Ben Allen named business college dean

by Skip Derra

Benjamin J. Allen, interim dean of the College of Business, 
has been named dean of the college, effective July 1. The 
appointment of Allen, a distinguished professor in 
transportation and logistics and a nationally known expert on 
motor carrier and railroad transportation policy, is subject 
to final approval by the State Board of Regents May 17. 

"Ben Allen will be an outstanding leader in the College of 
Business," said President Martin Jischke. "His experience, 
ability, energy and stature will enable him to provide 
superior academic leadership to a vibrant and growing 
college."

Provost John Kozak said, "There is a shared belief among all 
the constituencies that participated in the search process 
that the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for the 
College of Business will be met with enthusiasm, vision and 
direction by our new dean."

Allen succeeds David Shrock, who left ISU in August 1994 to 
become dean of the College of Business Administration at the 
University of South Carolina, Columbia. Allen has served as 
interim dean since September 1994.

"We want to be among the premier land-grant universities in 
business education," Allen said. "To do this, it's important that 
we develop alliances and partnerships with other ISU colleges, 
other colleges in the state and with industry to provide stronger 
teaching and research programs. 

"We need to develop strategies and programs that better meet the 
needs of the central Iowa business community and provide more 
distance business education opportunities and outreach programs," 
he added.

From 1979 to 1990, Allen served in a number of positions in ISU's 
School of Business Administration (later the College of Business), 
including professor and chair of the department of transportation 
and logistics. He also was director of the Midwest Transportation 
Center, an ISU-University of Iowa consortium. 

Allen spent a year at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, as 
professor of transportation and returned to Iowa State in 1991, as 
a distinguished professor in business and professor in the 
departments of transportation and logistics and economics. 

Allen also served as the visiting McKinley Professor of Economics 
and Public Utilities at the University of Illinois, Urbana-
Champaign; assistant professor of economics at Washington State 
University, Pullman; and staff economist for the Office of 
Transportation Regulatory Policy, U.S. Department of 
Transportation. 

Allen received the B.S. (1969) in business economics from Indiana 
University, Bloomington, and the M.A. (1973) and Ph.D. (1974) in 
economics from the University of Illinois.

Allen's annual salary will be $131,500.

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contact:  Skip Derra, News Service, (515) 294-4917
updated:  5-4-95