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| China Expert Will Become Dean Of HPU's Business College | |||
Pacific Business News - Oct 26, 2006
Hawaii Pacific University has named Charles Steilen its new dean of the College of Business Administration. Most recently, Steilen was an HPU marketing professor. He will officially take over as dean on July 1, 2007. Steilen said he and Interim Dean John Kearns are using the next eight months as a "transitioning period to set up a 10-point program of strategic initiatives" for the college. The initiatives include student recruitment, curriculum changes and bringing in more business executives to teach at the college. Steilen, 66, who holds a doctorate in marketing from the University of Oregon, would fly to Hawaii from Hong Kong to teach marketing courses at HPU only during fall semesters. He previously taught at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, was a marketing consultant to the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and has advised businesses on doing business in China for more than 30 years. Steilen said he was drawn to the position mostly because of the challenges it presents. "Well, I've been in Asia all these years and this is my first venture in my home country," he said. "Looking at Hawaii, it's a bit of a miniature Hong Kong with a lot of opportunities so I'm not totally out of my own element here." He said his biggest goal is to bridge the gap between the academic and business communities. "It's building better business relations with the Hawaii business community," Steilen said. "To understand what the needs are in the community is part of the initiative. I want to look at how can we help so we can be a partner." Steilen also faces the reality of powerful competition from the expansive Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawaii, flush with a $25 million infusion from Honolulu businessman Jay Shidler. Like HPU, the UH business school is emphasizing its expertise in training executives to do business in Asia. "Chuck Steilen is a perfect fit for where Hawaii Pacific University is going with its business college," said HPU President Chatt G. Wright in a statement. "Dr. Steilen brings to HPU a proven ability to grow business programs and to connect our students and faculty with our vibrant business community." First on Steilen's list is changing the curriculum by "moving it in a very customer-focused direction." This means offering its students more out of their education besides book smarts, such as giving them real-life business models to work with, he said. "Our customers are our students," he said. "They are customers before they come to us and they make a decision to buy the HPU brand." lchiem@bizjournals.com | |||
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| Last Update: Saturday, January 18, 2014 9:39 PM | |||
