First Gus Malzahn, now Bill Hardgrave.
While the former will try to help Auburn University beat the University of Arkansas on the football field this fall, the latter is almost sure to give its business school a boost. Yes, after 17 years at Arkansas, Hardgrave will start work as dean of Auburn’s business college on Aug. 1.
Hardgrave established the Information Technology Research Institute at Arkansas in 1999, with a $4 million endowment from the Walton Family Charitable Trust Foundation. Then, in 2005, he founded the RFID Research Center.
The research center focuses on software development and radio frequency identification, which involves placing a small tag on a product for inventory management, tracking and pricing. The UA’s center has become one of the world’s leading centers for examining the business value of RFID.
And while Hardgrave’s departure will result in a hard-to-fill hole in Northwest Arkansas, he assured us he’ll be working hard here until July 30.