Katerberg Named Interim Dean of UC’s College of Business

Photos By: Lisa Ventre, photojournalist

   “This is not a period to pause,” says Ralph Katerberg. “We’re not waiting. We’re going to engage faculty to take the College of Business to the next level.”

'This is not a period to pause,' says Ralph Katerberg, interim dean of UC's College of Business.

That is the approach of the man announced Wednesday as the interim dean of the UC College of Business. He notes that the college, like the university, has many things on its plate.

“We’re in the process of moving to semesters and we have business school reaccreditation to think about, for example,” Katerberg is well aware of the latter, as he currently serves as a consultant-evaluator for the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and was the co-chair of UC’s recent HLC accreditation self-study and visit. 

Prior to becoming department head, Katerberg had served as the college’s associate dean for academic affairs for 13 years. He has been active as a teacher for over 30 years and teaches courses in organizational behavior, leadership and influence and work motivation at both the graduate and undergraduate level.

A graduate of Calvin College, Katerberg received master’s and doctorate degrees in industrial-organizational psychology from the University of Illinois. He has studied and written about leadership, employee turnover, employee motivation and job attitudes for journals such as the "Academy of Management Journal" and the "Journal of Applied Psychology." He has also served as a consultant to numerous military organizations and business firms.

Katerberg is a member of the Academy of Management and Sigma Xi and is active as a reviewer for several major management journals. He has held several offices in the Midwest Academy of Management, including program chair, secretary-treasurer and president. For more than 15 years he has been a leader in the area of business education at the doctoral level, having served as program chair and president of the Association of Directors of Doctoral Programs in Business. A representative to the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC), Katerberg has served as chair of the GMAC Advisory Committee on Computer Adaptive Testing and the GMAC Advisory Committee to the Management Education Research Institute.

Katerberg has taught leadership for more than 30 years at both the graduate and undergraduate level.

Katerberg is a popular choice among the faculty and the business community for the interim dean position. One man who can speak to both is Timothy Johnson, former professor of finance, chair of the College of Business Advisory Council and now president of Johnson Investment Counsel.

“Ralph’s long-term experience with the college, his knowledge and his engagement with the business community make him a good choice for continuing our strategic initiatives already put into motion,” says Johnson. “I have known Ralph a long time. He is extremely competent, but what’s more important is his impeccable character.”

Johnson adds, “Ralph will interface nicely with both the faculty and the community and I look forward to the fine job that he will do as interim dean.”

“I would not be doing this had I not received such strong support from my colleagues,” Katerberg says with humility. He, in turn, is a long-time supporter of the UC faculty and the Cincinnati community in general. He serves on the board of directors for Lighthouse Youth Services and as board president for Lighthouse Community School. He and his wife, Beth, have five sons and one grandson.

But this is not a time for reminiscing for Ralph Katerberg.

“We have a lot of things to do in the coming months,” Katerberg says. “We are moving to even better.”