A senior dean from Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, has been selected to lead the University of Maine’s new graduate school of business.

J. Michael Weber, a senior associate dean and professor of marketing at Mercer, has been named dean of the new Graduate School of Business, effective July 1, according to a release from the university.

The Graduate School of Business combines the MBA programs of UMaine and the University of Southern Maine under the umbrella of the new Maine Center for Graduate Professional Studies.

“Dr. Weber brings a depth of academic leadership, including international and domestic business consulting experience, to Maine and the new Graduate School of Business,” said Jeffrey Hecker, UMaine executive vice president for academic affairs and provost, to whom the deans of the Graduate School of Business report, in the release. “As founding dean, Dr. Weber will work with the graduate business faculty to innovate curricula and pedagogy, and deliver options for the MBA program in order to meet the workforce needs of Maine and beyond.”

The new school will offer the MBA program in Orono and Portland and online, and will house all future graduate programs in business developed in the University of Maine System. The MBA will be the only graduate business program in Maine accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, according to the release.

Weber has a more than 20-year career in academia. Since 2006, he has been a member of the Stetson School of Business and Economics at Mercer University. In 2012, Weber founded the school’s Center for Executive Education, which offers professional certificate programs.

He also has held faculty positions at the University of West Florida, University of Miami, Barry University and Eastern New Mexico University. Weber received an MBA from the University of West Florida and a Ph.D. in business from Louisiana State University.