Dr. Stefan Wuorinen joins the nationally-ranked Williams College of Business

By Clare McKinley, Staff Writer

The Xavier community just expanded with the addition of Dr. Stefan Wuorinen, the newest professor in the William’s College of Business.   

Prior to his arrival at Xavier, Wuorinen lived in many different places. Originally from Michigan, he moved to Hawaii for four years to serve in the Army. After that, he came back to the continental U.S. to earn his masters degree and returned to his home state to earn his doctorate in strategic management at Michigan State University. 

While he’s had the opportunity to live in so many places, Wuorinen had never been south of Dayton, Ohio until his interview at Xavier brought him to Cincinnati. Upon arriving on campus, Wuorinen was struck by the kindness he encountered.  

“The department is really great. With the Jesuit values, they really promote employee wellness… and are focused on teaching excellence at Xavier, so I thought that was really inspirational,”  Wuorinen said.

Wuorinen has been hired as a new business professor and is dedicated to teaching excellence in all of his courses. During his first semester at Xavier, Wuorinen is teaching MGMT 200.

Moving forward, he will be teaching strategic management, which focuses on how to create success for an organization. In addition to the course content, one of Wuorinen’s goals is to convey to students some effective strategies to accomplish this. 

Wuorinen’s expertise in organizational and business strategy stem from his past experience working as a director of football operations at Northern Michigan University. 

Wuorinen originally received an undergraduate degree in sports management due to his interest in sports. 

It wasn’t until he took on the responsibilities of scheduling and managing his football team that he was introduced to the business side of things.  

“I really enjoyed the business aspect of sports management, and that’s when I started thinking I would want to get a doctorate in corporate strategy,” Wuorinen said.  

In addition to the welcoming faculty and the overall beauty of campus, one of the aspects that drew Wuorinen to Xavier was the students. On his initial visit to campus, Wuorinen taught a class and was amazed at the quality of the students. After his first couple months of teaching, he is not disappointed in the slightest.  

“Overall, the Xavier students are really great. They’re attentive, and they want to learn the material. So that makes my job easy when I have students that want to be there,” he said.

Not only is Wuorinen excited to make Xavier’s campus feel like home, but he is also thrilled to be living in Cincinnati. He is already adjusting and loves the fall weather. In terms of exploring downtown Cincinnati, Wuorinen and his wife have been taking care of their two-week-old baby.

Aside from teaching, Wuorinen loves the outdoors, biking, cooking and playing sports. Right now, he is focused on spending time with his family, so he does not have much free time. 

He is, however,  elated for the future and can’t wait to see all that the Queen City has to offer.  

“I’m looking forward to eventually establishing a routine and finding things that are enjoyable to do here in Cincinnati,” Wuorinen said.

Wuorinen hopes to continue improving his teaching and delivering the best business education possible to Xavier students.

Wuorinen plans to incorporate some of the ethical decisions organizations and employees can make into his lesson plans in order to improve the content he delivers in the classroom.