Appointment of the new Dean of the UBC Sauder School of Business
A message from Gage Averill, Provost and Vice-President Academic pro tem, UBC Vancouver
It is my pleasure to announce that the Board of Governors has accepted the President's recommendation to appoint Professor Darren Dahl as the new Dean of the UBC Sauder School of Business for a five-year term, commencing on August 1, 2022.
Professor Dahl is currently the Innovate BC Professor in the Marketing and Behavioural Science Division at the UBC Sauder School of Business, and is affiliated with the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Group.
He received his BComm in Accounting from the University of Alberta in 1992 and his PhD in Marketing from the University of British Columbia in 1998, after which he began his professional research and teaching career at the University of Manitoba. He joined the Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration at UBC as Associate Professor in 2002 and earned promotion to Professor in 2007. His teaching and research interests lie in the areas of new product development, creativity, emotions in consumption context, and social influence and marketing.
An internationally sought after speaker, Professor Dahl has also held a number of visiting professorships at universities in the USA, Australia, the Netherlands and Hong Kong. He has an extensive publication record and has been recognized with a number of awards for both his research and teaching, including the Killam Research Prize and a 3M Teaching Fellowship.
Since 2012, Professor Dahl has served in a number of senior academic leadership roles within the business school: Senior Associate Dean, Faculty and Research; Senior Associate Dean, Faculty, and Director, Robert H. Lee Graduate School; and most recently, Senior Associate Dean – Special Projects (COVID Response). He has also served on various Faculty and university-wide committees, including as a member of the Collective Agreement Negotiation Team from 2018-2020; the Conflict of Interest Committee from 2012-2019; the Sauder Strategy Committee from 2011-2012; as well as serving as the Marketing Division Chair from 2009-2012.
In these roles he has demonstrated commitment to academic and research excellence, through faculty development and new program development – including cross-disciplinary collaboration. He has also displayed a strong commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, and Indigenous engagement, the latter through a long association with the Ch’nook program as an instructor and student mentor, and having helped to manage the program.
I would like to thank students, faculty and staff for participating in the search process and for providing valuable feedback to the President’s Advisory Committee. I am grateful to the members of the Advisory Committee for their commitment of extensive time and energy throughout the search.
I wish to express gratitude to Dean Robert Helsley for his ten years of outstanding leadership of the business school and service to the university, and for being willing to continue through July as Dean pro tem.
I hope you will join me in congratulating Professor Dahl on his new appointment. I’m sure that the UBC Sauder School of Business will continue to build on its strengths under his leadership.