Businesses and non-profits sought fresh marketing ideas. Students craved real-world experience. One program rose to meet both needs.
In 2024, Dr. Annie Cui, chair of the Chambers College marketing department, recognized the growing need for a student organization that could operate beyond traditional semester timelines.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — In its inaugural year, the State Journal’s WV Business Leadership Award for chief operating officer of a medium-sized business goes to Joshua Hall, dean of the West Virginia University John Chambers College of Business and Economics. Hall has been the dean of the John Chambers College since August 2021. But he’s been with the university for 16 years, including three as a student. Prior to becoming dean, Hall attended Ohio University. He was initially hopeful to teach social studies to high school students. But all that changed when he took his first economics class.
“I wanted to be a hockey coach, and I wanted to teach high school social studies. And then I thought, ‘Oh, this is really what I want to do. I want to teach the college level,’” he said. Economics, Hall said, “seemed natural” to him, saying “it’s the way I think about the world.” “I love the fact that it’s one foot in social sciences and one foot in business,” he said, noting the science of understanding the economy as a system can also help individuals with their own decision-making.
