Iowa State’s Ivy College of Business has named Joey George the new associate dean for research. George is the John D. DeVries Endowed Chair in Business and a professor of information systems.

“My job is to understand what the faculty and college do in terms of their research, and find ways to help them find the resources they need to do their job better,” George said. 

George has served as the director of the Ivy doctorate program since 2013 and interim academic director of the college’s Business NeuroLab since 2015. George said his main focus in his new position is on promoting and enhancing research.

“One thing about the job is it’s externally focused,” George said. “A lot of faculty spend a lot of time focusing on what they do every day, but this job is very much focused on what is going on throughout the college, but also anything in the University that deals with research.”

While it was announced that he would be taking over this position on Jan. 3, George has only been on the job for three days. However, George is already coming up with new ideas and goals for his position.

“One thing that I want to do is meet with the faculty, especially in departments outside of my own,” George said. “I want to come up with a unified picture that tells me what we need, where I need to focus my energy and what it will take to make faculty more successful.”

George said he wasn’t planning on applying for this position, but when the opening came along, he decided to apply.

”This was an opportunity to change jobs and still stay at Iowa State,” George said. “All while doing something different and interesting, and actually giving back to the institution as well.”

George said the new position is a nice way to pull everything in his career together. 

“I cannot think of a more qualified person to lead these important efforts for the college,” said Raisbeck Endowed Dean David Spalding in a press release. “[George] is an extremely talented professor who is highly respected around the world. He has 32 years of experience at four different universities. He has served as a department chair and president of his discipline’s professional association. He is experienced in leading doctoral programs, international conferences and academic journals. I look forward to working with [George] in this new capacity.”

This is the fourth university where George has worked as a professor. The other universities have all been in the south, which is also where George was born.

“I’ve never had an experience like the last two days,” George said, referring to the recent cold weather. 

In 2011, when George was in the market for a job, Iowa State was one of the schools hiring.

“It was a relatively new business school in terms of the United States, still developing and growing,” George said. “It was a really good opportunity to come to an institution like that where so much was going on.”

While there is currently some opportunities for undergraduate research in the Ivy College of Business, George said there are not as many as he would like.

“That might be something that I can work on while in this office,” George said.