Michael F. Smith
Michael F. Smith, after five years serving as the chair of the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management (MSCM), will step down in July. He will be replaced by Edward C. Rosenthal.
Smith, who earned his PhD from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, has taught at the Fox School since 1980. He has seen the MSCM Department undergo many transformations in his 38 years at Temple University. When Smith first started, there were less than 20 full-time faculty in the MSCM Department, and now there are 46 faculty members.
“Now we’re attracting faculty and PhD students from top schools around the world,” says Smith. Among the top research faculty hired while he has been chair are Xueming Luo, Subodha Kumar, Joydeep Srivastava, and Maureen Morrin. “Not only do we have the ability to hire top faculty and attract top students, but we’re able to give them the resources they need for research and teaching. The department has, overall, grown so much.”
Under Smith’s leadership, the department launched the undergraduate major in Supply Chain Management (which now has more than 160 students), an Online MBA concentration in Supply Chain Management, and, in collaboration with the Klein College of Media and Communication, a MS in Strategic Advertising and Marketing. Next year will see the launch of both MS and PhD programs in Supply Chain Management. He has also helped further link Temple, the Fox School, and the MSCM Department to the regional logistics, transportation, and supply chain industry. His time as chair has been defined by his remarkable ability to navigate these great changes.
“The curriculum is changing, the students’ needs and professional development requirements are changing, the faculty is changing—everything is in constant flux,” says Smith. “When Ed becomes chair, he’s certainly not stepping into a situation where it will be business as usual. He has the support of everyone in the department and Dean Porat, so I’m confident that he’s up for the challenge.”
Edward. C Rosenthal
Rosenthal, after earning his PhD at Northwestern University, arrived at the Fox School 32 years ago. He has taught courses in game theory, logistics and supply chain management, and production and operations management, and he received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching and the Musser Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has had articles published in numerous journals, including the Journal of Public Economics and Games and Economic Behavior, and he has written two books, The Era of Choice: The Ability to Choose and Its Transformation of Contemporary Life and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Game Theory.
Like Smith, Rosenthal has witnessed the evolution of the Fox School and the MSCM Department over the last few decades. And he is excited to take on his new role as chair of the department.
“I love the synergy of this department and I have a lot of high hopes,” he says. “In the three decades I’ve been here, Temple has become a world-class research university. The whole business school has gone through such a huge transformation and the MSCM Department is a big part of that energy. I hope to continue this growth and help us solidify our reputation as a school that does world-class work.”
One of the big goals of the department, Rosenthal says, is to revamp the curriculum to match the shifting needs of tomorrow’s employers.
“We want to get ahead of technological trends and not react to them,” says Rosenthal. “It’s a big challenge figuring out where to go next, but we’ll have a new committee take a fresh look at all our curricular offerings to determine that we have the right balance of course offerings. A lot of things in the real world move fast and academics tend to lag behind. But we refuse to do that; it’s our responsibility to prepare students for the job market in an always-changing world.”