Chamu Sundaramurthy, Ph. D., Professor and Department ChairI am writing to share a few of our department’s accomplishments over the last academic year. In addition to serving 7,000+ business students, the department provides special programs for 1,400+ students majoring in management, which includes specializations in entrepreneurship, human resource management, and general management. I am also delighted to share that in 2023, our entrepreneurship program was ranked by U.S. News and World Report as the 13th best program offered by public universities. We are also looking forward to the next academic year, when we will host the first Culture Forum, an event in partnership with the business community that emphasizes the “human side of business.”
Finally, after having the honor and privilege of serving as department chair for five years, I will be stepping down at the end of July 2023. I am happy to announce that Dr. Beth Chung, an accomplished scholar and teacher with 20+ years of service at SDSU, will take over stewardship of the department in August.
Management Department Advisory Board Highlights:
Actively engaged management department advisory board
Actively engaged advisory board, chaired by Stan Sewitch (‘76), continues to offer career advice and significantly expand paid internships and job opportunities for students majoring in management.
The department is hosting the Culture Forum, a two-day conference for CEOs on creating highly engaged, positive, and high-performing organizations. The forum is co-designed by Garry Ridge, recently retired CEO of WD-40 Company, Stan Sewitch, entrepreneur and former CHRO of WD-40 Company, Davin Salvagno, founder of PurposePoint, and management professor Chamu Sundaramurthy. The conference will be held on October 24-25 on SDSU’s campus.
Culture Forum, October 24-25, 2023
Curriculum Enhancements & Innovations:
Student teams and the instructor of the Venture Launch course, Kim King, visit Professor Youssef’s lab
Student teams had the opportunity to engage in the entrepreneurial process in the Venture Launch Course (MGT 470)—the course was offered for the first time in spring 2023 as part of the newly launched entrepreneurship certificate program. Students worked with engineering professor George Youssef’s lab and SDSU’s Technology Transfer Office to assess the applicability of the lab technology in different industry segments.
The pilot course, “Lean Start-up Applications to National Security Challenges,” gave students opportunities to solve real-world national security problems related to healthcare, smart cities, autonomous systems, and cybersecurity. The course has been approved to be offered on a regular basis, which will strengthen SDSU’s partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense.
Winning BA 404 student team and SCORE mentor Steve Griffin, Spring 2023.
The partnership with Urban Poverty and Business Initiative, which promotes programs across the country to help the poor start and grow their businesses, enabled students in Small Business Consulting (BA 404) to work on real-world projects and understand the empowering potential of entrepreneurship. Student teams were mentored by retired professionals and presented their work at the end of the course to them.
Costco Mira Loma site visit (Sept. 2022): MGT 401 interns and Pat Gaffney (Costco Manager)
Costco Wholesale piloted an internship program specialized for students in the Management Internship course (MGT 401). The program offers paid internships as well an opportunity for interns to apply for the company’s supervisor training program after completing their internships. We are exploring similar specialized internship programs with companies like Cintas and WD-40.
The Master of Science in Global Business Development (MSGBD) students taking Seminar in International Entrepreneurship & Business Development (MGT 748) in spring 2023 successfully completed five virtual consulting projects with companies from New Zealand, UK, Italy and Tunisia. They honed their business development skills across diverse fields such as beekeeping technology, vegan ice-cream, and coaching. For their consulting capstone, the students traveled to Costa Rica, where they worked on an assignment with DICOMA, Central American construction, refrigeration and sustainable energy multinational.
MSGBD students and faculty advisor, Martina Musteen, at the DICOMA site in Costa Rica, Summer, 2023.
Students enrolled in the Master of Science in Global Business Development (MSGBD) will also have a chance to put their knowledge to practice as a result of collaboration with Sempra Energy, a Fortune-500 multinational corporation. The collaboration entails paid internship positions associated with global joint venture and sustainability management. In addition, it will also include consulting projects for students taking MGT 710 (Seminar in World Business Environment) class.
Kekoa Brehm, majoring in management with a specialization in entrepreneurship, won the 2023 Zahn Spirit of Innovation Award and received a cash award of $25,000 from Peter Zahn, CEO of Futures Unbound.
Julie Seely specializing in Human Resource Management was named the 2023 Outstanding Student in Management.
Charlie Sallee was chosen for his leadership and involvement on campus by faculty, staff, and alumni as one of 10 Homecoming Royals candidates at the first homecoming in the newly-constructed Snapdragon Stadium.
SDSU SHRM current students, alums & faculty advisor, Michelle Dean at the 10 + year anniversary celebration, April 29, 2023.
SHRM SDSU received the 2023 the Outstanding Organization Award from SDSU Associated Students.
SHRM SDSU was one of four student chapters that was chosen across the U.S. to pilot a Campus Program Strategy to increase awareness of the HR profession with resources and support from national, state, and local SHRM partnerships.
Elias Tchapadarian, specializing in entrepreneurship, gleans valuable insights into the coffee market from his internship.
Ben Freeman, majoring in management, finds joy in music and as the newest member of the Marching Aztecs marched in the band’s halftime show at the Snapdragaon stadium.
Jeweliana Perez, a student-athlete specializing in entrepreneurship aspires to leverage her passion for business and sports as a future entrepreneur.
Lamont Butler, who is majoring in management/entrepreneurship, shines during the Final Four championship and propels SDSU to the national championship game.
Distinguished Management alumnus, Andy Esparza received the 2023, Fowler College of Business Council Outstanding Alumni Award.
Management alum Cameron Stacy (2015) received the 2023 Rising Aztec Award.
Check out interviews with a couple management alums: Tiffany Gil (’21, Entrepreneurship) and Angelica Correa (’13, Human Resource Management).
Management Faculty Accolades:
2023 Management Department holiday gathering.
The department faculty collectively published over 80 articles over the last five years, with 11 of them published or accepted for publication this year in leading journals such as Journal of Management, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Organizational Behavior, and Journal of Business Research, among others.
Beth Chung’s research on enhancing leader inclusion in the Human Resource Management Review which was also listed in the Honor Roll of Responsible Research in Business and Management.
Management faculty serve as members of 20+ journal editorial boards and contribute as Associate Editors to the Journal of World Business and Journal of Small Business Management.
Alex DeNoble and Mujtaba Ahsan at the 2023 CEEC.
Under the executive leadership of Alex DeNoble and with the engagement of several management faculty, the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center hosted its ninth annual California Entrepreneurship Educators’ Conference (CEEC). The conference founder, Alex DeNoble, who is retiring after 40 years of service at SDSU passed on the stewardship of CEEC to Mujtaba Ahsan, the incoming Faculty Director of the Lavin Center. The 2024 conference (April 17-20, 2024) themed “Empower” will focus on entrepreneurship and innovation for creating positive change and economic growth.
Welcomed in fall 2022 two new management faculty: Yue Song (Entrepreneurship), Yun Dong Yeo (International Strategy). In fall 2023, we will be welcoming Jessi Rivin (Organizational Behavior).
Jeremy Bernerth received the 2021 Best Reviewer Award from the Group and Organization Management journal and an Assigned Time Award for Research from the SDSU Office of the Vice President of Research and Innovation.
Michelle Dean, was awarded the 2023-24 Alumni Association Award for Outstanding Faculty contributions to the University. She also received three other awards: 2023 Mortar Board Outstanding Faculty Award, honored by Mortar Board member, Marcos Rios-Laurenzana; 2022-23 Best Faculty Involvement Award, Fowler College of Business Council; and the 2023-24 Assigned Time Award for Exceptional Service, Faculty Advancement and Student Success.
Ami Doshi, with colleagues in geography and at the Ensenada Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education (CICESE) received a seed grant from SDSU’s Division of Research and Innovation for her project “Water Across Borders.”
Dan Eaton received the 2022-23 Most Influential Faculty Award, honored by the outstanding undergraduate student in management, Julie Seely.
Parisa Haim Faridian received the 2022 Best Reviewer Award from the journal Industry and Innovation. She also received a seed grant from SDSU’s Division of Research and Innovation to support her project on open innovation.
Martina Musteen received the 2022-23 Most Influential Faculty Award, honored by Mellissa Kolenovic, the Valedictorian from the 2022 graduating class of the Master of Science in Global Business Development program (MSGBD). She also served as a Conference Track Chair for the 2023 Academy of International (AIB) conference.
Lori Ryan received the 2022-23 Most Influential Faculty Award, honored by the outstanding graduate student in the Master’s in Financial and Tax Planning program.
Justin Wiegand received a seed grant from SDSU’s Division of Research and Innovation to support his research on skills fit, interest fit and job performance.
Over the last five years, it has been gratifying to report annually on our department’s many accomplishments. As I pass the baton, I am confident that we are poised for even higher levels of success in the coming years!
Chamu Sundaramurthy, Ph. D., Professor and Department Chair
