James Ralph Byington
Expertise
Financial accounting, AACSB accreditation
College
Wall College of Business Administration
Biography
J. Ralph Byington was appointed the dean of the E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration at Coastal Carolina University in July 2010. He is responsible for supervising three academic departments and five centers.
Byington was formally dean of the School of Business Administration at the University of South Carolina-Aiken, where he served from 2003 - 2007. He also spent eight years as interim dean, associate dean and director of the School of Accountancy at Georgia Southern University, where he was the founding Director of the School of Accountancy.
Byington has had experience in state government and in the business world. He was director and internal auditor at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), and he was an investigator for the PEER Committee for the state of Mississippi. He was also chief fiscal officer for the Mississippi Governor's Office for Federal Programs.
His publications include more than 130 journal articles, book chapters, newsletter items and proceedings. At the 1996 national meeting of the American Accounting Association, he and a co-author received the Notable Contributions to the Information Systems/Management Advisory Services Literature Award. In 1995, he received the Southwest Federation of Administrative Disciplines Distinguished Paper Award in the accounting area.
Byington has also held several teaching positions at different universities.
Byington earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master's degree from the University of Southern Mississippi. He also holds a doctorate in accounting with a minor in economics and statistics from the University of Arkansas.
Byington is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the American Accounting Association, Phi Kappa Phi, Beta Alpha Psi, Beta Gamma Sigma, the Rotary Club of Aiken, the Aiken Chamber of Commerce (ex officio) and the Southern Business Administration Association. He was president of the Southeast chapter of the American Accounting Association and president of the Southeast Chapter of the Georgia Society of CPAs.
Byington has been involved with the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International), as a pre-candidacy adviser, a peer review team adviser, vice-chair and chair. He is a member of the Initial Accreditation Committee (IAC) of the AACSB. He has traveled to the United Arab Emirates, visiting a new business school for internal UAE accreditation purposes.
Contact Information
Phone: 843-349-2071
Email: byington@coastal.edu
