Eric Spangenberg, PhD

With a 30-year career dedicated to excellence in scholarship and business education, Eric R. Spangenberg has served The Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine, as dean since June 2014.

Dr. Spangenberg earned his PhD from the University of Washington in 1990 and joined the faculty at the Carson College of Business at Washington State University (WSU) where he was named the Maughmer Freedom Philosophy Chair and Professor of Marketing in 2003. He also served as dean of the Carson College from 2005 to 2014. International appointments include a Fulbright International Education Administrator position in France and Germany in 2014 and a Permanent Visiting Faculty position in the Center for Customer Insight at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland since 2010.

Spangenberg is an active volunteer for the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the largest and most prestigious international accrediting body for business schools. He has served as an accreditation mentor and reviewer to numerous schools around the world, and was elected to the AACSB Board of Directors in 2017.

At UC Irvine, Spangenberg has led several initiatives, including engaging and strengthening ties with the external business community both locally and abroad. He has motivated strategic curricular updates to the MBA as well as development of a hybridized (partially online), part-time MBA program, one-year specialized masters programs in finance, data analytics and entrepreneurship, and a completely online minor in undergraduate business to help meet the University's demand for business programs. International expansion initiatives include an international residential for undergraduates and several additional residentials for MBAs including unique programs in Cuba and Israel. Executive Education programs have doubled since 2014 through partnerships with local Orange County businesses as well as with Swiss, Korean, and Chinese universities. He oversaw the Merage School strategic planning process articulating a clear vision and reward structure; led development of a differentiation strategy for the School; successfully navigated a (once a decade) UC Senate school review; and established an AACSB plan and process ensuring successful maintenance of accreditation. He has also prioritized the recruitment of faculty and students across several disciplines and programs thereby enriching diversity of the Merage School community.