Category: Faculty and Staff

College of Business Celebrates Academic Year Achievements at Awards Ceremony

Eight students stand smiling with framed awards certificates at the annual College of Business ceremony and banquet in the Rozsa Center at Michigan Tech. Behind them, faculty, staff, alumni, and student attendees stand and sit at tables in the lobby, mingling.
The College of Business recognized outstanding students in each of our degree programs as well as the overall student of the year. From left are winners Jaylen Body, marketing; Morgan Carilli, accounting; Leiland Leiter finance and Outstanding Student in Business; Jakob Christiansen, construction management; Ryan Miller, Outstanding Student in Business; Skyler Spitzley, management; Ethan Semenchuk, engineering management; and Max Schramm, management information systems.
New members of Beta Gamma Sigma were inducted at the College’s annual awards ceremony.
Students smile with their honor cords, along with chapter advisor Jonathan Leinonen.

Students, faculty, staff, distinguished alumni, and industry advisors came together at the end of spring semester for the second annual College of Business Student Awards program. Highlights included the induction of students into the Michigan Tech Chapter of the international business honor society Beta Gamma Sigma and recognition of an outstanding student in each degree program, along with presenting the Outstanding Student in Business and Teacher of the Year awards. Here’s a look at the winners and what nominators had to say about their accomplishments:

Beta Gamma Sigma is the honor society for AACSB-accredited schools. AACSB, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, is a professional organization founded in 1916 to provide accreditation to business schools that meet standards of excellence in education.

To see who qualified for the honor, joining the ranks of what honor society advisor Jonathan Leinonen described as “the best of the best,” access the full list of Beta Gamma Sigma inductees and members.

Business Dean Emeritus Remembered

Two Michigan Tech Deans in suits shake hands and smile in front of the Michigan Tech Husky statue with campus buildings in the background in 2015.
Former School of Business and Economics Dean Robert Klippel, right, with current Dean of the College of Business, Dean Johnson, as the leadership torch is passed in 2016 and Klippel becomes Dean Emeritus.

The Michigan Tech College of Business joins friends and family in celebrating the life of two-time Michigan Tech School of Business and Economics (SBE) Dean Robert “Gene” Klippel, of Lakewood Ranch, Florida. Klippel died Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2025, at age 86.

College of Business Selects Laura Sieders for Deans’ Teaching Showcase

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in Tech Today, submitted by the Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning.

Dean Johnson, dean of the College of Business (COB), has selected Laura Sieders as featured instructor in the Deans’ Teaching Showcase. Sieders, the Ed and Betty Robinson Faculty Fellow in Accounting, is being recognized for her outstanding work in making students feel comfortable in the classroom while learning challenging material. She will be recognized at an end-of-term event with other spring showcase members and is a candidate for the CTL Instructional Award Series.

Impact Magazine Highlights College of Business Students, Faculty, and Alumni

The Michigan Tech Alumni Gateway Arch is lit on a cold winter night with a snowy campus in the background.
Michigan Tech’s College of Business celebrates student accomplishments, entrepreneurial spirit, and STEM-infused degree program innovations in the latest issue of Impact Magazine. 

Online and on kitchen tables, the new issue of Impact Magazine is ready to read wherever you are. Get the latest news from Michigan Tech’s College of Business (COB), including student accomplishments, research that helps communities steer toward a brighter economic future, and real-life advice from dynamic entrepreneurs and alumni.

Dean Johnson, dean of the College, said Impact’s theme this year highlights the Michigan Tech difference. “College of Business students study more than business,” he said. “Science, technology, engineering, and math are infused into COB courses and programs. Classes connect disciplines. Degree programs cross borders.”

Read all about it in the online version of the 2024 Impact Magazine. Your comments on the current issue and suggestions for stories in future issues are welcome. Email them to Cyndi Perkins, managing editor, at cmperkin@mtu.edu.

Retired College of Business Lecturer Paul Aho Passes Away

Michigan Technological University’s College of Business honors the memory of Paul Aho, a faculty member dedicated to student success.

The College of Business is saddened to announce that long-time College of Business faculty member Paul Aho passed away November 2 at age 71. Aho served as a lecturer in management information systems from 1987 until his retirement in 2006.

In 1978, Aho completed a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in information systems at Michigan Tech, then working in the accounting industry for several years. Later, he a earned a master’s degree in economics from DePaul University.

“Paul was a great inspiration to me as an undergraduate,” said Adam Mitteer ’03 ’17, who earned a bachelor’s degree in Management and a master’s in Data Science at Michigan Tech. “Taking his classes changed the course of how I looked at technology and really academia in general. It was a pleasure to get to know Paul through clubs, as a TA (teaching assistant) for his class, and taking many of his courses.”

Mitteer said Aho also served as a mentor to students through his connections to industry and University alumni, always helping students find the best path for pursuing fulfilling careers.

Read Aho’s full obituary.