New Faces Come to Marketing and Management
 

Filling roles vacated by retiring faculty, Kimberly H. Perttula, assistant professor of management, and Meng Zhao, assistant professor of marketing, bring strong track records in both teaching and research from well-respected business programs to CBAPP this fall. Zhao came from Michigan State University where he worked on his dissertation on new product launches. Perttula completed her dissertation on Passion for One’s Work – a new concept in organizational behavior research – at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.

“It’s great to get some new blood in the College, to bring in new ideas and make some good things happen. They’ll both be fantastic,” said Dean James T. Strong. “Coming from Michigan State and USC, we’re attracting talented professors from some of the top business programs in the country.”

While both mentioned the dual focus of research and teaching provided at CSUDH as one of the most attractive components of their new roles, the new faculty members compliment each other well. If made to choose between the two foci, Zhao would opt for research and Perttula would choose teaching.

Strong describes Zhao’s publishing track record as “fantastic for this point in his career.” As a modeler and new product researcher with several papers in the publishing pipeline, he is most interested in developing forecasts to predict how people adopt to new products. “You want to forecast how fast a product can move and then spread into the market,” he explains of his research. “Some people see an ad and go out and buy a new product, but most are influenced by their peers and their interactions within their social network.” This semester, Zhao is teaching Marketing Principles and Internet Marketing.

Ironically, Perttula found her passion for teaching through her research on passion itself – other people’s passion for their work as a concept in organizational behavior, that is. “I enjoy the research, but I love teaching,” said Perttula. “I like the idea that I have a chance to help someone get ahead in life through teaching them. Even having an impact on one person makes my job worthwhile.” Perttula will relay that passion to students in three sections of Organizational Behavior this semester.

As they become acclimated to campus, both new professors said they were pleasantly surprised by how friendly faculty and staff were upon their arrival. “Usually as a junior faculty member, you have to pay your dues. Here, they are really trying to help and it seems like I’m the priority, not the other way around,” said Zhao.

Both also referred to the diverse work experiences of their students as unexpected benefits so far. “Class discussions are much more animated because my students have been out there working in the real world. That’s been very helpful so they can take the theories we discuss in class and turn them into real application right away,” said Perttula.

For Perttula, a new job is far from the only new transition. She gave birth to a baby boy, Jonah, just five months ago and signed the papers for her new house with her husband, Josh, while she was still in the hospital. “I don’t recommend ever trying to move with a newborn,” she laughs. “We’re still not unpacked.”

Zhao has also been very busy since his move from Michigan with his wife, Caroline, in August. Growing up on the coast of China, he is very happy to be back near the ocean after several landlocked years with long winters. “I haven’t even had time to be to the beaches yet, but it’s just knowing the ocean is there,” he said.
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