Innovision Fall 2018

FALL 2018 | 33 Where were you before accepting this role at Kutztown? I was in Buffalo, a Ph.D. candidate at the time. Before coming to Kutztown, I was writing my dissertation. I finished my dissertation before coming to Kutztown, fortunately. My dissertation is about strategic management, especially innovation. Tell me the story of how you got to Kutztown? Since I’m coming from Buffalo, I don’t care about the harsh winter weather at Kutztown University. My interview was conducted at KU in March, but at the time, my first interview schedule was canceled because of the snow in Kutztown. At the time, I was heading to the Buffalo International airport, but Dr. Carolyn Gardner called me and said, “Our school is closed. You don’t have to come.” So I had to come to KU again to interview. Fortunately, I was hired. Why did you say yes to Kutztown? After getting a call from the Dean and preparing for my job interview, I read the professor’s profiles on the home pages. I found that lots of professors have outstanding performance in terms of research. So, an outstanding faculty was a factor to come to Kutztown. And I prefer a state university to the private university. What do you like most about Kutztown? The faculty is outstanding.The students have a strong commitment to the class. The most interesting thing is that KU has the Small Business Development Center (SBDC). Strategic management is strongly related to entrepreneurship and I’m interested in entrepreneurship. SAEHWA HONG Where were you before accepting your position here at KU? I was at Elon University in North Carolina at the Business school. I was teaching business statistics and business data analysis. Tell me the story of how you got to Kutztown. Last year, I was looking for a new opportunity and there’s a central organized job posting website for economics and I was searching the postings there and I saw the posting of Kutztown. I searched the Kutztown business school’s website and I learned about the University. Then I said, okay let’s apply. Was it a big decision to move from North Carolina to Pennsylvania? Yeah, it was a big decision actually because my kids went to school there and my wife was working at the hospital doing research. For me, it’s a job change from business school to another business school, but for them it’s a lot of change. They lost their friends. My wife lost her team, but she said, “It’s for good, so why not?” Why did you say yes to Kutztown? It is a good university. I came to campus and it was nice as well. I felt like I was home. People were really nice and welcoming at the business school, and it’s a nice town. I like small towns. NECATI TEKATLI