PULLMAN, Wash. The College of Business at Washington State University has appointed John Wells as the director of the new Center for Behavioral Business Research. As the center’s director, Wells will primarily work to establish industry-backed research projects that will set the standard of success for the center’s future activity. While construction of the physical space will not be completed until fall 2009, faculty and students are already engaged in research projects at the center.
“The research conducted in the Center for Behavioral Business Research will serve as an important link between the business community and the WSU College of Business,” said Dean Eric Spangenberg. “I am very pleased that someone of John’s caliber has agreed to lead this initiative within the college. Under John’s leadership, I am certain that the college’s research and teaching missions will be advanced to the benefit of all involved. ”
Wells, an associate professor in the Department of Information Systems, joined the College of Business faculty in 2000 and has been honored as Management Information Systems Professor of the Year (2002), MBA Professor of the Year (2005), and received the Dean’s Excellence Fellowship in 2004 and 2007. His research centers on human-computer interaction in a business-to-consumer (B2C) electronic commerce context, and has appeared in journals including Information Systems Research, Journal of Management Information Systems, and European Journal of Information Systems.
“I am honored to be appointed as the director of the Center for Behavioral Business Research,” said Wells. “The CBBR provides WSU’s College of Business with a strategic lever for reaching out to industry partners with relevant, applied research that helps them anticipate and react to the challenges of the global economy.”
Once construction is complete, the center will house a state-of-the-art research facility that will incorporate both a research and educational mission. WSU students will be trained in behavioral research methods through hands-on experience under the supervision of WSU faculty and graduate students while generating behavioral research on pertinent industry-motivated topics.
Housed in the WSU College of Business at Todd Hall’s main entrance off the Terrell Mall, the new center will provide WSU an unparalleled point of differentiation for marketing research. By bringing together industry leaders, academics and students, the center will create a unique student experience as they participate in the design, implementation and reporting of behavioral research. An integrated, interdisciplinary approach to business solutions will be applied as expertise from all areas of business faculty and other nationally recognized WSU units will be available for collaboration.
Initial funding for the center was provided by The Boeing Company, a longtime supporter of WSU and the College of Business. Additional funding for the completion of the center and research projects is still being sought. For more information on the Center for Behavioral Business Research, please contact Justin Marquart at marquart@wsu.edu or 509-335-7392.
The WSU College of Business is accredited at the baccalaureate, master and doctoral levels by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. The college spans the four campuses of WSU with the largest campus in Pullman and urban campuses located in Spokane, Vancouver and the Tri-Cities area. The college conducts scholarly and applied research, and offers degree programs in a variety of business disciplines, and in hospitality business management, supplementing face-to-face offerings through innovative online learning and international programs. For more information, visit the college’s Web site at https://www.business.wsu.edu.
