Barton School Appoints New Chair of Finance, Real Estate and Decision Sciences Department

The W. Frank Barton School of Business’ Department of Finance, Real Estate and Decision Sciences (FREDS) at ɫƵ has appointed Dr. Mehmet Barut as its new department chair. Dr. Barut will serve as chair for three years starting in Fall 2023. He is a Professor of Supply Chain Management within the department and was elected by FREDS Department faculty.

“I’m honored that my colleagues have entrusted the leadership of our department to me,” said Dr. Barut. “I hope to follow the example of my predecessor and lead FREDS to new heights.”

Dr. Barut received his Ph.D. in Industrial Management from the College of Business at Clemson University in 1999. He worked as a visiting professor at Clemson before joining the faculty at WSU in 2000. At the Barton School, he designed and introduced the STEM-designated master’s degree program in Management Science and Supply Chain Management. He also serves as the director for the Supply Chain Graduate Programs and oversees the Graduate Certificate Program in Supply Chain Management for Cargill. His research focuses on supply chain performance, supply chain information sharing, scarce resource management, revenue management, market segmentation, and problem-based learning.

Dr. Barut’s publications appeared in leading journals including “Decision Sciences,” “European Journal of Operational Research,” “Computers and Operations Research,” “Annals of Operations Research,” “International Journal of Electronic Commerce,” “Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education,” and others.

“Mehmet has the acumen to make a great impact over the next three years,” said Dr. Larisa Genin, Dean of the Barton School. “The FREDS department is on a continued trajectory of significant and sustained growth. In recent years, it has added new industry-aligned degree programs such as STEM-designated programs in business analytics and supply chain. Mehmet will have an opportunity to continue this upward trajectory by introducing new programs, innovating current ones and providing top-notch experiences for our students.”

In addition to offering courses in Finance, Management Information Systems, Decisions Sciences, Real Estate and Business Law, the FREDS Department provides students and the larger ɫƵ community with additional signature programs and experiences such as the Koch Global Trading Center, Center for Real Estate and its Business Analytics Lab.

For more information on FREDS, visit www.wichita.edu/academics/business/freds/.