A Message from the Associate Dean of Research

UConn Ph.D. candidate Semin Park is on the cusp of completing her degree, but has already made a tremendous impression in the management field.

Her dissertation research is a multi-method, experimental study of the conflict dynamics in a simulated mass-casualty incident with emergency medical response.

This fascinating exploration of team dynamics in mock life-or-death circumstances will soon be published in a top journal (The Academy of Management Review) and led the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology to present her with the esteemed Lee Hakel Award for the highest-ranked dissertation proposal.

With a near-perfect GPA, and recognition as an outstanding instructor, Park is certain to succeed when she starts her job as an assistant professor at the University of Iowa in Fall 2019.

“As I am finishing up my program, I cannot be happier about my decision to come to UConn. The last five years were definitely challenging, yet I’m so grateful for the support from my advisor, John Mathieu, from the department, and from my student colleagues,” Park said.

Since the program began welcoming students in 1987, the vast majority of our 215 Ph.D. alumni have placed at research institutions and embarked on successful academic careers. Some are chaired professors at top research universities where they carry out impactful research, serve the broader research community by being on the editorial boards of premier research journals, and mentor the next generation of researchers.

For example, June Cotte ’98 Ph.D., holds the Scott & Melissa Beattie Professorship in Marketing at the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario (Canada), and is an expert on consumer behavior and decision making. She is on the editorial review boards of the Journal of Marketing and the Journal of Consumer Psychology. Erasmo Giambona ’03 Ph.D., is the Falcone Chair in Real Estate and Director of the James D. Kuhn Center for Real Estate at Syracuse University. He has been a visiting professor at Yale University, University of Southern California, and Bocconi University in Milan. Ravi Bapna ’99 Ph.D., holds the Curtis L. Carlson Chair in Business Analytics and Information Systems at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. His expertise lies in helping companies leverage data-science, machine learning, AI and business analytics for competitive advantage. He has served as a senior editor for MIS Quarterly and has presented his research not only to the academic community but also to industries.

Some of our alumni are also leaders in business education. Rowena Ortiz-Walters ’05 Ph.D., is the Dean of the School of Business and Economics at SUNY Plattsburgh. At the time of her appointment in 2015, Ortiz-Walters was only the ninth Hispanic-American dean of a U.S. business school. Karla Johnstone-Zehms ’97 Ph.D. is the Ernst & Young Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business. In addition to publishing extensively, she has served on the executive committee of the Auditing Section of the American Accounting Association in the role of treasurer, Vice President, President, and Past-President. She also is a member of numerous editorial boards both in the U.S. and internationally.

The above mentioned are just a few of the many accomplished alumni that have gone through our Ph.D. program. As a top research university, the Ph.D. program is vital to our research enterprise and an integral part of our identity. We are committed to educating and training the next generation of researchers who will make an impact in the world.

We hope you enjoy the recent work of our Ph.D. student and faculty, presented below, and wish you a successful conclusion to the Spring 2019 semester.

 
With warm regards,
 
 
Sulin Ba
 
 
Associate Dean of Academic and Research Support