Innovision Fall 2018

32 | INNOVISION MAGAZINE NEW FACULTY Where were you before accepting your position here at KU? Before I came to KU, I was at Anderson University, which is a small college in Anderson, Indiana near Indianapolis. I was an accounting instructor there just like I am here. I taught accounting at the undergraduate, the graduate and the doctoral levels. Why did you say yes to KU? When I came here to interview, I was really impressed by the faculty that were here. They’re good people and made me feel at home. Also because of the opportunity KU would give me to do more, to kind of grow my career a little bit more and to make an impact. The third reason is, I can bring value to the school by helping the students at KU and setting them up for greater success in life. What do you like the most about KU so far? The students. Good students here who are engaged and ask good questions in the classroom. The campus just has a really good vibe at the end of the day. It feels like home. What is different about KU from where you were before? There’s a lot of differences if I’m honest with you. First of all, the size. The business school at Anderson had about 300 students total. Here, it’s 1,500 or so just in the business school. And of course, Anderson’s total population out there is 1,600. We’re over 8,000. So just the size difference is unbelievable. How would you describe your students so far? I think students here want to learn. I’m glad that they’re engaged. I’m glad that they ask great questions. I’m amazed at some of the questions I’m getting here in the classroom. I mean, challenging deep questions that I never would of saw coming. Especially for someone who’s brand new. I think a lot of times students have to build trust with their professor and that usually takes a while, but it seems like, very quickly, they are trusting me, I’m trusting them and we are growing together. I am very impressed in the students. How did your first day go? I was nervous. Surprisingly, I was really nervous. I’m starting my 15th year of teaching at the college level. You would think after 14 years, no problem, but I was actually nervous on the first day. I think that’s a good thing because that means I actually care. I wanted to do well on that very first day. What got you into this field? Back in 2004, I was working at the Merck pharmaceutical company inWest Point, Pennsylvania. I loved working for the pharmaceutical company. At the same time, I felt that Corporate America was sucking my life. It got to the point where I was like, “I don’t think this is what life is supposed to be all about.” I started sending out resumes. I sent a resume to a school inMichigan that was looking for a CFO. Obviously, they didn’t think I was qualified, but they did take my resume and they passed it onto the head of the business school there, Spring Hartford University. In June 2004, I got a phone call from a guy named Rick Wallace and he’s like, “Hi Greg, this is Dr. Wallace. I’m the Dean of the Business school at Spring Hartford University. Your resume got forwarded to me, so did your cover letter. And to be honest with you, that was probably the best cover letter I’ve ever seen in my entire life.” Then he threw this question at me, “Have you ever thought about teaching in college? You’re the kind of guy we want.” By August 2004, Rick said, “we’ll have you come out for an interview with the faculty, teach a class and see how you like it.” I went out and I loved it. I felt like I was made for that. I’m like, okay this is going to be my new career. GREG KAUFINGER “I can bring value to the school by helping the students at KU and setting them up for greater success in life.”