Accreditation Quality Committee, which determines accreditation standards for business schools worldwide.
Williams’ involvement in AACSB over the years has been extensive. He has chaired or been a member of the Accounting Accreditation Committee, Blue Ribbon Committee on Accreditation Quality, Business Accreditation Committee, Finance and Investment Committee, Impact of Research Implementation Task Force, Impact of Research Task Force, Southeastern Conference Business Schools Affinity Group, Special Committee on Global Accreditation Strategy and Strategic Directions Committee, as well as serving as a speaker at a dozen conferences and seminars.
Williams joined UT in 1977, and, before becoming dean, was head of the Department of Accounting and Information Management and associate dean for the college’s academic programs. He is an internationally renowned author in the field of accounting, publishing textbooks for both students and practitioners. For five years, he was the outstanding discussion leader for continuing education for the Tennessee Society of CPAs. Williams also was awarded Outstanding Accounting Educator by both the Tennessee Society of CPAs and American Institute of CPAs.
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C O N T A C T:
Cindy Raines (865-974-4359, craines1@utk.edu)