Benjamin C. Ayers

Dr. Benjamin C. AyersBenjamin C. Ayers, dean of the C. Herman and Mary Virginia Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia, has been named the next senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at the university.

Ayers, who holds the Earl Davis Chair in Taxation, has led the Terry College of Business since 2014.

Under Ayers’ leadership, the Terry College has achieved historic success, endowing four academic units while launching a highly competitive online MBA, a master’s in business analytics, a campus-wide Entrepreneurship Program, popular executive and dual degree programs, and market-driven certificates. Over the past decade, the college’s undergraduate enrollment has grown by 40%, graduate enrollment has risen 64%, and the college has achieved the highest employment rates for graduating students in its history.

Ayers earned his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude and his master’s of tax accounting from the University of Alabama and his doctorate in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to his appointment as dean, he served as director of UGA’s J.M. Tull School of Accounting for nine years. He joined the University of Georgia in 1996 as an assistant professor.