Greeting from the Kummer College of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development at Missouri S&T. The establishment of the new college is a direct result of the transformational $300 million gift made by Fred and June Kummer in 2020.

I’ve been at S&T for almost 30 years. If we somehow have not yet met, I’d like to introduce myself.

I joined the university in 1994 as an assistant professor in engineering management. Since then, I have focused on collaborative research. I’ve taught classes in human factors offered jointly in engineering management and psychology, as well as operations management, safety engineering and industrial psychology. I’ve chaired psychological science since 2015, which provided me with leadership experience and an opportunity to deepen and broaden my understanding of S&T as a complex, compelling academic community. While I do not have an S&T degree, I am by all means a Miner. I am an honorary knight of St. Pat’s, a member of my family will become a student here in the fall and I have served each of the university’s three colleges.

The Kummer College, to its very core, takes a bold and new approach to preparing students to be the leaders of the future. At the same time, our absolute commitment to the exceptional teaching and research programs of each of our three founding departments – business and information technology (BIT), economics, and engineering management and systems engineering – remains unchanged.

In fact, the Kummer College put that commitment into action on the very day it was officially established. At 10:30 a.m. Friday, July 1, Javier Valentín-Sívico, a doctoral student in engineering management, successfully defended his thesis, “Evaluating Barriers to and Impacts of Rural Broadband Access.”

As the first leader of the Kummer College, what inspires me most is what we are creating. We will build synergies into our cutting-edge educational programs and collaborative research. Over the coming year, we will review our curriculum and begin identifying how we can best incorporate innovation and entrepreneurship into our classes. We will create new certificates and degrees fueled by curricula that will prepare today’s students to address the challenges of the future. And our faculty will be encouraged to create innovative new research opportunities while also expanding on existing S&T programs.

One of the aspects of my new role I’m most energized by is the opportunity to work with a leadership team that brings a dynamic blend of expertise to the task of establishing the college.

Dr. Cassie Elrod, an alumna of S&T, is the interim chair of BIT, continuing the work she did as acting department chair and her critical role leading the successful effort to obtain accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).
Dr. David Enke, prior chair of engineering management and systems engineering and an S&T alumnus, has agreed to share his wealth of knowledge, perspective and leadership abilities by again chairing the department on an interim basis.
Dr. Melody Lo joins S&T as the inaugural John and Ruth Steinmeyer Endowed Department Chair of Economics. Dr. Lo was previously the Neil Griffin Endowed Dean at Arkansas State University. As chair of economics at the University of Texas at San Antonio, she drew on industry feedback to create master’s-level multidisciplinary concentrations in financial economics and business data analysis and forecasting. She also updated the undergraduate economics curriculum to better reflect industry changes. Her experience will be key as we reimagine and redesign our programs.

As the Engineering Management Building undergoes renovation, the Kummer College will be co-located with BIT in 101 Fulton Hall. The next time you’re on campus, please stop by and say hello. I’m also reachable at kummercollege@mst.edu.

Finally, without hesitation, qualifiers or conditions, I’d like to close by saying that the opportunity to lead the Kummer College as it establishes itself is the single most exciting experience I’ve had during my many years at S&T. I look forward to sharing it with you as we move forward.

Sincerely,

Susan Murray
Acting Vice Provost and Dean

Kummer College of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development