Kent Miller
Kent Miller, professor of management, will lead the Broad College Department of Management as its chairperson effective August 2021. Miller will replace Don Conlon, Gambrel Family Endowed Professor, who was the chairperson from 2005 to 2011 and again from 2015 to 2021.
“I have sought out new learning opportunities throughout my career,” Miller said. “This transition to department chairperson shifts my effort from studying and teaching about management to doing managerial work. I can think of no better context in which to develop professionally as a manager-leader than surrounded by colleagues who study and teach the subject. After three decades as a professor, I look forward to supporting management faculty and our educational programs.”
Miller has been with the Broad College for 16 years, teaching strategic management and organization courses for the Full-Time and Executive MBA programs. Prior to joining Michigan State, he served on the management faculty of Purdue University’s Krannert Graduate School of Management for 14 years. He has also been a visiting professor at Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo and New York University’s Stern School of Business.
He specialized in strategic management and organization while earning a doctorate in business administration from the University of Minnesota. In addition, Miller earned his M.A. and B.A. in economics from the University of Wisconsin and Wheaton College, respectively.
Miller’s research examines strategic issue management and organizational learning and change, as well as methodological and philosophical issues in management and organization studies. His empirical, theoretical and modeling studies have appeared in top management journals, including Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, Organization Studies and Organizational Research Methods. He is on the editorial boards of Academy of Management Learning and Education, Strategic Management Journal and Strategic Organization.
Miller is eager to take on the new role and build upon the department’s reputation of excellence. “The management faculty is known for its leading-edge research; we’ll continue to build and leverage that capability,” he said. “The department offers undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programs that change — for the better — the trajectory of students’ careers. I want us always to be on the lookout for opportunities to enhance our work with students and alumni, as well as the academic community.”
