Education
PhD, University of Missouri
MS, Central Missouri State
BA, Western State College
Biography
Timothy S. Hatten, PhD, grew up working in his family's International Harvester farm equipment dealership and went on to own a Chevrolet, Buick and Cadillac dealership before entering academia as a professor. Hatten turned entrepreneurial passions into his Small Business Management textbook - sold in more than 30 countries. He stays in touch with the entrepreneurial spirit by working closely with the Business Incubator Center in Grand Junction. Hatten became a Fulbright Scholar award recipient in 2001, teaching at Reykjavik University in Iceland, and again in 2011, teaching and working with the student incubator at Niels Brock Copenhagen Business School in Denmark.
According to Hatten, "Some of my favorite accomplishments in academia have come from successes my students have attained in marketing competitions for live clients like AT&T, American Petroleum Institute, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Honda and U.S. Army Special Forces. They have kicked the dog snot out of teams from much larger, hallowed institutions of higher learning."
Hatten has had opportunities to teach aspiring entrepreneurs in the Russian Far East and Scandinavia. He has taken students on extensive tours of business across China and Europe and hopes to expand those horizons even further in the years to come. Hatten describes his teaching style as "applied and engaging." "It is a rare class session that I do not put students in a business decision-making scenario and talk with them through their problem identification, alternative options and ultimate recommendation to solve said problem," he said.
Hatten said he does not approach teaching from a vessel approach in which students are empty glasses waiting for knowledge, but instead uses a guide approach through "Small Business Land" or "Marketing Strategy Land". "Because I have traveled this way many times before I can illustrate highlights and pitfalls they should avoid, but ultimately the journey toward their destination is up to the student," he said.