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Brand ambassadors are very common among popular consumer goods and services, and it is normal to see them on university campuses where they can help serve a variety of roles, from basic evangelizing to answering questions and converting customers. The Engler College of Business has its own team, the Engler Ambassadors, whose job it is to attend the many functions of the COB, as well as serve as a resource and exemplar of the well-connected student. “We started this group in 2021,” says Brandy Carr, Coordinator of Undergraduate Business Programs and Instructor of Business. “We wanted to have a student group that represented the college of Business. We found that we wanted students to represent us at activities and events. We also wanted feedback from students. To that end, the Engler Ambassadors help fill these voids by serving the important role of liaison. They started with a group of four,... Read more

The faculty in the College of Business is a diverse group, hailing from many different states and nations, educated at a variety of universities, and with many teaching and research interests. One of our newest and youngest faculty members is Nate Xu, who in a very short time has already established himself as a top-flight researcher as well as highly regarded teacher. His path from China to Illinois to Canyon Texas is one filled with many successes, the result of his hard work and diligence. Nate hales from Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China. “It’s only about three hours away from Beijing by train,” he says. But that’s a bullet train, and a distance of 300 miles to the southwest. By Chinese standards, Taiyuan is a medium-sized city, but its five million residents would be second only to New York City stateside. It’s all relative. The city has existed for more than... Read more

Dr. Marisa Crisostomo, PVECOB’s Clinical Assistant Professor of Decision Management, doesn’t just teach in the college classroom, but also helps shape the minds of young dancers as an Instructor of Dance at the Amarillo Performing Arts Center (APAC). Dr. Crisostomo started dancing at the age of eight participating in various dance forms including ballet, tap and musical theater.  She continued honing her dance skills through competitions in high school and in college at Gonzaga University, where she minored in Dance and served as a dancer on Gonzaga’s Dance Team. While in graduate school at the University of Oklahoma, she worked on earning a PhD in Cognitive Psychology specializing in Quantitative Statistics, but also joined the Sooner Dance Company. She was the Creative Director and performed dance numbers at various OU events, including at volleyball games.   When Dr. Crisostomo moved to the Texas Panhandle in 2017 to begin teaching in the... Read more

Thanks to a glowing review by a WT alumni teaching at her high school, Heidi Giesbrecht wound up choosing WT. As for her Marketing major, she landed upon it by a process of elimination. Most importantly, she was wowed by our small classes, and approachable faculty.  Heidi is from Seminole Texas, an area she politely described as being flat and treeless. While it may be normal to describe the entirety of West Texas in those words, she found the WT campus to be a gorgeous woodland with its mature and well-placed trees.  By virtue of arriving with 40 dual credits already on her transcript, Heidi will be able to complete her studies in only three years, and will then start a career in media planning. She is also one of our student workers in the Dean’s Office, and the positive experience she has had here is reflected in the way... Read more

The curriculum and programs of any academic unit are fluid to the extent that they can and must be reviewed and updated over time, including creating new courses and degrees. This fall, the COB debuted the new MS-SHRM, the Master of Science in Strategic Human Resource Management. Already 13 students have enrolled in the entirely online program, from Texas and points beyond, and interest is running high for an even larger incoming class in the Spring semester. “I am hoping we have 30 or 40 students this Spring,” says Dr. Andrew Li, Williams Professor of Management. Li also reports that, thus far, about one-half of the students in the program already have a Master’s degree, while the other half does not. “Half are working in HR, and half are not,” he adds. But much like with double majors at the BBA level, there is advantage to “double dipping,” as Li... Read more

Lisa Lightfoot, Instructor of Accounting, has made Outreach one of her primary avenues of Professional Service. Each year she volunteers to help judge UIL (University Interscholastic League) competitions in Accounting, and by virtue of connections forged during these, has partnered with an Accounting teacher in the Sanford-Fritch ISD. Each year she makes the drive north to Fritch, where she spends a day mentoring and teaching future accountants, some of whom come to WT for their degree. WT hosts Class 2A, 3A, and 5A district competitions, and then a regional 2A competition. Both rounds are held in the Spring. “Sanford-Fritch falls in the 2A,” she says. “Since I am in there proctoring and grading, I have seen throughout all the years how strong the Accounting kids are out of the Sanford-Fritch area. This is also a great way for them to get scholarships through this event.” This resonated with her because... Read more

Dr. Anne Macy and Dr. Nick Gerlich, of the Engler College of Business faculty, recently conducted an economic impact study concerning the expansion of an airport in Belize, and the development of hotels, residences, and tourist activities. International Riversdale Airport (RIA) would undergo extensive renovation and expansion to accommodate both personal and commercial jets, as well as serve as a refueling hub for non-passenger flights. The airport and related resort acreage is located along a narrow peninsula separating the Caribbean from the mainland. The project is being spearheaded by Dyke Rogers, one of WT’s major benefactors, and head of Belize Investment Group. Rogers seeks to extend the so-called Mexican Riviera south and west from popular destinations along the Yucatan Peninsula into this tiny Central American nation. The faculty duo were able to demonstrate an economic stimulus in the hundreds of millions of dollars will be felt in the next decade... Read more

The job market is extremely competitive, and students must do everything within their power to stand out among not only their peers at WT, but also nationwide. Large corporations typically recruit from many university campuses, and have the luxury of being able to pick from the very best nationwide, not from just a few local standouts. Thus, it behooves students to acquire extra skills beyond their diploma, such as how to use Qualtrics as a survey-making tool in Marketing, or SPSS to analyze data. But it is also important for the College of Business to provide opportunities for students to acquire the skills that industry desires. That’s why when a call for proposals last spring was issued by the Texas A&M University System to possibly be included in a Coursera Integration Pilot Program among sister schools in the System, the COB seized the opportunity. Specifically, the CFP included the potential... Read more