Adjustments this fall in chairperson positions in the college of business will create a more centralized administration, according to Thomas Keon, dean of the SIUC College of Business and Administration.

Arlyn Melcher, chairman of management for COBA, said all of the department chairs are being replaced and administrative change’s will be made in the dean’s office.

The department of management has appointed Charles Stubbart, an associate professor in management, as acting chair, replacing Arlyn Melcher.

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During this year the department of finance and management is planning to hold national searches for the chair position, Keon said.

Position’s in the dean’s office being restructured include the development offices and the computer staff, Melcher said.

The new accounting department director will be Alan Karnes, an associate accounting professor replacing Richard Rivers.

The new marketing chair will be Zarrel Lambert from Auburn University, replacing Gordon Bruner.

The new finance chair is Hussein Elsaid, a finance professor, replacing Iqbal Mathur.

Keon said he hopes the changes will produce stability in the college.

The college has not had a permanent set of chairs for some time the acting chairs were working with an acting dean, Keon said.

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I think college is at the point where it is ready fro a new set of ideas and this group will be able to give a fresh perspective.

The changes are associated with budget reallocations to the dean’s office to support the administrative appointments, Melcher said.

This all may work out very well and substantially strengthen the college, but the immediate effect creates difficulty for department functions and limits the administration of research and service, he said.

Marcia Cornett, associate dean of the college of business, said after three years without a permanent dean the college needs to update and change.

Businesses out in the world are constantly changing and it is important that colleges sending students out into the employment world update themselves as well, Cornett said.

Cornett said a revamping of the undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programs will provide students with the most up-to-date knowledge of the business field.

Melcher said he believes the changes will prove to be harmful and the college is going in the opposite direction to the way business firms handle things.

The dean’s decision to build up the central administration and shift resources from the department to the dean’s office is the opposite of strategies followed in business firms, he said.

Keon said the students will not see any immediate effects, but the changes will ultimately produce positive outcomes.

In the long run, those new ideas will generate a more exciting curriculum, Keon said.

We will se course work and and program content that have theoretical and pragmatic aspects.

According to Melcher, the changes have resulted in eight undergraduate classes that the college must either staff or cancel.

This shift is a burden to students since the availability of classes may be reduced, Melcher said.