Change of Command-Roman heads up Cornell-Queen's Program
There’s a certain irony in the July 4 start date of Paul Roman’s new position as Director of the Cornell-Queen’s Executive MBA (CQ-EMBA) program. While American program participants celebrate the Glorious Fourth, it will be business as not-so-usual as Paul reports for his first day of duty. He replaces Shai Dubey, Director of the Program since 2006, who moved to head up Queen’s Full-time MBA program when outgoing MBA Director Scott Carson returned to full-time teaching.
Paul, a former Canadian Forces officer, has taught Management Science and Operations Management at Kingston’s Royal Military College (since 1989) and Queen’s School of Business (since 2003). He’s looking forward to his new role. “I’ve really enjoyed teaching in QSB’s MBA programs. The Executive MBA program in particular enabled me to network with executives from across Canada. Now I’m excited that a significant part of my new job will be interacting with the Cornell-Queen’s EMBA students on both sides of the border. I view working with current students and alumni to build the value of the CQ-EMBA brand as a primary responsibility of my new role.”
He’s equally enthusiastic about the way students benefit from the cross-border nature of the program, he says. (See the CQ-EMBA feature) “I’ve worked extensively with the U.S. military, both during my 20-year career as a Signals Officer and in recent years as a consultant on simulation technologies. It’s been a great experience and one that I think will serve me well moving forward.”
The simulation technologies that are his specialty have made their way into training exercises in the Canadian, U.S. and other allied military forces and into his classrooms at both RMC and Queen’s. When he was Director of the Canadian Army Experimentation Centre, Paul and his team were responsible for transforming video games into realistic combat simulations. His award-winning paper “Games—Just How Serious Are They?” demonstrated how proficiency at the gaming console increases effectiveness in the field. He cites a recent and dramatic example of their use: “I’m certain that the Navy Seals who killed Osama Bin Laden would have trained using virtual reality simulations.”
His former QSB students can attest that learning by doing is his preferred pedagogical approach. The Beer Game, which pits teams against each other in resolving a set of operational challenges in running a brewery supply chain, has been a highlight of Paul’s class, according to many of his former students.
He began his career at RMC as an officer cadet in 1981. He received both Bachelor and Master of Engineering degrees in Engineering Management from RMC, and went on to complete a PhD in Mining Engineering at Queen’s in 1999.
The long-time Kingston resident and father of four is packing boxes and winding down his teaching duties at RMC as he prepares for his new full-time role at QSB. If there’s a game console destined for his new office at Queen’s, students and staff alike should be forewarned: He’ll take you down.