Raleigh - Art Padilla, professor of management at North Carolina State University’s College of Management, is the new head of the college’s Department of Management, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship (MIE). The appointment was announced this week by Ira R. Weiss, dean of the college, and is effective July 1.
The MIE department was established in 2007 to bring together faculty members who conduct research and teach in the areas of leadership, strategy, human resources and organizational development, as well as entrepreneurship, the management of technology and technology transfer.

“We brought them together because there is tremendous synergy between their fields of study, all of which contribute to organizations’ efforts to innovate and gain competitive advantage,” Weiss said. “With Art’s expertise in leadership development, he is the perfect choice for this position. He has the professional toolkit for working with the faculty to further develop the synergy between them and to continue advancing our curriculum development and faculty recruitment activities.”
 
Padilla has won numerous teaching awards and in 2006 received the Holladay Medal from the NC State University Board of Trustees, the highest honor bestowed on faculty members. His recent book on leadership, Portraits in Leadership, has enjoyed strong reviews and has been used by presidential search committees at several major universities. Last year, the NC State Board of Trustees named the executive conference room in the refurbished Peele Hall - which houses the Park Scholars Program – in his honor in recognition of his contributions to NC State.

In addition to teaching at NC State, Padilla has served in senior administrative roles for the University of North Carolina 16-campus system and at NC State University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1978.

Steve Barr, professor of management, was the inaugural head of the MIE department. Prior to that appointment, he served eight years as head of the Department of Business Management which had included the MIE faculty as well as finance, information technology, marketing, and supply chain management.

“I thank Steve for his tremendous service in the transition and for helping to set our MIE department on solid footing for the future,” Weiss said. Barr will return to teaching and research.

Weiss also thanked the search committee members – Barr and professors Frank Buckless, Robert Clark, Lynda Aiman-Smith, and Steve Schanz, and Erin Dixon, director of admissions and advising for the college’s undergraduate programs – for their service on the MIE department head search committee.