A Born Dean

It may be nominative determinism, but he swears it’s coincidental.

James W. Dean Jr., who began work last month as dean of the business school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says his apt surname did not influence his career choice. On the contrary, Mr. Dean says, he always considered his name a disadvantage in his field, especially when he and his friends would joke that if he ever became a dean, his title would sound “pretty dumb.”

Nominative determinism, popularized by New Scientist magazine, refers to instances where individuals’ surnames correspond with their occupations (for example, Major Major in Catch-22). Some psychologists say a person’s name can have a subliminal influence on his or her career choice.

Mr. Dean says that may be true for some but not for him. A Washington native who grew up fielding not-so-clever Rebel Without a Cause and Jimmy Dean sausage jokes, Mr. Dean says his path to academe began in his childhood when he and his father, who worked for a government agency, discussed the art of effective agencies. Mr. Dean developed an interest in organizational behavior, and eventually he became a professor in the field. He was also senior associate dean of academic affairs at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School before accepting his new position, so he has been desensitized to being addressed as “Dean Dean.”

“I grew up with the name James Dean, which is bad enough, and then I take the one job in the world that could make it worse,” he says. “You might say I’ve overcome my handicap in becoming a dean.”

And despite being born the year after the legendary actor died, Mr. Dean’s name actually follows the family tradition. The James Dean name has been passed down the line for eight generations. Or, as Mr. Dean puts it, “two centuries before that punk actor.”

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http://chronicle.com Section: Short Subjects Volume 54, Issue 49, Page A4