After a national search, the following three candidates have been selected as candidates for the Dean of the College of Business, Health, and Human Services. Below you will find bios for each candidate along with their CV and headshot.
Shannon Collier-Tenison
Dr. Shannon Collier-Tenison is Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for Faculty Relations and Administration at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and is a tenured Professor of Social Work. Her current role encompasses faculty support and development, academic personnel processes, position management and budgets, support for academic advising and student support initiatives within the colleges, and institutional reports. Dr. Collier-Tenison also serves as the Provost Office liaison for a team of licensed social workers who provide support and resources to students in a variety of areas including emotional/mental health concerns, financial stress, academic support, and personal difficulties. Dr. Collier-Tenison has a BA in psychology from Hendrix College and an MSW and Ph.D. in social work from Washington University in St. Louis.
A native Arkansan, Dr. Collier-Tenison has broad experience in academia. During her twenty- plus years in higher education, she has served in a wide range of roles, from faculty to program coordinator to college administrator. She began her higher education career in Student Affairs as coordinator of women’s programs and community services at Washington University. After earning her doctorate, Dr. Collier-Tenison was an Assistant Professor of social work and graduate advisor at the University of Texas at Arlington. After returning to Arkansas to join the UA Little Rock School of Social Work faculty, she served as coordinator of the Bachelor of Social Work program and, later, as the interim co-director of the School of Social Work. Dr. Collier-Tenison has been Associate Dean in both the College of Education and Health Professions, serving as interim Dean for a time, and in the College of Business, Health, and Human Services. Throughout her career, she has taught across the social work curriculum in both graduate and undergraduate programs. In 2022, Dr. Collier-Tenison moved into the Associate Vice Chancellor position in the UA Little Rock Provost’s Office.
Dr. Collier-Tenison has experience working with survivors of interpersonal violence and sexual assault as a crisis counselor, researcher, and an advocate. Her teaching interests and scholarly work focus on interpersonal violence, bystander intervention, economic assets, social welfare programs and policy, and student success. In addition to ongoing service to the university, Dr. Collier-Tenison’s community work includes service on the Boards of Directors for Women and Children First DV Shelter and Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. She also served as co-Chair for AACF Soup Sunday in 2024.
Joshua Aaron
Dr. Joshua R. Aaron is the Pam Wright Chair of Entrepreneurship and a Professor of Management at Middle Tennessee State University. Under his leadership, the Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship program has experienced record setting growth in number of majors and amount of external financial support. Dr. Aaron is originally from Lenoir City, TN. He holds a PhD in Strategic Management (2008), an MBA in Strategic Management (2003) and a BS in Accounting (2001), all from the University of Alabama. He has held academic positions at Georgia State University and East Carolina University before arriving at MTSU in 2014. Prior to academia, he was an auditor at Ernst and Young, LLP in Birmingham, AL. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Small Business Institute, the Board of Advisors for the Tennessee Small Business Development Center and on the Finance Committee for the United Way of South Central Tennessee. He has served as the President of the Board of Governors at Ironwood Country Club in Greenville, NC and the Rachel Lynn Smith Foundation in Durham, NC. He has consulted with several for profit businesses, nonprofits and civic organizations. His research focuses on executive compensation for large and small firms, leadership, strategic issues facing small and medium enterprises and corporate reputation. He teaches Strategic Business Consulting in the MBA program where he also serves as the faculty chair of the MBA committee. He has published 29 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Journal of Business Research, Journal of Management Education, Journal of Small Business Strategy, Journal of Business & Entrepreneurship, International Journal of Organizational Analysis, Journal of Business Strategies, Journal of Education for Business, Nonprofit Voluntary Sector Quarterly and Corporate Reputation Review.
Myla Bui
Myla Bui, Ph.D., Professor of Marketing at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) holds her Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Arkansas and her MBA from Loyola University New Orleans. In her roles of administrative leadership in higher education, she has served as the Cabinet Associate to the Executive Vice President and Provost of LMU, Chair to the Department of Marketing and Business Law, Faculty Senator representing the College of Business Administration, and Academic Chair to the program development of the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA). At LMU, Dr. Bui facilitated the vision and mission premised on advancing a world that is “more just, inclusive, and sustainable, where education serves as a catalyst for meaningful change in contribution to a diverse and global society.” In advancing LMU’s strategic plans, she prioritizes four key goals: emphasizing inclusive excellence; integrating interdisciplinary thinking; encouraging LMU to be a force for good; and promoting innovative, cutting-edge research for creative inquiry and entrepreneurship. An award-winning researcher with over 30 peer-reviewed articles in her discipline, Dr. Bui has published at the top-tier research journals in her field, namely the Journal of Marketing and the Journal of Marketing Research. She is the former Associate Editor for the Journal of Business Research, Co-Chair of the 2020 Marketing and Public Policy Conference, and Co- Chair of the 2024 Summer American Marketing Association Conference. Her research interests include consumer judgement and decision-making, social marketing, consumer well-being, health and public policy, artificial intelligence (AI), and emerging technologies. She also has industry experience in marketing through Nola.com, business development through Intralox LLC, USA, and engages across industry sectors ranging from fintech to
health tech.
