Dr. Martin Tadlock, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Bemidji State University, today announced Dr. Shawn Strong has been named dean of BSU’s College of Business, Technology and Communication.

Strong comes to Bemidji State after spending 14 years on the faculty at Missouri State University. He spent four years as an assistant professor, was promoted to associate professor and named department chair four years later, then was promoted to professor after five years. He currently serves as professor of technology and construction management in Missouri State’s College of Business and heads its Department of Technology and Construction Management.

Prior to his work at Missouri State, Strong was a graduate instructor at Iowa State University while completing his doctoral degree.

His work at Bemidji State begins July 1.

Strong said the student-focused nature of the college and university and the quality of the Bemidji community drew him to the position.

“I believe Bemidji State’s leadership team has worked with faculty and staff to develop a master plan that will successfully guide the institution through unprecedented times of change in higher education,” he said. “BSU has made some of the hard fiscal decisions that many institutions were not able to make and is now poised for great things.

“The diversity of programs in the College of Business, Technology, and Communication, the faculty’s focus on students that was clear during my interview and a progressive streak throughout the institution and community is the perfect combination. Bemidji has a great upside. It is a good place to raise a family and has a vision of what it wants its future to look like.”

Strong has been published in more than a dozen professional journals and has participated in American Council for Construction Education accreditation reviews for more than a half-dozen institutions. He holds professional memberships in the International Faculty Management Association, Epsilon Phi Tau, the Association of Technology, Management and Applied Engineering, the American Society for Engineering Education, the Project Management Institute and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.

He has an associate’s degree from Northwest Iowa Technical College, bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Wayne State College in Nebraska, and a doctorate in industrial education and technology from Iowa State University.

Strong will take over the College of Business, Technology and Communication from Dr. Carol Nielsen, who has served as interim dean of the college since August 2011.