Dr. David J. Urban became Dean of Jennings A. Jones College of Business at Middle Tennessee State University in July 2013. He previously served for 24 years in the School of Business at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), where he held several different faculty and administrative positions.

Dean Urban received a B.S. in Commerce from the University of Virginia, and both an A.M. in Psychology and a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Michigan--Ann Arbor.

Dean Urban’s business and marketing background includes duty as an officer in the U.S. Navy Supply Corps. He has engaged in training or research assignments with numerous corporate, government and nonprofit organizations, and he is a charter recipient of the American Marketing Association's Professional Certified Marketer^TM (PCM) designation. He has been Chair of the Board of Directors for the Rutherford County (TN) Chamber of Commerce, and for the Board of Directors Chair for the United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties.

His expert comments have appeared over 400 times in electronic or print media, including outlets such as CNBC, Fox Business Network, Bloomberg Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, New York Times, and Chicago Tribune. His main research interests are in customer satisfaction assessment, retailing, and distribution channel management. He has received 26 research grants from public and private organizations, and has published extensively in academic and professional journals.

In addition to being a certified Dale Carnegie^® Trainer, Dean Urban has won eight national awards for teaching excellence, and has been inducted into four different national honor societies. In 2017, on behalf of the Jones College, he received the Dale Carnegie^® Global Leadership Award in recognition of the college’s leadership in human relations and community development. In 2020, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee appointed him to the position of Colonel, Aide de Camp in honor of his community and professional service.