Jim Dean, who previously served as dean of the Kenan-Flagler Business School, hopes to use his business background to help student athletes be academically successful this year.
On Friday, the University announced that the new executive vice chancellor and provost will lead the Student Athlete Academic Initiative Working Group, which will examine every policy associated with athletics — including recruitment, admissions and advising — from beginning to end.
Dean said most companies take a similar process-based approach when they are trying to improve quality.
“I spent a lot of time working in this area — this is a skill set I bring to the job,” Dean said in an interview. “In a way, it’s fun for me to apply this type of thinking to something that is a really important element of what we’re doing here.”
Dean said he wanted to lead the group with Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham after reviewing the athletic department’s strategic plan released in January, which prioritizes academics and administrative engagement with athletics.
“I saw the strategic plan and I saw there were some pretty ambitious goals,” Dean said. “He and I both wanted the same thing — top academic performance for student athletes.”
Cunningham said in an interview earlier this month that the department is working day-to-day on improving student athletics and implementing the strategic plan.
Dean said the group’s findings could provide an opportunity to rebuild some student-athletics processes on campus.
“Rather than try to patch up this, or fix that, it would be a time for us, in some senses, to start over,” he said.