University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee Regional Chancellor Karen A. Holbrook, Ph.D., has named Thomas Becker, Ph.D., as interim dean of the College of Business. Becker will officially begin his duties on July 1. He succeeds Gert-Jan de Vreede, Ph.D., who served as interim dean for the past year and is returning to USF in Tampa, where he will become associate dean of the Muma College of Business. 

Becker arrived at USFSM in 2014 as an associate professor and was promoted to full professor of management in September 2015, teaching both undergraduate and MBA courses. He has received numerous awards for excellence in teaching as well as USFSM’s Excellence in Research Award in spring 2018. His primary research interests are employee commitment and motivation, job performance and research methods and statistics. He is among USFSM’s most-cited researchers, and his work has appeared in top journals in the field, including theAcademy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Personnel Psychology, Journal of Management, Organizational Research Methods and the Journal of Applied Psychology. A 1982 USF graduate, Becker earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology. He holds a master’s degree and PhD in industrial and organizational psychology from The Ohio State University.