Michigan Tech College of Business Newsblog

Category: Faculty and Staff

Klippel Named Dean of School of Business and Economics

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The School of Business and Economics welcomes back Dr. Gene Klippel as the new Dean.

Gene Klippel has been named dean of Michigan Tech’s School of Business and Economics. He will take over the position on July 1. Klippel replaces Darrell Radson, who left the University in May.

Klippel knows the campus and community, having served as dean of the School from 1994 to 2003. While at Michigan Tech, he led the School to accreditation by AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business-International).

“He was consistently the top-ranked candidate in the pool, given his extensive experience at the dean level at a number of universities, his familiarity with AACSB accreditation, and his professionalism,” said Sonia Goltz, professor and chair of the search committee. “We look forward to Dr. Klippel leading the School of Business and Economics as we further advance our programs and scholarship.”

“Dr. Klippel’s strong leadership and communication skills will be vital in achieving the School’s mission,” said Dean Johnson, James and Delores Trethewey Professor in the School. “We look forward to him building relationships with the Michigan Tech community and alumni.”

Previously, Klippel was the founding dean of the College of Management at the University of Wisconsin, Stout and dean of the College of Business at the University of Southern Indiana.

Before joining Michigan Tech in 1994, he was a member of the faculty in the College of Business Administration at West Virginia University, where he was designated a distinguished professor and holder of the Kmart Chair in Marketing.

He also has held faculty appointments at the University of Florida, the University of South Florida and the Harvard Graduate School of Business.

Klippel has conducted extensive research and scholarship in the field of marketing. Further, he has served as a member of the editorial review board of the Journal of Marketing and the Journal of Marketing Management.

In addition to his academic background, Klippel’s experience includes corporate marketing staff assignments with Ford Motor Company and Cummins Engine Company, as well as president of Market Research of Florida and vice president, consumer research, Management Horizons Inc., formerly a division of Pricewaterhouse/Coopers.

Klippel has also served as an independent consultant to numerous Fortune 500 companies, including Drexel Heritage Furniture, Westinghouse and Caterpillar and Caterpillar-Australia.

He received his PhD in Business Administration from Pennsylvania State University and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in marketing from the University of Cincinnati.

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Farewell to Dean Radson

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A big thank you to Dean Darrell Radson for his last four years at Michigan Tech.

The School of Business and Economics bids farewell to Dean Darrell Radson following his resignation to accept the position of dean of the Foster College of Business Administration at Bradley University, effective May 1.

Dr. Darrell Radson has been the dean in the School of Business and Economics since 2008.

“I would like to express my sincere appreciation for Darrell’s service to the School of Business and Economics and the University,” said Provost Max Seel. “Under his leadership,we have changed curricula, developed new programs including an online MBA program, hired very talented faculty and staff, renewed the School’s accreditation and established new endowed professorships. The School is on the path to increased recognition and greatness.”

At a School reception, Radson thanked the high-caliber students he worked with and acknowledged the great administration, faculty, and staff who he will miss.

“My family and I are grateful for the opportunity to work with you in these last four years,” said Dr. Darrell Radson. “The School of Business and Economics is well on the road to future successes, and I’m proud to have taken part in its growth. A goal of our life’s journey is to always have a positive impact.”

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Celebrating a Special Teacher, His Students, and Alumni

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Dean Johnson with Dee and Jim Trethewey.

A packed MUB Ballroom was a testament to Dean Johnson, the James ’67 and Delores Trethewey APMP Professor in the School of Business and Economics, his students, and the couple who have endowed his professorship.

At the reception, it was a family affair, too, as Johnson’s home life was acknowledged, first by President Glenn Mroz. Johnson’s family was present, and they were given credit for helping Johnson establish the program twelve years ago. The endowed professorship was a great reflection on all of Michigan Tech, Mroz added.

Dean Darrell Radson agreed, stating that as great as the Applied Portfolio Management Program was in terms of marketing and public knowledge of the School and University, it was the impact on the students that truly mattered.

“Great business schools are always part of great universities,” Radson said. “And endowing the professorship is an important step toward greatness.”

James Trethewey said, as he thought about the day, he thought about honoring our heroes like Johnson, and authenticity.

“I looked up ‘authentic,’” he said. “And it talked about being original, trustworthy, and sincere, and that is certainly Dean. This greatness at Tech comes from everyone, too. Great leadership like Glenn, great staff, great people, including everyone in this room.”

Thus, we salute our hero, Trethewey said.

Johnson spoke on the history of the APMP: from three volunteers to more than 300 students overall; from an excursion of a golf outing to NASDAQ and Chicago Mercantile visits; from a “scholarship” of a pizza dinner to all the APMP students operating on real scholarships; from a little room in the basement to a sparkling new LSGI Trading Room with a $25,000 per year Bloomberg terminal.

“It’s really about coming full circle,” Johnson said. “Sam Tidwell changed Jim’s life, and now he and Delores are changing the lives of students.”

The ceremony continued with a plethora of student testimonials, read by Ted Simonsen ’07, who works for Ameriprise Financial locally and was representing his APMP brothers and sisters and all the students touched by Johnson.

“As much as I appreciate his teachings about investments,” Simonsen said, in his own testimonial, “it was his way of connecting with students on a personal level that meant even more. He takes the time to get to know all of his students, and I use that great example every day.”

Graduating APMP students Ann Dancy and Todd Storm, fittingly, were the last to speak. They reinforced impact that this teacher, alumnus, and program have had them, as the ceremony ended and the family of Tech celebrated heroes past, present, and future.

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Dr. Mari Buche Receives Advisor Award

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Associate Professor of Management Information Systems was presented with the Student Organization Advisor of the Year award.

The 18th Annual Student Leadership Awards ceremony was held Friday, April 13, in the Memorial Union Ballroom. Thirteen awards were presented with nearly 175 students, faculty, staff and campus leaders attending the event.

Associate Professor of Management Information Systems Mari Buche received the Student Organization Advisor of the Year.

Jess Banda, Director of Public Relations for the  Rotaract on campus said, “More than an adviser, Mari is a motivator, constantly encouraging the organization to pursue national and international projects, to collaborate with the local community, and to stretch ourselves and reap the benefits of accomplishment.

Never more than a quick call or e-mail away, Mari makes herself consistently available to support Rotaract activities. Mari is a truly excellent advisor. She’s given much of herself, and she deserves to be recognized for her commitment to students.”

Congratulations Dr. Buche!

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Dean Johnson Named Michigan Professor of the Year

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Dean Johnson

April 3, 2012—

Dean Johnson, the James and Delores Trethewey Associate Professor in Michigan Technological University’s School of Business and Economics, has been named Professor of the Year by the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan (PCSUM). Johnson shares the honor with professors from Michigan State, Saginaw Valley State and Wayne State Universities. 

 “Dean Johnson has demonstrated his outstanding teaching ability over the years to many students through the Applied Portfolio Management Program, which he designed and directs,” said Darrell Radson, dean of the School of Business and Economics. “We are very proud that his abilities have also been recognized by higher education leaders and professors across our state.”

The four Michigan Professors of the Year were judged on student learning, interactions with graduates, experiential learning, academic advising, undergraduate research opportunities, and scholarship on teaching and learning.

“It is great to be recognized with this honor, especially since it is presented for teaching and guiding students,” Johnson said. “I know that our Applied Portfolio Management Program (APMP) also had a lot to do with it, and a lot of people have helped me with APMP over the years.”

In the APMP, students invest real money in the stock market. Their portfolio now totals more than $1.3 million. They have won the RISE (Redefining Investment Strategy Education) national investment competition three times.

In nominating Johnson, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Max Seel was effusive over the business professor’s record of advising, teaching, scholarship and devotion to his students.

“Johnson,” he said, “has a genuine concern and compassion for each individual student.” His devotion to his students was revealed when he began the APMP program, Seel said.

“APMP was the result of a single, new, untenured professor who took the risk to expend enormous amounts of time to secure the required resources necessary,” Seel said, noting that Johnson had “established an Advisory Board of investment professionals” and “secured the physical space, furniture, computers to house the program; acquired the actual money for the students to manage; built relationships with guest speakers; located internships; and many other necessary, ongoing activities.”

The APMP students are now housed in the new LSGI Trading Room, with Bloomberg trading platform, thanks to Johnson’s leadership and alumnus Joe Dancy.

Johnson has previously won the Michigan Tech Distinguished Teaching Award twice–only the third professor in the history of the University so honored. He is a member of the Michigan Tech Teaching Academy (which recognizes teaching excellence), and has been honored with the James and Delores Trethewey APMP Professorship. 

Johnson himself once said, “When I walk into the classroom, I have an hour to make a difference in the lives of those students. . . . I try to find out where they’re from and what career goals they have. Once you develop a personal relationship, it becomes much easier to push, push, push them to learn and study because they realize I truly have their best interest at heart.”

Michigan Technological University (www.mtu.edu) is a leading public research university developing new technologies and preparing students to create the future for a prosperous and sustainable world. Michigan Tech offers more than 130 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in engineering; forest resources; computing; technology; business; economics; natural, physical and environmental sciences; arts; humanities; and social sciences.

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