Debbie Compeau

Debbie Compeau was appointed interim dean of Washington State University’s Carson College of Business on July 1, 2023. She leads the college in its endeavor to be the model school of business for tomorrow’s land-grant university.

Compeau is dedicated to continue elevating the college as the first choice for business education in the Pacific Northwest. She strives to implement active learning methods, especially case-based learning, as one of the college’s points of distinction.

Prior to her appointment, Compeau was the college’s senior associate dean for faculty affairs and research. She is passionate about building the college’s reputation as a regular contributor of rigorous and influential research to academic disciplines and being recognized as the leading source of research insights and critical thinking about business.

Compeau’s own research seeks to understand and address complex issues related to the adoption, implementation, and use of information technologies in organizations, particularly health care organizations. She has taught information systems at the undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral levels, with a particular focus on IT strategy. She is an active case writer and case teacher and has conducted workshops on teaching with cases in the US, Canada, France, and Germany.

Compeau holds the Hubman Distinguished Professorship of Information Systems and is a Fellow of the Association for Information Systems. Prior to joining WSU, she held faculty positions in Canada at Western University (2000-2015), the University of Calgary (1998-2000), and Carleton University (1991-1998). She earned her doctorate in information systems from the Ivey Business School (Western University).

Compeau grew up in Canada and met her husband, Joe Compeau, at college. Joe is a professor in the Carson College’s Department of Management, Information Systems, and Entrepreneurship. They moved to the Palouse in 2015 to join WSU.