Departing business dean: ‘This is not about money for me’

Eli Jones, who is leaving his position as dean of LSU’s E.J. Ourso College of Business to take the equivalent job at the University of Arkansas, says he was not swayed by salary considerations. “This is not about money for me,” he says. “This is about resources in my college.” Jones will be paid $375,000 in Arkansas, which represents a $75,000 raise. However, LSU was willing to match the offer, according to a high-ranking LSU official. But LSU apparently cannot match the level of financial support for faculty and programs available to Arkansas’ Sam W. Walton College of Business, named after the Walmart founder. In 1998, the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation made the largest upfront cash gift ever given to a public business college—$50 million—according to the University of Arkansas. “The gift continues to provide a variety of programs and opportunities for both students and faculty,” the university says. The LSU College of Business budget has been cut $1.8 million since Jones arrived in 2008, Jones says, and the faculty has been reduced by 14%. “It is not just this college. It is the campus,” he says. “Because of budget cuts, our faculty size has continued to get smaller in each of our colleges.” On Friday LSU will cut the ribbon on its new, $52 million Business Education Complex. “I feel like we’ve done some amazing things in the midst of a global recession,” Jones says. “Tomorrow is a celebration for a lot of folks who have been working for 14 years to make this happen.” —David Jacobs