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Dividend The official online magazine of the Carson College of Business

PhD Corner – Director’s Message – August 2024

Dear friends:

University faculty need to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and skill set to thrive in their careers. While the WSU PhD program does not directly provide entrepreneurial training to its students, their four- to five-year journey forces them to develop and hone their entrepreneurial skills that will be useful in future faculty careers. These skills include enhanced problem-solving abilities, leadership and team collaboration, adaptability and resilience, opportunity recognition and innovation, and networking and resource management.

College graduates entering PhD programs encounter a number of challenges. They must learn to navigate graduate school coursework and research problems with unclear solutions. Tackling these challenges improves their problem-solving skills significantly.

Graduate students typically collaborate on research assignments, frequently leading such endeavors. In their roles as teaching assistants and instructors, they are often solely responsible for delivering course content in an engaging way. As they go, students pick up excellent leadership and team collaboration experiences.

Learning from failure is an important part of students’ PhD journey and will be a part of their professional careers. From difficulties in coursework, to teaching efforts that don’t “click,” to research project restarts, students must remain resilient and adapt for the next try.

The core of research involves identifying “gaps” in the literature, i.e., opportunities to explore unexplained phenomena. Successful researchers find those and follow up with innovative solutions.

Beginning with their first-year cohort and extending to senior students, faculty, and beyond, PhD students build their professional networks from day one. A huge component of that is attending professional conferences and meeting students and faculty from all around the world. These networks become vital as faculty careers blossom.

Some university faculty provide consulting services, and others even start their own successful companies (e.g., Ed Schweitzer III right here in Pullman). But even faculty who focus only on their professor positions essentially have an entrepreneurial job. The most successful professors create truly unique courses and learning experiences for their students. They produce cutting-edge research that pushes the boundaries of knowledge. And they work behind the scenes to improve the educational experience and create extra-curricular opportunities for their students. Faculty have the freedom to shape their work output to follow their priorities and passions. The PhD journey helps them prepare well by developing a plethora of entrepreneurial skills.

Chuck Munson,
PhD Program Director

PhD Corner – Director’s Message – March 2024

Dear friends:

This issue of the eDividend is highlighting some of the great outreach that the Carson College of Business engages in globally. However, that cultural and intellectual exchange is a two-way street. When international students and scholars come to Pullman, they bring a wealth of knowledge and international contacts with them. More than 70 percent of our current PhD students are international. And that percentage is unlikely to dip anytime soon, as more than 78 percent of PhD applications for next year are coming from overseas.

While studying abroad can be a great experience for our undergraduate students, they also get exposed right here in Pullman to teaching assistants and instructors from many different countries and cultures. It’s important for students who grew up in this state to hear different accents and to get exposed to people and ideas that may be missing in their respective hometowns. The business world is global, and college graduates should be prepared to fully engage. From my experience, Carson Cougs enjoy hearing about the different ways that business is practiced in other countries.

I’m pleased we are highlighting Cathy Jun, one of our PhD candidates who brings a wealth of multicultural insight to her teaching and research efforts. Though born in New York, she spent a significant part of her early life in South Korea, which helped developed her global perspective.

Our international PhD student connections have opened numerous doors over the years for our Carson faculty. Several students have facilitated access to foreign companies, consumers, and data to use in research studies. (For example, at least three of my own publications have incorporated overseas data obtained via current or former PhD students.) Some of our international PhD graduates who have returned home to work as university professors have hosted our faculty as speakers, visiting professors, and even as external deans. They also recruit future international students for us to send back to Pullman. And among those who join universities in the US, several have very strong connections with scholars from their countries, which has led to numerous coauthoring opportunities for them and for other WSU students and faculty. Communications are so seamless today that nobody thinks twice about having lengthy Zoom meetings with scholars from halfway around the world. Combining virtual meetings with instantaneous emails and unlimited cloud storage for file transfer allows research teams to be as productive as if their offices were right next door.

Our international PhD students and scholars fill a vital shortage of qualified US instructors at WSU and almost every other university in the country. And along the way, they provide diversity, experiences, perspectives, and international connections that enrich us all.

Chuck Munson,
PhD Program Director

PhD Corner – Director’s Message – December 2023

Dear friends:

Our student spotlight focuses on Pingping Tang, an operations and management science doctoral student who volunteered her precious time on behalf of fellow students and the local community last spring. After passing three exams to become an IRS-certified tax preparer, Pingping spent every Saturday afternoon for nine weeks volunteering for the WSU VITA program, which provides free tax assistance to students and community members earning below a specified income threshold.

Pingping rather nonchalantly told me that she believes WSU has taught its graduate students not only to work hard on developing research skills but also to take care of others in need and serve the community. In that spirit, she decided to commit to the WSU VITA program to help students struggling with their tax returns. As an international student herself, she is particularly motivated to aid international students. I am awed by such a selfless act from a student going through a challenging PhD program.

Over the years, I’ve witnessed numerous PhD students going above and beyond their expected teaching assistant roles to provide individualized help for struggling undergraduate students. Despite no specific request from their supervising professors, these PhD students will frequently provide one-on-one tutoring outside of regular office hours. I have also seen them respond to student emails at all hours of the night and on weekends. Some TAs have volunteered to provide extra help sessions or office hours prior to big exams. I’ve seen others reach out when a student seems to have “disappeared” from the course.

Not all assistance is course related. Many undergraduate students feel more comfortable opening up to their TAs than to the older, more intimidating professors. I’ve overheard many conversations over the years where our TAs are providing advice on career planning, time management, and more.

Mentorship can be a big part of the PhD student experience. Senior students provide all sorts of guidance to their juniors, ranging from which courses to take, to which faculty to seek out, and how to study for comprehensive exams. Perhaps the biggest impact comes from sharing job market experiences while these senior students obtain faculty positions across the world. These mentorship activities emerge informally, but they provide a critical mechanism for knowledge and PhD culture to be passed through the generations of students moving through the program.

Our doctoral students form a core value of giving back to others, especially via their TA work and mentoring of their younger peers. Once they become faculty and have some extra time, we see these young professors donating their academic talent to their communities in numerous ways, from coaching K-12 math teams, to acting as treasurer for the neighborhood homeowner’s association, and serving on nonprofit boards of directors. Such service commitments arise naturally because the role of a teacher, at any level, is to go the extra mile to help others grow and succeed—one student at a time.

Chuck Munson,
PhD Program Director

PhD Corner – Director’s Message – August 2023

Dear friends:

This summer, my family and I are spending time in Busan, South Korea, enjoying the beautiful Gwangalli Beach and other sites. By the way, if you’re ever there on a Saturday night, the drone show is out of this world!

Speaking of drones, I’m pleased to introduce you to the work of Amirhossein Moadab, a doctoral student studying operations and management science. Our feature article describes his efforts to harness the potential of aerial drones to deliver swift assistance to those in need of humanitarian aid after natural disasters or other crises. He’s no stranger to the devastating impact of natural disasters, having experienced severe earthquakes in his home country of Iran when he was a young boy. Moadab is using his industrial engineering background and WSU training in operations and management science to help save lives. He also has a forthcoming research paper in which he proposes a mathematical model geared at enhancing the supply chain network for COVID-19 PCR diagnostic tests.

Moadab is just one example of how Carson doctoral students develop technology and business insights for social good. Another is the work of operations and management science doctoral student Shirin Shahsavand, who is highlighted in the PhD Corner achievements section. She received third place in the communication and political science category of the GPSA Graduate Research Exposition this past spring. Shahsavand is exploring the fast fashion industry and some retailers’ efforts to provide monetary incentives for customers to return used clothing to stores for recycling rather than sending their clothing to the landfill.

Back in Korea, it feels so safe to walk around Korean cities, day or night, which causes me to ponder the rising homelessness, pervasive drug addiction, and other issues that are impacting cities in our nation and world. It’s time for more of us, collectively, to get involved. With donor support and seed funding, I’m confident Carson doctoral students and faculty possess the talent to develop new models that can not only improve business practices but also impact larger humanitarian efforts such as emergency services, sustainable housing, food security, basic health care, and drug rehabilitation.

If we work together, Washington State University can be the leading source of insights for social good through the study of business and power of community.

Chuck Munson,
PhD Program Director

PhD Corner – Director’s Message – March 2023

Dear friends,

As we reflect on the first graduating class of The Next Carson Cougs, we are reminded that Carson PhD students play a significant role in their journey. From teaching assistant duties to serving as the sole instructor for courses, our doctoral students impact the undergraduate student learning experience greatly. To support that responsibility, all PhD students take a teaching course and have the opportunity to participate in a number of teaching development activities sponsored at both the college and university levels. And to ensure a quality learning experience, all international teaching assistants must pass an oral English teaching examination before being allowed to teach courses on their own.

An important element in the revised undergraduate curriculum has been the introduction of the Carson Career Amplifier Program designed to enhance career readiness. As a member of the curriculum revision task force at the time, I supported this major new requirement. Employers have been sending a clear message that college graduates from all over the country have been lacking critical “soft skills” that lead to long-term successful professional careers.

While not quite as formalized, our PhD program has similar soft skill requirements. People often think of PhD holders as highly technical individuals with deep knowledge about a particular subject, but that skill set is hardly enough to land a coveted professor job at a university. While technical skills may help get a research paper published, the daily life of a professor is often filled with soft skill activity, from teaching courses to contributing to meetings, writing recommendation letters, chairing committees, advising students, and communicating research results.

A big part of the PhD job market process involves the hiring faculty attempting to determine if the candidate would be a good fit for the department. Will the candidate teach effectively, become an active contributor in service activities, and get along well with students, staff, and faculty? Nobody is interested in hiring new professors who will be locked in their office all day long, no matter what level of research is being produced.

After four to five years of working informally with faculty mentors to build professorial qualities, our PhD students partake in several formal soft-skill development opportunities. First-year students take Research and Professional Development, a colloquium where they learn about preparing an academic vita, being a good college citizen, time management and working with coauthors, university service activities, and interviewing tips, along with several sessions on research and teaching. Every semester, we have each PhD student make a formal research presentation in front of a peer group and receive constructive feedback on presentation skills. The teaching course is usually taken during the second year. Finally, the Carson College has begun offering weekly “Lunch and Learn” sessions covering a wide variety of topics important for university faculty, and the WSU Graduate School offers a series of soft-skill sessions as part of its professional development initiative.

By the end of year five, we believe that most of our students have transformed into well-groomed professionals suited for faculty roles at universities around the world.

Chuck Munson,
PhD Program Director

PhD Corner – Director’s Message – August 2022

Dear friends,

Academic conferences represent the single best way to disseminate current research and personally connect with colleagues from around the world. At this stage in my career, the best part about conferences is the opportunity to meet up with Cougar PhD graduates who have established their own careers at universities far and wide.

This fall, we are excited to roll out a new fellowship program for our PhD students who present their research at conferences, tapping into some of the generous donations to our scholarship funds. Sometimes, scholarships are used to attract top candidates to the program and help with their expenses once they’re here. We’re expanding the use of scholarship money to encourage and reward PhD candidates for their research by offering stipends when they present their work at academic conferences. Students will be able to receive up to three stipends for presenting different papers during three academic years.

Conferences are typically organized by our professional societies, such as the Academy of Management and the Financial Management Association. Several hundred up to 10,000 attendees gather. Most are academics, but some conferences also appeal to industry professionals. The typical conference lasts for three to five days. Each day is packed with plenary sessions, workshops, company tours, and parallel sessions that focus on a specific research subject.

Typically, research paper presentations last about 20 minutes, which is long enough to share the work’s main points and include some detail. Sometimes the room is full, while other times the presenters end up just presenting to each other.

Often, the most valuable parts of these sessions are the 15-minute breaks. Interested scholars frequently strike up conversations with presenters or other audience members and begin connections that can lead to official collaborations down the road. I find these between-session discussions more productive for networking than showing up at a huge reception and randomly striking up conversations.

Presenting their research is great experience for PhD candidates, and students often receive valuable feedback from audience members. Every now and then, presenting leads directly to a job opportunity from the school of an impressed audience member.

We expect students to take advantage of this fellowship opportunity and increase the volume of Carson College research presented at conferences. Over time, this will result in an increase in journal paper submissions from our students, more journal publications, and even better job placement opportunities for them.

Especially during this inflationary period, we don’t want travel costs to hinder students’ participation at conferences. Thank you to our wonderful donors for making these opportunities possible!

Chuck Munson,
PhD Program Director

PhD Corner – Director’s Message – March 2022

Dear friends:

In the midst of taking rigorous PhD courses in theory, research methods, and statistics, each spring our first-year students get a bit of an academic “break” in their Research and Professional Development course. This one-credit required course exposes students to some of the expectations, responsibilities, and challenges that professors face.

As the PhD program director, I run some of the sessions, but most other sessions invite faculty and associate deans from the Carson College as guest speakers. We believe it’s very important for our students to get exposed to views and people from outside of their home departments. These faculty volunteer their time to help prepare future generations of professors.

Several sessions cover academic research, including the paper review process, time management and working with coauthors, plagiarism and ethics in academia, and publishing in top journals. Presenters provide research tips while also conveying the scope of the process. Similar to a professional athlete being drafted by the pros, earning a PhD is only the beginning of the research journey. Professors have to “prove themselves on the court” regularly to remain relevant and in the academic research “game.”

The course also features sessions on teaching. These sessions provide an excellent preview and complement to the three-credit teaching course students typically take in their second year. Topics include preparing good lectures, teaching cases, motivating and engaging students, teaching large classes, and teaching in the online environment. One clear message is that different teaching styles and techniques can all be successful—there is not one right way to teach a class.

We also hold several sessions on topics other than teaching and research, beginning with how to prepare an academic vita. We also discuss the extremely important faculty role of service, both for the university and the profession. In fact, one requirement of the course is for students to provide several service hours to the college during the semester. In April, we offer a session on being a good college citizen, followed by an interviewing tips session. At the end of the semester, graduating students who have received job offers share their interviewing experiences with first-year students during a panel discussion. While the interview process may seem far off for first-year students, the takeaway from the final two sessions is that successful job placements tend to come to those who start preparing for the job market early in their program.

We hope that the varied sessions in this course help our students get through their program and have a leg up on their future in academia. Nobody ever said getting a PhD is easy, but the rewards are worth the journey.

Chuck Munson,
PhD Program Director

PhD Corner – Director’s Message – December 2021

Dear friends:

I always enjoy WSU alumni events where former Cougs gather to reminisce and support the university. Carson College of Business PhD graduates often maintain especially strong connections not only with their classmates, but their faculty members as well. A student’s “academic family” is formed during the PhD years and often remains tight throughout his or her career.

Graduates often continue to publish papers with their dissertation chair and other Carson College faculty long after they leave the program. Some of these papers are continuations of research started here, while others are brand new initiatives. Such collaborations, especially early in a graduate’s career, can greatly enhance prospects of earning tenure. As junior faculty members, our graduates are expected to begin developing their own independence from their PhD advisors; nevertheless, a steady flow of collaboration can significantly increase their research output.

Professional relationships are maintained in a variety of other ways. Annual academic conferences represent a great way to reconnect with alumni. In fact, seeing former doctoral students has become my single favorite part of attending such events. In recent years, we have had several WSU reunion meals, which have even brought different “generations” of graduates together. These connections can lead to tangible outcomes, such as referring students to each other’s programs, providing recommendation letters for job applications, obtaining editorial assistance, and sharing teaching ideas and resources. Once faculty like me get old enough, we even talk about “academic grandchildren,” i.e., the PhD student of my PhD student.

For many parents with children, the emphasis over the years shifts from caring less about themselves to caring more about their kids. I have found the same to be true with my “academic children.” I find most of my research efforts are now geared toward helping current students with their research projects and helping former students continue to publish. I actually haven’t started my own research project in a number of years—and that suits me just fine. At this point, seeing them succeed brings me much more satisfaction.

While I feel strongly about the several thousand Coug alumni whom I have had the privilege to teach over the years, PhD graduates hold a special place in my heart. I can’t wait until our next post-pandemic live conference to see them again!

Chuck Munson,
PhD Program Director

PhD Corner – Director’s Message – August 2021

Dear friends:

We’re so thrilled to welcome our 14 new and 47 returning PhD students to campus. After working from home for 16 months, it’s great to be back in Todd Hall! Of course, it’s not so much the building itself as the students, faculty, and staff inside. While Zoom helped us maintain communication tremendously, it’s still not the same. Making an appointment to chat through the computer is not the same as knocking on a door or seeing someone in the hallway.

We’re fortunate in the Carson College of Business that a lot of our research can be conducted from an office (even the “good old days” of PhD students stuck in the library late into the night have been replaced with electronic versions of journals and books.) As a result, many of our students continued to make outstanding progress during the pandemic, culminating with the awarding of nine new doctoral degrees this past spring and summer. Nevertheless, the temporary closing of the Center for Behavioral Business Research lab caused significant disruption to student progress, and we are pleased that it is up and running again.

The other major missing piece during the pandemic was the myriad of informal conversations that occur during normal times. The importance of being able to share ideas with classmates or simply to converse with them cannot be overstated. Certainly, when I was a student, sharing joy and pain in real time was so important to my psyche. And when my advisor wanted to see me, he wanted to see me now. His every bit of advice, however painful at times, was invaluable to my progress.

Now that I’m on the other side of that relationship, I very much want to see my advisees regularly. I think it’s important to keep encouraging them to make progress, but I have also found that informal conversations over lunch or in the hallways often lead to breakthrough research ideas. From my experience, many little conversations lead to more creativity than one major brainstorming session.

Moving forward, an unintended consequence of COVID-19 is a plethora of ideas for business research focused on managing organizations during pandemics or other major disruptions. (I’m working on two such projects myself.) From supply chains, to working from home, to surviving in the hospitality industry when nobody is traveling, many new issues have arisen that are ripe for deep study. Ideally, several of our own PhD students will examine some of these issues so that during the next pandemic (perhaps in another 100 years?), organizations will be better able to adapt nimbly. Sometimes out of tragedy, opportunity emerges.

Chuck Munson,
PhD Program Director