Business & Economics Dean Beryl McEwen Named Interim Provost at N.C. A&T

GREENSBORO, N.C. (Aug. 15, 2017) – The leader of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University’s nationally recognized College of Business and Economics has been named interim provost/vice chancellor of Academic Affairs, A&T leaders announced today.

Dean Beryl McEwen’s appointment to the new role is effective immediately. She replaces Joe B. Whitehead Jr., Ph.D., who served in that role since 2013. McEwen’s interim service marks a return to Academic Affairs at A&T, where she served as vice provost for Strategic Planning and Institutional Effectiveness prior to being named dean in 2014.

She has since overseen a business college that serves more than 1,400 undergraduate and graduate students with departments in Accounting and Finance, Business Education, Economics, Management and Marketing, Transportation and Supply Chain Management. It is one of only 700 such colleges globally to hold the prestigious AACSB International accreditation and one of only 200 to hold that accreditation for its Accounting program. Under her leadership, the college successfully launched both the MBA and MBA Online programs.

McEwen’s leadership in business education, strategic planning, academic accreditation and classroom teaching has been recognized by a long and growing list of awards from professional organizations, including the National Business Education Association and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction Business Education Hall of Fame. Earlier this year, she received an Outstanding Women in Business Award from the Triad Business Journal. She has worked at A&T since 1995, when she joined what was then known as the School of Business and Economics as chair of the Department of Business Education. 

McEwen holds a bachelor’s degree in business education from the University of Technology, Jamaica, and a master’s degree and doctorate in business education from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

Kevin L. James, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Accounting and Finance, will assume interim leadership of the college.  

James has been at A&T since 2010, when he joined the college as chair of the Accounting and Finance. He was an associate professor at Middle Tennessee State University for the previous decade and director of its Master of Science in Accounting Program for five years.

James earned a Ph.D. in accounting from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and is a licensed certified public accountant. He is also a member of the Pre-certification Education Executive Committee of the American Institute of CPAs and has published numerous articles on professional accounting and diversity issues.