Faculty Senate


Bauer faculty serve as members of the University of Houston faculty senate, providing guidance and a common vision for faculty and administration.


Swati Basu

Swati Basu

Professor of Practice

Finance Clinical Assistant Professor Swati Basu received her Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. She has been published in The World Bank Economic Review and the Industrial and Labor Relations Review. Full Bio.


Daniel Currie

Daniel Currie

Senior Professor of Practice

Daniel Currie is Director of the Bauer College's GEMBA program, an energy-focused MBA program delivered in Beijing, Urumqi, Dubai and Houston. Dan has been teaching graduate courses in the Bauer College since 1994. Among others, he has taught International Environment of Business, International Marketing, Business Ethics for Accountants and Business Law and Ethics. Full Bio.


James Hess

James Hess

Professor - C. T. Bauer Professor of Marketing Science

James Hess holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an A.B. in Economics, B.S.E. Electrical Engineering, from Princeton University. He has been a Visiting Scholar at both MIT and the University of California-Berkeley, as well as Visiting Professor at Washington University at St. Louis, Claremont McKenna College/Claremont Graduate School and Koblenz School of Corporate Management. Full Bio.


Norman Johnson

Norman Johnson

Professor - Chair of Decision and Information Sciences & Bauer Professor of Business Analytics

Norman ("Norm") Johnson’s expertise is in the areas of decision-making, psychometric analysis, data mining, and predictive analytics. He has been involved in teaching and research in these and other areas for over a decade. In applied research and practice, he focuses on developing predictive models that are based on numeric and textual data. Full Bio


Chad Larson

Chad Larson

Associate Professor

Professor Larson grew up in the Houston area and after a long hiatus returned to join the Accounting Faculty at Bauer in 2013. Prior to his return, Larson spent five years on the faculty at Washington University in St. Louis. Currently, he teaches Intermediate Financial Accounting, and his research interests focus on debt and supply chain contracting, financial statement analysis, and accounting misstatements, manipulations and fraud. Full Bio.


Olivia Miljanic

Olivia Miljanic

Instructional Assistant Professor - Director of Global Studies/ Director, Full Time MBA


Michael Murray

Michael Murray

Instructional Assistant Professor

Michael J. (Mike) Murray, Ph.D., PE is a clinical professor of Supply Chain Management in the department of Decision & Information Sciences at the University of Houston, and chief operating officer of the Cougar Investment Fund, LLC. Murray has significant business experience and a diverse portfolio of skills developed over a successful career in manufacturing operations, corporate planning and business consulting. Full Bio.


Vanessa Patrick-Ralhan

Vanessa Patrick-Ralhan

Associate Dean of Research & Bauer Professor of Marketing

Vanessa Patrick is a Bauer Professor of Marketing, Lead Faculty for the Bauer Executive Women in Leadership Program and Faculty Advisor to the Bauer Women's Society at the Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston. She has a Ph.D. in Business from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, an MBA in Marketing and a BS degree in Microbiology and Biochemistry from Bombay University in India. Her research deals primarily with the psychology that underlies the two sides of the pleasure coin. On one hand she studies the pursuit of pleasure in her work dealing with art and aesthetics, hedonics and luxury branding. On the other hand, she investigates strategies by which individuals can successfully manage the pull of pleasure in her work on self-control and the interplay of affect and control. Full Bio.


Leiser Silva

Leiser Silva

Associate Dean, Graduate and Professional Programs

Leiser Silva holds a Ph.D. in information systems from the London School of Economics and Political Science, an M.Sc. on Systems Analysis and Design from the same institution, an M.Sc. in Political Science from Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala, and a B.Sc. in Computer Sciences from the Universidad del Valle in Guatemala. He is teaching an introductory programming course in Java to undergraduates and a case study seminar to Ph.D. students. Before joining the University of Houston in 2002, he taught and did research in Universities in Canada, Europe and Latin America. Full Bio.


Gordon Smith

Gordon Smith

Professor of Practice

Gordon Smith has had over 20 years of executive management experience for multinational companies in high technology industries prior to rejoining academia. He has lead the transformation of operations, supply chains and customer service organizations in diverse industries such as automotive (Textron Automotive and Huf NA), telecommunications (Corvis) and oil & gas exploration (Input/Output). Gordon has consulted with high technology manufacturing companies and service organizations providing guidance focused on sustainable change management, achieving operational excellence through manufacturing and quality process improvements and the application of lean thinking. Full Bio.


Steve Werner

Steve Werner

Professor - Department Chairperson/ JPMorgan Chase Professor of International Business

Steve Werner received his Ph.D. in Human Resource Management from the University of Florida. His research focuses on various human resource management issues, particularly compensation and international HRM. Werner has taught courses at the undergraduate, masters, or doctoral level in compensation administration, compensation system design, human resource management, organizational power and politics, international human resource management, industrial relations, research methods in management, and international management. Full Bio.