Chuck Munson, professor of operations management, is the PhD program director. During his 27 years on faculty in the college, he has won the college’s outstanding research award, teaching award, and service award as well as receiving WSU’s highest teaching award. Prior to becoming director, Munson served as the PhD coordinator for the operations and management science program for many years. Read the director’s message.
PhD Corner
# of PhD Students
53
# of PhD Faculty
88
Our PhD Students Come From 10 Countries
China
Ghana
Greece
Mexico
Nepal
Nigeria
Taiwan
U.S.A.
Zambia
85%
of graduating PhD students recommend the program to others
100%
of graduating PhD students are employed within six months of graduation
Student Spotlight
Meet Amirhossein Moadab
As a young boy growing up in Iran, Amirhossein Moadab experienced the devastation of earthquakes and observed suffering after resources failed to reach people in need. Today, as a doctoral candidate studying operations and management science, he aims to improve drone technology in response and recovery efforts following natural disasters.
Recent PhD Graduate Placements
at Peer or Aspirant Universities
Demi Deng (2023)
Hospitality and Tourism Management
Auburn University
Deepika Naidu (2023)
Marketing
University of Nevada
Vasilis Pavlopoulos
Operations and Management Science
University of Alabama, Huntsville
Yafang Li (2022)
Management Information Systems
University of Memphis
Carlos Torres (2022)
Management Information Systems
Baylor University
Oscar (Hengxuan) Chi (2021)
Hospitality Business Management
University of Florida
Natalie Liberman (2021)
Management
Indiana University
Sadegh Kazemi (2020)
Operations and Management Science
University of Houston
Susan He (2019)
Finance
Washington State University-Vancouver
Yunshil Cha (2019)
Accounting
University of New Hampshire
Mike Kennedy (2019)
Management Information Systems
University of British Columbia
Current PhD Student Achievements
Three Carson College doctoral students earned top prizes in the 2023 WSU Graduate and Professional Student Association Research Exposition and Academic Showcase in the business, communication, and political sciences category. From left: Ramin Sepehrirad, operations and management science, won first place and $800. Jennifer Han, hospitality and tourism management, won second place and $500. Shirin Shahsavand, operations and management science, won third place and $300. Shahsavand’s advisor Kevin Mayo, assistant professor of finance and management science, is on the right.
Adam Bross, accounting, was selected as a recipient of an IMA Doctoral Scholars Stage II grant to help with his project, “Whose job is it, anyway? The effect of the review process on employee performance,” coauthored with Assistant Professor Ryan Sommerfeldt.
Jiyoon (Jennifer) Han, hospitality business management, received $2,000 from the Korean American Scholarship Foundation and a $5,000 Sookmyung Outstanding Professional Student Scholarship to support her studies.
Cathy Jun, accounting, was selected as a recipient of an IMA Doctoral Scholars Stage I grant to help with her project, “Do Words Matter? The Effect of Recognition Narrative Quality and Prosocial Motivation on Work Effort,” coauthored with Paul Black, Auburn University, assistant professor of accounting; and Ryan Sommerfeldt, WSU assistant professor of accounting.
Shirin Shahsavand, operations and management science, was selected to participate in the FutureBAProf Workshop at the University of Iowa in August 2023.
Shahsavand was also chosen for the INFORMS “To My Younger Self” mentoring program for female doctoral students, which pairs participants with a highly successful female scholar.
Julia Stachofsky, management information systems, has received the Alice O. Rice Graduate Fellowship from the College of Arts and Sciences and the Thomas S. Foley Institute of Public Policy and Public Service.
Current PhD Students with Accepted Publications
Hui-Heng Cheng (finance) has published the following:
Wang, J. L., Huang, H. C., Chen, Y. C., & Cheng, M. H. H. “Financial Effects and Intergenerational Equity of the Pension Reform in Taiwan,” NTU Management Review (2019) 2(2): 139-172.
Wang, J. L., Huang, H. C., Yang, S. S., Chen, Y. C., & Cheng, M. H. H. (2017) “Pension Reform and Building a Sustainable Pension System in Taiwan,” Taiwan Economic Forecast and Policy, (2017) 48(1): 1-39.
Gregory Denton (hospitality) and coauthors Oscar Hengxuan Chi and Professor Dogan Gursoy published “An Examination of Critical Determinants of Carbon Offsetting Behavior: The Role of Gender,” Journal of Sustainable Tourism, (2021) 30(4): 1-23.
Chi, Denton, and Gursoy also published, “Interactive Effects of Message Framing and Information Content on Carbon Offsetting Behaviors,” Tourism Management, (2021) 83, 104244: 1-10.
Jiyoon (Jennifer) Han (hospitality) and coauthors Professor Chun-Chu (Bamboo) Chen and Yao-Chin Wang published “A Hotel Stay for a Respite from Work? Examining Recovery Experience, Rumination and Well-Being among Hotel and Bed-and-Breakfast Guests,” International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management (2022) 34(4): 1270-1289.
Amirhossein Moadab (operations and management science) has published “Designing a Sustainable-Resilient-Responsive Supply Chain Network Considering Uncertainty in the COVID-19 Era,” Expert Systems with Applications (Oct. 2023) 227, 120334: 1-16.
Moadab is also the lead author of “Drone Routing Problem Model for Last-Mile Delivery Using the Public Transportation Capacity as Moving Charging Stations,” Nature Scientific Reports, (2022) 12, 6361: 1-16.
Julia Stachofsky, management information systems, and coauthors Christian Schaupp and Robert Crossler, published “Measuring the Effect of Political Alignment, Platforms, and Fake News Consumption on Voter Concern for Election Processes,” Government Information Quarterly (2023) 40(3), 101810: 1-17.
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