Happy 2019! It’s a pleasure to introduce myself as the new Dean of the Gore School and to introduce you to our new Newsletter, which will be a regular publication of the Dean’s Office. In an effort to spread the word to everyone in the
Gore School’s community of alumni, donors, and other friends, this Newsletter will keep you updated on our faculty, staff, students, alumni, ongoing initiatives, and anything else going on in the School that we think you should know about.
I have been serving as the Dean since last July 1. Prior to working at Westminster College, I served as Dean of the College of Social Sciences & Interdisciplinary Studies and Professor of Economics at California State University, Sacramento
(CSUS). At CSUS I started a number of initiatives, the biggest involving the establishment of a downtown presence for the College I led, which now has culminated in a satellite campus for the university called “Sacramento State Downtown.”
Prior to that, I worked for 22 years at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, where I was a Professor of Economics, chaired the Department of Management, directed the Center for Economic Education, and served as the Founding Dean of the School
of Public Affairs. At St. Cloud State I led work to establish the first public policy school in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system and then served as the school’s first dean. I love starting up new things and helping them
grow. I also love being out in the community, nurturing relationships with organizations and people that benefit our students and who we can help too. I’m excited to bring these skills and experiences to the Gore School.
It is truly an honor and privilege to serve as the Dean of the Gore School. When I interviewed for this job last Spring, I was so taken with the warm and welcoming student-centric environment of Westminster. I’ve met already a lot of
highly accomplished graduates of Westminster and I think I know why so many of our alums have been wildly successful; our faculty and staff truly care about our students lives and futures. As I’ve travelled to different cities over the past
few months to meet alumni, a resounding theme I hear from them is how they treasure the relationships they built with their professors and fellow students while at Westminster, in addition to the great training they got. The Gore School is truly
a gem; never before have I worked with a faculty and staff so dedicated to helping transform students’ lives. I believe the Gore School can become the best business school at a private liberal arts college on the West Coast.
I have set five goals for my work over the next few years. First, I want to see the process of securing initial accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) completed. To that end, I am very excited to announce
that in November AACSB cleared us into the last stage for securing initial accreditation, which will involve preparation of a self-evaluation report and a site team visit. Second, like most colleges and universities around the country, we are
facing enrollment challenges. In an effort to build up our enrollments, I have d a “700 by 300” enrollment plan – 700 undergraduate majors and 300 graduate students by Fall, 2021. Third, I want to see successful implementation
of a diversity and inclusion plan. The plan was written by a school task force last semester and we will start implementation in the new year. Fourth, all the good work we want to do for our students and the community will re-quire external support,
so it’s a very high priority of mine to bring in more external funding for the Gore School through donations, grants and other kinds of revenue streams. Since starting this job, I’ve been spending a good chunk of time out in the community,
making new friends of the Gore School and getting to know friends who have supported us in the past. Finally, I feel very strongly that the high quality practical training our students get in the Gore School’s programs should be complemented
as much as possible by learning from other disciplines and perspectives. One of the reasons so many of our graduates have done so well is that they’ve received business training in a liberal arts environment, where the value of their business
education was enhanced by learning in such fields as psychology, communications, history, political science, the arts, etc. Business students should be given as many opportunities as possible to learn how to solve problems using knowledge from,
and working with people from, other fields. This is the essence of my fifth goal, which is to integrate the Gore School’s programs more deeply with the rest of the college.
I am excited to introduce some new members of the Dean’s Office team. Dr. Dax Jacobson, Associate Professor and Director of our Project Based MBA program, has joined us as our new Associate Dean starting this month. We’re very excited
to bring the Associate Dean position back and to fill it with Dax, who brings a lot of program development and administration experience, as well as energy and creativity. William Shiflett joined us in November as our new Graduate Business Programs
Operations Director. William brings a variety of experiences in higher education, most recently as Director of the Office of Student Affairs in the University of Utah’s School of Medicine. Deborah Marzano joined us last month as our new
Graduate Business Programs Coordinator. Deborah also brings a variety of higher education experiences, most recently as Academic Program Manager in the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute at University of Utah. I am thrilled to be working with these
three outstanding professionals.
I want to take the opportunity to thank my predecessor, Dr. Melissa Koerner, for her hard work, dedication, and good cheer during her three years as Interim Dean. Melissa did an enormous amount of work moving us along the trajectory towards initial
AACSB accreditation, making my job of getting us across the accreditation finish line easier. Melissa was also immensely helpful to me during my transition into the Dean’s position and I’m most grateful for that. I wish Melissa well
in her retirement.
Please let us hear from you, so send us your news and suggestions. We welcome material for this Newsletter from our readers, so please don’t hesitate to send material to Emily Mosdell, Office Manager here in the Gore School, at emosdell@westminstercollege.edu.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me too – I love to hear from our alumni and friends in the community. You can e-mail me at obodvarsson@westminstercollege.edu, call (801)832-3601,
or just stop by Gore 225. You’re always welcome! Finally, I am always grateful for any financial support for the Gore School. These are challenging times in U.S. higher education and budgets are tight. We always need help with scholarships,
professional development of our faculty and staff, development of new programs, our centers, and our facilities. I’m always happy to discuss ways you can support our work to train future leaders in business in Utah and beyond. Best
wishes for the new year!
Sincerely,
Örn
Bodvarsson
Dean & Professor of Economics