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Dean's Message

Welcome to Western Michigan University’s Haworth College of Business! The College is vibrant and thriving. The connections between our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and business community partners form both a solid foundation but also a unique springboard for innovation. This highly innovative, hand-crafted Haworth Experience is what differentiates the College from other schools of business.

As Dean, I am excited to share with you what makes our College distinct.

First, we focus on students and their development as learners, skilled business professionals and people. Students are taught by expert faculty who get to know each student personally. Often, students are invited to conduct research with faculty, and the College offers a host of experiential learning opportunities from externships and internships to study abroad experiences to project-driven courses.

Our academic programs are extremely strong, providing necessary foundational business skills as well as specialized education in a variety of relevant functional areas. When our students graduate, they are ready to work and immediately add value to an organization. They know where to begin, the questions to ask, how to work as part of a team, how to lead, and how to see their individual role and the bigger picture. In fact, several of our students and programs have been recognized this year. Here are just a few highlights:

• Our Telecommunications Information Management Program (a joint program with the College of Arts and Sciences) was named the #1 TIM Program in the country.
• The Integrated Supply Management Program is ranked 12th nationally—tied with Stanford and Maryland.
• Two students received prestigious Richter scholarships, a national award for Integrated Supply Management students.
• A team of five students placed 4th in the EdVenture Partners National Case Study Competition. This is the eighth consecutive year that students have placed in the top ten in this competition.
• The Society for Excellence in Human Resources won a Superior Merit Award, a national award for student chapters, from the Society for Human Resource Management. This is the fourth year in a row that our chapter has received this award.
• The annual Food Marketing Conference broke its own attendance record again, and the Food and Consumer Package Goods Program is consistently ranked as one of the best in the country.
• WMU’s team won the International Telecommunications Education and Research Association National Case Study Competition for the second consecutive year.

Our success is built on unparalleled industry partnerships. Because of our strong base of alumni and business community support, we are able to offer students the very best in hands-on learning. They manage investments, participate in audits, work with brand managers, design business intelligence tools, create business process plans and so much more.

Uniquely, our students have access to all of these learning opportunities in an atmosphere where relationships matter. I am proud to say that the Haworth College of Business is truly a family – a family that supports and celebrates the many successes of its students.

I invite you to contact me at any time with feedback or thoughts or to learn more about connecting with the Haworth College of Business.

Sincerely,

Kay Palan, Ph.D.
Dean, Haworth College of Business
269-387-5050
kay.palan@wmich.edu