Union University’s McAfee School of Business has named longtime professor Karen C. Miller as the new dean of business in conjunction with the foundation being laid on Sept. 25 for the new business, engineering and computer science building. Miller, who originally took a position with Union in 1998, has been the interim dean since January of this year but was confirmed as the new dean, active Aug. 1, 2023.
“She’s one of those professors that truly wants her students to succeed,” Katie McCann, a senior accounting major, said. “I was really excited just to hear that she was the interim dean, and now that she’s completely filling the position, I’m really excited.”
Miller’s promotion from professor to dean coincides with exciting things happening in the McAfee School of Business, including intentionally increasing opportunities in student leadership, growing student financial stewardship, alumni outreach, collaboration with other departments, and of course, the construction of the new building.
“There’s a lot of energy and excitement as a result of the new building, and just a lot of interdisciplinary collaboration, even beyond engineering and computer science,” Miller said. “Because everything, regardless of what you do at Union, I mean, if you’re a music or art, communication, or nursing, or pharmacy, it’s a business. And so, we want to be able to share some of these things, even like the servant leadership or the financial stewardship. We don’t want that to be just a business thing.”
The new building is a physical representation of connections being built between disciplines. The building, which is scheduled to be completed in Jan. 2025, will be a hub of business and innovation.
“The building is designed and created to have innovative entrepreneurship and maker-space that will allow business, computer science and engineering students to be more innovative and to think more critically about their courses, their programs and how they can actually apply those concepts in the workplace,” Miller said.
The McAfee School of Business is also making an effort to integrate faith into studies more than ever before, both in the classroom and out. One way is through the staff and faculty praying throughout the construction of the building. Another way is through an increased intentionality with faith in the classroom.
“The School of Business has always been good about integrating faith into our classes,” Miller said, “but this year, it’s been a challenge. We’ve challenged our faculty to be even more intentional and more specific about ‘how can you integrate faith into your classroom?’ How can you connect the Christian worldview to the concepts and the decisions that these students will make when they step into the business world?”
Miller was excited about what the new building will bring and incredibly thankful to alumni and donors who have made these goals more of a reality.
“We are excited for the opportunities in our new space to bring the students, community, industries, professionals, and alumni together to further the mission of Union University and the McAfee School of Business,” Miller said. “We are grateful for our primary donor, the McAfees, and all the other donors who have been so supportive of the McAfee School of Business and our programs.”
To learn more about the new McAfee School of Business building, visit: www.uu.edu/jackson/buildings/new-academic-building.
