Dr. Janet Hartley leads international Decision Sciences Institute

Dr. Janet Hartley, a professor of management at Bowling Green State University, has begun her term as president of the Decision Sciences Institute (DSI). She was elected last year to lead the professional organization of more than 2,200 academicians and practitioners worldwide. 

In November, the institute will return to New Orleans, the site of its first conference in 1969, for its annual conference and celebration of its 50th anniversary. Hartley is an active, longtime DSI member, having joined the institute in 1993 as a doctoral student. Over the years, she has served in various roles on DSI committees, conference planning teams and on the DSI Board of Directors.  

The first person from BGSU and the first from a Mid-American Conference school to lead the organization, Hartley joins an elite group of past presidents from prestigious universities such as the University of Notre Dame, Michigan State University, Ohio State University, Stanford University and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. 

“We are proud to have Jan serving as the new president of DSI,” said Ray Braun, dean of the College of Business. “DSI is held in such high regard globally, and we are fortunate to have her latest leadership role bring increased visibility to our supply chain management program at BGSU. It also says a lot about the high regard that Jan’s colleagues around the world have for her.”

DSI is concerned with the application of quantitative and behavioral methods to the problems of society, with the goal of improving managerial decisions. The institute provides an international forum for presenting and sharing research in the study of decision processes across disciplines through its national, international and regional conferences, competitions and publications, which include the academic journals Decision Sciences and Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education and the newsletter Decision Line. Among DSI’s purposes is improving educational programs and instruction in the decision sciences. It also offers professional development activities and job placement services.

A specialist in supply chain management in the BGSU College of Business, Hartley has taught at the University since 1994. She served as chair of the Department of Management from 2002-10 and as director of BGSU’s Supply Chain Management Institute from 1999-2003 and again from 2010-17. 

She has published 37 refereed academic journal articles and three books. Her research has been published in the Journal of Operations Management, Journal of Supply Chain Management and the Journal of Business Research. She also serves as an associate editor for six academic journals, including the highly regarded Journal of Operations Management. The International Journal of Operations and Production Management, a top tier journal, will present her the 2019 Best Associate Editor Award at the 26th annual EurOMA Conference. 

Hartley is also highly regarded for her contributions to teaching excellence. She received the international APICS (now the Association for Supply Chain Management) Student Chapter Mentor Award twice, in 2014 and 2017, an honor presented to only one person a year. In 2017, an article co-authored with BGSU colleague Dr. Karen Eboch and BGSU alumnus Jonathan Gilberg received the Best Teaching Brief Award from the Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education. This work also received the Decision Sciences Instructional Innovation Award in 2015.

In her introductory letter to the DSI membership as president, Hartley called for the organization to continue its focus this year on its strategic goals of growing and retaining members, increasing the stature of DSI academic journals and building new and enhancing existing connections with DSI stakeholders. Further, she is working to expand the number of international chapters and is focusing on ways to increase collaboration between DSI and other academic and practitioner organizations.