Dr. Julie Olson-Buchanan, a veteran Fresno State faculty member and administrator, has been named dean of the Craig School of Business and Sid Craig Dean’s Chair following a nationwide search.
Interim Fresno State Provost Xuanning Fu, who announced the appointment, praised Olson-Buchanan’s work as interim dean since January 2020.
“Her caring and innovative leadership earned the trust of the faculty, staff and students in the school, and I am confident that under her leadership the Craig School of Business will continue to excel in offering a transformational business and economic education and in empowering future business professionals,” Fu said.
Previously, she served as interim associate dean for the Kremen School of Education and Human Development and then for the Craig School of Business, providing stability and continuity during a rapid succession of change in leadership in both schools, Fu said.
She is the first female dean in the Craig School, which dates back to its formation in 1927 as the Department of Commerce.
Olson-Buchanan earned her bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where she was a National Science Foundation Fellow. She said she was drawn to Fresno State in 1992 because of her passion for teaching. She began as a faculty member in the Department of Management, served as its chair for 10 years and was the founding director of the Craig Honors Program for seven years.
She has received several teaching awards, including the Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching (Fresno State’s highest faculty award) in 2008.
Olson-Buchanan’s research, which has drawn international recognition, focuses on conflict/mistreatment in organizations, technology-based selection and work-life balance. Her scholarly work has been published in top-tier journals, and she has authored/edited several books.
She was awarded fellow status in both the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology and the American Psychological Association for her research and contributions to the field, a distinction that is awarded to less than 3% of the members. She has provided consultation, training and expert witness testimony in her research areas.
She serves as the main United Nations representative and committee chair for the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (a nonprofit independent of government involvement with special consultative status to United Nations Economic and Social Council). She has been an associate editor of the Journal of Business and Psychology since 2008. She was awarded a lifetime Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology service award in 2011.
Olson-Buchanan has served on the board for the Central California Food Bank for 12 years and is past chair. She was recognized for her professional contributions as a Top 10 Professional Woman by the Marjaree Mason Center in 2011.
