As we work to elevate the visibility and reputation of the Wilson College of Business, I invite you to engage with the TEDx talk I delivered at TEDxUniversity of Northern Iowa in October. While fewer than 3% of TEDx talks reach 10,000 views, this one has surpassed 33K and continues to grow. Sharing and interacting with the talk helps highlight the impactful work of the Iowa Center for Employee Ownership and our faculty’s research engagement.

A faculty member from a prominent R1 institution recently shared that he plans to use the talk in his classroom, a reminder of its broader value. I encourage you to share the video with your networks, integrate it into courses where appropriate, and invite students to view it. You can watch and share the talk here.

Thank you,

Leslie K. Wilson
Dean

Building AI Skills for Tomorrow's Workforce

According to a recent PWC report, “AI is poised to deliver a massive employment surge, with the global economy projected to create 170 million new roles by 2030, a net gain of 78 million jobs, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF). Yet this growth faces a critical obstacle: the Skills Gap. Public data shows the challenge is immediate—63% of employers report skills shortages limiting growth, and workers with proven AI skills now earn a 56% wage premium, more than double last year’s figure. The real issue is not job creation, but the urgent need to upskill nearly 60% of the global workforce before automation reshapes existing roles.”

In response, the Management Department, encouraged by the Wilson College Executive Advisory Board and challenged by Dean Wilson at the September All‑College Meeting, has launched a new emphasis in artificial intelligence. The AI Emphasis in Business Analytics equips students to connect emerging AI technologies with real organizational needs, grounded in analytics, machine learning, applied AI tools, and the ethical use of AI in business.

This emphasis supports career paths such as AI product analyst, business intelligence lead, automation strategist, and technology‑focused consulting, while strengthening traditional business careers in an AI‑enabled workplace. The department also plans to introduce a flexible elective that allows students to apply a discipline‑specific AI‑focused course toward the emphasis, an important step in supporting double majors and preparing students to tackle domain‑specific challenges. We look forward to collaborating on this next phase.

Atul Mitra
Department Head & Professor of Management
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company Professor

Student Leadership Awards

Please consider submitting nominations for these important student awards.

• Nominations are due by Sunday, February 22, at 4 p.m. 

• You may submit multiple nominations. 

• Please provide thorough and detailed information in your nomination(s). This, along with the nominee's resume, will be the sole basis for the selection committee’s decision. After nominations are submitted, nominees will be contacted individually to submit their resumes. 

• To ensure fairness, nominee names will be redacted during the decision-making process.

• Nominations should be submitted here.

Award Categories include the following: 

• Servant Leadership Award (Junior/Senior)

• Rising Leader Award (Freshman/Sophomore/New Transfer)

• Leadership Impact Award (Graduating Senior)

Wilson College Dean Search

What should the future of Wilson College look like? The committee asked, and you answered. From this survey, 107 Faculty, Staff, Alumni, and Advisory Board members have identified a distinct path for our next Dean. The findings show a call for a leader who can pair bold enrollment strategies with a commitment to career-ready education. See more details about the stakeholder priorities in the summary here.

Anticipated candidate schedule: Please hold your calendars for February 23, and March 2, 5, 9, and 12 for the following times:

• Public Open Forum Presentation (CBB 109): 2-2:45 p.m.
• Followed by a faculty, staff and student meet and greet, 2:45-3:30 p.m.

The Management Department continues to distinguish itself as a hub of scholarly excellence and thought leadership. Our faculty members are shaping global conversations in leadership, compensation, ethics, technology and international business, consistently producing research that informs practice and policy worldwide. For example:

• Russell Guay is internationally recognized for his research, which bridges the fields of psychology and leadership theory, demonstrating how individual differences influence leadership dynamics and effectiveness.
• Arti Mann’s contributions have shaped how organizations perceive blockchain as a strategic enabler of transparency, security and trust.
• Yu (Jade) Chu's work on global supply chain issues has significantly influenced federal economic policy discourse, particularly regarding transparency in supply chains.
• Nick Bailey, working with Dr. Andy Anderson, offers a strategic framework for governments seeking to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) effectively.
• As a young scholar, Bulin Zhang establishes herself as a thoughtful scholar in ethics with a recent article that provides guidance for managers on addressing employees' ethical lapses.

The department's commitment to impactful scholarship is evident in the diverse and high-quality publications featured below, underscoring its role in advancing knowledge and driving meaningful change.

Published Contributions by Management Department Faculty Members (April 1, 2024 – March 31, 2025)

• Warby, B., Bailey, N. J. (2025). Are populist leaders playing the public? Examining the effect of populism on common and luxury good imports. Political Research Exchange, 7(1).
• Srivastava, P., Iyer, K. N., Chu, Y., & Rawwas, M. (2024). Agility in supply chains and operational performance outcomes: investigating the contingent influence of supply uncertainty and product complexity. Journal of Advances in Management Research.
• Chu, Y., & Duan, Y. (2025). Size matters: the influence of supplier size on buyer's usage of mediated power in positive and negative supplier-induced disruptions. The International Journal of Logistics Management, 36(1), 170-195.
• Bumblauskas, D., Guay, R. P., Forbes, S. (2025). Societal impact: Leveraging operational excellence in the Iowa Prison Industries. Business Process Management Journal, 30(7), 2283-2302.
• Kim, M., Choi, D., Guay, R. P., & Chen, A. (2024). How does fairness promote innovative behavior in organizational change?: The importance of social context. Applied Psychology, 73(3), 1233-1260.
• Mann, A. (2024). Security considerations for implementing accounting processes in the cloud. AIS Educator Journal, 19 (1), 35-49.
• Mann, A., Cleveland, B., Bumblauskas, D., & Kaparthi, S. (2024). Reducing hospital readmission risk using predictive analytics. INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics, 54(4), 380-388.
• Saeed, K., Rubio-Herrero, J., & Mitra, A. (2024). Do Women Make Less Than Men in IT? Yes and No! MIS Quarterly Executive, 23(4), 483-491.
• Zhang, B., Liu, X., Zhang, Z. (2025). Warding Off Cognitive Dissonance: How Supervisor Perspective Taking Shapes the Responses of Employees Who Engage in Unethical Behavior. Journal of Business Ethics (199), 71-84.\

A clear indicator of the influence of our faculty’s research is the growing number of citations to their work. Below is a sample of citation counts since 2020 alone for the faculty associated with the research highlighted above:

• Nick Bailey = 600
• Yu (Jade) Chu = 101
• Russell Guay = 2001
• Arti Mann = 957
• Atul Mitra = 693

The Management Department proudly celebrates these scholarly achievements, which continue to make a meaningful difference in both academia and society. It is an honor to serve alongside such an exceptional group of educators and researchers.

Atul Mitra
Department Head & Professor of Management
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company Professor

In the future, only the next month’s birthdays will be provided.

Birthdays:

• March 4 — Bulin Zhang
• March 8 — Sarah Garland
• March 21 — Jordan McNamara
• March 25 — Shuxian Xiao
• March 26 — Maddy Bolte

WORKiversaries

• 2020 — Mindi Heitland
• 2025 — Sam Webster

Want to see your birthday or work anniversary featured? Celebration Station is opt-in only. If you want to be included, let your supervisor know.

Submit suggestions for the next Wilson Wire monthly newsletter by emailing wilson.wire@uni.edu.