New associate deans named

Three Smith faculty have been appointed to new roles as associate deans.

In September, Arcan Nalca took on the newly created position of associate dean, undergraduate programs. He will oversee the Commerce program and Certificate in Business.

Nalca, who is an associate professor of management analytics, joined Smith in 2008. He has been assistant dean, teaching and learning since 2020 and academic director of Commerce since 2021. He was co-chair of the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee from 2018 to 2020.

In July, Laurence Ashworth became associate dean (research). Ashworth is a professor of marketing and he arrived at Smith in 2003. He studies social and emotional influences on consumers’ decision-making. He is vice-chair of the Queen’s General Research Ethics Board and founder and chair of the Smith Research Pool.

Ashworth’s position is also new. Previously, one associate dean oversaw both research and the PhD and MSc programs. But the job was split at the start of the year. [Lynnette Purda became associate dean (graduate programs) in January. See Smith Magazine, Spring 2022 for more.]

Meanwhile, Wei Wang, PhD’06, takes on the role of associate dean, professional graduate programs on Nov. 1. Wang is a professor of finance and founding director of the Master of Finance-Beijing program. He has taught in Smith’s professional master’s, MBA and EMBA programs, as well as at major international business schools such as Wharton and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Business School. He joined the Smith faculty in 2007.

Wang takes over from Elspeth Murray, who successfully led the growth of the school’s MBA and master’s programs for over a decade. Murray remains a faculty member and will continue to teach. She is also the director of the Centre for Business Venturing at Smith.