Prof. Elizabeth J. Durango-Cohen
"At IIT Stuart, our students and faculty represent so many different nationalities, cultures, and ideologies. In a way, IIT Stuart is a microcosm of the international business arena, where fresh, innovative perspectives coalesce into sound business decisions. Students, through their shared experiences, come away with a greater understanding of how to apply the principles they learn in the classroom to companies operating in a competitive global market."
Notable Vignette
A friend once said: “managers would rather live with problems they could not solve rather than accept solutions they did not understand.” In a parallel manner, students best develop an appreciation for the problem-oriented approach to process/materials/service management when they “learn by doing.” To create an experiential learning process in my courses, students are asked to compete with each other over web-simulation exercises and group exercises. By iteratively making decisions, observing the effects of their decisions, and refining those decisions, students develop an intuition for how inventory systems and production systems behave. In addition, these exercises build enthusiasm and allow students to continually assess their performance relative to peers – they learn by doing!
What excites me about Stuart
The community is amazing! The collegiality among the faculty, the support provided by the staff, and the strength of our student body make Stuart a wonderful place to learn, share and grow.
My Teaching Philosophy
I love teaching and work very hard to present materials in a novel, organized and thorough manner. And, I find it particularly rewarding to hear students’ feedback, whether it is shortly after a course ends, or after the student has been out in the workforce for a few years -- hearing that the tools a student learned in my courses are indispensable to getting their work done is incredibly gratifying.
My Teaching/Research Interest
My current research interests are in three general areas. The first is in the area of production planning and inventory control in the context of supply chain management. The second involves game theoretic analysis of channel competition, modeled as pricing competition, in supply chains with competing national and private (store) label brands. Finally, I am also working on a finite mixture modeling approach to optimize direct-marketing strategies for non-profit public broadcasting institutions.
