Paul Olsen Associate Professor Business Administration & Accounting
Bio
B.A., Ed.D. University of Vermont
M.S.A., Saint Michael’s College
Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) certification
I joined the Business Department in 1994. From 1994-2012, I was associate director of the Master of Science in Administration (MSA) program. Previously I was Employee Benefits Manager and Assistant Director of Human Resources at the College.
Courses I Teach:
Managerial Ethics
Human Resource Management
Internship Practicum
Peace and Justice Leadership
Recent News
Paul Olsen of the Business Administration and Accounting Department faculty recently had the following three cases (and teaching notes) published, with the last in this listing of citations scheduled to be out this month: Olsen, P. (2022). Good Samaritan or poor performer? Journal of Critical Incidents. Winter 2022, Volume 15 Issue 1, p. 58-60; Olsen, P., & Mitchell, B. (2022). That’s so gay: Kellogg’s faces backlash to its “Together With Pride” cereal. Journal of Critical Incidents, Winter 2022 Volume 15 Issue 1, p. 73-75; and, Olsen, P. & Mitchell, B. (2022); and, Land O’Lakes abandons Native American logo: Brand authenticity or virtue signaling? Business Case Journal (In press). Paul notes that the last two of these cases are co-authored with Brandon Mitchell ’22 are the eleventh and twelfth published with Saint Michael’s undergraduates.
(posted February 2023)
Paul Olsen of the business administration & accounting faculty shares: “According to IgnitEd, ‘a community of scholars changing the world through better business education,’ cases that my faculty colleague Karen Popovich and I wrote were among the most downloaded case resources in 2021” Also, Paul is a lead organizer for an upcoming Spring 2022 panel discussion on campus titled “The Business of Beer and Hard Cider,” scheduled for February 28. Event cosponsors are the Career Education Center and the Alumni and Parent Engagement office. Panelists from local breweries will describe their work, company and career trajectory.
(posted February 2022)
Paul Olsen of the business administration faculty presented the following critical incident cases and teaching notes at MBAA International in March: MBAA International Conference, Chicago, Illinois. “Good Samaritan or Poor Performer?” March 2021. (Virtual); MBAA International Conference, Chicago, Illinois. “Land O’ Lakes Abandons Native American Logo: Virtue Signaling?” March 2021. (Virtual). Brandon Mitchell ’22 is coauthor is the Land O’ Lakes case. Paul also had a paper published by the North American Management Association (NAMS): Olsen, P. (2021). Teaching Leadership during a Global Pandemic. North American Management Association (NAMS) Annual Conference Proceedings, p. 238-252. Chicago: MBAA International.
(posted July 2021)
Paul Olsen, associate professor of business administration and accounting, reports his most recent publication. Here’s the citation: “Olsen, P., Siplon, P., & Nathanson, M. (2019). Symbolism or Substance? Managing Livable Wage Ordinance Enforcement. North American Management Association (NAMS) Annual Conference Proceedings, p. 167-182. Chicago: MBAA International.” Paul also made these presentations the past semester: North American Management Association (NAMS), Chicago, Illinois. “Symbolism or Substance? Managing Livable Wage Ordinance Enforcement.” March 2019; MBAA International Conference, Chicago, Illinois. “Detox or Die: Controversial Social Media post plagues Vermont restaurant owner.” March 2019; MBAA International Conference, Chicago, Illinois. “Injecting Ethics into MD Cosmetics.” March 2019. Detox or Die was coauthored with Paul’s business faculty colleague Karen Popovich and recent graduate Patrick Doherty ’19. Injecting Ethics into MD Cosmetics was coauthored with Patrick Doherty ’19 and business faculty colleague Thomas Van Dzura.
(posted June 2019)
Paul Olsen, associate professor of business administration and accounting, shared this week about another publication for which he is partly credited: A critical incident case and teaching note that Paul coauthored with his former student Connor Duffy ’18 was recently published in the Journal of Critical Incidents. The title and citation follow: Olsen, P., & Duffy, C. (2018). Discrimination or Poor Performance? Journal of Critical Incidents, Fall 2018, Volume 11, 65-67.
(posted January 2019)
Paul Olsen, associate professor of business administration and accounting, recently presented a critical incident case and teaching note, coauthored with Connor Duffy ’18, at the MBAA International Conference in Chicago, Illinois. The title of the case is “Discrimination or Poor Performance?” Additionally, Paul received the Faculty of the Year award from the Saint Michael’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), and also received the Rev. Marcel Rainville ’67 Service to St. Mike’s Hockey Award from the Purple Knights men’s ice hockey team at their Senior Recognition & Awards Banquet. In December 2017 he presented at the Vermont Internship Professionals Network annual meeting in White River Junction.
(posted June 2018)
Paul Olsen, assistant professor of business administration and accounting, recently learned that he has had accepted for publication, by the Journal of Critical Incidents, a critical incident case and teaching note he wrote last summer of 2017 with Connor Mitchell ’17, “Beansie’s or Bust: the Challenges of Managing a Food Truck Business.”
(posted December 2017)
Paul Olsen, assistant professor of business administration and accounting, recently presented a Critical Incident case and Teaching Note titled “Beansie’s or Bust: The Challenges of Managing a Food Truck Business,” at The 53rd Annual MBAA International Conference in Chicago. The case was coauthored by Connor Mitchell ’17 and will now be submitted to the Journal of Critical Incidents. Also in recent months, Paul co-authored a case titled “WWJD? Frankincense distiller considers Fair Trade certification,” with faculty colleague Anjanette DeCarlo and former student Steve Passarelli ’16. It was published in May in the Journal of Case Studies. Paul was co-author on two other critical incident cases published late in 2016 in the Journal of Critical Incidents: “WTF? McDonald’s minion unhappy meal” and “English only controversy at City Market co-op.” The first was written with Karen Popovich and Tiffany Thompson ’16, the second with Peter Kelly ’16.
(posted June 2017)
Paul Olsen, assistant professor, and Karen Popovich, associate professor, both in the Business Administration and Accounting Department, recently wrote a business “critical incident case” in collaboration with their former student, Tiffany Thompson ’16, that was accepted for publication in the 2016 edition of the Journal of Critical Incidents. Their case was titled “WTF? McDonald’s minion unhappy meal.
(posted November 2016)
Paul Olsen, assistant professor of business administration and accounting, in April 2016 received the 2015 Best Critical Incident Award from the Journal of Critical Incidents for his 2015 critical incident case study titled, “Save the whales? Crisis management at Lego.” (Fall 2015, Volume 8, 129-133. He received the award from JCI Editor Tim Brotherton. Paul also presented two critical incident cases on April 14 at the Midwest Business Administration Association (MBAA) International Conference in Chicago: the first, co-authored with Saint Michael’s business department faculty colleague Karen Popovich and student Tiffany Thompson’16, was titled “WTF? McDonald’s minion unhappy meal,” and the second, co-authored with student Peter Kelly’16, was “English only controversy at City Market co-op.”
(posted June 2016)
Paul Olsen, assistant professor of business administration and accounting, had two publications appear in the Fall 2015 issues of the Journal of Critical Incidents: “August First Bakery & Café pulls the plug on laptop and iPad use. Journal of Critical Incidents,”( Fall 2015, Volume 8, 95-98), and “Save the whales? Crisis management at Lego. Journal of Critical Incidents,” (Fall 2015, Volume 8, 129-133.) He also recently received his SHRM-SCP (SHRM Senior Certified Professional) certification from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) in Alexandria, VA, and more recently published “See Spot run? The dogs in the workplace debate” in the Journal of Case Studies, November 2015, Vol. 33, No. 2, 116-122.
(posted January 2016)
Paul Olsen, assistant professor of business administration and accounting, presented two Critical Incident cases – “August First Bakery & Café Goes Screen Free” and “Save the Whales? Crisis Management at Lego,” at the Midwest Business Administration Association (MBAA) International Conference in Chicago in March.
(posted April 2015)
Paul Olsen, assistant professor of business administration and accounting, is author of a paper, “Use of Positive Psychology to Enhance the Undergraduate Business Internship Experience,” recently accepted for publication in the Journal of the Academy of Business Education (JABE).
(posted December 2014)
Paul Olsen, assistant professor of business administration and accounting, presented his business case, See Spot Run? The Dogs in the Workplace Debate, at the Society for Case Research’s 36th Annual Summer Case Writer’s Workshop in Rock Hill, South Carolina, in July.
(posted August 2014)
Paul Olsen, assistant professor of business administration and accounting, was author of an article, “Namaste: How Yoga Can Inform Leadership Education,” published in the Winter 2014 issue of the Journal of Leadership Education (JOLE). Also, Paul’s business case “Skinny Paycheck? Livable Wage Ordinance Tests Socially Responsible Business Owner,” was accepted for publication in the March 2014 issue of the Business Case Journal.
(March 2014)