April 8, 2016
Mr. William Funk
R. William Funk & Associates
100 Highland Park Village, Ste. 200
Dallas, Texas 75205
Dear Mr. Funk and Members of the Search Committee:
I was very interested in learning about the opportunity to serve as Dean of the Monte
Ahuja College of Business at Cleveland State University. I am the Associate Dean for
undergraduate programs and a tenured full Professor at the University of Dayton. I believe the
combination of leadership experience I attained in industry (I am the former Director of ASEAN
Government Affairs at Ford Motor Company), and higher education (I have program director,
department chair, and Associate Dean experience at an AACSB-accredited business school; this
work was highlighted in the January 2016 issue of AACSB’s BizEd magazine), together with my
commitment to scholarly activity (I have published 16 scholarly articles including one this year,
as well as a leading textbook) have prepared me well to take on this role at the Ahuja College.
Please accept this letter as my confidential application.
As a second career, I am passionate about the pursuit of academic teaching, scholarship
and service as a vocation. My first career started upon graduation from law school, when I
served as in-house counsel to Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan, from 1998-2000.
After a three-month rotation to the legal office in Ford Motor Company U.K., I was appointed
Director for Government Affairs in Ford’s ASEAN regional office in Bangkok, Thailand. In
2002, after a great deal of self-examination about what really spoke to me as a human being, I
began my career at the University of Dayton’s School of Business Administration as an Assistant
Professor in Business Law. I took a leave of absence in 2006 to serve as a Supreme Court Fellow
at the Supreme Court of the United States, and became an Associate Professor with tenure in
2007. In 2010 I was appointed the Director for the International Business program. In 2013 I
was appointed the Department Chair for the Department of Management and Marketing. In
2014 I began service as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs in the School of Business
Administration. In 2015, I was promoted to the rank of Professor. I serve as an Articles Editor
to the American Business Law Journal, and will assume the role of Editor-in-Chief of that journal
in five years.
Please allow me to address how I believe I meet the preferred qualifications expressed
by the Search Committee:
•
An appropriate academic or professional terminal degree and a record of excellence
in teaching, service, and scholarship commensurate with appointment to Full
Professor with tenure in one of the college’s departments. I posses a J.D., the
terminal degree in law and recognized by AACSB as sufficient for faculty teaching
business law. I am tenured at the rank of Professor at the University of Dayton in the
department of Management and Marketing.
•
Administrative experience at least at the level of department chair or its equivalent.
At Ford, I was appointed Director for ASEAN Government Affairs and had primarily
responsibility to coordinate all government relations in the ten countries comprising the
ASEAN free trade area. At UD’s School of Business Administration (SBA), I have been
exposed to increasing levels of administrative responsibility. First, I was appointed
Program Director for the International Business major. In 2013, I was appointed the
Department Chairperson for the Department of Management and Marketing (the
department is the largest in the SBA and one of the largest at the University of Dayton).
The department has over forty full-time and part-time faculty members, three majors, a
$3.7 million annual budget, houses the Crotty Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership
and the Talarico Center for Professional Selling, and runs the University of Dayton
Business Plan Competition, Flyer Angels (a student-run angel investment fund), and a
nationally-ranked program in Entrepreneurship. During my time as department chair, I
led the department on a thorough curriculum review of all three majors that resulted in
the creation of a new major in International Business Management, creation and
strengthening of emphases within the Marketing major, and reconfiguration of the
major and minor in Entrepreneurship. I chaired or launched several faculty searches,
prepared materials for Development to seek new resources through fundraising, and
provided strategic management and leadership to department co-curricular initiatives.
In 2014, I assumed responsibilities as Associate Dean for the Undergraduate program in
the SBA. In this role, I have primarily responsibility for accreditation issues including
faculty qualifications and roles (I was the primary author of UD’s policy implementing
Standard 15 of the 2013 standards with respect to faculty qualifications), course
scheduling, student issues including managerial oversight of the student advising center
and implementation of the academic honor code, serve as ex-officio on the
undergraduate curriculum committee, and serve as SBA liaison across multiple campus
units including the honors program and the Center for International Programs. I also
serve as the Assessment Coordinator for undergraduate assessment of learning, a key
part of SBA’s accreditation with AACSB.
•
Demonstrated commitment to academic excellence, student success, and program
development. I believe firmly that at a school that balances teaching and research
equally, that excellent teaching must be a part of every faculty member’s portfolio of
skills. Although I take no pride in it, I have been part of promotion and tenure
committees that have turned candidates down with excellent research skills but poor
teaching performance. I believe our students face a complex and confusing world, and
many struggle to balance competing demands including financial ones. For that reason,
I am proud to be the author of a major legal environment textbook published by a
disruptive publisher intent on tackling the exorbitantly high costs of textbooks. The
project started with a book that was nearly free, and while the business model has
evolved the majority of the book’s customers pay less than $40 for the book. Another
example of my commitment to student success is my leadership role in implementing
the BWISE program (Business Wisdom through International, Service, and
Experiential learning), which requires students to complete two out of three cocurricular experiences in study abroad, service learning, or client-based learning.
•
A demonstrated commitment to shared governance and collaboration. The faculty
are the heart of any university. While there are many stakeholders, in my view faculty
remain the owners of the curriculum and the ultimate arbiters of quality and student
success. Shared governance forms a core part of my belief system as an administrator.
Faculty must be consulted on key and important decisions. I served two terms on our
Academic Senate and saw first-hand what happens to a faculty’s morale when
administrators act with a heavy hand – the damage can be deep and long-lasting. A
faculty that is engaged and willing to share the burden of shared governance, on the
other hand, can lead a university to new levels of excellence and innovation.
•
A demonstrated commitment to diversity in an academic setting. I believe that
people are assets and assets are things to be nurtured and cherished, not controlled or
reduced. I also believe strongly in the need for a diverse faculty body – in fact, I see it as
a competitive necessity in order to attract the very best faculty and students to the
university. I have worked on several University-wide committees examining campus
diversity, and I understand first-hand how isolating it can be for faculty who are not in
the majority to come to grips with academic life. When it comes to recruiting,
therefore, I don’t believe posting a job and waiting for applications from diverse
candidates is sufficient. In every search I have chaired, I have personally reached out to
candidates of color and women to invite them to consider applying for our job. This
strategy has worked time and time again, as my hiring record demonstrates. Of course,
hiring a diverse candidate is often just the beginning. Candidates who are not in the
majority may feel isolated or adrift in the early part of their career, and the ability to
recognize and solve these problems before they become career-inhibiting is a critical
part of any strategy to grow a diverse faculty body.
•
A demonstrated commitment to development of internal and external relationships
with stakeholders. I believe firmly in collaboration with all the stakeholders at a
modern University. Top-heavy management creates more problems than it could
possibly solve. I am familiar with the many communication traps that university
management, faculty, and students can fall into and I try very hard to avoid them. In my
current role, collaborating with the other units on campus is especially important. I
would fail in my job if I approached tasks with a winner-take-all attitude. On the other
hand, I recognize that collaboration is not a synonym for unanimity. It is often said that
the perfect is the enemy of the good, and I recognize that there are times when leaders
have to move forward with a strategy even if there is disagreement. Maintaining clear
and transparent lines of communication, along with an insistence in civil dialogue,
become even more important in these cases. This is especially true with tenured faculty,
who too easily can become “the three nasty D’s – disengaged, disenchanted, and
disenfranchised,” (a term coined by United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz). When tenured
faculty begin closing their office doors due to being any of those D’s, then leadership
must take steps to reset the circuit breaker and bring them back towards a model of
faculty governance that sees them owning the entire curriculum and its experiences.
•
A demonstrated commitment to excellence in research. I am a scholar at heart, and
continue to publish in leading and high quality law reviews including a solo piece
forthcoming in Quinnipiac Law Review. I also serve my academy as an articles editor for
the American Business Law Journal, a premier journal in business law. Through a
planned rotation, I will become Editor-in-Chief of that journal in a few years. As an
administrator, I believe strongly in rewarding faculty commitment to research at all
stages of their career. I translated this belief into policy by putting forward an academic
qualifications policy (supported by faculty) that puts great emphasis on scholarly
productivity by providing course relief.
In addition to these characteristics identified by the Search Committee, I believe my
candidacy is strengthened by the following:
•
Extensive leadership experience and demonstrated significant accomplishment in
higher educational institutions, business, government, or consulting organizations.
I started my career as in-house counsel at a Fortune Five company. My practice was
divided roughly into thirds: a third involved advising clients in the direct markets
division on all matters related to dealers and franchises, another third involved mergers
and acquisitions (negotiating and drafting transactional documents), and the final third
as the company’s primary counsel on US laws with extraterritorial impact such as the
FCPA and export controls. My career there evolved into a director position in
Bangkok, Thailand, where I spearheaded a major effort to rationalize underutilized
manufacturing facilities across Southeast Asia. My industry experience includes serving
as Supreme Court Fellow to Chief Justice John Roberts in 2006. Most recently, I was
appointed to the Board of Directors for Mikesells Inc., a privately-held potato chip and
snack food company based in Dayton, Ohio.
•
A commitment to the values of academic freedom, intellectual pluralism, and
dissent. I have written extensively on these topics, all of which I hold strong views on. I
have little tolerance for interference in the main academic mission of the creation of
knowledge, and I am excited by AACSB’s challenge to business schools to become cocreators of knowledge with industry.
•
An open and collaborative management style and the ability to communicate
difficult decisions with empathy and clarity. As Associate Dean, I am often called on
to communicate (verbally and in writing) to multiple audiences including student
groups, parents, faculty, business advisory council members, and potential donors. I
have difficult conversations with faculty and students on a regular basis (as a matter of
policy I meet personally with all students accused of cheating, for example) and have
learned how to communicate with empathy. I believe in direct, concise communication
that values everyone’s busy time commitments without being so brief that key details
are left out. I believe strongly in direct and effective communication. As a result I have
been invited to speak to multiple audiences, from delivering lectures on
entrepreneurship in China to teaching professional education courses in our Emerging
Leaders program, to delivering guest lectures to audiences such as the ABA and
APICS/ISM.
•
Ability to be a champion of academic excellence who can mentor, inspire, and lead
others to strive for excellence. I believe University leaders must set exemplary
behavior demonstrating the highest sense of ethics and social responsibility. The best
way to do this is to articulate and lead a discussion on shared values with faculty and
staff in the unit. For example, I strongly adhere to the belief that people are assets, and
assets are to be grown and nurtured. This value drives many decisions when it comes to
developing and rewarding people.
•
Skills and experience in program development, review and assessment, including
experience assessing faculty teaching, research, and service in light of AACSB
accreditation standards. The Ahuja College’s dual accreditations is a key asset that
must be protected. Over time, I have become very familiar with AACSB’s standards for
continuous improvement review. I have attended numerous AACSB accreditation and
assessment conferences, and I have networked with colleagues across the country on
accreditation issues. Most recently, I have been the primary author of a major policy
document outlining faculty qualifications, impact of scholarship, and implementing the
policy through Digital Measures. I also serve as the AOL coordinator for the
undergraduate program and oversee all aspects of assessment of learning from
establishing learning goals to collecting data to reporting the data and closing the loop.
In my time at the University of Dayton, I have served on more than a half dozen faculty
searches, and acted as Chair of three searches, both tenure-track and lecturer. I
communicate every day with department chairs on faculty development activities and
opportunities, and I am leading an effort to conduct a major revision of the SBA’s
promotion and tenure policies.
•
Having a clear understanding of the challenges of business education in an
increasingly competitive and technologically diverse environment as well as success
in enrollment enhancement. I believe that being at a university such as CSU provides
the Ahuja College with a unique competitive advantage that appeals to students and
their parents wishing to inculcate strong ethical values in business. More than simply
differentiating Ahuja from peer schools, however, is not enough. Drawing upon CSU’s
unique intellectual tradition should inform nearly all facets of undergraduate and
graduate business education at CSU. By way of example, at the University of Dayton, I
have worked in numerous ways to incorporate the distinctiveness of Catholic education
into the curriculum. As the University implements its Common Academic Program, I
work closely with colleagues in the College of Arts and Sciences to ensure that key
components of the program are tailored for business students in business ethics,
diversity and social justice, and advanced philosophy. I also serve on the committee that
continues to provide oversight and direction to faculty in Philosophy who deliver the
content of our Business Ethics courses. In addition, in 2011 and 2012 I undertook an
entirely new graduate prep for a course called “Peace Through Commerce.” Drawing
upon key AACSB themes of developing peace through commerce, I designed a course
that overlapped peace studies with business ethics and Catholic social teaching.
•
Ability to motivate and manage change. As department chair and associate dean, I
know full well how important it is to set the right tone and culture to cultivate strong
faculty productivity in teaching and in scholarship. In this regard, AACSB is a leader in
setting forth the role of business faculty scholarship in impacting modern business
practices through the key themes of impact, engagement, and innovation. I was able to
operationalize these values first-hand when I wrote the faculty qualifications policy
implementing the 2013 Standard 15.
•
Ability and desire to raise funds and align resources with strategic goals. Although
department chairs and associate deans typically do not play starring roles in fundraising,
I have been fortunate to work at a high level with several key donors to the SBA. This
role was more than networking at a cocktail party – I spent many hours developing
fundraising briefs to attract very high-net worth individuals who were interested in not
just donating to the SBA, but co-investing with it for the future. Every donor is
different, and must be approached accordingly. I enjoy meeting with them every
chance I get, and I especially enjoy helping them see how their gifts transform lives.
•
Experience in the development of corporate relationships, economic development,
and community service. One of the remarkable features of the academy is the
transparency with which we conduct our operations – the five-year continuous
improvement review is an invitation to other players in the same industry to see
everything about what we do. Over time, I have come to view this feature, anathema in
a competitive capitalist economy, as a strength of the academy. That said, our peer
schools are sometimes formidable competitors, competing for hard-fought tuition
revenue in a marketplace crowded with many voices. That is why a clear and consistent
message about the positioning of the Ahuja College of Business with respect to its peer
and competitive schools is critical to ensuring the future growth of the College. A “metoo” approach that eschews genuine introspection and differentiation is destined to fail,
as it has many times at other schools. In my time as Department Chair and Associate
Dean, I have challenged faculty, other chairs, and other senior leadership to continually
identify what makes UD distinctive and different, particularly with the most crossshopped universities among prospective students. This was particularly critical for the
Entrepreneurship program to maintain its Princeton Review ranking among fiercely
competitive schools.
•
Experience with academic program development coupled with an interest in
innovative and interdisciplinary initiatives. As department chair, I led several
initiatives to refine the curriculum including merging the Leadership and International
Business majors into a new major, International Business Management. I was a strong
supporter of increased collaboration with the School of Engineering as it sought to
engage with the Entrepreneurship program. I focused faculty efforts in Marketing to
offer new concentrations in Sales and Product Innovation. My dedication to innovative
efforts continues in the Dean’s office, with new program development to deliver shortterm study abroad programs during intersession, championing the University’s efforts in
China with academic program development and experiential projects with Ford,
General Electric, and Black & Decker among others, the development of a new
Introduction to Business course for first-year students, and a proposed 3+2 program
with the law school.
•
Experience with budget management and oversight to aid the college in matching
finite resources with aspirations and growth opportunities. As Department
Chairperson, I managed a multi-million dollar budget and made decisions nearly every
day about how to allocate resources in line with the strategic plan for the department.
Every budget decision involves a trade-off, so it’s important to understand all the
implications before committing to a decision. As Associate Dean, I continue to make
these difficult budget decisions when necessary. I recently decided, for example, to
scale back our school-wide subscriptions to a financial newspaper (data revealed most
students were not using it) in order to allocate funds towards an online proctoring
service, as I felt that maintaining the integrity of our online course offerings was a more
pressing need.
•
Relevant international experience. In addition to my corporate international
experience, I possess substantial knowledge and experience on internationalization in
the academic environment. Early in my career, I co-created and executed the Asia
Study Abroad Program (ASAP), a full-term, full-credit load program that brought a
cohort of 24 students through more than 12 countries in Asia. In my current role, I
oversee the SBA’s operations in China, including those at The China Institute, the
University’s campus in Suzhou. In addition to coordinating faculty offerings during the
regular semesters, I played an instrumental role in developing key co-curricular
offerings there including development of a China Case Competition, development of a
Entrepreneurship-in-China track for the Business Plan Competition, and negotiating a
major agreement with a recruiting agency in China. These efforts were recently
showcased in the January 2016 issue of AACSB’s BizEd magazine.
As I learn more about the Ahuja College of Business, I am excited about the College’s
potential role in serving as a national leader in provoking thought and action on critical
problems facing our society. I also believe that the key to delivering future success to the
College lies in finding the right “fit” between people and the College’s needs. As such, I look
forward to meeting with the Search Committee to explore how my candidacy for Dean might be
that right fit. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Terence Lau, J.D.
Professor and Associate Dean
University of Dayton