DEAN STEPHANIE BRYANT ASSUMES COBA LEADERSHIP

This fall, Dr. Stephanie Bryant assumed the deanship of the College of Business Administration at Missouri State University. Dr. Bryant came to Missouri State from the University of South Florida where she was Interim Associate Dean of Graduate Programs and Director of the School of Accountancy. She had served at the University of South Florida since 2001. Prior to that, Dean Bryant was Assistant Professor of Accounting and Director of Accounting Information Systems program at James Madison University. Dr. Bryant’s accomplishments at the University of South Florida included establishing a study abroad program, including raising some $200,000 towards study abroad scholarships for accounting students, instituting a School of Accountancy graduation reception that has grown into a highly anticipated annual event, adding hundreds of thousands of dollars to the School of Accountancy Endowment, and establishing a Student Leadership Council at USF. She is particularly proud of having served as the International President of Beta Alpha Psi, and having traveled all of the U.S. and other parts of the world to meet with accounting, finance, and information systems students. Dean Bryant has an impressive publication record, having published over 30 scholarly articles as well as two textbooks. Her research interests include accounting information systems and how technology interacts with and facilitates decision-making. She has been recognized with numerous teaching, research and service awards over the course of her academic career.

Dean Bryant identifies Tom Rauch as her first mentor. She met him after taking a job as an office manager for an industrial supply company. Mr. Rauch, who was near retirement, took her under his wing and taught her bookkeeping. He also encouraged her to go back to school to get an accounting degree. Following Mr. Rauch’s advice, when Dr. Bryant was 25 years old, she returned to school at Louisiana State University and in 1988 earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting. In 1990 she was licensed as a certified public accountant and went to work for KPMG, an international accounting firm. Another of her mentors, Dr. Barbara Apostolou, suggested that she continue on to earn a doctorate in accounting from LSU. Dr. Bryant says Dr. Apostolou is the reason she is a professor today. Understandably, Dean Bryant sees mentoring as one of the rewarding ways she can give back to her students. “A mentor can help you plan your career,” she says. “I advise students to plan the steps in their careers with their last goal in mind, not their first goal.”

Dr. Bryant and her husband Gary have been married for 33 years, have two daughters, Samantha and Amber and “a very sweet chihuahua.” Samantha earned her MBA from the University of Wisconsin and has her own marketing firm. Amber earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida and works for PricewaterhouseCoopers as an information technology project manager. According to Dean Bryant, “Gary is very good at helping me to see issues from different perspectives. He is calm, thoughtful and unbiased.” Her hobbies include playing the piano, reading, working out and gardening.

“At this point, I want to focus on being the best Dean I possibly can,” Dr. Bryant said. “I am both excited and honored to join the MSU family and look forward to working with a dynamic faculty and university leadership to move the MSU College of Business to the next level.”