Dean of Smeal Business College Charles Whiteman in The Business Building, Thursday, August 8, 2022.
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As part of our collaboration with Penn State University, we publish monthly videos about the school’s deans and their perspectives and passions. The Center Daily Times continues with a lighthearted Q&A series that focuses on a different dean each month in the hopes the community will get. Know them outside the classroom.
next: Chuck Whiteman, Dean, Pennsylvania State Smeal College of Business
in Economics from the University of Minnesota, Whiteman joined Pennsylvania State University in 2012 after serving as senior associate dean at the Iowa Business School. He has authored two of his books, published over 70 scholarly articles, and has worked as an associate editor for several economics journals.
As Dean of Pennsylvania State University, he oversees over 5,000 students and supports faculty research across six departments. He also loves word puzzles and likes clutter.
Center Daily Times: You said you like puzzles that are wordy jumbles, in part because they change the way you think. When did it start and what is that “different” way of thinking?
Chuck Whiteman: I can tell you exactly when it started — when I was growing up, at breakfast in the morning (on the Des Moines Register). … But when I was a young faculty member, there was a group of MBA students who revived my interest in the hodgepodge. I used to do it all the time as a kid, but when I went to college, the Des Moines registry was no more. So I kind of fell out of the habit of doing it.
But as it happens, my first academic position was back in Iowa. So Des Moines certainly registers. And MBA students had a gimmick that they couldn’t write anything down. You had to memorize it all. …and well, the puzzles follow perfect logic. But more often than not, the answer has a gimmick. They use cues that can be interpreted in multiple different ways. And to figure out what they are, you have to think outside the box. So while the linear part is part of the economic model, the creative part is often the most interesting. you are thinking of something new
CDT: Let’s change the subject a little. Let your brain be more selective about your area of expertise here. Research shows that the majority of Americans want to start their own business, with new business applications reaching an all-time high in 2021. Other than visiting Penn State University’s “Innovation Hub,” which is meant to help entrepreneurs, what advice do you have for Pennsylvanians looking to start their own business?
Caucasian: One thing the general public should know is that Smell and Penn State University have many ways to get the information they need to start a business. Over the past five years or so, we have created an undergraduate business certificate. This is like a non-business major credential.
I’m a scholar, so I’m going to stick to my guns. This is what budding entrepreneurs need to learn how to start a business. Not bullet points. It’s coursework. Now you can do it without a degree. But the basics of accounting and the basics of human resources will come later. …and whether it’s formal education like the one I’m talking about, Khan Academy or anywhere else, I’m ready to get help and turn around. One of the things I often hear from home is that I was forced to say, “This is not working, I have to do something else.”
One of the coolest examples we have is… (currently) making wristbands for the Apple Watch. But one of them, he said, first tried making a portable charger for his laptop. And it didn’t work because they hired a third party to prototype the charger, but the third party didn’t provide it. And I can’t let someone else do it. ’ And he burned down the capital he had. So he (pivoted).
CDT: Let’s dive into the hypotheses. Let’s say an alum or community member approaches you and says: I want to start a business in downtown State College. ” What kind of business do you want to open?
Caucasian: First, let me give you a frivolous answer. You limited me to downtown, so the market data suggests a bar. This actually stems from my schoolwork. I founded an artificial intelligence deep learning company to use artificial intelligence to break existing implementations of human behavior prediction.
So companies apply artificial intelligence to predict human behavior, but they don’t really think about it. And economists got into big trouble doing essentially the same thing in the 1970s. I am well aware of how predicting behavior with the help of a model can fail in situations where it is unreasonable to expect behavior to remain the same in the face of a variety of environments. So what I do is sell my services to companies to help improve artificial intelligence’s prediction of human behavior using these things.
CDT: Okay. I might be able to move out of downtown for that business. But let’s switch topics and talk about his recent Smeal news. Penn State University will shorten its MBA residency program from two years to one year by 2024. Indeed, many other universities have made similar moves. Smell?
Caucasian: A move should be defined as a transition from a 2-year MBA to a 1-year MBA. The reason for the migration is basically that professional learners want flexibility, stackability. They want to be in and out quickly if that’s what they want. The market has changed dramatically.
In recent years, the number of students taking the GMAT, a type of MBA program entrance exam, has dropped significantly. Their willingness to come and pay their tuition has dropped quite significantly. Even elite programs have begun offering significant discounts on tuition, in some cases he has discounted tuition by over $100,000 for students joining the program. So the market wasn’t what he was 20-30 years ago.
It started before the pandemic, but has accelerated over the last five years or so…. There are many reasons to do this. So we’re moving into his 1-year MBA and we have something very similar. Well, here is our Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership. It has been very successful in the market.
CDT: We usually end with a wild question, but we present a simpler hypothesis — something similar to the last dean. Here’s a list of his seven CEOS. Tell me who you would pick for the first and last semester as a guest lecturer at Penn State University. Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway), Tim Cook (Apple), Andy Jassy (Amazon), Elon Musk ( Tesla), Satya Nadella (Microsoft), Sundar Pichai (Alphabet/Google), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook/Meta)).
Caucasian: Choose Warren Buffett. why? He excelled at investing. What we teach in finance classes is to diversify and what he says is no, the important thing is to know more about a company than anyone else. Turns decisions into problems of asymmetric information. And throughout his career, he has a track record of knowing more about the company than anyone else, and I’m curious to know more about it.
And my last pick would be Mark Zuckerberg. I don’t want to spend a semester listening to Facebook stories. on a personal note. But I’m not so enthusiastic about some of what Facebook has done. What are you censoring and what are you not censoring? And the algorithms they use to do it. There are many issues with it.
Look, there’s an honor code on the wall over there. And we talked about it as part of our culture. The code of honor itself is just the beginning of that culture. And I think maybe, maybe he can use some of it.
This story was originally published 6:00 AM on September 13, 2022.
Josh Moyer holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Pennsylvania State University and a master’s degree from Columbia University. He has been writing sports and news for nearly 20 years. He calls the best athlete he’s ever seen Tecmo his Super Bowl Bo He Jackson.
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