Jones leaving LSU to become business college dean at Arkansas

Eli Jones, dean of LSU’s E. J. Ourso College of Business since July 2008, has accepted a position as dean at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas and will start the job on July 1. LSU confirmed the move this afternoon. “Clearly, it’s a great loss for LSU because he’s been an outstanding dean,” says Bill Slaughter of SSA Consultants, who was on the search committee that brought Jones to LSU. “We were concerned that it might happen and it’s unfortunate that we’re losing him, but when you have somebody of his caliber and his track record, he’s going to be on a lot of people’s radar.” LSU Chancellor Mike Martin released a statement saying LSU “did what we could to keep him,” and wishing Jones the best as he leaves the university. At LSU, Jones was instrumental in helping secure funding for the E. J. Ourso College’s new Business Education complex, which is to be completed at the end of this semester. A ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring Steve Forbes is set for Friday. Prior to coming to LSU, Jones had been at the University of Houston for 11 years. Read a Business Report cover story from 2010 on Jones here. —Steve Sanoski