It is not unusual for the professors in UDM's College of Business Administration (CBA) to have more responsibilities than instructing classes and meeting with students who need extra guidance. They often hold positions of high regard within academic associations that lead to experiences that they incorporate into interesting and useful classroom studies. The following professors are just a few examples of those who enrich the lives of their students because of their own desire for acquiring knowledge and broadening their horizons.

Mary Ann Hazen

Associate editor of academic journal

When she's not teaching Business 1500 to freshmen or MBA 5210 (Personal Development and Social Responsibility) to students pursuing a master's degree, Professor Mary Ann Hazen puts on her associate editor's hat for the Journal of Management Education.  Hazen has been a fan of this academic publication, founded 35 years ago, since the 1980s. While she communicates mostly online with the editor and other associate editors, the staff does gather at an annual teaching conference for meetings and to facilitate sessions hosted by the Journal.

Business Professor Mary Ann Hazen conferring with students.

As an associate editor, Hazen reads articles submitted to the publication by authors, usually other management instructors, who want to be included in the Journal. Hazen influences the editorial process, asks the critical questions and sends the manuscript to reviewers if she believes an article has promise.

"The articles need to have an impact on learning" says Hazen. "The journal's mission is to enhance teaching and learning in the management and organizational disciplines."

The articles can be more than 20 pages long so the review procedure can take several rounds with reviews and revisions by the author until it becomes suitable for print.

Hazen says she has implemented several ideas from the journal for different practices she uses in the classroom.  A recent article impacted her approach to this fall's MBA class.

"I have always wanted to better integrate the personal and the societal aspects of the MBA class," says Hazen. "I am excited about implementing some ideas from a recent Journal article by a sociologist that will assist with the way students integrate their service learning experiences with the course content."

Suk Kim

Editor and researcher of North Korean Review

Professor of Business Administration Suk Kim

Suk Kim's influence in the CBA extends beyond the classroom where he teaches financial management, corporate finance and international finance. His editor position with the journal North Korean Review (NKR), published twice a year by McFarland Publishers in North Carolina, has enabled him to raise money in the name of the school and generate publicity for UDM in the academic community.

"I know a few more students came to our school from Korea," says Kim. "North Korean Review has stimulated my intellectual curiosity and drawn upon my talents as a researcher and author, which make me a better classroom instructor."

Kim's duties at NKR include a process of coordinating between article contributors and reviewers, accepting and rejecting papers and sending the accepted papers to the publisher.

Along with editing the NKR, Kim's research on North Korea involves organizing seminars and writing monographs (scholarly essays) for which he has acquired notoriety among academics in the United States, South Korea, and other East Asian countries.

As a Korean American and a business scholar, Kim says working on NKR and its various components has been a project he strived to make a reality since arriving on campus in 1977. Opportunity presented itself in 2003 and now Kim's dedication and hard work paid off, when on Oct.12, Thomson Reuters announced the selection of North Korean Review (NKR) for inclusion in the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI).

"Many fine journals have been in existence for decades but have yet to be chosen for indexing in the prestigious SSCI.  NKR made it in just five short years," says Kim.

The mission of NKR, the only English-language journal in the world that focuses on North Korea, is to provide a forum for greater understanding of North Korean internal affairs and external relations with the United States and other countries.

Gregory Ulferts

Executive director of International Association of Jesuit Business Schools

Gregory Ulferts, professor of decision and systems sciences at UDM's College of Business Administration, integrates the data and experiences he gains from his position as the executive director of International Association of Jesuit Business Schools (IAJBS) into his classroom, especially when he returns from an overseas trip. The association develops networks across the world that provide for communication, the sharing of best practices, and the development of cooperative relationships.

"The association allows me to speak to global situations," says Ulferts. "Generally, it allows faculty to access faculty worldwide; students to access students worldwide; and alumni to access partnerships worldwide."

Business Professor Gregory Ulferts in class.

Recently, Ulferts traveled to Fujen Catholic University in Taiwan (an IAJBS school with a joint program with UDM) where he and a Taiwanese faculty member taught an MBA class to Taiwanese students. Ulferts says he returned to work with a fresh perspective on global technological issues as it relates to the courses he instructs.

"The benefits come from the faculty gaining different perspectives on how to communicate and learning new ways to communicate," says Ulferts.

During the summer Ulferts attended the IAJBS world forum on sustainable development. "Personally, such forums give me a global perspective in my understanding of different cultures rather than just an American perspective," he adds. "I hope I bring that to my classes."

Beyond IAJBS, Ulferts' leadership role as executive director of Alpha Iota Delta, the international honor society in the decision sciences and information systems, increases his insight on student relations and developing them as future business professionals. The group inducts students into the honor society who demonstrate excellent academic achievement, campus leadership and service. The Alpha Iota Delta assists the student members with continuing education and finding job opportunities.

Ulferts affiliation with the Business Leadership Network of Michigan, an organization that assists with the evaluation of workforce development pertaining to the disability movement, adds yet another dimension to his career as one of UDM's highly qualified faculty members.