Administration

I joined UMD in 1998 as an Assistant Professor of Marketing. In 2002, I was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor. In 2005, I was elected by my colleagues in the Department of Management Studies to serve, in my first formal administrative responsibility, as their department head. In 2006, the marketing faculty were organized into a new department, and I served as the department head of the newly formed Department of Marketing from 2006 through 2012. It was during this time period that the department conceptualized the creation of two new majors- Marketing Analytics and Marketing & Graphic Design. While Marketing Analytics broke new ground in terms of cross-disciplinary collaboration (Marketing, MIS, and Economics), Marketing & Graphic Design established a new model of cross-collegiate collaboration (LSBE and Fine Arts). When launched in 2012, Marketing Analytics was among the first programs of its kind in the nation. Marketing & Graphic Design continues to maintain its unique national identity to this date. 

In 2012, upon Dr. Wayne Jesswein’s retirement, Dean Kjell Knudsen asked me to serve as the school’s Associate Dean. I continued in my role when our new dean, Dr. Amy Hietapelto, joined LSBE in 2013. In Summer 2021, I transitioned into the role of LSBE's Interim Dean, as Dr. Hietapelto assumed responsibilities as UMD's Interim Executive Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs. 

Since 2012, LSBE has accomplished a lot. I take pride in being a part of the team that makes LSBE so special. Here’s a sampling of our school’s major accomplishments since 2012 that I have been a part of: 

• • • AACSB reaccreditation in Fall 2014 and Fall 2019. Collected and collated data from a variety of constituents, drafted and revised the CIR reports, and coordinated the team visits. The review visits were a success, with the Peer Review Teams commending the school for its high quality programs and processes.

    • Migration to the New 2013 and 2020 AACSB Standards. Led the effort to revise policy documents related to: a) Faculty Qualifications Definitions, b) Faculty Merit Policy, and c) Learning Goals for undergraduate and graduate programs. 

    • Revamping of the LSBE Internship Program. We hired a new internship director, developed a new strategic vision for the program, including curricular changes to BBA and BAcc degree programs. 

    • Launch of Seven New Majors: Since 2012, LSBE has launched six new majors: Marketing and Graphic Design (2012), Economics BBA (2012), Entrepreneurship (2014), Financial Planning (2015), Professional Sales (2019), Business Analytics (2020), and Risk Management and Insurance (2023). The Marketing Analytics major has also been revamped and converted to Consumer Insights & Analytics (2020).

    • Addition of Five New Minors: Responding to student requests, four new minors have been added to the curriculum since 2012: Marketing Analytics (2012), Entrepreneurship (2015), International Business (2016), and Sustainable Business and Organization (2017), and Business Analytics (2020). The Marketing Analytics minor has also been revamped and converted to Consumer Insights & Analytics (2020).

    • Launch of Technology Workshops: In order to support students' need for more hands-on training in popular software packages, LSBE launched a series of workshops in 2018 on MS Excel, Tableau and R. LSBE has also become a Certiport testing center, the first in the region. 

    • Launch of an Online Certificate in Business Administration program. The program was conceptualized based on students' needs assessment (Students from CLA, MBA students, and non-LSBE students).  The program consists of eight 2-credit modules that are delivered online. 

    • LSBE-wide adoption of the Passport to Professional Success: The program allows LSBE students to participate in extracurricular and professional development activities in a structured manner. UMD’s  ITSS staff helped develop an online tracking and reporting mechanism.

    • LSBE Strategic Plan for FY23-FY27:  As part of this process, input and feedback were sought from key stakeholders, including students, faculty, staff, employers, board members, and alumni. This information was compiled to create a draft of the new plan that went through multiple iterations of revisions. The final plan was unanimously approved by LSBE Senate in Spring 2022.

    • Faculty Workshops: Designed and offered training workshops for LSBE department heads and new faculty orientation workshops for LSBE faculty.

    • Living Learning Community: LSBE agreed to participate in a pilot to initiate a Living Learning Community (LLC) at UMD. LSBE worked closely with Admissions, Housing, Tutoring, and  various Support Services on campus to create the LLC that we named UMD BizDogs. 

    • MBA Program Enhancements: LSBE has created a new accelerated 12-month MBA program that would allow students to complete all MBA coursework in one year’s time. We have also developed a 4+1 option for LSBE students interested in pursuing an MBA right after their undergraduate degree. These new offerings have resulted increase in MBA enrollments.

    • Restructuring of LSBE Departments: LSBE undertook a major project to reconfigure its departments. A detailed plan for the reconfiguration was created and refined with inputs from several stakeholders. The plan called for reducing the numbers of departments within LSBE from five to four.