Rader School of Business
An added benefit of teaching business at MSOE is many correct answers have gradients of gray.
"There are very few absolutes in the world, unless you're, you know, programming a computer," Dr. Steve Bialek said. The business classes offer an opportunity for students to stretch their thinking to encompass an array of correct answers and approaches.
With current administrative duties associated with being Chair of the Rader School of Business, Bialek isn't in the classroom as much as he would like.
"I don't think I could be paid enough for what I am giving up to serve as chair; being in front of the classroom is priceless," he said.
Given Bialek's attitude toward the classroom you may be surprised to learn that he put off college until he was 24 while running an auto mechanic shop with his father. Bialek earned a bachelor's from UW-Green Bay and a master's from UW-Milwaukee. He came to MSOE in 1990 and worked with admissions to reach adult students.
After a five years, Bialek left to pursue his Ph.D. in Education Administration at the University of Wisconsin. He returned as a professor in 2001. Since that time, he's been a finalist for the Falk Award four times ... but has never won.
"It gives you perspective when you see who wins each year. I always see that person as truly inspirational. It's always very humbling to think that I was a finalist," he said. The faculty at MSOE is incredibly strong with degrees from renowned universities, he added. "Though you'd never know it. MSOE doesn't have the academic snobbery you find at other universities."
With a background in workforce development and project management, he admits that teaching the project management course is a favorite. The course was created in direct response to requests of business leaders and lets students use their ingenuity while helping a local charity.
"Each team gets $20 seed money and has to develop a good, product or service to raise money for charity," he explained. "And they apply the tools they learn as they raise money - with up to $2,000 going to charities."
Bialek also finds time to advise the MSOE Business Leaders Association (MBLA). In fact, last year, the group became affiliated with the national association Phi Beta Lamda, something he has been helping them work toward for four years. Phi Beta Lamda is the college equivalent of Future Business Leaders of America.
Bialek sees student success in extracurricular activities, such as Entrepreneurship Club, MBLA and Phi Beta Lamda, as the best means to raise the visibility of the business program. "We had both business and engineering students on our team," he said of the second-place finishing Chicago Entrepreneur's Quest Competition team. "That's the true nature of what we do at MSOE: teaching business and engineering students to work together."
Bialek received his master's from UW-Milwaukee and Ph.D. from University of Wisconsin. He has been married for eight years to wife Jodie Jens. They have two daughters, Michaela, 5, and Isabelle, 4. He has come to enjoy musicals since taking his daughters to shows such as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat and Nutcracker. Weekend DVD favorites at the Bialek house include The Music Man, Annie and Hans Christian Andersen. They live in Oconomowoc, Wis.