Campbell University announced the appointment of a new dean of its business school on Monday.As of July 1, Kevin J. O’Mara is the dean of the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business.Prior to taking on the new role, O’Mara served as the professor of management and executive director of the Doherty Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at Elon University’s Martha and Spencer Love School of Business.J. Bradley Creed, Campbell’s president, said that O’Mara, a widely-published author, brings the ideal combination of “scholarship, experience and expertise” to the Campbell Business School.”Dr. O’Mara has a proven track record of establishing and sustaining new and innovative programs, which will be critical to our success in Campbell Business’ continuing development,” Creed said in a statement. “He brings to the deanship an understanding of education within a private university, a profound commitment to teaching, an appreciation for a liberal-arts foundation for a business curriculum, and a warm and engaging personality.”O’Mara said it is an honor to join the Campbell family.”Due to the substantial efforts of those individuals, the Campbell Business School is in a position to make great strides for its students and the surrounding community,” he said.One key draw powering those strides, and a contributing factor to his decision to take on the deanship, is the business school’s size.”It is large enough to have a full-fledged undergraduate program with a number of majors, yet small enough to offer individual attention for the personal development of their students,” O’Mara said. “In addition, the business school offers multiple offerings at the graduate level with innovative opportunities for dual degrees with other professional graduate programs such as law, pharmacy, divinity, the sciences, and public health, as well as online options.”It is quite unusual to find a business school possessing all these qualities and reach while retaining the sense of a small, individualized community,” he continued. “It will be a privilege to be a part of the momentum and growth being experienced at the Campbell Business School.”O’Mara’s journey at Elon began over 25 years ago when he joined the Elon business school’s faculty in 1990, becoming a full professor of management in 2007. In 2011 he became the first LSB faculty member to receive all three of the school’s dean’s awards, including Dean’s Teaching Award (2011), Dean’s Research Award (2007), and Dean’s Service Award (2005).While he has taught students at all levels and across all majors, O’Mara’s primary teaching responsibilities are in strategy and innovation. His research focuses on innovation, strategic management, and business education. In addition to developing new courses for business and non-business students alike, he has also led study abroad courses to London, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Australia, Singapore, Beijing, Scotland, Cayman Islands and Cuba.O’Mara earned his doctorate degree in technology management from NC State University, a master’s in business administration with a concentration in accounting from the University of Houston, and his undergraduate degrees in engineering and business from the University of Texas at Austin. While also being a certified management accountant (CMA), he also completed graduate work in strategic management from the UNC Chapel Hill.Mark L. Hammond, Campbell’s provost and vice president for academic affairs, said O’Mara’s scholarly accomplishments and entrepreneurial mindset are only rivaled by his warm demeanor.”His wide range of academic accomplishments and program development at the undergraduate and graduate levels qualify him uniquely for this role,” Hammond said. “He will be a welcome member of the Deans’ Council and our campus community.”
