Photo: Dr. Benjamin Hawkins, left, will retire as dean of Campbell University’s Lundy-Fetterman School of Business, effective Dec. 31. His successor will be Keith Faulkner, right, who earned his joint J.D./MBA degrees from Campbell’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law and Lundy-Fetterman School of Business. Currently, Faulkner is the vice dean for administration and external relations at Campbell’s law school.
BUIES CREEK — Campbell University President Jerry Wallace announced today that Dr. Benjamin Hawkins will retire as dean of the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business and that B. Keith Faulkner will become the school’s new dean, effective Jan. 1, 2014. Faulkner is currently the vice dean for administration and external relations at Campbell’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law.
“We’re thankful for Dean Hawkins’ nine years of service as dean and for strengthening the reputation of the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business while epitomizing one of Campbell University’s greatest strengths: an emphasis on students,” Wallace said. “I can think of no better person to build on Dean Hawkins’ work in order to move the business school forward than Keith Faulkner.
“Dean Faulkner is an experienced, imaginative and innovative leader and administrator who understands the mission of Campbell University and the opportunities before the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business,” Wallace added. “We look forward to seeing where he leads the business school in the coming years.”
Faulkner first joined Campbell’s law school in 2004. Before becoming its vice dean for administration and external relations, he had held the positions of executive associate dean for academic affairs and administration and associate dean for external relations. He also served as interim dean of the law school during the 2012-13 academic year after former Dean Melissa Essary (2006-12) returned to the faculty.
During Faulkner’s time as interim dean, Campbell’s law school collected its highest-ever ranking as a top tier law school in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate Schools guidebook. Faulkner also led the creation of a mentorship program and the Public Interest Fellow Program, expanded the development department to include a director of alumni relations and annual giving, and helped establish nine new scholarships.
Throughout his nine years with the law school, Faulkner also served as a visiting professor in the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business, where he taught classes on business ethics and business regulation. He earned his J.D./MBA dual degree from Campbell’s law school and business school in 2001.
“I am very excited and humbled to have been selected to continue serving Campbell University as the next dean of the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business,” Faulkner said. “The opportunity to lead such a group of distinguished faculty, staff and students is indeed an honor.”
Prior to joining Campbell Law, Faulkner was a litigation associate at the law firm Hendrick Gardner Kincheloe & Garofalo in Wilmington, N.C. Previously, he was a partner in a private practice and served for eight years in the U.S. Navy as a submariner, nuclear power plant operator and instructor in the Nuclear Power Training Pipeline.
“Campbell is a university on the rise, full of growth and excitement, and I am confident that the School of Business will continue to play an important role in our success and growth,” Faulkner said. “The School of Business has been led by a very capable leader in Ben Hawkins, and it is because of his hard work and dedication that that school is well positioned to reach new heights in the years to come.”
Hawkins’ retirement will be effective Dec. 31, 2013. He became dean of the School of Business in June 2004. During his nine years of leadership, the business school received national accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools & Programs, added majors in marketing and healthcare management, and created a new student orientation course that resulted in an increase in the retention of business students from 68 percent to 83 percent. Hawkins also established a Business Advisory Council for business executives who provide input into the development of the programs in the School of Business, and he served as a board member of the Trust Education Foundation, which supports the business school through the creation of scholarships.
As a student-oriented dean, Hawkins created an undergraduate student advisory council that he met with monthly to gain student input on program development, and he established a one-year mentoring program for 10 female students who were paired with 10 successful female executives each year. He also worked closely with 30 student-mentors who served as small group leaders for new business school students.
“I have worked with Keith in his role as associate dean and interim dean of the law school,” Hawkins said. “He is an experienced academic administrator who is well suited to lead the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business. Having taught in our MBA program for several years, he understands the mission and purpose of the School of Business and should provide excellent leadership in the years ahead.”