Dr. James Payne Named as Dean, Spears School of Business at Oklahoma State University

Oklahoma State University has named Dr. James Payne as Dean of the Spears School of Business, following a comprehensive national search led by Martin Baker and Chelsie Whitelock of the Buffkin/Baker Higher Education Practice.

Payne has served as dean of the Woody L. Hunt College of Business at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) since May 2019, where was responsible for overseeing the Hunt College of Business on the main campus and the downtown Graduate Business Center in advancing programs, serving 3,200 undergraduate and graduate students.  

He has extensive accreditation experience with the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), having secured successful reaffirmations at two business schools. He has been an active member of a number of AACSB peer review teams, as well. 

Payne has a distinguished record of accomplishments in research, serving as a Fulbright Research Scholar and a Fulbright Senior Specialist at the Institute of Economics in Zagreb, Croatia. He has published more than 280 peer-reviewed journal articles, and his scholarly work has been recognized in the Stanford-Elsevier global ranking of researchers. In addition to his own scholarly work, Payne is on the editorial board of several academic journals. 

He received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Berea College, a master’s degree in economics and Ph.D. in economics, both from Florida State University.

Learn more at https://news.okstate.edu/articles/business/2023/jim_payne_named_spears_dean.html