Behrend Beacon
September 11, 2009
www.thebehrendbeacon.com
A Note From the FACULTY AND STAFF
Business Editor of Business welcomes Dr. William H. A. Johnson
Hello and welcome back to another
year at the Pennsylvania State Univer
sity - Erie, The Behrend College. Let
me take a moment to introduce my
self.
My name is Harmilee Cousin 111 and
I, along with Garrett Carson, are edit
ing the Business page for this school
year.
Often, students seclude themselves
into their various academic schools or
departments. The engineers stick with
engineers, the business majors stick
with business majors. So on and so
forth. There is very little interaction
between groups, and worst of all no
one group really knows what the other
does.
That being said, the purpose of this
page is to inform the student, staff,
and faculty population about what is
going on in the Sam & Irene Black
School of Business. This page will be
organized, written, and designed by
business majors, and will serve as a re
source for students interested in busi-
If you are interested in writing for
the business page then contact us at
either hxcso2o(" psu.edu or
gmcso2l«i psu.edu. We look forward
to serving you this year and the best is
yet to come.
Harmilee Cousin 111 for the ; Xell us about your education,
Business editorial board j
School of Business:
Upcoming Events
Monday, Sept. 14
4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Event: The Economic Experiences of
Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Speaker: Scott Beaulier, Ph D
Location: REDC 180
Tuesday, Sept. 15
1:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m,
Event: University Park Career Days
Non-Technical Full Time
Recruitment.
Location: Bryce Jordan Center, Uni
versity Park
'Tt]Est)AY v Sept. 15
v tfOORM.
Speaker: Stephen J. Gurgovits,
President and CEO of F.N.B.
Capital Corporation
Location: REDC 180
Wednesday, Sept. 16
1:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Event: University Park Career Days:
Co-Op and Internship Recruitment
Location: Bryce Jordan Center, Uni
versity Park
Tuesday, Oct. 6
12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Event: Behrend Fall Career and
Job Fair
Location: Junker Center
GARRETT CARSON
/)(/s//7('ss rdiloi
The Sam and Irene Black School
of Business has had several new
faculty members this semester. As
such, we would like to highlight a
new one in each edition. This
week we would like to introduce
Dr. William H.A. Johnson, Associ
ate Professor of Management. In
an interview with Dr. Johnson we
got the scoop on where he comes
from
Where are you from?
I grew up in Mississauga - On
tario, Canada (west of Toronto)
though I was born in Scarborough
- Ontario, Canada (east of
Toronto). When I went to high
school at the Etobicoke School of
the Arts (which was in Toronto -1
majored in Drama) we used to call
these the Western and Eastern
wastelands so I guess I am origi
nally from the wastelands of
Toronto...
I went to McMaster University in
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada for a
B.S. degree in Biology. My gradu
ate degrees (MBA and PhD) are
from the Schulich School of Busi
ness at York University in Toronto.
Why did you pick your field to
study?
My original mission was to bring
the sciences and business together
and I’ve always been interested in
innovation so that was the area I
ended up doing my research. I also
teach strategy and international
management. These areas tie well
with innovation. The ultimate
strategy for competitive advantage
is continuous innovation. In terms
of international management, in
novation is a driver of global
change both via the new technolo
gies that allow for more efficient
global commerce and the changes
globalization make on how inno
vation is done and ideas commer
cialized.
What are the industry experi
ence's you've had?
I have consulted with a number
of Canadian organizations includ-
ing Royal Bank of Canada, Merck
Frosst Canada and Industrial Re
search Assistance Program (IRAP)
of the National Research Council
(NRC) in Canada.
What are your teaching
philosophies?
I believe in a consultant
metaphor on teaching. Both stu
dents and teachers need to be ac
tively involved in the learning
process. Students need to take ini
tiative and, like a good consultant;
teachers need to provide guiding
advice without taking over the ac
tual learning. To achieve this I like
to use experiential exercises, case
studies where we try to live the ex
perience of the case and interac
tive discussion about the topics in
my courses.
How is it living here vs. Canada?
Is it true that most Canadians
use "eh"?
Business Internships available:
JP Morgan Chase & Co. Mefsrow Financial JP Morgan Chase & Co.
2010 opening for a Opening for a Business 2010 opening for a
Finance Analyst position Analyst position Operations & Business
Part of the JPMorgan chase Services Analyst position
Finance Analyst More information on internships and full time positions can be found online at:
Development Program http://www.pserie.psu.edu/studentcdc/oncanipusrecruiting.htm
Quick hits:
Dr William Johnson
Full name
William Harold Alexander Johnson
Teaching:
Project Strategy,
international management
Favorite movie:
Personal interests:
Self-taught piano player;
plays rock like Billy Joel, Elton John
Star Wars
Canada is essentially the 51st
state!... well only half kidding.
Canadians in general are the same
as Americans, eh. Except that
Canadians may say ‘eh’ a little
more often- though, I have heard
people mention that New Englan
ders say it even more.
I usually use it as a question as
in “How’s it going, eh?” My
brother-in-law has been tagged as
a Canadian here in Erie because
he says it a lot, though!
Canadians do have universal
health care, which is not as ineffi
cient as some may lead you to be
lieve, especially for people who
cannot afford private insurance.
Taxes are slightly higher (though 1
was disappointed with the amount
of tax in the USA when I first
moved here-1 thought it would be
a lot less given what people say!)
but Canadians have very good
government services for the extra
money. In that respect Canadians
Business
may think differently. Here’s a
story: my niece came to see me in
Boston once and saw the high
school there that looks like a mall
(good school in a good neighbor
hood). Her comment was: “We
need to pay more taxes” (back in
Canada so that her school would
be as nice!). So I guess a big differ
ence is: for Canadians taxes may
be an answer to some questions
such as better schools whereas for
Americans that’s not even a ques
tion to ponder!
Do you have any advice you
would like to share with
students?
My advice would be to stand tall
and put up the good fight even
when things are down for you at
times. There was a time in my un
dergraduate when I did not think I
might make it past the midterm fi
nals. With hard work, determina
tion and making sure you put
effort into your own learning you
can overcome almost every bar
rier.
One thing I learned later in my
undergrad career was that reading
the textbook and going to every
class to participate really did rein
force everything that I was learn
ing and my grades went up. Most
things can be memorized from a
book but only when we interact
with others can we reinforce what
we learn from books and truly un
derstand what it is we are talking
about. That kind of relates back to
my philosophies of teaching: the
only reason to get together in class
is to learn from each other.
I know that you have a story
about your name, can you
please share that with us?
My full name is William Harold
Alexander Johnson. While I am
sure that they had other reasons',' I
think my parents may have given
me the two middle names to dis
tinguish myself from the other mil
lion Bill Johnson’s out there. Both
names are in the top 10 given and
sur-names categories. Unfortu
nately, even with two middle
names I have still been stopped at
the border a few times under mis
taken identity- seems there’s an
other Bill Johnson out there
causing mayhem!