Somnath Bhattacharya named the new dean of the UIS College of Business and Management

Somnath (Som) Bhattacharya has been named the new dean of the College of Business and Management at the University of Illinois Springfield. Bhattacharya served as dean of the Gus Machado School of Business and professor of accounting at St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, Florida, since 2014.

“I am delighted and humbled to be joining the students, staff and faculty of the College of Business and Management at UIS,” said Bhattacharya. “As one of the university's critical components, the College of Business and Management is at the threshold of many opportunities. My vision, as dean, is to work closely with the College’s students, faculty, staff and UIS administration to lead the College in achieving greater academic excellence, visibility, enrollment growth and financial stability.”

Bhattacharya has also taught at Florida Atlantic University, where he served as associate, interim and acting dean of the College of Business for several periods between 2012 and 2014. Prior to those appointments, he was director of the Florida Atlantic School of Accounting from July 2006 to December 2011. He has also taught at the University of Texas at El Paso, University of South Florida, Lebanon College, Fort Hays State University and Northern Arizona University.

“Bhattacharya brings to UIS more than 25 years of experience in teaching and higher education, including more than 12 years as an administrator,” said Dennis Papini, UIS vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost. “Among his strengths, noted by the search committee, were his experience with developing entrepreneurial and interdisciplinary programs across colleges, and experience with Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation and international outreach.”

Bhattacharya holds a Ph.D. in business administration with a concentration in accounting from the University of South Florida, as well as an M.B.A. with a concentration in management information systems from Northern Arizona University.

His research interests include enterprise resource planning systems’ impact on adopting companies, the impact of eXtensible Business Reporting Language on adopting companies and measuring the return on investment of corporate information technology investments. He has more than 30 journal publications in these areas in journals, such as, the Journal of Information Systems, the International Journal of Accounting Information Systems and Issues in Accounting Education.

Bhattacharya will serve as dean designate starting February 16, until the University of Illinois Board of Trustees can vote on his full appointment on March 14. He will replace Ronald McNeil, who retired as dean of the UIS College of Business and Management in 2018.