Schmidthorst College of Business Recognizes Students and Faculty for 2022-23 Academic Year

Matt was recognized as the top incoming student enrolled in both the Schmidthorst College and the Honors College with the Michael and Mary Lee McGranaghan Scholarship. He was also awarded the Joseph C. Weger scholarship for students in the field of emerging analytics and is a member of three honor societies including Alpha Lambda Delta, Phi Kappa Phi, and Beta Gamma Sigma.

Matt’s involvement with the Schmidthorst College of Business and the BGSU community is commendable. Joining the Information Systems Organization in his first year, he eventually became the President and oversaw its transformation to the Business Innovation and Technology Group, which advocates digital upskilling for all business professionals.  One of his most valuable roles has been providing leadership to the Schmidthorst Student Ambassador program for the past two years. As an Ambassador, Matt introduced initiatives to restructure the program, including developing a living database that formalized responsibilities and best practices to document from year-to-year. Other initiatives included a Schmidthorst College apparel store, a bi-weekly student newsletter, and community service activities. He has been a technology specialist, data assistant, and enrollment data analyst in Schmidthorst as well.

While on campus, Matt also worked as a DJ for WBGU 88.1 FM and was a drummer in the Falcon Athletic Band. In 2022, he delivered a BGSU TEDx talk showcasing a pop song data forecasting model built for his University Honors Project. Moreover, Matt studied at the University of Strasbourg, France, and traveled to ten countries across Western Europe expanding his horizons and taking advantage of the wide variety of opportunities available to BGSU students.

Regarding his professional development and career preparation, Matt has completed three internships in the public sector (Small Business Administration), industrial manufacturing (Eaton), and e-commerce (Amazon).  Matt’s hard work and determination are endless. He earned a 4.0 GPA, completed three specializations, and fulfilled all requirements to graduate with Honors.

The title of Distinguished University Professor shall be conferred upon members of the faculty already holding the rank of professor, whose professional achievements are such as to have gained them national distinction or recognition beyond the limitations of a narrow field of interest.

Associate Dean, and Chan Hahn professor in Supply Chain Management, Dr. Janet Hartley was awarded BGSU’s Distinguished University Professor honor.  The title of Distinguished University Professor is conferred upon members of the faculty already holding the rank of Professor. This award recognizes individuals who have not only had a direct impact on scholars in their fields, but in their teaching and service at BGSU.

Dr. Hartley has led a variety of graduate and undergraduate courses at BGSU and has served on dissertation committees both at BGSU and as a guest at other institutions. She has advised winning teams at Wayne State University, University of Dayton, Hong Kong Baptist University, and the Supply Chain Management Association, and regularly serves on undergraduate Honors projects at BGSU. She was co-advisor to the department’s award-winning student organization, The Supply Chain Management Association from 2010-2020.

Dr. Hartley has published 40 peer reviewed journal articles, 22 refereed published proceeding papers and 26 refereed conference presentations. This includes five publications in the Journal of Operations Management, included on the Financial Times top 50 journal list. Dr. Kenneth K. Boyer, Fisher Designated Professor, Operations and Business Analytics, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, shared in his nomination letter: “Professor Hartley has a worldwide reputation as an expert in supplier selection and sourcing practices—I would easily place her in the top 10% of all scholars worldwide.” Her co-authored textbook, Managing Operations Across the Supply Chain, is now in its 5th edition.

Regarding service, Dr. Hartley excels both on the professional and university levels. She recently received the Decision Sciences Institute, 2021 Dennis E. Grawoig Distinguished Service Award, one of the highest honors from this organization. Service highlights from recent years also include serving as Associate Dean, Schmidthorst College of Business (2020-present), Associate Editor of 4 journals in operations and supply chain management (present), President for the Decision Sciences Institute (2019-20), Trustee for the local chapter of the National Association of Purchasing Management (2010- 20) and Chapter President of the National Association of Purchasing Management (2017).

Dr. William Sawaya, Chair of the Management Department, was recognized with the Faculty Senate Leadership as a Chair Award. The award is given to recognize a department chair or school director whose leadership has contributed significantly to the University.

In her nomination, Dr. Sherry Sullivan highlighted Dr. Sawaya’s leadership in the development and successful launch of the first doctoral program in the Schmidthorst College of Business. Since the inaugural DODC cohort began in fall of 2019, the program has continued to grow, with the first graduates completing the program last summer.

Along with his regular duties managing the largest department in the college and guiding the curriculum development for the management department’s three undergraduate specializations, Dr. Sawaya was a major force behind the creation and launch of the online MBA degree program (launched in March 2020). He led the development of the online MBA’s Supply Chain Management Concentration and the newly launched graduate certificate in Supply Chain Management.