Chien-Chung Chen
Las Vegas, New Mexico – New Mexico Highlands University named marketing professor Chien-Chung Chen Professor of the Year for 2017 – 2018.
Each spring an independent selection committee composed of students, faculty and staff reviews the nominations for Professor of the Year and selects a winner.
Joshlyn Simasingh is a Highlands MBA candidate who will complete her degree in July 2018 and is awaiting final acceptance to two law schools. She nominated Chen for Professor of the Year.
“Dr. Chen is very genuine, highly dedicated, and truly cares about each student’s success,” Simasingh said. “I am a nontraditional college student and taking Dr. Chen’s class my first semester as an undergraduate gave me the perspective and confidence to keep pushing myself academically to continue my education. His feedback and guidance throughout all the courses I’ve taken with him have given me the skills I need to carry over into the future.”
Simasingh, who is 33, earned her B.S. in 2017 in marketing and management with honors from Highlands. She balances her studies with working and raising two sons.
Chen joined the Highlands faculty in 2013 and became the MBA program coordinator in 2016. He is also the graduate coordinator for business administration within the School of Business, Media and Technology.
“What’s most important in my teaching is for students to learn logical thinking that helps them independently figure out key points to any question without being misguided by others,” Chen said. “Another important goal is to help students develop learning attitudes that lead to positive interactions with others, which is critical in business settings. These two abilities will have positive influences in their entire lives.”
Chen earned his Ph.D. in marketing with a minor in accounting from the University of Texas at Arlington and an M.S. in management and administrative science from the University of Texas at Dallas. He completed his MBA in marketing from Chaoyang University of Technology in Taiwan, where he was born and raised.
“In my own life, I learned different academic disciplines within business and consider myself a lifelong learner. I encourage my students to be lifelong learners for both their professional success and personal growth,” Chen said.
Chen said the most rewarding thing about teaching is working to help prepare students for the next step in their lives.
“When my students achieve I am honored and it motivates me even more,” Chen said.
He said the online MBA program at Highlands gives students like Simasingh the flexibility they need.
“The MBA program is a good value because students can continue to raise families and work while completing their education. I appreciate the diversity of students in the program and their active participation,” Chen said.
Chen’s current research focuses primarily upon the interface between marketing and accounting, such as the relationship between cash flow and the life cycle of a product.
“Students participate in my research by implementing surveys and giving me valuable feedback on the findings,” Chen said.
Chen’s research has been published in scholarly publications such as Services Marketing Quarterly, Journal of Management and Marketing, and Personal Selling and Sales Management.
At Highlands, Chen teaches courses such as Principles of Marketing, Marketing Research, Marketing Channels, Marketing Management, and Business Research Methods.
“I love to teach at Highlands because I get to interact with intelligent and friendly students and also have strong support from my colleagues and supervisors. I’m very surprised and happy to earn the Professor of the Year Award. However, I don’t think of it as the end of my improvement but instead as the beginning of being an even better teacher,” Chen said.