The Missouri State University Department of Marketing welcomed Dr. Ji Hyun Ahn as an assistant professor in fall 2026. Specializing in supply chain management and operations management, Dr. Ahn brings extensive academic, industry and government experience to the department.

Before joining Missouri State, Dr. Ahn served as a visiting assistant professor at Coastal Carolina University, where she taught operations management and business statistics.

A multidisciplinary educational background

Dr. Ahn earned her Ph.D. in operations and supply chain management from the University of Auckland Business School in New Zealand in 2026. She also holds a Master of Science in Management and a certificate in Management of Technology from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Earlier, Dr. Ahn earned a Master of Science in Statistics and a Bachelor of Economics from Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea.

Her multidisciplinary education combines statistics and economics with management, technology and supply chain studies. Together, these areas provide Dr. Ahn with a strong analytical foundation for examining complex business and operational challenges.

The University of Auckland Business School, where Dr. Ahn completed her doctoral program, holds the internationally recognized “Triple Crown” accreditation: AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA. These three accreditations recognize business schools that meet high international standards in areas such as teaching, research and academic quality.

From industry and government to academia

Dr. Ahn’s path to academia began with extensive professional experience. At Samsung Electro-Mechanics, she worked on Six Sigma process improvement and manufacturing innovation.

She later spent more than 10 years at the Korea Energy Agency, focusing on sustainability, energy consulting and performance analysis. These experiences continue to shape her approach to research and teaching.

Reflecting on her professional journey, Dr. Ahn shared:

“My career path has not been a straight line into academia. I started in industry, spent many years working for a government agency and later transitioned into academic research and teaching.”

Researching better business decisions

Dr. Ahn’s research focuses on supply chain management, business analytics, sustainable operations management and management of technology. Her current projects examine inventory management in supply chains and knowledge outsourcing, with manuscripts under review by academic journals.

Much of her research uses large-scale secondary data and empirical methods to study how organizations can improve their operational and supply chain decisions. Dr. Ahn is particularly interested in how these decisions can strengthen organizational performance and promote greater sustainability.

Throughout her academic journey, Dr. Ahn has received several honors, including the University of Auckland Business School Dean’s Doctoral Scholarship and the Grand Prize in the KISTEP Research Paper Competition.

Connecting the classroom with real-world experience

In the classroom,Dr. Ahn helps students connect academic concepts with the challenges organizations face in practice. Drawing from her experience in industry and government, she uses real-world examples to explain operations, analytics and supply chain concepts.

Discussing her approach to teaching,Dr. Ahn explained:

“I like to connect what students learn in class with the kinds of problems organizations face in practice. Because I worked in industry and government before entering academia, I often draw on those experiences when explaining operations and analytics concepts.”

At Missouri State,Dr. Ahn hopes to continue building meaningful connections between research, teaching and real business issues. Her combination of global education and professional experience offers students a practical perspective on how organizations can improve efficiency, make informed decisions and operate more sustainably.