Officials announced Friday that Jeffrey Katz, associate dean of graduate programs and professor of management at Kansas State University, will be the next dean of the Gordon Ford College of Business.

Katz will start on June 27, 2011, according to a university press release. He replaces William Tallon, who left WKU in December 2010 to become dean of the College of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

“It is an honor to be offered the opportunity to join the administrative team at WKU and lead the Gordon Ford College of Business,” Katz said in the release. “Together with the outstanding faculty, dedicated staff and talented students, I embrace the vision that will take the university to the next level.”

President Gary Ransdell said last December that officials hoped to have a new dean in place by the start of the 2010-11 academic year, but said they didn’t want to rush the decision.

Ransdell said Katz’s “broad array of experience will serve him well at WKU.”

Katz holds the Edgerley Family Endowed Chair in Business at KSU, according to the press release. He has been at KSU since joining the faculty as an assistant professor of management in 1995.

Katz holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and master’s degree in agribusiness from Arizona State University, as well as a master’s in management and doctorate in strategic management from the University of Florida. He also completed the Management Development Program from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.