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Start Expanding Your Ideas: Tammy Beck

Tammy Beck
Dr. Tammy Beck, associate dean of graduate programs and external engagement at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Business Administration, is excited about making an impact with Nebraska businesses. She joined CBA a year ago and began creating connections as part of the new Executive Education program which she now believes is going to soar.

“I’m excited about getting out in the community and letting them know the applied work we do,” said Beck. “I started doing power lunches in Lincoln and Omaha on the topic of “Finding Passion and Meaning in Your Work.” It resonated enough to where companies have asked me to customize my presentation to their needs.”

Beck recently did a session at the National Research Corporation (NRC) that was quickly embraced.

Tammy Beck presents at an Exec Ed Power Lunch
Tammy Beck, associate dean of graduate programs
“I talked to them about job crafting where as individuals you have an opportunity to make changes to your job as opposed to a top down approach. Employees can adjust the tasks of their job, the way they perform the tasks and their interactions with other people. The great thing about it is you don’t have to wait for a supervisor to tell you how to do it. NRC had senior leadership involved and saw the potential immediately.”

The practical applied solutions are important to Beck, who worked as a certified public accountant for 17 years before entering the world of academics.

“I’m all about helping an organization in a solution-oriented approach that can make an immediate impact and difference in employee satisfaction and engagement. If I can’t translate it to a manager, I don’t see the same value,” she said.

In her role as associate dean, Beck is excited to be building the Executive Education program from the ground up.

“We’re really starting our program from scratch. We have an opportunity to identify what common challenges organizations are facing and learn some of the organization specific challenges. This is a different customer than our degree-seeking students, but we have the ability to utilize our great faculty experience to tailor programs to meet those challenges, and give our busienss partners a competitive advantage.”

Tammy Beck presents at an Exec Ed Power Lunch
Tammy Beck presents at an Exec Ed Power Lunch
She is also overseeing growth of other programs at CBA such as the MBA program, the masters of arts in business administration (MABA) and the masters of arts in athletic administration (MAIAA).

“We want to grow the programs and increase their visibility. The MAIAA has potential to not only be unique but also bring more attention to our college and university which will help build partnerships with other institutions. We also have certificate programs with the potential to crossover between our MBA program and partners in executive education.”

Beck’s research interests are organizational resilience and interorganizational collaboration. Both of them relate directly to the type of impact she believes is happening at CBA.

“I’m fascinated with how organizations need to work together because so few of them have everything they need to be able to compete effectively. Bringing new innovations together and meeting the needs of consumer demands through collaboration is vital because things are changing so much no one can do it on their own. Organizations are seeing the benefits, and it’s a great opportunity for mutual growth,” she said.
Published: July 7, 2015