By Philip A. Cola, PhD, Associate Director, Academic Affairs, DM Programs
As a board member of the Executive Doctor of Business Administration Council (EDBAC), I recently had the privilege of serving on the organizing committee for the above referenced international conference that took place in Guadalajara, Mexico this past September 8-10, 2022. The host institution this year was the Universidad Panamericana Campus at Guadalajara. They were extremely gracious hosts and it was a beautiful open campus. Many of the events were held outside under tents or in very open classrooms that gave you the feeling of being outside. The conference was attended by approximately 260 individuals with more than 200 in person at the conference. The EDBAC has 67 member institutions from all over the world and approximately 40 of those institutions were represented at the conference along with other international organizations. I served as the co-chair of the Poster Session and as faculty for the Doctoral Consortium. Joshua Gerlick, one of our PhD students, co-chaired the Poster Session as well and he did an excellent job to ensure the success of that session. I wish to express my gratitude and appreciation to Josh for all the work that he did. The Doctoral Consortium consisted of 56 students and 19 faculty spread across nine groups and we met for day-long hybrid sessions on Thursday, September 8, 2022. Weatherhead was extremely well represented by the following five students:
- Seyi Ajayi – Implementing ESG Principles in Corporate Organizations Factors Affecting the Adoption of Social Programs in Organizations
- Donna Contat - Remote/Hybrid Teams Impact on Durable Goods New Product Development
- Justin Ribeiro – Leadership Effect on Diffusion of Innovations Developed within Agile Software Development Teams
- Dalithia Smith - Advancing African Americans: Securing the C-Suite in Corporate America
- Carl Watson - Transformation Leaders, Form-Giving, and Organizational Adaptive Capacity: Strategy Implementation through Enduring Design Performance
Carl Watson earned an award for Best Paper at the Doctoral Consortium and we made a formal announcement to him and his cohort, embarrassing Carl, at our most recently completed in-person residency in October. Additionally, Donna Contat was a runner up for Best Paper and we were also able to surprise her with that announcement to her and her cohort. We are all very proud of the students who represented Weatherhead with dignity and class through their relevant and rigorous research. Our programs clearly remain a leader in this space of doctoral education programs in management. I have found, and I think our students now understand, that people want to hear about their experiences at Weatherhead and Case Western Reserve University. It makes us all feel good when we see the respect that our program garners across the world. Our students and alumni not only have joined the community of practitioner scholars, but they have the opportunity to help lead the future of this emergent community.
Bart Morrison, Weatherhead DBA alumni, presented his research at the conference once again. He has been a frequent participant at various EMS conferences. Dalana Brand, a current second year DBA student, was also able to virtually attend portions of the conference. We want to encourage even more attendance from our students and alumni at future EMS conferences. Next year’s conference will be hosted by the University of Calgary, Haskayne School of Business in Calgary, Alberta, Canada from September 7-9, 2023. Registration will open in May 2023. Please let me know if you have questions or are interested in finding the most meaningful ways to participate. During the main conference, I co-led a panel session with Lars Mathiassen and Louis Grabowski both from Georgia State University on “Engaged Management Review: A Journal Dedicated to DBA Publications.” This was a well-attended session with a good deal of follow-up to potential authors post conference. Finally, I was honored to co-lead a brainstorming workshop entitled “Co-Creating Value for the Present and Future of your DBA Program” along with Jeanette Miller, Penn State University, Stephanie Urbas, Georgia State University, and Francesca Ferrari, University of Missouri – St. Louis. We plan to use the data from this session to drive future change and additional engagement for alumni with the EDBAC member programs and to further engagement across all participating DBA programs throughout the world. We are looking to return the conference to Europe in the not too distant future that opens up opportunities for additional international engagement. It is an honor for me to be a part of this amazing worldwide community of practitioner scholars. Please come join us, and the rest of the community, at next year’s conference in Calgary because we cannot continue to build the community without you!
