This week on the Be Epic podcast, Brent sits down with a familiar face, Dean Emeritus Matt Waller as Matt turns the mic around for a conversation with Brent to discuss his vision and plans as the new Dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. During the episode Brent highlights his focus on innovating curricula to meet evolving industry needs, particularly in analytics and emerging technologies, and empowering faculty and staff to drive transformation. He also details more about his priorities focused on elevating the student experience through engagement opportunities as well as cultivating thought leadership and fueling the state's economy. Brent also discusses graduate program growth and the importance of industry-sponsored research in advancing knowledge, citing innovative partnerships with companies like Walmart.

Stopping and thinking about the purpose,

every single day, you know how it is right, you come into work.

And you can just quickly get involved in the to do list or

the list of meetings. But just take a second and look around

you. Welcome to the be epic podcast brought to you by the

Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of

Arkansas.

I have with me today, Brent Williams, Dean of

the Sam M. Walton College of Business and today we're talking

about the Walton College, his plans for the future. And I'm

already familiar with them, and really, really impressed with

what Brent is doing. And I think the future is better than the

past or the present, given what he's planning. So Brent, thanks

for joining me today.

Well, Matt, thanks for stepping back into

the chair. I appreciate that. And well, I don't know if, if I

can say that yet that the future is exactly better than the past.

We're going to try really, really hard to make that true,

I think you're gonna do terrific. So, Brent,

we're going to be talking today about the Walton College and

where you're taking it. And I'm really excited about this, I

think, I hope a lot of students listen to this, I hope parents,

I hope, your board and alumni listen to this, because this is

a new era. It's the era of Brent Williams as Dean. And you have

some unique idiosyncrasies and thoughts and capabilities that

are going to leave a really positive impact so if you're

listening. Go ahead and listen to the whole thing. This is

going to be a great discussion. So Brent, I want to start with

the beginning. Let's start with the vision, what put the vision

in your words and the mission and what you think's important.

Yeah. Well, first, I'm extremely excited

about the future, as are you, I am grateful to have the

opportunity. And as we talked about, when we did an episode

like this, as I transitioned into interim, I think I'm

really, really fortunate to have had so much experience at the

Walton College and in the state of Arkansas. So really, really

excited to move forward. Now, when I think about the vision, I

love it, I absolutely love it, it resonates with me. At times,

I'll tell people, you know, it can kind of get me up in the

morning and get me excited. And when I think about it, I just

Matt tend to boil it down in some ways into like these two

elements that stand out to me. And we say, in that vision that

we want to be a thought leader and we want to be a catalyst for

transforming lives. And as a thought leader in business, what

an important role to play in the state in the US really globally,

where we want to be knowledge creators that push both business

forward, that helps those around us learn from our research, and,

in turn, what we're learning throughout practice. And that's

a really, really important role that we play that I think's

unique. Now, the other part of the vision statement that

particularly excites me is we say we're going to be a catalyst

for transforming lives. And I like to break that down just a

little bit. You know, the transforming lives is largely

about our students, not exclusively, but largely about

our students. And you think about if we think about an

undergraduate student that joins us, let's say when they're 18

years old, and going to spend four years with us, that is a

very important period in one's life. And so while our students

are here, they truly are transforming and becoming, you

know, what, the professional that they're going to be the

adult that they're going to be. And I think it's really, really

important that our experience promotes that transformation.

And, you know, a word that really stuck with me. I think we

might have talked or touched on this in the last podcast that we

did together. We say we're a catalyst meaning we're kind of

the place where all the ingredients come together,

right? You know, you think about it like a chemical reaction.

It's really the magic happens when you put all the right

ingredients in the same place and they react to one another.

And the reason why I think that's so important, is that

there's a lot of stakeholders involved in making that happen.

It's not just us as the faculty and staff we are a really

important part of it. But the students have a part to play in

it, parents, families have a part to play in it. Our industry

partners certainly have a part to play in it. So, that's what I

love about our vision statement is that it's simple. It's

inspiring. And it includes everyone, that's a stakeholder

in the Walton College.

You know, as long as I've known you, I think

you've been very vision, mission driven and it's so important,

you know, especially for our college, the Walton College, we

are having an impact on so many future business leaders and

managers. That vision you just articulated from your, your,

your memory, and from your heart is so important because as that

becomes a reality, it's going to affect the future economy of the

state and the region, the heartland.

Absolutely, you know, I often wish that, that

those like our alumni and the companies that support us, and

we've got wonderful boards that advise and support. Often, I

wish they could spend more time here, you know, if, if you walk

out into our courtyard, between a class change, and you've done

this hundreds of times, I'm sure. You know, every once

awhile just stand in the center, and you see all of these people

walking by you. And if you really kind of stop and take it

in for just a moment, you know, the future of company X, or Y,

or Z or the next, you know, scalable business in Arkansas

that leader just walked by you, you know, and and that may be 20

years from now, maybe 30, maybe 10. I don't know how long it's

going to be. But when you stand in the courtyard, particularly

when everyone's changing and walking by it's like the nexus

of the future, in some way, in our state, in my opinion.

Well, you're really good about interacting with

students, interacting with alumni. Interacting with

faculty, staff, you, you are a master of that. And I think that

that's, I've done a lot of AACSB reaccreditation reviews, about

two a year over my eight year time. And I noticed so many

dean's I had met really didn't do enough of that. They it

didn't even seem like they wanted to, to a degree. But I've

always seen in you, you're always wanting to talk to people

get to know them get feedback. And it just seems so important

and kind of leads to my next question. I know one thing you

really want to do. And you've been planning for this even

before you were Dean, you want to elevate the student

experience. Could you talk a little bit about that?

Yeah, I can. And maybe back to that earlier

comment just real briefly. This is something you taught me is,

you know, as as dean, you've got a lot of important facets of the

role. And it's hard to say right, which is more important,

they're all important, and probably in any given day one's

more important than the other. But one extremely important part

is that you serve as the ambassador of the Walton

College. And, you know, one thing I have learned in the as I

was Interim Dean, I knew this, but you know how it is you

experience it yourself and takes on a different meaning. The

number of people that reached out to me that congratulated me

that supported me, and I realize this isn't about me,

necessarily. This is about our college and our institution,

people in our state and our alumni, they care, they care

about this place, that as a very, very powerful thing. And,

and we want, we want to continue to take our brand and our

stories, to more and more people so that they continue to care,

so that they continue to support and that we grow that support

because it's very, very important to have that support.

If we're really going to be thought leaders and catalysts

for transforming lives. It takes all of those people, you know,

but you you asked about elevating the student experience

and I love that word student experience, you know, because I

do think if we, if we're going back to that we're going to

transform lives. There's a lot of aspects to an experience that

are important. And to one person, one part may be more

important than the other. You know, but so you've got to have

a well rounded experience to make that happen. And I always

think, you know, that starts in the classroom, very, very

critical part of the experience, of course, as it seems obvious

to say, but but ensuring that, that our curriculum and our

classrooms are places where students are really starting to

learn and set up for their future. So that's, that's really

clear. I do think that curricula have to always be evolving. And

I think we've done a pretty good job of that at the Walton

College. But as you and I have talked about, the pace of change

in business is accelerating, as it always has been, it's going

to continue to accelerate even faster, which means we have to

adapt. And we have to part of that as adapting our curricula

to fit the needs of our students and industry. And, and, and even

try to get ahead, you know, of where that's going. And so one

piece of the curricula that that I've been really excited about

is analytics, which actually does align to one of the

strategic focus areas in our mission statement. Now, I start

to think about, actually think about those three areas of

distinctiveness. And I think they have broadened for us over

time. Yeah. So maybe if you look on our website, and you look at

what the word actually says, it's a little more narrow than

the way we practice it. So I think we'll probably make some

adjustments to that. But you know, I think I think you when

you think about analytics, I think you think about analytics

and emerging technology as something that is going to

continue to be a strategic focus area for us. Because we know

that our students need to understand how to how to not

just use technology, but how technology applies in business,

how it interacts with people and process. And that's never

changing, right? So technology is always going to be emerging.

So you know, when I think about that focus area, I was thinking

about a little broader. But that's now seeping into

curricular changes that we're making. I'm very interested in

how we broaden the, I guess the number of our students that have

business analytics, in some way, shape, or form actually,

multiple times. I think that we may even end up to where it's in

our core to our hope we end up so that every student gets it.

But it's more than just the core right? It's then how does that

connect to earlier parts of the curriculum that set that up. And

then as someone as a student gets into their major, now

they're starting to see analytics focused courses. And

all of those majors, I think, almost every one of them has an

analytics focused course, plus analytics is throughout other

courses. So at every step along the way, for a student, you

know, I want them to be exposed to analytics and growing in

their analytical capabilities and the application of their

analytical capabilities. That's really important to me. And then

I would also say that experiential learning is very,

very important. I think we, we hit the wall, and colleges do a

good job of this, but it's an area that we can push ourselves

even further. And, you know, there's a lot of ways to go

about that programmatically. I think, you know, I think we

should pursue many of them. But one of the most important ways

to learn experientially is to be involved in the marketplace, is

to have an internship have multiple internships are

actually you know, one thing I've been thinking a lot about,

I don't know if that's the right word to use, but it's almost

like apprenticeships or co ops, where particularly as our

students get into their senior year, maybe even their junior

year, where they are working in a meaningful role inside a

company that they may want to go to work for. And, and I think

that as they've, as they've had at least two years, maybe a

third year of college under their belt, you know, they're

pretty deep into their major at that point, they can contribute

to the companies, the company can contribute to their

development. And, and they can they can make money while

they're doing it, offsetting the cost of attending college. And

then I think that we can do some things that enable that and some

of that is creating flexibility as you know, right? You know,

you've got to have flexibility in your course structures in the

times in online options available to those students so

that they can do both if we're going to encourage them to do

that. I would also like to see us and I think we've got some

early thoughts on this is, while students are doing that, how do

we give them the professional development and mentorship that

they need? And, you know, the reason why I'm talking about all

of that is, by the time you're at that stage, as an

undergraduate student, I'm talking primarily about our

undergraduate students here. I think you've started to get

enough context and starting to get enough experience where you

know, that professional and that development and that mentorship

really matters, and it sticks. And then, you know, they're

taking what they've learned, and they're applying it. And then,

you know, and then the next time they're in class, they are

thinking about how they applied it, and how does that now

influence the stickiness of what's happening in the

classroom? So I just see those things. I see learn and apply or

learn and do I don't know the right combinations of words, but

I think they become very synergistic.

Well, Brent, I know you're passionate about

undergraduates, but you're also passionate about our graduate

students. You've been very involved in master's programs

and a doctoral program in many different ways, as a faculty

member, and as a administrator. Talk a little bit about this

with respect to the master's programs. And you might even

want to talk a little bit about the master's programs

themselves.

Yeah, maybe just giving someone the landscape,

we've got many different paths for a student to get a graduate

degree in our college. And to the extent to some extent, they

can even create, you know, some of their own paths. In some of

our programs. Well, we've got full time programs, we've got

programs that are designed for working professionals. And then

as you've met, as you mentioned, we've got a PhD program that's

really designed to help a student really learn to be a

researcher, and teacher. And most of those students, not all

but most are entering academia. So the full suite of programs,

but I'll maybe I'll maybe talk here about our master's degrees,

a place where you as Dean put a lot of focus into growing

different types of specialized programs. But but I'll maybe

start with our Executive MBA, you know,

what a great program

Oh, my, you know, we, when you, when we talk

about experiential learning, or an a student experience, that's

a program we've been doing it really well for a really long

time. And, and I think we're only getting better. And, you

know, we have always thought about that as a holistic

experience, we designed it for the working professional,

someone that that has experience, we know they have a

busy life. So you know, much of its online, but there's still

that in person component to it that we think is actually now

interestingly a differentiator to it. You know, where you're

spending time in the classroom, you're interacting with the

professor, you are interacting with each other, which may be

the most important part, you're having lunch with each other,

you know, you might be watching a football game on the Saturday

night after the class. And then, you know, if, you know, and then

you're, you're building relationships that that are

lasting for probably the next 20, 30 years of your career in

that program. It's just such a valuable, valuable program. And

you know, and then we've taken what we've learned in that

executive MBA program where we're applying that in many of

the specialized programs, where they're offered in the same

formats, or they're offered fully online, or they're offered

in a purely full time way so there's just a lot of options

there. And, and I think in we're always thinking about how we

evolve that experience, and particularly in our graduate

programs are always looking for, you know, are these hitting the

mark for what the learner needs. And that's always moving and

changing. And just as an example, the launch of the

Master of Science in Product Innovation, a brand new program,

healthcare analytics, a brand new program, and these are just

areas where people need to build their skills, and they need them

in a highly specialized way. They need them usually in a

pretty flexible format. And, and so we're designing those

experiences for those students and with those students in mind.

And it has it, I think as you know, and as you've been a part

of, it's been a real joy to see our whole college get behind

that effort, and really focus and build some cutting edge

programs and wonderful experiences, no doubt in my

mind. And then we've got our PhD program that's really, really

important not only for the student, you know, so it is,

it's an important experience for the student who is deciding to

spend four or five years of their life in this program. It's

rigorous, it's hard, it's intensive. But it's really

important to our research mission. Those programs are very

important to faculty who are research who are research

focused. And that, you know, I've talked about, I talked

about an apprentice kind of program in the undergraduate

experience, that really is what a PhD program really is,

particularly in those last couple of years. You mean,

you're working directly with a few faculty, and we don't call

it an apprenticeship. But it is effectively that.

You're equally passionate about empowering

faculty and staff to help fulfill the vision of the Walton

College. Would you speak to that a little bit?

Yeah, you know, I think about like, we're in the

business of developing human capital, right. And our primary

input is human capital. You know, it's an interesting

business to be in, if you want to think about it that way. But

we want to develop students, and the way you do that is putting

That is so exciting. I know, you also have always been really

great people around them. And, well, part of our role as

college leaders is to ensure that we are empowering those

faculty and staff to not only do their job, but but to innovate

in their roles. And, and that means innovation in curriculum.

And we want we want departments pushing themselves to think

about, like, what's the next step for for our students? What,

what do we miss, like what's industry telling us, and you

have to feel empowered to be able to do that, right, you have

to feel like that you can get the resources to do it. And, and

you also, you know, have to feel like if sometimes if we started

something, and maybe it doesn't work, that's actually okay. And

that's a culture, I feel like you were an important part of

building here. And we want to continue that. And we want this

to be a great place to work for our faculty and staff, we want

them to enjoy it, and, and feel the purpose in it, you know, and

I think that's one thing we've started talking a good bit

about, just really, in the last couple of months is, you know,

stopping and thinking about the purpose, every single day, you

know how it is right, you come into work. And you can just

quickly get involved in the do list or the list of meetings.

But just take a second and look around you, you know and think

one, I get to work on a university campus, which is just

beautiful and a great place to be. But going back to what I

said just a moment ago, the future is walking around you.

Oftentimes, I'll pause every now and again at my desk, stand up

and look out the big window. And you know, see students walking

back and forth. And you remember when you do that, like, okay,

you know, that's our purpose here. That's our purpose every

day is develop these people, into better professionals into

into better people. And so to do that with 9000 students, it

means you've got to have an empowered faculty and staff.

It's so important.

engaged in growing relationships with business and alumni. You've

been doing that for a long time here even as a student. But but

you know, as as a I mean you were you had the role of

Associate Dean for executive education. That was one of your

roles. And one of your you had several different roles as an

Associate Dean, but that was one that you came into early and

really made a big difference. And but would you mind speaking

a little bit about that? What what do you plan on doing in the

future? What's important, those kinds of things?

Yeah. Well, I'll go back to that piece of the vision that

catalyst for transforming lives. And thought leader actually, as

I think about it. I think companies and industry and

alumni are so critical to, to achieving the vision in both of

those areas. And so let's talk about catalysts for transforming

lives. It, it takes more than just the classroom. It takes the

internships it takes the co ops, it takes the apprenticeships, it

takes the coming in and speaking, it takes the mentoring

that's happening, it takes the hundreds of companies that are

coming in and and partnering with us on career fairs. I could

keep going. But I see a lot of my role as how do I continue to

grow, to deepen our relationships with industry and

broaden those relationships? All for the purpose of like, how do

I get more companies and people into the mix, because

ultimately, that's what's going to increase our student

experience. And, and that's what's going to continue to mean

that we're creating more and more values for students and

their families in the long term. So I think it couldn't be more

important, not just for me as the dean for so many of us in

the college to just be engaged. And and I think that that's

really what it means right to be in the business community. And

that can be as simple as attending an event or working

directly with a company, it just depends on, you know, the amount

of of time and bandwidth that you have to put into it. But

also think that that this engagement is also really

important to the thought leader piece of our vision. You know,

because as you're trying to develop knowledge, you cannot do

that in a vacuum. And by being able to interact and test those

ideas, or even source those ideas, so like, what are the

problems? What are the big problems to solve out there? And

how can we, as faculty contribute to that, through

research through projects that we might do, either maybe with

our students in classrooms, so I see industry, touching,

absolutely every part of what we do. But I think it's incumbent

on us to make this an environment where they know that

they are contributor, where they can get value out of

contributing, and to help inspire them that this is

something you can do that really is going to impact the future

for a long time.

So Brent, earlier, you were talking about the three

components of the mission. And you were talking about how

they've, you're expanding them from where they have been, one

example you gave was analytics and technology. And I think

that's so important. I'm glad you're doing that. What are the

Yeah, the other two in our mission statement are

Brent to wind this up, I want to ask you a little bit about the

other two?

entrepreneurship and retail. And so each of those I, again, I

actually think what's interesting is I took a step

back as I'm taking this role. I looked at our vision statement,

you know, and I felt like like those two elements that we've

talked about a good bit so far, they're still right. And then as

state. Now I knew, I know that you grew up in Newport,

I looked at our mission statement, I looked specifically

at those strategic areas of focus or areas of

distinctiveness, I feel like they're still right, they just

are probably broader and need to be broadened. Thus, analytics

and emerging technology is at least the way I say it.

Arkansas, which is in the Delta. And you've spent a lot of your

Entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship is a strategic

focus area for the Walton College. And the progress that

we have seen in the last several years is truly unbelievable, in

my mind, in terms of, you know, we've we've had new venture

development as a core part of that program in our graduate

life here, although after you got your PhD, you, you went to

program for a long time. Now we have a unique department that

has a focus on it. We have new venture development in the

undergraduate program now so correct from a curricular

standpoint, we really expanded our Office of Innovation of

entrepreneurship and innovation is now touching students in a

Auburn and TCU. And you came back. But you were born and

non curricular way and a curricular way, but primarily in

a non curricular way, all across this campus and then touching

all kinds of entrepreneurs and throughout the state, you know,

but so I think it remains absolutely core to our focus but

I do think about it more broadly as just entrepreneurship and

raised in the Delta. I think you may be the first dean of our

innovation, because I think those, that mindset that we're

trying to instill and develop in our, in our students and the

people connected to us is the same, you know, whether you are

building your own company or whether or not you're innovating

inside a large enterprise, the mindset, and many time,

college to have experienced that. But I know you have a

actually, the processes for doing so, is exactly the same.

So we will continue to put a strong focus on entrepreneurship

and innovation. And then you we also say, retail. Well, you and

I both do this kind of naturally, where we broaden

that. And and I don't know exactly what the right term is

passion for the state. And I remember, even when I was dean

for it, you know, but you and I will both tend to say, the same

thing, which will be well, you know, retail, supply chain,

consumer products, maybe we're really talking about a retail

value chain. That is core to who this area in the state is and,

and thus, it's core to who we are. And it's when we focus in

early on, you were encouraging me to get more involved in

those areas, that there's real synergy with what's happening

out in the community around us like entrepreneurship, like

retail, and supply chains, and consumer product and innovation.

We tend to succeed. And I think it's because there's synergy in

Little Rock, which I did. And I remember we were driving the car

it. So those are three areas of distinctiveness. You know, and

maybe, you know, thinking maybe taking even a step back from

that earlier you asked me about, you know, our student experience

and empowering our faculty and staff. And one thing that I am

really passionate about is that we keep health and well being at

somewhere and you you somehow you encourage me to really try

in the conversation and at the center of how you do that.

Because for people to be at their best to learn, you know,

at their maximum capacity to perform as a researcher, as a

teacher, as someone, providing support to students. health and

well being is really, really important to that. And now, we

to dive in deep and Little Rock. I don't remember the details.

are fortunate to live in Northwest Arkansas, where you

know, the infrastructure is rapidly expanding, it's actually

expanding throughout the state, which is one thing I'm really

excited about in the state of Arkansas, is the quality of life

here is really, really good. And I think it's only going to get

But I did it. And I'm glad I did. It was really important. I

better. And all of those pieces of the quality of life, promote

holistic health and well being.

think our college had not done as much of that. But I know you

want to even take that further. Could you speak to that a little

bit?

Well, when you when you think about our university, maybe just

start the University of Arkansas is both a flagship and land

grant University. Which means we've got a lot of a lot of

different responsibilities to, again, serve as that land that

that flagship institution but also served the state through

our land grant mission. And those are both really important

to us. And, you know, one of the reasons why this job is so

exciting to me, is because I get to think about and help our

faculty and staff think about and strategize on how we're

going to contribute to this state. And one way we do that,

of course, is educating Arkansans in business and we're

educating more Arkansans in business than we ever have

before and that's exciting to me. And as someone that as you

said, grew up here. You know, I'm sure there's some places in

Arkansas I haven't been, but probably not many, you know. And

so I can relate, you know, to those students in some way,

shape or form

and alumni

and alumni. And, you know, it seems like half the

time I meet one of these students I even know, their

parents or, you know, I know someone who knows their parents.

And, you know, which speaks to the state one another reason why

I really love it is the connectedness of the state. You

know, it doesn't take long sitting in a room with somebody

to have a connection. And, and people want to help each other

here. And, and then there's this, in a relatively small

state, there's this high degree of concentration of business,

like this state, you know, swings above its weight, right,

if you want to use that phrase, in business, I mean, think of

the companies that have been built in this state. And that's

all across the state. I mean, you know, we know about what's

happening in Northwest Arkansas, but, you know, great things

happening in Central Arkansas, we've got great partners there,

like, like, Stephens Inc, has been a wonderful partner to us.

And there's so many, I can't, I can't now, Yeah, Dillards, and

Murphy Oil, Murphy, USA,

So many, you know, and then get into the

delta. And there's agricultural businesses that are that are

booming there so business is, we can be integrated throughout

this entire state. And I think it just kind of gives us a

unique opportunity being both the flagship and the land grant.

And I just think the Walton College has a special place in

the state, I think it's a special institution, we have so

many alumni throughout the state and beyond. But they they still

care about this place. And so one of the things I'm looking

forward to maybe most about this job is to be able to get out

into all of those places. And spend more time with our alumni

and spend time with the companies that hire our

students. Tell them the story of what's happening here, if they

don't get to be here regularly. Every time I'm out, they asked

me how they can help, you know, and what a blessing that is, you

know, when you have that many people wanting to help you

achieve your mission. So what a wonderful place we live in. I'm

glad. I'm thrilled to be at the University of Arkansas, the

Walton College and in the state of Arkansas.

Well, thank you so much for letting me interview

you for this topic. It's really clear, you know, great leaders

vision, they can they can create a vision and articulate it. And

you demonstrated that over and over, but particularly in this

podcast. And also sense making you know, sense making so

important to leadership, I hear you do that all the time. You

did it multiple times on this recording. And now that I'm back

on the faculty and no longer than administrator, I, you know,

three of my kids have graduated from University of Arkansas, two

from the Walton College and one is still my fourth one is in the

Walton College. And I'm glad she's here, under your

leadership. Seriously, I I mean, the leader leaders make a

difference.

Yeah,

I've seen so many business schools because I've

done all these reviews, for the AACSB. And one thing that I

really believe leadership makes a difference. Vision makes a

difference. And sensemaking be able to look around and say,

here's what's going on. This was what it means for us. And you

really do that well. So I'm confident that our best days are

ahead as a college.

Well Matt, two things, one there, there's no

greater compliment than then a parent saying they're going to

send their child to the institution that you're leading.

So thank you for that. And thank you to all the many families

that are trusting us, you know, with this experience, and and

then thanks for coming back and sitting in the in the podcast

chair with me and given me a chance to share this and the way

you've impacted me over the years and mentored me. I'm

excited about the future. I think that we're going to

continue to do great things at the Walton College. On behalf of

the Walton College. Thank you for joining us for this

captivating conversation. To stay connected and never miss an

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