Park to join AUM as new College of Business dean

After a national search, Auburn University at Montgomery will welcome Daewoo Park as the new Dean of its College of Business in August.

Park, who has served as Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Success as well as a Professor of Management for Northern Illinois University’s College of Business since 2019, will begin his AUM tenure on August 15.

“We are pleased to welcome a scholar and leader of Dr. Park’s caliber to Auburn University at Montgomery,” said AUM Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor Mrinal Varma. “While we were fortunate to have an outstanding group of finalists for the deanship, Dr. Park stood out on the basis of his range of experience, vision for AUM’s College of Business and demonstrated creativity with regard to curriculum development, student support and alumni engagement.”

AUM’s College of Business has consistently earned placement on the Princeton Review’s list of “Best Business Schools” and has earned recognition from U.S. News & World Report for the quality of its programs. AUM is among the top one percent of business schools internationally by virtue of its accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). The college’s programmatic areas include Accounting, Finance, General Business, Human Resource Management, Information Systems, Management and Marketing. Among the college’s points of distinction is the Artificial Intelligence Research Laboratory, the first facility of its kind nationally to be housed within a business school.

In his most recent role, Park led undergraduate and graduate curriculum innovation, strategic enrollment management and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, academic excellence and student success initiatives for a college of business with 3,000 students and 122 faculty members in five departments. He also guided the college through the AACSB Assurance of Learning and Reaccreditation process.

“I’m extremely thrilled to begin my new academic leadership journey as dean at AUM,” Park said. “AUM and the College of Business have an outstanding reputation for student success, impactful innovation, and a culture of inclusiveness. I will bring over many years of higher education leadership experience to differentiate academic programs, build partnerships with many global firms in the River Region, including HMMA and suppliers, and lead ‘future-proofing’ the College of Business at AUM.”

Before coming to Northern Illinois, Park served as Chair of the Department of Business within Hawaii Pacific University’s 2,000-student College of Business from 2015-2019. He oversaw seven undergraduate programs, including Management, Marketing, Finance, Accountancy, Economics, Information Systems and Hospitality & Tourism Management, and four graduate programs.

Park’s experience also includes service as a department chair and a center director for Xavier University’s Williams College of Business. He joined the college in 2007 as Director of the Sedler Family Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, launching an Entrepreneurship Boot Camp for military veterans, a first-of-its-kind Entrepreneurship “Black Belt” program, a “Shark Tank” style pitch competition, a sales competition and a statewide college entrepreneurship competition and conference. During his time as director, the center secured a $3.5 million naming gift. From 2008-2011, Xavier featured the Best Undergraduate Entrepreneurship program among 28 American Jesuit universities and the Top 11 undergraduate entrepreneurship program among 2,900 U.S. universities.

Park became Chair of the college’s Department of Management & Entrepreneurship in 2009 and served in that role until 2013. During his time at Xavier, the college’s undergraduate Corporate Strategy and Entrepreneurship programs earned recognition from Bloomberg BusinessWeek and Princeton Review/Entrepreneurship Magazine for their quality, while the part-time Management program earned recognition from U.S. News & World Report as one of the Top 20 nationally.

He has published more than 40 articles in refereed publications and has earned a variety of awards during his career, including Xavier University’s competitive O’Conor Fellowship, O’Conor Professorship and Downing Research Fellowship. While at Hawaii Pacific University, Park received 2017 Administrator of the Year honors and the Golden Apple Award for University Teaching Innovation Excellence (2017). He served as Northern Illinois’ 2021-2022 Mid-American Conference Academic Leadership Program representative.

After graduating summa cum laude from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Park earned his MBA from the University of Texas at Austin before earning his doctorate in Strategic Management from Texas A&M.