WWU Give Day 2022

Stephen Senge, Professor Emeritus in Western’s College of Business and Economics, passed away in early July 2019.

Senge retired from the College of Business in 2016 after 24 years of service between 1985-2000 and 2007-2016. While he served in leadership roles for much of his career, Dr. Senge was truly dedicated to the craft of teaching. Regularly redeveloping classes to incorporate contemporary themes and current events, designing cases and test questions around individual class conversations, and working thoughtfully to help students connect their academic training with their future careers were all the intangibles that made his connection with students so strong.

From the beginning of his career he excelled in teaching: earning recognition for his teaching style while still in graduate school at Kent State University, receiving Western’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 1988, and being awarded with many Distinguished Professor and Educator of the Year awards from the MBA classes over the years. Aside from the many generations of students who benefited from his dedication to teaching, he was widely regarded as a mentor to faculty and staff throughout the College of Business and Economics.  He was known as someone who could be trusted to listen, distill a problem to its essential elements, advise, and always with kindness and a firm grasp on the larger picture.

Senge is survived by his daughter, Dana Senge.

The Stephen Senge Innovation for Business Teaching Fund

Prior to retirement, Dr. Senge and the College were discussing the importance of supporting future business educators in their innovation as well as the importance of adapting curriculum to best meet the current needs our students. The College invites those who have a story of Dr. Senge, a memory of his class and would like to help us in the development of a fund so his legacy may live on in perpetuity. This is a project that was close to Steve’s heart and that his daughter, Dana, feels is a wonderful way to remember a beloved professor.

This fund, the Stephen Senge Fund for Innovation in Business Education will strive to honor his legacy by providing encouragement and resources to the faculty in our programs to innovate. Support may be provided in the form of   teaching awards, curriculum development funding, funding for projects to enrich curriculum and training faculty. Curriculum development, curriculum enrichment and training of other faculty were all activities that were important to Steve, and the fund will allow his work to continue posthumously. The goal is to build an endowment, and we are starting at $25,000. However, as we build it we will grow the goal. Every amount will make a difference, as you provide your support, please use the Donor Wall to tell us a personal story about Professor Senge and that you would like to share with his daughter, Dana and other alums.

Thank you from the bottom of our heart, Dr. Stephen Senge will be missed by our campus, students and faculty.