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Panwar named as Chapple Professor

June 12, 2009

Rajat Panwar, Ph.D., has been named as the Chapple Family Chair in Business Ethics and Social Responsibility at Northland College. The duties of the Chapple Chair are to provide practical solutions to the problems in the broad area of business and social responsibility and also to develop and implement a new business curriculum, while drawing on the college’s environmental expertise and its enduring commitment to ethics. Funding for the chair is made possible by a $1.25 million gift from John H. Chapple, president of Hawkeye Investments, LLC of Kirkland, Washington.

Panwar holds a bachelor of science from CCS University in Meerut, India; a masters of business administration from the University of Lucknow, India; and a PhD in Corporate Social Responsibility from Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. Panwar’s past work with corporate social responsibility has included both academic and consulting projects, and his past associations include organizations such as the United Nations Development Program, the World Bank, and the United Nations Global Compact. Much of his research has revolved around forest products industries, tourism, and agriculture. His teaching interests include marketing, strategic management, social entrepreneurship, and business and public policy. As Chapple Chair, Panwar plans to keep his research focus at the intersection of corporate social responsibility and social entrepreneurship, and plans to develop projects that will engage students at the College. “I want to transfer my passion for publishing to my students”, says Panwar.

John H. Chapple, a native of Ashland, is the fourth generation John Chapple to enjoy a relationship with Northland College. A successful businessman, he is currently president of Hawkeye Investments, LLC. Previously he earned a national reputation in the telecommunications field as an executive of McCaw Cellular Communications, Rogers Cablesystems, and most recently, as CEO of Nextel Partners. Following the family tradition of community service, Chapple has served on several non-profit boards and devoted many hours to Habitat for Humanity and to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. He and his wife, Vivian Dixon, reside in the state of Washington.