Jane Wayland received her job as Stephen Harrow Smith Dean of Business at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock after a controversy at the school: the dismissal of the previous dean, Anthony Chelte.
Wayland has worked at UALR for five years. When Chelte was dismissed for misuse of university funds, Wayland was made interim dean. She had previously served in the same capacity during an interim period between Hugh Sherman and Chelte.
Through her career, Wayland said, she was always focused on making the academic process more efficient.
"I’m very proud of my academic work," she said. "Quite frankly, I’m an excellent teacher, but I don’t teach as often now."
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In January, UALR made Wayland’s position as dean permanent. Much of Wayland’s job is fundraising and raising awareness of UALR, as well as serving on various boards.
"A lot of what I do is administrative types of things," she said, "managing people. We have a strong leadership team here. Summer’s a big planning time for me, and once school starts everything goes crazy."
As dean, Wayland hopes to make UALR the premier business school in the state.
"I feel like we have a role to play in educating the students of central Arkansas and beyond," she said. "What we want to do is fill the needs of employers here in Arkansas. When we do that, we’re enhancing economic development here in the state."
She also wants to grow the college itself and expand some majors, as well as establish an honors program, the latter of which will enter the planning phase soon.
Wayland said higher education is important to make students ready for the wider world.
"We’re not going to be prepared if we do not teach critical thinking skills," she said. "What we learn in the classroom today is what we’re doing today; we have to make students aware of what’s happening tomorrow."
It takes discipline, Wayland said, and discipline is marketing, and marketing changes on a day-to-day basis.
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