Dr. Stephen Mangum, the new dean of the University of Tennessee College of Business, impressed a crowd of business and political leaders this week with his warmth and his on-target remarks at a party to welcome him to town.
Despite unseasonably cold weather, including intermittent snow, more than 100 folks wishing to extend to Mangum a warm welcome, gathered at the Knoxville Convention Center for a reception sponsored by Pilot Flying J, Covenant Health, Regal Entertainment Group and Fidelity Investments. Moxley Carmichael handled the event. Jim Haslam, chairman of Pilot Flying J and a personal benefactor of the College of Business, introduced the new dean.
Mangum, who started in his new post on March 1, said he has been spending his first few weeks on the job making his way through Stokely Management Center meeting with every member of the faculty and staff. He said he asks them all to offer input on these key questions: “Do we have the right persons on the bus? And are they in the right seats?”
The new dean said he has been very impressed by “the entrepreneur spirit of the faculty, the enthusiasm and engagement of the alumni, and the involvement of the chancellor and provost.”
He also said he has found the student body here to be impressive, if somewhat different than the one he is used to dealing with at The Ohio State University. “I’ve never been called ‘Sir’ so much in my life!” he laughed. “And I’ve never been called ‘Buddy’ so much in my life! Although, I guess that’s better than being called ‘Bubba!'”
Mangum also said he has been impressed by the number of positive announcements coming out of the College of Business almost every week. Some examples of headlines from just this month:UT’s Graduate Supply Chain Program Top-Ranked for Seventh Consecutive Year; UT Alum Mike West Receives National Award; and UT Team Wins Regional Human Resources Business Case Competition.
Mangum has been the senior associate dean of the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University since 1996. From July 2007 to April 2009, he served as the college’s interim dean. He has a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in human resource management from the University of Utah. He earned a doctorate in economics from George Washington University and he taught and conducted research at George Washington University before joining the faculty of The Ohio State University in 1983. He taught in the Department of Management and Human Resources for several years before managing the department.
Mangum said he is impressed by the sheer size of the James A. Haslam Business Building, a state-of-the-art facility that includes 34 classrooms, 35 team and presentation rooms, a financial investments laboratory, several research and corporate outreach centers, and an atrium that joins a portion of the former building with the new facility. He said the building is “one of the best-planned and forward-looking facilities of its kind anywhere in the world.”
The new dean said he thinks of the business school as a company. “We are a multi-product firm operating in numerous locations with thousands of competitors,” he said. “Our products are graduates and thought leadership.”
The University of Tennessee College of Business has over 4,000 undergraduates and 600 graduate students. It has more than 125 faculty members. Mangum said his “game plan” is to build the knowledge of the students and the thought leadership of the faculty. Those are his priorities.
He said he already has one key learning himself: “An orange tie goes with any color suit!” He’s picked out six or seven houses for his wife to consider when she joins him here in Knoxville. And he feels compelled to defend himself from folks who tease that he must have brought the cold weather with him from Columbus. “They need to learn the difference between causation and correlation,” he quipped.
Photo Credit: All pictures were taken by Gary Heatherly.
This was one of the best-ever receptions! The conviviality was amazing. We were delighted to meet Dean Mangum and were very pleased with his comments. It will be exciting to see the further development of the UT School of Business under his leadership. And–this was a “quality” welcome for him. Good job! The food was absolutely delicious, decorations beautiful and the event, of course, perfectly organized.
It’s clear that Dr. Mangum has his business model figured out; go ahead and put an “Inc.” after College of Business.
You’re right – lots of work gets done at these receptions – and Symphony business is no exception. 🙂
Bette: Thanks for coming — and for the kind remarks. Alan: You are right. I believe he does have it figured out. And Rachel: What a fun way to get business done!
We are quite fortunate to have Dean Magnum become a part of the UT family. And he’s fortunate to have the new James A. Haslam Business Building as well as the support of the community. As always, your welcoming receptions are first-class! Thanks for sharing.
Everything was top notch as usual–and definitely a great way to combine business with fun. Sam did a great job with the flowers.
Thanks, Rusha! He seems like a great guy. We loved his remarks.
Thanks for coming, Gay! I agree about Sam’s flowers. We have done so many receptions for University of Tennessee folks, that I’m always worried Sam will run out of orange-and-white ideas — but he never does!
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