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hen David Urban started his undergraduate education at the University of Virginia, he was convinced he would major in history or government and go to law school. He had never taken a business class. In his sophomore year, however, he enrolled in a microeconomics class taught by a legendary professor at Virginia, Dr. Ken Elzinga. The professor’s passion for the subject and his effectiveness as an instructor got Urban interested in business and led him to enter the McIntire School of Commerce at Virginia, where he concentrated on marketing. “I was fascinated with consumer decision making in both the business-to-consumer and business-to-business contexts,” Urban says. “My marketing advisor, Dr. Bill Kehoe, encouraged me to consider an academic career, because he felt I had many of the traits that would help me to be a successful academician. He knew that I had already committed to four years of duty as a
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Navy Supply Corps officer after graduation, but he urged me to keep in touch and offered to help me if I ever decided to pursue an academic career.” Immediately after Urban left the Navy, he started graduate school at the University of Michigan and was on his way. He describes himself as “living proof ” of the impact professors can have on their students.
Before joining MTSU in summer 2013, Urban was executive associate dean and marketing professor at the School of Business at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, where he also served stints as interim business dean and chair of the Department of Marketing. Urban believes the similarities between VCU and MTSU—both large, public universities with diverse student bodies in growing regions—will make his transition smoother. MTSU Magazine editor Drew Ruble recently sat down with Urban to discuss the future for MTSU’s business program, which boasts more than 125 full-time faculty, more than 3,000 undergraduate majors, and more than 500 graduate students.