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Williamson moves into Business Division chair

Dr. Dean Williamson has learned about leadership throughout his career, which led from the U.S.

Navy to his family’s business and the newspaper industry before serving in various positions in higher education.
Williamson also has written and taught about leadership, and he looks to use both those elements to lead Brewton-Parker College’s Division of Business as its new chair.
“ A prime example of hard work, very bright intellectual potential and exemplary achievement intersect in the person of Dr. Dean Williamson,” said Dr. David R. Smith, Brewton-Parker’s president, who worked with Williamson at Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, Texas.
“ I have known Dr. Williamson for more than a decade, and I’ve seen him tackle impossible circumstances and derive great personal and institutional success from them. I am very proud to see this gifted man accept the important role of leader in our Division of Business,” Dr. Smith said.
Williamson has been Brewton-Parker’s executive director of Planning and Institutional Research since 2002, a position he will continue to hold while leading the Business Division.
Williamson began at Brewton-Parker in 1999 as its director of Public Relations. One of his responsibilities involved service on a committee for the college’s Centennial Scholars Program, which was based on teaching leadership through servant hood.
During that time, he also began working on his doctoral studies at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va., which he completed in 2003. His doctoral dissertation studied the development of stewardship relationships between managers and their principals.
One of Williamson’s immediate concerns is the Business Division’s work in launching the Cohort Degree-Completion Program with the Office of External Programs.
Williamson also has taught both leadership and journalism courses at Brewton-Parker and looks to assist the administration in developing and implementing an Interdisciplinary Leadership Program. The envisioned program will involve courses to provide a theoretical foundation and internship opportunities to solidify the knowledge through application.
The college’s Division of Business offers programs with concentrations in business administration, accounting, information systems, and management. The areas will soon expand as opportunities are provided through the discipline of leadership.
Williamson worked in various positions at several newspapers in his native Texas, including posts as editor and publisher. “I have always worked in communities where higher education was important,” he said.
He moved into public relations at Wayland Baptist in 1996, where he worked for three years before moving to Brewton-Parker.
“ I enjoyed being around students, working with them through student publications and through the Public Relations Office,” Williamson said, adding that he worked on committees for self-study in the accreditation process. He also earned a master of business administration degree in management from Wayland and became inspired in educational leadership by the university’s president, Dr. Wallace Davis.
Williamson recently completed certification in institutional research, which provides skills used during the processes involved with the college’s reporting to numerous external agencies.

-BPC-