{"id":13392,"date":"2022-12-01T00:25:54","date_gmt":"2022-12-01T08:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/?p=13392"},"modified":"2026-03-04T13:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T21:04:08","slug":"phd-corner-directors-message-december-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/2022\/12\/01\/phd-corner-directors-message-december-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"PhD Corner \u2013 Director\u2019s Message \u2013 December 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Victor
Victor Pimentel at WSU. (Courtesy photo)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Dear friends,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf it weren\u2019t for WSU, I might have ended up in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These striking words from Victor Pimentel, a 2016 PhD graduate in operations and management science, reflect the transformation he feels the Carson College doctoral program<\/a> provided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In spring 2011, Victor was struggling financially and had a troubled background. In his mind, he had few useful skills to offer, and he was deeply concerned about providing for his six-month old daughter. At that time, the WSU Graduate School hired Davina Hoyt to assist in its diversity recruiting efforts. Davina identified Victor and encouraged me for months to offer him admission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victor had a bachelor\u2019s degree from the University of Texas at El Paso, but his test scores were quite a bit lower than we usually accept, and his limited math background was a particular concern for the faculty. Nevertheless, Davina insisted that Victor had \u201csomething special.\u201d After meeting with him, the faculty decided to give him a chance in part because as a Mexican citizen, the Mexican government was willing to fund his doctorate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon first visiting Pullman, Victor was amazed by some of the resources available to students, such as the video game monitors for recreation in the CUB. When he wasn\u2019t studying, he quickly learned to love Ferdinand\u2019s and Cougar sports, along with the occasional trip to the ski slopes. Although he struggled with a few courses early on, Victor eventually caught up mathematically and continued to make steady progress. He became a social leader of a particularly engaged cohort of PhD students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victor says that, while he learned a lot in the classroom, \u201cthe things I learned outside of the classroom were critical.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe faculty role models taught me to be humble, care for students, and take my role seriously,\u201d he says. \u201cBeing prepared is the key to anything. I used to think that I could just \u2018swing things,\u2019 but now I realize that success comes from preparation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victor recalls attending a research program in Pullman the summer before his doctoral studies began. He says that I chastised him after he said the word \u201cbadass.\u201d I told him that we would never let him teach in front of students unless he used professional language and became approachable. Needless to say, I didn\u2019t hear him talk like that afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward to today\u2014after beginning his academic career at Niagara University in New York, Victor now serves as the director of the fledgling Center for Supply Chain Entrepreneurship at New Mexico State University. In just the last year, the center has accumulated more than $750,000 in grants. Organizations sponsor projects, and most projects are led by a doctoral student, who is lead author on any resulting research papers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since graduating from WSU, Victor has provided consulting advice to the parliament of Iceland, the Native American Agriculture Fund, and New Mexico\u2019s Space Port America. Victor has been in rocket simulators and met with astronauts, and he remains astounded at the opportunities that keep coming his way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told me, \u201cI never would have imagined all this after that first day in your office.\u201d Victor recently made a presentation in Mexico and was cornered afterwards by about 20 young Mexicans asking him how to get a doctorate in the United States. \u201cI can\u2019t believe that I\u2019m now a role model for potential scholars in Mexico,\u201d he exclaims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victor is also focused on \u201cpaying it forward\u201d to help students at New Mexico State University become all they can be. The university is located in Las Cruses, where 24 percent of the population lives in poverty. \u201cWe want to change that!\u201d Victor says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victor believes there\u2019s something special about WSU. \u201cThe school saved my life and gave my daughter a future,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Providing an opportunity is only half the battle. The truly successful have to seize it. Victor saw an open door and stepped through it. He made the most of his opportunity, and now he is beginning to open doors for countless others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Signature:<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Chuck Munson<\/strong><\/a>,
PhD Program Director<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf it weren\u2019t for WSU, I might have ended up in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n

These striking words from Victor Pimentel, a 2016 PhD graduate in operations and management science, reflect the transformation he feels the Carson College doctoral program provided.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":[642],"featured_media":19375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13392"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/642"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13392"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18650,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13392\/revisions\/18650"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13392"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/author?post=13392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}