News | Business and IndustryJune 20, 2022

UAFS Business Dean Earns Women In Business Award

At the heart of everything, Dr. Latisha Settlage believes making connections is the key to success in business and life.

Settlage, Dean of the College of Business and Industry at the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith, has been named to the eighth annual class of Women in Business by the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal.

Much of Settlage’s education was in the business and economics of agriculture, and she thought her career path would take her that way. But, as it happens to so many, life took her in a different direction.

Although she didn’t initially anticipate a career in higher education, Settlage said, her experience as a teaching assistant in graduate school at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and at Purdue University gave her something to consider.

She was looking to return to western Arkansas when she learned about an opening at UAFS, which had recently become a four-year college. While considering the opportunity, she talked with a professional mentor. The mentor allowed her to talk through her decision adding some information but not persuasion.

Ultimately she chose to go to UAFS.

“I never said no to a door that was open,” she said about her decision.

Settlage attributes a part of her professional success to the mentors in her life. She suggests mentors are not so much advisors as listeners.

“I am so grateful for those people,” she said. “I consider acting as a mentor to be a serious responsibility.”

She is serious about providing mentorship to younger people coming after her. She also serves on boards of civic and service organizations. She said she is proud to serve on the board of Girl Scouts Diamonds of Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

“I am aware that at meetings, conferences, and other professional events, I am often the only woman, so I want to make sure girls have support,” she said.

She is also interested in giving back through service. This year she is the conference chair for ATMAE, the Association of Technology, Management, and Applied Engineering.

Among her accomplishments at UAFS, she especially values leading the College of Business through its initial certification by the prestigious Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. As dean of the College of Business and Industry, now in its 20th year, she is eager to work on reaccreditation, which will be completed in the 2023-2024 academic year.

Read about her award at: https://talkbusiness.net/2022/06/women-in-business-latisha-settlage/

And check out the rest of the 2022 class at: https://talkbusiness.net/2022/06/meet-the-northwest-arkansas-business-journals-2022-women-in-business-honorees/

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