The Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business (PCoB) has named Scott Baier associate dean of research, effective August 1, 2026. Baier has served in the role in an acting and then interim capacity since January 2025.
In the role, Baier will continue leading strategic initiatives to advance research across the College, support faculty scholarship and foster collaboration among business disciplines. His work will support Clemson Elevate and further the College’s commitment to research that addresses complex challenges, enriches learning and creates impact locally and globally.
Baier has been instrumental in developing and advocating for the implementation of artificial intelligence and generative AI models throughout the College, with the hope that integrating artificial intelligence into curriculum, research, service and operations will ensure that students, faculty and staff are AI-ready, not AI-reliant.
Collaboration has been central to Baier’s leadership. In 2025, Dean Wendy York cited his expertise, leadership and commitment to innovation as strengths that would advance the College’s research enterprise. Baier said at the time, “The transformative power of business research cannot be overstated.”
About Baier
Baier is a professor of economics and a longtime Clemson faculty member. He joined the University in 2001 after serving as faculty in the Department of Finance and Business Economics at the University of Notre Dame from 1996 to 2000. He chaired the John E. Walker Department of Economics from 2016 to 2024 before moving into the role of acting associate dean.
His experience beyond Clemson includes service as a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta from 1999 to 2012 and as a senior economist with the Council of Economic Advisers from 2007 to 2008. In that role, he provided economic analyses of current events and pending legislation and helped produce the Economic Report of the President.
His research focuses on international trade, economic growth and development, with particular emphasis on the causes and consequences of trade liberalization and the economic determinants of integration agreements.
With a strong research background, long-standing leadership at Clemson and contributions to the national business landscape in scholarship, the College is well positioned to continue its trajectory as a business research enterprise under Baier’s expertise.
