Payne emphasized:

Expanding Kent State’s education beyond Northeast Ohio with good online programs. “The key is to have quality online programs,” he said. “There’s connections you can have across the nation and overseas that may be interested in having a program tailored to their needs.”

Finding what makes a program stand out. “Really think about what makes you unique in your various programs,” he said. “If you had three or four things you could list as a few points of pride of your program — find out what makes your program distinct. I think it helps in terms of fundraising, in terms of differentiating yourself from different programs.

Recruit and retain diverse, high-performing students. “The key is to retain. A lot of universities are dealing with that retention rate when graduation comes around.”

Academic support. Find out what the student is passionate about early on. “Catch them early on to align what they’re passionate about to a program.”

Beehler emphasized:

The connection of the business school to the business community. “A business school cannot be a business school without connection in the business world,” he said.

Applied research cannot only benefit the school but also the community. “Research that applies real problems in our community, the real problems of our city, the real problems of our region and do the analysis to help them make decisions.”

Lead by example. “If I’m your dean, I believe I’m your dean to help you be successful,” Beehler said. “By helping you be successful, I’m helping the program and the school be successful. In order to do that, I need to be a positive role model, and I have to lead by example.”

Know exactly what the strengths of faculty are. “I try to get to know my faculty in particular. If I know what the strengths of my faculty are and what their expertise is in, so if I’m out in the corporate world, we can get them hooked up with the appropriate people,” he said. “It will improve their teaching and improve their research.”