ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA - P.N. Saksena, a professor of accounting and associate dean for graduate programs and accreditation at the Judd Leighton School of Business and Economics at Indiana University South Bend, was announced today as the new dean for Winthrop University's College of Business Administration.
The university conducted a national search for someone to succeed Roger Weikle, who has been dean since 1996 and has led the college through successful bids for Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation and fostered the growth of a number of interdisciplinary programs in the college.
Winthrop officials said Saksena, who goes by P.N., possesses substantial experience in teaching, scholarship and administration. He will join the Winthrop University community on July 1, but he will make several trips to Rock Hill in advance of his official start date.
Saksena was chosen from a broad applicant pool that the search committee narrowed to three finalists. Each finalist interviewed on campus with faculty, staff, students, and administrators from across the university and met with Rock Hill community leaders. "The search committee did a stellar job of bringing three excellent candidates to campus, and I appreciate the time and effort the committee members put into this very important work," said Debra Boyd, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.
Boyd noted: "Throughout the search process, Dr. Saksena impressed the wide range of constituencies who met with him. Campus and community members found his experience in partnership development, his collaborative leadership philosophy, and his passion for education to be compelling. He is an excellent teacher and scholar and has been very successful in communicating the value of business education to internal and external constituents. We look forward to welcoming Dr. Saksena and his family to the Winthrop community."
Saksena has worked at IU South Bend since 1995 and has been honored with more than 20 teaching awards including IU South Bend Alumni Association Faculty Legacy Award, IU President's Award for Excellence in Teaching, IU South Bend Distinguished Teaching Award, Faculty of the Year Award, and [co-recipient] Outstanding Educator of the Year Award. He has also been inducted into FACET (Faculty Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching — a community of IU faculty who are committed to exceptional teaching).
"I am excited and humbled to have been selected to serve as dean of the College of Business Administration at Winthrop University," said Saksena. "I am impressed by the college's tradition of excellence and the caring, collegiality and commitment displayed by everyone with whom I came in contact. I look forward to establishing strong partnerships on and off campus, with the goal of providing a transformative education to students."
Faculty advisor of the IU South Bend Accounting Association and president of the school's Beta Gamma Sigma chapter, Saksena is a member of the American Accounting Association, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Beta Gamma Sigma and Beta Alpha Psi.
His research interests include forensic accounting, managerial accounting and accounting education.
Saksena earned a bachelor's degree in commerce at Delhi University, a master's degree in accountancy at the University of Georgia and a doctorate at Georgia State University.
He is married to his childhood sweetheart, Monica, whom he has known for 38 years. They have two grown sons and a five-year-old (Havanese) dog, Snowy, who is the object of their attention. The couple and Snowy enjoy long drives, exercising and trying healthy recipes.
Winthrop's College of Business Administration is the academic home to more than 1,100 undergraduate students majoring in 15 areas and more than 130 graduate students in its M.B.A. program. The college has a total of 60 faculty members, of whom 44 are full time and 16 are lecturers who are practicing business professionals from the surrounding metropolitan area.
The college has been accredited since 1979 by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business; other program-related accreditations include Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, and Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA), making the AUPHA-certified undergraduate healthcare management program the only such program in South Carolina. The college also houses the regional office of the S.C. Small Business Development Center, providing strategic support to entrepreneurs and business owners.
For more information, contact Judy Longshaw, news and media services manager, at 803/323-2404 or longshawj@winthrop.edu.
