Feb. 27, 2023
Dear Members of Our URI Community,
I am pleased to share that following a competitive national search, Sean Edmund Rogers, Ph.D., has been named dean of the University of Rhode Island College of Business and Alfred J. Verrecchia-Hasbro Inc. Leadership Chair in Business, effective June 4, 2023. Sean has been an integral member of our University community since his arrival in Kingston nearly five years ago. He brings to this important role proven higher education leadership experience, including as a member of the executive leadership teams of both the University and the business school. He also is an experienced instructor, graduate program director, and labor relations and management scholar who possesses more than two decades of combined corporate and military professional work experience.
Currently, Sean serves as vice president for community, equity, and diversity at URI, leading the University’s diversity strategy and ensuring that URI fosters an inclusive environment for students, faculty, staff, and other stakeholders. As vice president, he manages the University’s community, equity, and diversity division and its four diversity-enhancing centers: the Multicultural Student Services Center, Gender and Sexuality Center, Women’s Center, and Military and Veteran Education Center.
Sean’s considerable leadership experience at URI also includes roles as executive director of inclusive excellence, interim director of the Charles T. Schmidt Jr. Labor Research Center, and director of the healthcare management graduate programs, all within the College of Business.
As the business school’s inaugural executive director of inclusive excellence, Sean led the development and implementation of the school’s diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy and provided DEI expertise and guidance across a wide range of college operations. His work helped substantially increase Ph.D. program diversity among historically underrepresented populations.
As interim director of the Schmidt Center, Sean led a strategic assessment that served as the basis for change and enhancements in academic programs, as well as in the center’s reputation, performance, and contributions to URI and other stakeholders.
And as director of the healthcare management graduate programs, Sean helped drive enrollment growth of more than 400% over just 18 months. His team worked to remove barriers to admission, optimize course structure to better serve working-professional students, increase student support, and enhance the student experience. The team also aligned programs with industry needs to best address market and employer expectations.
Sean joined URI in 2018 as associate professor of management and now holds two faculty appointments—professor of management and Spachman Professor of Human Resources and Labor Relations. From 2020 to 2022, he was a faculty fellow and research associate at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Admiral James M. Loy Institute for Leadership.
Prior to joining URI, Sean held faculty appointments at Cornell University, New Mexico State University, and the University of New Mexico. He served as director of the management Ph.D. program at New Mexico State University, where he managed all aspects of program operations, including marketing, admissions, budgeting and financial aid, course scheduling and curriculum development, student support, and career placement.
Sean served eight years in the U.S. Army Reserve and currently is a health care administration officer in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He earned a bachelor’s degree in aviation business administration and an MBA from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, a master’s degree in human resource development from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a Ph.D. in industrial relations and human resources from Rutgers University, and a Master of Studies in Law from Wake Forest University.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the members of the search committee for their diligent work on behalf of the University. I want also to thank Shaw Chen for his selfless leadership of the College of Business as interim dean. Shaw and his team have continued to advance business education in Rhode Island and position our students for success. He also has led the school’s centennial celebration, marking 100 years of excellence in business education.
Please join me in congratulating Sean on this well-deserved appointment.
Barbara Wolfe
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs