King Banaian will take permanent helm as dean of the School of Public Affairs beginning July 1.
He will bring his more than 30 years of teaching experience at St. Cloud State to the position, which he has held as interim dean since July 2014.
“I look forward to continuing the great work we’ve been doing to improve our offerings for students and the research provided by the School of Public Affairs to our community,” Banaian said. “I am honored to continue serving as leader to the talented faculty and staff who are dedicated to producing Minnesota’s next generation of public affairs leaders.”
As a professor of economics at St. Cloud State, he served as chairman of the economic department for nine years. He has authored or co-authored more than 30 papers and introduced several new courses and a five-year bachelor’s and master’s program in economics. He also served as director of the School of Public Affairs Research Institute in 2013-14.
King Banaian has been appointed dean of the School of Public Affairs.
As interim dean, Banaian has overseen the launch of a new master’s of public administration program and a partnership on a 3+3 law program with William Mitchell College of Law.
From 2011-2013, Banaian was the District 15B representative in the Minnesota House of Representatives where he served on the State Government Finance, Higher Education, Capital Investment and Rules committees.
During his career he also served as an economic adviser to the National Bank of Ukraine and as a modeling expert to the Central Bank of Egypt under the USAID/NIS Monetary Restructuring Project.
He also was a debt sustainability expert to the ministry of finance of Indonesia, as well as work for the ministries of finance of Armenia and Macedonia on several short-term assignments.
Banaian holds a doctorate and master’s degree in economics from the Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California, and his bachelor’s in economics from St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire.
“I am excited to see the great work King will do to continue growing the School of Public Affairs,” said St. Cloud State President Earl H. Potter III. “His commitment to leadership and St. Cloud State will serve well to prepare students for life, work and citizenship in the 21st century.”
