Written by Nandita Daga
Professor Bagchi may have made a circuitous path to the business industry, but he is no stranger in the field. He’s been teaching Operations Management for the last 39 years, with the last 36 years at UT. At McCombs, he teaches OM335H: Operations Management, OM337: Total Quality Management, and OM367: Strategic Supply Chain Management. Bagchi actually began his career as a Chemistry student; he received his B.Sc and M.Sc in Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology (Kharagpur), his M.S. in Chemistry at Washington State University, and a Ph.D in Operations Management from Pennsylvania State University.
He attributes this switch to Operations as a realization that “[I was] not happy at the prospect of spending the rest of my career life in a chemistry lab; hours are exceedingly long, you don’t see people, and spend a lot of time with only chemicals. I wanted something different and I wasn’t sure what. Business is an area you can come into from any other area, so I joined business school without knowing what I was getting into – so much for strategic planning.”
When asked why he chose operations, Bagchi stated, “Operations lends itself to mathematical analysis, which attracted me. I liked the flavor of operations, which is problem-solving. I’m not attracted to money. Not too keen about satisfying customers; marketing was interesting, but not particularly appealing. Operations is neutral; it’s about making things cheaper, faster, better.” He incorporates this flavor of operations into his research; most of his published work revolves around planning and scheduling models. His research interests look at how to make businesses more process oriented; getting good results consistently requires developing good processes. He is also interested in knowledge management, which looks at knowledge not easily captured in documents or archival – essentially, implicit knowledge. “Most of us have knowledge not readily available to others, but often times, that knowledge goes unused. I like to study how to put knowledge that already exists to use,” he smiles and says.
Professor Bagchi enjoys teaching OM335H the most; it’s the first course in operations for students, so “they have a clean slate,” he explains. BHP students are “alive” in class. He notes that attendance and engagement in classes are higher, and that students have a wider range of interests. “BBA students are more narrow in their focus; BHP students are more open to other things. Their minds are nimble and active.”
Professor Bagchi is always eager to hear from his students during office hours (MW 12-1 at CBA 4.304A); he says that “Anything the student finds interesting is likely something that would interest me,” and would love to engage in deeper conversation about likes, dislikes, regrets, etc. If you’re looking for conversation starters, consider asking him about:
1) the book he’s currently reading! Professor Bagchi enjoys reading 19th and early 20th century books, and has recently began Teddy Roosevelt’s biography.
2) his favorite movies! (He particularly enjoys a French director, Éric Rohmer, whose moral tales are “absolutely wonderful.”)
3) traveling: his favorite destination spots are London and Paris.
4) food: he enjoys Italian and French cuisines.
Dr. Joe Hahn teaches FIN 357H, which is Business Finance – Honors, in the fall semester. Along with teaching FIN 357H, Dr. Hahn also teaches FIN 372, FIN 374C, and he serves as the director of the MSF (Master of Science in Finance) program. One of Dr. Hahn’s favorite parts of teaching BHP students in FIN 357H is that BHP students are usually quite inquisitive, which helps foster lively discussions in class. Also, FIN 357H is one of the only Finance classes that BHP students who aren’t also majoring in Finance will take, so Dr. Hahn enjoys challenging these students’ assumptions about Finance and exposing them to the interesting theories and applications that could apply to their own fields of study.
