My experience managing the EMBA program allowed me to grow as an administrator and experience things I never thought were possible, including traveling with the inaugural international study tour. Over the early years of the tours I visited Belgium, Hungary, France, Ireland, Austria, Slovenia, Russia, and Sweden with the students and learned and experienced so much! I also went back to school to complete my undergraduate degree and eventually my MBA at the Weatherhead School of Management. None of this would likely have been possible if I was not a part of this fine institution.
I transitioned to the Executive Doctor of Management (EDM) program in 2001 directed by John Aram. I was given a pink binder (my favorite color) where the instructions inside said that my job was to do anything that Sue Nartker did not want to do! As you might imagine, that move was the beginning of years of more hard work, special projects including the first and the tenth Engaged Management Scholarship conferences. We had lots of laughs along the way as well to keep our spirits high—never a dull moment! Anyway, it worked so I carried it forward when Shelley Muchnicki joined our team. She is now doing almost everything I was doing before my retirement. We believe in the value of cross-training!
Over the years, the program name changed to Doctor of Management (DM) under the leadership of Bo Carlsson and the PhD in Management: Designing Sustainable Systems program was added under Kalle Lyytinen’s direction. Today the DM is now the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) program. The programs continue to evolve to maintain the relevance and rigor that no other program in the world delivers.
A highlight of my career at Weatherhead was working with Paul Salipante with the nonprofit affinity group. Over two decades we collaborated with students and alumni whose research focused on making a difference in the nonprofit sector. In addition to meeting with students during the onsite residencies, we collaborated with the Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations to organize colloquial research presented by our students, alumni and faculty with well-known practitioners from the nonprofit sector involved as well. We supported the research efforts of our students by encouraging them to submit proposals to conferences, especially the annual ARNOVA conference. Those who attended that conference benefitted from broad exposure of their research while representing our program and Case Western Reserve University. We enjoyed wonderful social interactions at the conference as well.
My time at Case allowed for connections with every student in the program over the last 20 years, getting them off to a good start with their research studies by assisting them with their proposal submissions to the Case Institutional Review Board (IRB). This was at times a difficult process because of the complexity of the research submission process, but we always got through it. I’m sure many of our alumni remember me saying that I did a “happy dance” when their IRB approval came through!
There is nothing as constant as change and our programs and people are shining examples of positive change. I was privileged to work with world renowned faculty in our programs and CWRU at large. I had the pleasure of working with hundreds of students in our programs with continued interaction with our esteemed alumni. Weatherhead’s staff is beyond compare and who keep the engine running smoothly. My connections to creative and innovative staff throughout the University were invaluable to getting the job done.
I came upon a quote recently that says, “Memories of happy experiences — especially ones that involve social interaction — seem to benefit people because they reshape how we see ourselves for the better” (Author unknown). How true this is for me and my experience at the University. Research has been done on why people stay in their jobs. It’s really not about the money or material things; it’s often about satisfaction and being able to make a difference. That’s true for me. But, more than anything else, it was about the people I worked and learned with. Thanks to all of you for giving me that opportunity.
