Two College of Business faculty members have left the University of Tampa.

Joseph McCann, the former dean of UT’s Sykes College of Business, will take a similar position at Jacksonville University.

Also, Diane Welsh, COB’s James W. Walter Chair of Entrepreneurship, will move this fall to University of North Carolina Greensboro. She was founder and director of UT’s Florida Entrepreneur ‘ Family Business Center.

Joseph McCann Moving to Jacksonville

Jacksonville University is excited about McCann’s arrival.

“We have hired a respected academician and a proven university administrator,” Chuck Wodehouse, chair of JU’s Davis College of Business Advisory Committee, said in a news release. “Under his leadership, we expect the DCOB to build on its excellent history of producing graduates who succeed at the highest levels of business.”

McCann took over as dean at UT in 2000.

“[He] began an overhaul of the MBA curriculum, and launched a reinvigorated program in 2002,” according to a UT retrospective.

He was also a management professor and director for the TECO Center for Leadership.

In a 2004 interview, he noted the cutthroat times for colleges of business. “The competitive environment for business programs is so intense that a do-or-die culture is developing. It’s not automatic that we’re always going to grow,” said McCann

“So you’ve got to think in terms of costs and services much more strategically, and creatively, than you ever had to before.”

He said the changes to the MBA were a key to COB’s improvements.

“That really set everything in motion. We were being very customer focused, very responsive with the design of the core MBA program, and we created a major emphasis on leadership development that was needed by businesses, and certainly important for students, but it also provided a very clear competitive advantage.”

McCann earned a BA and MBA from The University of Washington and an MBA and Ph.D. from the prestigious Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

According to his UT faculty page, “McCann specializes in new venture management; mergers and acquisitions; management; and organization strategy and design.”

JU’s former Business dean was Jan Duggar, who will continue as a faculty member.

Dianne Welsh Headed to N.C.

Welsh started at UT in 2005. She helped make several improvements to the entrepreneurship program.

In fact, UT’s graduate program in real estate venturing was recognized as the best of the Best New Programs in the Country by the Small Business Institute.

“To our knowledge, this is the only graduate level program in the country that matches venturing with real estate,” Welsh said. “In other programs, entrepreneurship is a separate elective if discussed at all.”

The program was designed by Welsh with assistance from other faculty and business leaders.

Welsh told the Tampa Bay Business Journal that the UNC-G job offered her “tremendous opportunity to put entrepreneurship across the curriculum in all majors … and have an affect on the future of 1,600 students on campus, instilling creativity and innovation in their thoughts and actions and truly taking entrepreneurship to the next step.”

Welsh resigned Friday, but Ghannadian hopes to have her replacement by next spring.

“There is a shortage of business faculty everywhere, and (universities) are offering them all sorts of attractive packages,” he told the Journal.

While at UT, Welsh had a major impact on the number of entrepreneurship majors.

“When I came to UT three years ago, the entrepreneurship program had 17 majors. In three years, it has increased to 60 majors,” Welsh said earlier this spring. “I’d like to double the amount of majors in the program over the next two years, as well as start cross-campus entrepreneurship. . . . I’d like students to be able to take entrepreneurship classes as electives, as well as take entrepreneurship classes that are involved with other majors such as advertising and journalism.”

These programs allow students to learn how to start their own business even if they aren’t enrolled in the entrepreneurship program.

“Students will be able to learn how to use entrepreneurial skills within any type of job, as well as learn how to start their own business that is related to their major,” Welsh said.

Welsh also recently created the Alan Weimer student Entrepreneurship award in memory of the late UT professor.

“We also started a Family Business Entrepreneurship award which will give $1,000 to any student who plans on going into their family business.” The program, which is in it’s seventh year, was expanded and changed to the Center of Family Business shortly after Welsh’s arrival in the summer of 2006.

Her decision to come to Tampa was influenced by her husband’s decision to take a job offer in Tampa, and, of course, the weather.

“Everyone in Florida is so welcoming because everyone comes here from all over the country,” Welsh said. “At UT there’s a lot of room for creativity and growth. The faculty always support new and original ideas.”

A prime example of this is Welsh’s role in Inc. 500, which gathered the Bay Area’s top entrepreneurs for a lecture at UT that was attended by more than 150 people.

When Welsh left the entrepreneurship program at John Carol University in Cleveland, it was ranked 26th in the country.

“I see the College of Business expanding and offering even more programs over the next few years,” said Welsh. When asked about what separates UT from other top Business programs, Welsh said “I think the faculty are much more one-on-one and personable here.”

Welsh also left her mark at both John Carol and Eastern Washington gaining valuable experience that she now brings to UT. In only three years she has expanded achievement award, programs and has a unique vision for the future of Entrepreneurship at UT.

Welsh founded the Entrepreneurship program at John Carol University in Cleveland and taught entrepreneurship classes for 12 years at East Washington University.