Isenberg Brings New Leadership to Online Education

As Isenberg’s Associate Dean of Graduate and Professional Programs since January 1, Linda K. Enghagen is leading Isenberg’s dynamic Online/Part-Time MBA program, the school’s full-time MBA program, and a new Master of

Science in Business & Analytics program. Ranked by The Financial Times as the #1 Online MBA program in the United States, Isenberg’s online program has 1,500 active students. The program maintains the same high academic standards as the school’s 65-year-old Full-time on-campus MBA program. Isenberg’s new, accelerated Master of Science in Business & Analytics program arms nonbusiness graduates with state-of-the-art business analytics tools and techniques.

Dean Enghagen was faculty chair for Isenberg’s MBA programs in 2017. A professor of Hospitality & Tourism Management (HTM) at UMass Amherst since 1986, she was Associate and Interim HTM Chair in 2015 and 2016. A graduate of Suffolk University Law School (JD ’81) and the University of Wisconsin (BA ’75), Dean Enghagen has research interests in the relationship between copyright law and distance education and legal issues in hospitality business operations. She has taught business law to master’s degree students, and professional ethics and hospitality and tourism law to undergraduates.

As Associate Dean, Enghagen succeeds John D. Wells, who became UMass Amherst’s Senior Vice Provost for Online Education on January 1.  In his new role, Wells is overseeing implementation of a strategy to improve the integration of the online and face-to-face student experience across UMass Amherst’s schools and colleges. This process will put emphasis on online education as integral to campus-wide quality. To that end, Provost Wells is employing many of the best practices that helped elevate Isenberg’s online graduate programs to international prominence.

During his six years as Isenberg’s Associate Dean of Graduate and Professional Programs, Vice Provost Wells grew the school’s programs to over 1,500 active students. In 2017, The Financial Times ranked Isenberg’s online graduate program #1 in the U.S. and #3 on the planet. Wells joined Isenberg in 2010 as a professor of information systems in what is now the school’s Department of Operations and Information Management. Before Isenberg, he was an assistant and then associate professor at Washington State University from 2000 through 2010. The new vice provost earned his PhD and MS degrees in Management Information Systems from Texas A&M University. He holds a bachelor’s degree in the same discipline from the University of Oklahoma.