Dr. Ridley Gros, dean of the College of Business, will travel to The Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, Oct 28-31 to help lead a new dean’s seminar entitled “What Every New Dean Needs to Know About Being the Dean.” Gros was selected to lead the administrative seminar by the Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business- International.

“I was contacted by the accrediting association, and they requested me to participate, I guess because of my experience,” Gros said.

This is the first time Gros has been a member of the core faculty that will be in charge of the program for the new deans. He became dean of the College of Business in 1971 and has had a long history of work with the accrediting association. He attended the seminar in his second year as dean in 1972.

“It is always an honor to know that your peers respect you enough to ask for your guidance in helping new deans become acclimated to the job that they are faced with,” he said.

Three leaders will conduct the seminar. Each one will be a lead presenter on three different occasions, but they all will be active participants during each session for the entire seminar, Gros said.

“The three sessions that I am in charge of are preparing to become the dean, managing the internal affairs of the College of Business and adapting to change,” he said.

The seminar’s main purpose is to orient new deans and to help them do their jobs. It is focused on deans who are in their first year of appointment, Gros said.

“We hope to get a lot of discussion going with them, in terms of getting them to understand their jobs,” he said.

Gros is the institutional representative of the AACSB. Nicholls is accredited by this organization, and Gros has represented Nicholls in the organization.

“While we are there to share our knowledge with people new in the field, I learned from these seminars from the participants themselves,” he said.

The event is sold out, and there will be 52 deans from throughout the United States participating in it, Gros said.

“I think that my participation in this activity reflects well on the College of Business and on Nicholls,” he said.

He said it is flattering to know that his peers recognize the effort he is expending.