Author: Karen Johnson

The Michigan Tech College of Computing offers a full range of undergraduate and graduate degrees in the Computing disciplines.

Chelsea Rheault ’22 Offered Houghton County Administrator Position

The Michigan Tech campus

After candidate interviews for the Houghton County administrator position on October 16, the county board voted to offer the job to current county finance director Chelsea Rheault ’22 (B.S. Accounting). Rheault was praised for her strong financial management skills and her contributions over the past three years

Read more in the Daily Mining Gazette.

Ola Ayeni Named 2025 Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship Finalist

Academic Office Building, Michigan Tech College of Business

Michigan Sea Grant has announced that Master of Engineering Management candidate Ola Ayeni has been named a finalist for the 2025 class of the John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship.

The Knauss program matches graduate students and recent graduates with host agencies in Washington, D.C., such as congressional offices, the National Marine Fisheries Service, or U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. For one year, fellows work on a range of policy and management projects related to ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources. Fellows can be placed in the federal, legislative or executive branches.

After spending six years as a network infrastructure engineer and another six as an environmentalist and circular economy practitioner in Nigeria, Ayeni wanted to strengthen her skills in sustainability and leadership. This led her to pursue a master’s in engineering management at Michigan Tech — a program where she could combine her technical expertise with managerial insights.

Ben Stelzer ’15 (B.S. Finance) Appointed Assistant Coach for the Santa Cruz Warriors

Former Michigan Tech basketball player and assistant coach Ben Stelzer ’15 (B.S. Finance) was mentioned by The Daily Mining Gazette in a story about his appointment as assistant coach for the Santa Cruz Warriors. During Stelzer’s career with the Huskies, he finished as the program’s all-time leader in 3-pointers and was also named NCAA Division II All-American, Academic All-American and Midwest Region Player of the Year.

Soonkwan Hong Is Editorial Advisory Board Member of Journal of Social Impact in Business Research

Michigan Tech campus in the fall.
The Michigan Tech Campus in the fall season

Soonkwan Hong, associate professor of marketing in the College of Business, is an invited editorial advisory board member of the Journal of Social Impact in Business Research, which was founded in July 2024.

The journal explicitly responds to AACSB’s new standards, which underscore “Societal Impact” as encompassing “…activities undertaken by business schools that over time lead to meaningful, discernible change for the betterment of people, economies and the environment” (AACSB and Societal Impact: Aligning With the AACSB 2020 Business Accreditation Standards, February 2023, p.2).

Denny Socha ’86 to Share Time and Talent with Marketing Students

College of Business identifier

Michigan Tech alumni Denny Socha ’86 (BS in Mechanical Engineering) will present a lecture on Thursday, October 10, 2024, at 9:30 am in ChemSci 101. The talk is part of a Principles of Marketing (MKT3000) class instructed by Junhong Min, Associate Professor of Marketing.

In his talk, Socha will discuss STP marketing—Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning— a marketing model that helps businesses identify and target their audience, and position their products to be more effective.

Also, on October 10, Socha will share his career success journey with the American Marketing Association (AMA) student organization at 5:30 pm in AOB 101. Pizza and drinks will be served.

Socha’s visit to campus is part of the Time & Talent initiative of the Michigan Tech Office of Alumni Engagement, which aims to connect successful MTU alumni with students, faculty, and staff through guest lectures, presentations, and learning opportunities.

Socha worked in consumer research and product research throughout his 26-year career at General Motors. He retired as Senior Manager, Global Product Research.

Denny Socha is a marketing professional with over three decades of experience working in the automotive industry. Most of his experience, which also included four years in Switzerland with the GM Europe marketing team, supported Chevrolet with Brand and Advertising Research. Providing the customer insights behind such memorable campaigns as An American Revolution, Chevy Runs Deep, Find New Roads and Real People/Not Actors, his efforts were recognized by the Advertising Research Foundation with the prestigious David Ogilvy Gold Award. Denny is a member of the Advertising Research Foundation and Association of National Advertisers. Denny has been married for 35 years to Kristi and they have three children. He enjoys traveling with family and snowboarding.