For H. Joseph Wen, the Olympic Games offer a fitting analogy to his view of the role of ESU’s School of Business. “Global competition is very important — we want to train our business students to compete internationally. Like in the Olympics, if you don’t train to compete, if you don’t send your best and brightest, your chance of success is minimal.”
Wen, who took over as dean of the school of business in June, brings with him both experience and acclaim, including the Jones Distinguished Professor honor from ESU. Before coming to Emporia he was department chair of accounting and management information systems at Southeast Missouri State University, a tenured associate professor at Illinois State University and both an assistant and a tenured associate professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. In the course of his academic career he has published 126 refereed articles, is serving on the editorial board of four academic journals, has received a multitude of grants from industries and state and federal agencies and has taught 16 different MIS courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Despite this varied and involved background, his management philosophy is simple: “I believe the job of an administrator is to serve the students, the faculty and the business community,” Wen said.
“I come not to manage, but to serve people.”
Though he’s only been here two months, Wen likes the city and the university. “In the past 10 years I’ve worked in a similar environment in terms of city and school size. I feel I have a very good fit to this kind of environment.
“I think people here have an excellent work ethic, even the janitors who come in early every day to clean the building. Some places don’t do this. In all, I like it here. The people I’ve met here are very impressive.”
According to Wen, he accepted the job because it felt like the right thing to do at this period in his career. “I feel that, as dean, I can contribute more to the education of business students. It’s important to realize how critical business education is, especially in this economy. We train our students to meet the needs of the economy and the business community.”
As dean, Wen wants to emphasize the quality of instruction the school of business offers.
“Our programs are accredited by AACSB International,” he said, referring to the Association to Advance College Schools of Business. “That’s true of only 15 percent of university-level business programs worldwide.”
One of Wen’s goals is to maintain this accreditation while improving the percentage of graduates who get placed within six to nine months after graduation. “Our current placement rate is 97 percent; I would like to see that at 100 percent,” Wen said.
He also points out the quality of the faculty at the school. “Ninety percent of our faculty members have Ph.D.’s and are full-time instructors.” According to the school of business Web site, “Many maintain consulting practices and are engaged in current research.”
Wen also points out three centers that operate under the direction of senior business faculty and staff — the Center for Business and Economic Development, the Center for Insurance Education, and the Small Business Development Center — all of which provide consulting, training and resources for the business community.
“Once again, my purpose here is to serve people,” Wen said, “and to see that we provide quality training so our business students can meet the needs of the community.”