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Dr. Tim O'Keefe

Dr. Tim O'Keefe

  • Position: Dean Emeritus
  • Department: Accounting and Finance
  • Office Location: Building 76, Room 216
  • tokeefe@uwf.edu
  • Campus: 850.474.2135

Biography

Tim O’Keefe has capped a nearly 50-year career in academics by being named Dean Emeritus of the College of Business at the University of West Florida. During the past 23 years, he has served as a Professor of Accounting while taking on administrative positions as Dean, Interim Dean, Associate Dean, and MBA Program Director.

O’Keefe led the College of Business (COB) first as interim dean and then dean from August 2013 until May 2019. As head of the college, he was responsible for oversight and management of four academic departments and five centers, four of which he established during his time as dean.  Under his leadership, the college expanded the footprint and influence of the Florida Small Business Development Center at UWF and established the Center for Entrepreneurship, the Center for Supply Chain Management Excellence, the Louis Maygarden Center for Financial Literacy, and the Student Engagement and Advising Center (SEA Center). His goal in promoting these centers focused on creating engaging, real-world learning opportunities for students and fostering value-added connections between the COB and the northwest Florida community. 

As dean, Dr. O’Keefe led the college through the rigorous AACSB reaffirmation of accreditation successfully awarded in spring, 2018. His leadership in creating an online presence for the MBA program along with six specialty areas resulted in a four-fold increase in MBA enrollment. He initiated efforts to return the Master of Accountancy Program (M.Acc.) to an online format including the pre-requisite undergraduate courses. Faculty efforts and commitment to the online initiative have led to increased enrollment and a broader, growing state-wide and southeastern regional reach for the program.  

An undergirding theme to Dr. O’Keefe’s tenure as dean included the fostering and promoting of high-impact learning experiences through “live cases” wherein student teams develop real-world business experience by providing analysis and solutions to real-world problems of regional and national business partners. Participating in “live case” experiences and engaging in activities through the entrepreneurship, supply chain management, and financial literacy centers creates out-of-the-classroom learning experiences building “first-day-ready” skills for students as they enter the working world after graduation. 

In 2019, Dr. O’Keefe received the prestigious Marion Viccars Award from the University of West Florida. Each year the award is given to one employee at the Director level or above and one faculty administrator at the dean, associate dean, assistant dean or chairperson level for substantial contributions, outstanding performance and professionalism impacting operations, service excellence, inter-departmental effectiveness, and community involvement.

Prior to joining the faculty at UWF in 1998, O’Keefe spent five years at Nyenrode Business University in the Netherlands, where he was professor of accounting and director of the Rochester-Nyenrode Executive MBA Program. He also spent nine years on the business faculty at Emory University and served as director of the BBA Program there for three years. His professional experience includes work with several international accounting and consulting organizations, as well as more than a thousand hours teaching in management development and executive education programs. O’Keefe is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Florida. 

O’Keefe has received teaching awards at all levels of instruction, including undergraduate, graduate, professional and executive education. His international teaching experience includes visiting or guest professor appointments at universities in Austria, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Holland and Switzerland. His work has been published in a wide variety of professional journals, including IMA Cases from Management Accounting Practice; Business Horizons; Financial Executive; The Tax Executive; Accounting Horizons; Management Accounting; Cost and Management; Government Accountant’s Journal; Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice; CPA Journal; and Journal of Accounting and Finance Research. He has presented numerous papers and case studies at national and international academic and professional meetings. 

O’Keefe received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Stetson University, and master’s and doctorate degrees in business administration from Florida State University.