A handsome, energetic 40ish couple - he is blond with a ruddy complexion and she is brunette and fair-skinned - they let you know that at this moment WPI is exactly the place they want to be. "One reason we chose WPI is that we are friends of McRae Banks, the head of the Management Department," says Juha, a professor of business administration and head of the Department of Economics and Management at the University of Jyvaskyla. "He was a professor at Mississippi State University where we cooperated on research, when Salme and I were there as visiting professor in the 1980s. Another reason we chose WPI is that after stints at Mississippi State and McGill University in Montreal, we wanted to do research and teach on a smaller campus. WPI seemed ideal."
Juha came to WPI after winning a senior professor's research grant competition sponsored by the Academy of Finland. He is currently a special scholar concentrating on strategy and entrepreneurship research. While her husband pursues his interests, Salme, an associate professor of accounting at the University of Jyvaskyla, has been teaching a class in accounting at the Institute. She is also scheduled to teach some classes in Finland during the academic year. "I expect to go back a couple of times," she says.
The Nasis bring to WPI rich academic backgrounds and impeccable reputations as scholars. A member of several international scientific organizations and an active participant in management education and executive programs in Finland, Juha received his Ph.D. from the University of Tampere. He is the author of The Wisdom of Management Art (1987) and he is the editor of Arenas of Strategic Thinking (1991). He edited and Salme contributed chapters to Understanding Stakeholder Thinking (1995).
Prior to joining the staff at the University of Jyvaskyla in January 1995, Salme was an associate professor of business administration and accounting at the University of Oulu. The first woman to receive a Ph.D. in accounting in Finland, she graduated from the University of Tampere. Among her areas of research are Finnish history of accounting, financial and cost accounting, and public sector accounting. She has also conducted research on business, society and environmental issues. In 1995, she contributed a chapter on the history of financial reporting and auditing in Finland to European Financial Reporting and a similar chapter to the European Accounting Guide published in the U.S. by Harcourt Brace.
Settled in Holden, Mass., since last summer, Juha and Salme and their daughters, Ella, 19, and Anni, 12, and their son, Altti, 16, have been adjusting to New England life. Ella is a student at Clark University. Anni attends Mountview School in Holden and Altti goes to Wachusett Regional High School. "It has been a rather easy transition for the children because they speak English quite well," Juha explains. "They couldn't wait to come back to America. They were with us at Mississippi State in the 1980s, as well as at McGill just five years ago."
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