Amy B. Hietapelto

A photo of Amy Hietapelto

Dean

Dean's Office

604 Hill Hall

734.487.4140

[email protected]

Education

Ph.D. Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
MBA Michigan State University
BS Michigan State University

Professional Summary

Dr. Amy Hietapelto is honored to join Eastern Michigan University as the dean of the College of Business (July 2025). She served as dean of the Labovitz School of Business and Economics (LSBE) at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD). She has twenty years of successively increasing leadership responsibilities in higher education. She recently served for three years as interim Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (EVCAA)at UMD during an extended period of leadership turnover. Dr. Hietapelto, a first generation college student, earned a Ph.D. in business administration (organizational studies) from the University of Minnesota and is a tenured professor in management. She earned a master’s in business administration (marketing) and a bachelor’s of science (psychology), both from Michigan State University.

Dr. Hietapelto collaborates successfully to advance the institutional and collegiate profiles. As interim EVCAA at UMD, campus-wide efforts to advance faculty research resulted in awards reaching new highs. Dr. Hietapelto partnered to manage competing priorities and reduce budget deficits, while concurrently advancing efforts to stabilize enrollment and increase retention, resulting in all-time highs in first-to-second year retention rates and four year graduation rates. UMD recently achieved #20 overall, #4 overall among public schools, leapfrogging over 20 institutions in the past two years (Regional Universities Midwest rankings, U.S. News and World Reports). Dr. Hietapelto intends to help collaboratively drive advances in EMU’s and COB’s regional and national recognition.

High engagement, high impact practices are vital to a transformational educational experience for students. While serving as interim EVCAA, Dr. Hietapelto partnered with the campus community to enhance the student academic experience, increasing high impact practices such as undergraduate research experiences and community/company projects embedded in classroom experiences. Dr. Hietapelto facilitated the launch of successful, market-driven, innovative new undergraduate programs. The MBA program was revamped and new delivery models offered, resulting in significant enrollment increases and achievement of top 100 Business School Nationally and Second Best ranking for Best Business School in Minnesota (Graduate School rankings, U.S. News and World Reports 2024). The overall student experience was enhanced through increased high impact practices, improved student internship access, implementation of the first student living-learning community, and a significant increase in the number and range of business/community/educational partnerships. Dr. Hietapelto is excited to collaboratively enhance engagement and the overall the learning experience and career success for COB students at Eastern Michigan University.

Courses Taught

  • Business Policy and Strategy (MBA) - NEIU
  • Leadership and Organizational Behavior (MBA) - NEIU
  • Strategy and Organization (MBA) – NEIU
  • Strategic Management (Senior Capstone) – NEIU, MTU
  • Managing Change (Junior/Senior Level) – NEIU, MTU
  • Fundamentals of Management (Junior Level) – NEIU
  • Women in Management (Gender and Diversity) (Junior/Senior Level) – NEIU
  • Organizational Behavior (Junior Level) – MTU, Clarkson U
  • Individual and Group Problem-Solving Skills (Sophomore Level) - MTU
  • Strategic Leadership (Junior/Senior Level) - MTU
  • Engineering Enterprise Strategic Leadership Module for Engineers (Junior/Senior Level) – MTU
  • Perspectives: After the World Ends (Freshman Writing-Intensive First Year Experience Course) – MTU
  • Leadership and Teamwork (Summer Youth Program, High School Level) - MTU
  • Advanced Organizational Behavior (Junior/Senior Level) - Clarkson U
  • Leadership Assessment and Managerial Skills Development Modules (MBA) – Clarkson U
  • Psychology in Management/Project Challenge (Saturday Program, High School Level) – Clarkson U
  • Life as a Game/Co-instructor, Project ARETE Module (Honors Course) – Clarkson U
  • Managing Sociotechnical Change (Junior/Senior Level) - Clarkson U
  • Managing Sociotechnical Change (Graduate Program in Engineering and Manufacturing Management for Managers) (EMM MS) – Clarkson U
  • Psychology in Management (Junior Level) – U of Minnesota

Selected Publications

Refereed Journal Articles 

Ren, Y., L. Xiu, & Hietapelto, A.B. (2022) Dare to Ask in Front of Others? Women Initiating Salary Negotiations, Journal of Economic Psychology, 92.

Reinsch, R., Goltz, S.M., & Hietapelto, A.B. (2020) Student evaluations and the problem of implicit bias, Journal of College and University Law, Vol. 45(1), 114-139. 

Reinsch, R.W., Ross, W.H., & Hietapelto, A.B. (2016) Employer’s use of social media in employment decisions: Risk of discrimination lawsuits, Current Topics in Management, 18. 

Invited Academic/Industry Presentations/Panels:

G. Bansal & D. Li., and V. Arthur, J. Burns, A. Hietapelto, C. King, Panelists, Chancellors’ and Presidents’ Panel: Leading Higher Education in the Age of AI, Annual Midwest Association for Information Systems Conference (MWAIS), May 2023, Metropolitan State University, St. Paul, Minnesota.

Hietapelto, A.B., & Zefran, N., Panelists, Engaging Advisory Boards, AACSB B-School Development and Communications Symposium, March 2020, Washington, D.C. 

Hietapelto, A. Lessons Learned in Working with Business Advisory Councils: The Dean’s Perspective. Presented at AACSB Advisory Council Seminar, March 2020, Washington, D.C.

Hietapelto, A. Lawson, D., Milner, L., & Spake, D., Panelists, Serving on and Hosting a Peer Review Team: Best Practices, Midwest Business Deans Association, October 2019, Chicago, Illinois. 

Hansen, E., Hietapelto, A., Lowney, T., & Ulseth, R., Panelists, What Should the Role in Higher Education be in Attracting, Developing and Retaining Young Workers in Northern Minnesota?, Arrowhead Growth Alliance Retreat, September 24, 2019, Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

Hietapelto, A. The Gender Pay Gap: Not Yet. Presented at American Association of University Women, Duluth Branch, April 2019, Duluth, Minnesota (updated from a year earlier)

Hietapelto, A. The Gender Pay Gap: Still Not Closed. Presented at American Association of University Women, St. Paul Branch, March 2018, St. Paul, Minnesota

Hietapelto, A. AACSB Accreditation: Facilitating Continuous Improvement and Excellence. Presented at Twin Ports Performance Excellence Network, September 2016, Duluth, Minnesota

Hadidi, R., Chenoweth, J., Clary, B., Hietapelto, A., & McNeil, R. Panelist, The Special Role of Public Business Schools in Local and Regional Economic Development, at the Midwest United States Association for Information Systems (MWAIS), May 2016, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Additional Information

Dr. Hietapelto is committed to transparency, shared governance and faculty and staff success. She has led or facilitated collaborative strategic planning and accreditation processes at several universities. A multi-year collaborative effort to benchmark UMD faculty salaries facilitated achievement of market-based faculty salaries by rank and discipline. Within her college, faculty and staff have received enhanced professional development support, recognition and research funding. Dr. Hietapelto is strongly committed to empowering individuals and teams and looks forward to enhancing faculty and staff success in Eastern Michigan’s College of Business.

Dr. Hietapelto strives to create an engaging, transparent and empowering environment as well as an authentic connection with a broad set of stakeholders. In multiple roles, Dr. Hietapelto successfully engaged with internal and external stakeholders and community leaders to advance outreach, building relationships with the business community, partnering on multiple initiatives, serving on boards and as a member of community organizations. She embraces the opportunity to share her passion for the institution and has helped inspire external investments advancing student, faculty, staff, collegiate and programmatic successes. She believes strongly in partnership, philanthropy and the transformational effects of higher education for individuals, communities and society. She is already engaging with the southeastern Michigan region to further expand connections and collaboration with alumni, organizations, the community and the College of Business and Eastern Michigan University’s many stakeholders.