Since 1996, David Platt has called UT home. He has touched the lives of thousands of students teaching managerial and cost accounting in the BBA, MPA, and various MBA programs. Let’s learn more about Dave and his current role as UT’s Vice Provost for Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

Meet Dave Platt

Dave Platt did not set out to earn a PhD in accounting. After working as an auditor for PwC in Philadelphia and then in industry, he returned to Cornell intending to earn his PhD in operations management. While in grad school, he found that there was a discipline called managerial accounting that sat at the intersection of accounting, finance, marketing – and he was hooked!

While at Texas McCombs, Dave wore a variety of different hats. He began as a faculty member and researcher, and then added the director of the Center for International Business Education and Research to his resume. After 12 years in that role, Dave became Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, where he stewarded the operations of the BBA program. In 2019, he joined the Provost’s Office as Vice Provost for Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

In his first 18 months in the Provost’s Office, Dave concentrated on building a working network among the many different undergraduate programs at UT, to make the academic experience the very best it can be across our large and diverse university. Dave notes that “UT is a big place, but it’s important that for any given student it feels like it is a small, tight-knit community.”

Dave has dedicated 12 of the last 18 months largely to responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and trying to do so in a way that, as much as possible under our current operating constraints, keeps undergraduate education at UT going strong. While he misses teaching students, their well-being and educational experience are both still paramount concerns for him.

Dave cross-country skiing with his wife, Nancy.

Dave cross-country skiing with his wife, Nancy.

In his spare time, Dave loves to read, particularly history, and spends as much time as possible in the mountains skiing, hiking, and enjoying the fresh air with his wife, Nancy. And like so many of us, he picked up a few new hobbies during the pandemic. “I’m finally learning to play guitar, something I’ve always wanted to do, and I’ve gotten into making ice cream and dreaming up new recipes,” Dave said. “I even based one on shoofly pie, which I remember from growing up in Pennsylvania.”