March 17, 2025

I am pleased to announce an extension of Dr. Beth Walker’s appointment as Dean of the College of Business for a period of one year, effective July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026. Since her initial appointment in 2015, Dean Walker has worked with great strategic vision to elevate the college’s national reputation and global visibility defined by its access, excellence, innovation and impact.

Under Dean Walker’s leadership, the College of Business has received several accolades for its outstanding work, faculty and curriculum including being named by the Financial Times in 2024 as the best business school in North America and among the top five globally for its values-driven mission: Business for a Better World. The College’s Online MBA program was ranked #20 nationally by QS in 2023, and the Online Master of Computer Information Systems was recognized by US News & World Report as the #20 Best Online Master’s in IT Programs nationwide and #10 for Veterans.

The College of Business also was one of only seven US-based institutions named a “transforming” institution by the Positive Impact Ratings for Business Schools in the association’s 2023 report (PIR 2023). The PIR recognized the College’s continued efforts to teach the role of business in a more just and sustainable society. In addition to its numerous achievements, the College has experienced record undergraduate enrollment growth and welcomed its largest first-year class in the school’s history in Fall 2023. During the same semester, first-time, first-year student enrollment was up 70% from 2020, and overall undergraduate enrollment increased 30%.

Dean Walker is a nationally renowned scholar and higher education leader who is highly regarded and connected in the business world. She was appointed an American Marketing Association (AMA) Fellow in 2021 in recognition of her longstanding contributions to the research, theory and practice of marketing, and for her service to the AMA. Dean Walker has served both as a member of the AMA Academic Council and its Board of Directors. She is among only a few dozen distinguished scholars nationwide who have received this honor over the history of the AMA.

We have been extremely fortunate to have Dean Walker’s leadership at CSU, and I am grateful she has agreed to this one-year extension. Her extension was approved by President Amy Parsons, acting under the authority delegated to her by the Board of Governors, Colorado State University’s governing board.

I want to thank Dean Walker for her contributions to excellence and innovation in the College of Business and across our academic enterprise. Her leadership is key to the ongoing success of several initiatives in the College of Business, and I look forward to continuing to work alongside her to enhance the quality of CSU’s academic programs.

Please join me in congratulating Dean Walker on this well-deserved extension.

Sincerely,

Marion K. Underwood
Provost and Executive Vice President