The University of Nebraska at Omaha’s College of Business Administration has a new interim dean, UNO announced last week.

Lynn Harland, associate dean and pro­fessor of management at the college, will serve as interim dean when Dean Louis Pol steps down after 17 years in August. She will serve on the search committee to find a permanent replacement for Pol.

“Supporting generations of future busi­ness leaders and watching our students, faculty, and staff grow were some of the greatest privi­leges of my life,” Pol said. 

Harland has served the business college as a profes­sor of management since 1989 and was named associ­ate dean in 2006. She earned her bachelor’s degree in industrial and organizational psychology from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in organizational behavior from the University of Iowa’s Henry B. Tippie College of Business.

“Dr. Harland is a talented and foundational member of UNO’s business college. She will serve UNO CBA with passion, intelligence, and drive,” Pol said. “I feel very glad that I am passing off my role to such an ac­complished and invaluable individual.”

Harland teaches leadership, organizational behavior, and collaboration in UNO’s MBA and Executive MBA programs as well as in the college’s executive educa­tion programs. Through her MBA capstone courses, she has supervised over one hundred service-learning consulting projects for local nonprofits and start-ups. 

Active in the community, Harland is a grad­uate of Leadership Omaha and has served on the Board of Directors of the Girl Scouts Spirit of Nebraska Council for the last nine years. She currently serves as Board Secretary.

As the Director of Outreach for UNO’s Center for Collaboration Science, Harland facilitates strategic planning and focus group sessions for businesses, non-profits, and governmental entities.

She will bring her research in leadership, workplace fun, team effectiveness and employee resilience to her new role.

“UNO CBA’s dedicated faculty and staff transform the lives of our students and other stakeholders every day through their hard work and passion for making a difference through their teaching, research, and ser­vice,” Harland said. “ I fell in love with this university when I joined it 30 years ago as an assistant professor, and it has been a privilege to be part of an organization focused so intently on strengthening our community, state, nation and the world.”

Harland will assume her new role Aug. 15, pending approval by the Board of Regents.

– University of Nebraska at Omaha