Eric Jack, Ph.D., who has been dean of the Collat School of Business at the University of Alabama at Birmingham for 10 years, has announced his retirement as dean, which will take effect when a successor is chosen.
Jack joined the UAB faculty in 2001, teaching operations and supply chain management, then was named interim dean in 2012 and became dean in 2013.
Highlights of his tenure include a 42% increase in enrollment, facilitating the $25 million gift of Charles and Patsy Collat that gave the business school its name and raising funds for the new $37.5 million business school building.
“Eric has strategically guided the faculty, staff, facilities and programs at the Collat School of Business to equip its graduates to meet the needs of the business community here in Birmingham and beyond,” said Provost Pam Benoit in announcing his retirement. “I am particularly proud of his leadership in growing the school’s three graduate programs and nine undergraduate programs, including its newest undergraduate major in entrepreneurship.”
Off campus, Jack has served as president of the Birmingham Rotary Club, graduated from both Leadership Birmingham and Leadership Alabama, and served on the board of Innovation Depot, United Way of Central Alabama, the Civic Club Foundation and the Birmingham Museum of Art.
Born in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, Jack emigrated to the U.S. with his family and later joined the U.S. Air Force, where he spent a 21-year career first as an enlisted person and later as an officer. He attended the Georgia Institute of Technology on an Air Force scholarship and earned an MBA from Wright State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati.
