Dean's News & Insights
Message from the Dean
May 11, 2020
Dear students, colleagues, and friends of the COB,
It is heartening to finish the Year of the Pandemic on such a positive note. The vaccine program is a huge success and the pandemic metrics are headed in the right direction with the economy and life moving toward normalcy. We still have a way to go but it is getting better all the time!
On behalf of the COB faculty and staff, I congratulate our 246 undergraduate (BSBA and BSSHM) and 143 graduate (MBA) Business Otters on the successful completion of your degree programs. Your strength, courage, and resilience in completing your degree during the Year of the Pandemic are indeed amazing. You stand out as a truly remarkable group of CSUMB and College of Business graduates of all time. This is a terrific achievement!
I also want to congratulate our continuing students for your fortitude, flexibility, determination, and true grit in successfully making progress in your degree programs. Many of you have dealt with personal or family crises, job loss, financial hardships, and health issues during the pandemic. Some of you lost friends or family members. Yet you persevered. Your perseverance is not only a testament to your courage and resilience, it is also a tribute to friends and family who have supported you during these difficult times. We salute you and are so proud of you!
What is remarkable is how you achieved so much during this very difficult year. You increased your participation in our ACCESS student success programs to hit all-time records for participation. You won research awards and recognitions in CSUMB and beyond. You ramped up the events and activities of our seven student clubs. You interned in large numbers. You completed terrific Capstone and service learning projects with area companies and non-profits. You contributed your time and effort in helping area organizations in the process of restart and recovery during the pandemic. All while you were entirely online and faced with the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Kudos to you!
The other heroes of this tumultuous year are our indefatigable and outstanding faculty and staff. Thank you for your passion for teaching, scholarship, and service. For serving our students so well. And for making a difference in their lives, our region, and the lives of those who live here. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, never was so much owed to so many by so few!
As faculty, you did the hefty lifting of converting all your courses to fully online in just ten days. You participated in a summer-long Online Teaching Summer Institute to master online teaching. You converted your courses from iLearn to the Canvas learning platform as one team. You experimented with new course delivery platforms. You worked tirelessly to continually improve your courses, teaching, and learning. You made the quality improvements dictated by our ongoing AACSB accreditation efforts. And you published prolifically in leading peer-reviewed journals while providing outstanding and compassionate teaching and learning to our students. Thank you!
As staff, you worked tirelessly to move the entire college online in just ten days in March last year when the pandemic hit. You provided outstanding service with your hearts and souls to our students and faculty throughout the year. You took online and streamlined policies, processes, and procedures. You weathered a devastating layoff period while cheerfully providing the highest levels of service to the University and the Monterey Bay community during some really difficult times. You rock!
We are very grateful to the members of our three College of Business advisory councils (the Business Advisory Council, the Sustainable Hospitality Management Advisory Council, and the iiED Advisory Council) for your leadership, strategic advice, and for generously giving of your time and donor funds to make our students and our programs successful. We are also thankful for the support of our other generous donors, both individual and corporate. Donor-supported scholarship funds allowed our students to access emergency funds during the pandemic and win much-needed scholarships to stay in school instead of working long hours to pay for expenses. Your support also allows us to fund new programs. Thank you!
Of course, our success as a college would not be possible without the clear vision and outstanding leadership of President Ochoa, Provost Kantardjieff, and our senior administrative and academic leadership team at CSUMB, including my fellow deans and other CSUMB colleagues. You inspire us to do the best for our students, our University, and our community. Thank you!
The next academic year will be a watershed year for us at the end of which we will submit our final Self Evaluation Report for earning the prestigious accreditation of AACSB International. I look forward to the President and Provost providing us with the funding and faculty hiring support to get this task done successfully after a five-year journey of continuous improvement. I look forward to the success of our students, faculty, and staff as they continue to strive for excellence in all their endeavors. Onward and forward!
The powerful vision of responsibility that drives all of us as members of the only Responsible Business School in the country, driven by the Quintuple Bottom Line of Profit, People, Planet, Ethics, and Equity, provides us with a unique opportunity to make a real difference in making our world a better place. I see great wisdom in Steve Jobs’ statement that “If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.” Let our vision of Responsible Business pull us to ever greater heights of excellence and caring to change our world for the better. Let us seize the day. Carpe diem!
Once again, congratulations and thanks, Responsible Business Otters and members of our Responsible Community of co-workers, colleagues, and community members!
With gratitude and great hope!
Shyam J. Kamath, MBA, MA, PhD
Founding Dean
College of Business, CSUMB
Dean's News and Insights
Sustainable Hospitality Management Program Nationally Ranked by Study.com
February 25, 2021 - Study.com has ranked the Sustainable Hospitality Management Program at CSUMB's College of Business #37 in their list "2021 Best Bachelor's Degree in Hospitality Management." Hundreds of universities across the country were considered based on their academic and career resources, the quality of education, and faculty among other items.
Dr. Babita Gupta recognized as leader in Information Systems
Professor of Information Systems, Dr. Babita Gupta has been made a Distinguished Member - Cum Laude of the Association for Information Systems for her research in the industry journals and her leadership service in AIS for over a decade. The Association for Information Systems (AIS) is a. . .
College of Business Faculty Publication Highlights
Feb 2021 – The College of Business is delighted to announce Dr. Liz Adair's article acceptance at the Journal of Applied Psychology and Dr. Jenny Kuan's article acceptance at Academy of Management Review, both top-ranked journals. Dr. Adair is an Assistant Professor of Management and Dr. Kuan is an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship.
CSUMB among the Best Colleges
This is worth nothing: CSUMB has been ranked among Top 25 universities in the West!
World Class Research & Publishing by College of Business Faculty
The College of Business is delighted to announce Dr. Liz Adair's article acceptance at the Journal of Applied Psychology and Dr. Jenny Kuan's article acceptance at Academy of Management Review, both top-ranked journals. This follows Dr. Heiko Wieland's 2018 article which won the Maynard Prize award for best conceptual paper in the Journal of Marketing. Read more about the world class research and publishing by College of Business Faculty, including Dr. Scott Fausti, Dr. Shwadhin Sharma, Dr. Mohamed Abouzahra, and others.
