You learn something new every day. For many people, that’s just an age-old saying. For Rachna Shah, professor of Supply Chain and Operations at the Carlson School of Management, it’s a way of life. She sees everything along the way, however circuitous that way may be, as an opportunity. 

Shah came to the United States from New Delhi, India, where she earned a BA in economics at Delhi University. With the original plan of coming to the United States to study linguistics at Cornell, a series of timing and life events eventually situated her at The University of Ohio, where she earned a MBA/MHA in finance and a PhD in management science. After Shah finished her PhD and began interviewing for positions, she ended up with ten job offers from eleven different universities. How does such a highly sought-after candidate choose a position?

There were a number of factors that attracted Shah to her position at the University of Minnesota in 2002. “The Supply Chains and Operations Department at Carlson was at the top of my list,” she said. She had also long admired the work of Professor Emeritus Roger Schroeder, who became her mentor at Carlson, “And really, in life,” Shah added. She wanted to observe Schroeder at work, and to learn how someone could be so effective and efficient, yet retain the humility and humbleness that he epitomized. “That’s why I came here,” she smiled.

Shah said there is something in Minnesota, an intangible, that she has not found at other institutions of higher learning where she has worked or visited. “I don’t know… I don’t like stereotypes, but it has to do with the ethos of Minnesota, by which I mean Nordic culture, maybe. People here have the ability to have very strong rules and principles for themselves, and at the same time to be respectful and accepting of the rules and principles that others have.” She added, “I love the University of Minnesota and the Carlson School. It’s very different here from other schools where I go to give lectures, because rather than being driven by competition for limited resources, this university is intellectually driven. You can talk across departments, and always find people who want to engage in your question. There is always someone who is willing to talk and contribute to your improvement.”

In perfect step with that idea, Shah is deeply engaged in contributing to the improvement of the University community. She participates in University shared governance, has mentored undergraduate, graduate, and PhD students, and continues her scholarly and research work with seemingly boundless energy.

Before becoming involved in governance, Shah devoted time to mentoring students. She was invited by a colleague to become part of the Undergraduate Faculty Advisory Council (UFAC) at the Carlson School of Management. She said working with UFAC gave her a better understanding of the issues that undergraduate students face, and she realized that the issues applied to all students, not just those at Carlson.

Shah remembers being struck by the enormity of the challenges faced by minority student populations in particular. This led to her involvement in the President’s Distinguished Professor Mentoring Program, where her focus was with students who were the first in their family to attend university. She said that the most surprising part of mentoring these students was a realization of how a student’s aspirations might be limited by their life circumstances. Shaw worked to help her mentees consider a broader view of what they might accomplish, especially when bolstered by a university education. She added, “While mentoring, I learned that no two students walk the same path, so we cannot have the same goals for every student. It was a big eye-opener for me, because I realized that excelling at homework and getting excellent grades wasn’t necessarily enough to overcome all the barriers life may have presented to these students.”

“I truly believe in continuous improvement. You can always do better,” Shah said. Upon reflection, she noted that she also learned the importance of appreciating accomplishments along the way. “I learned from the students I mentored that it is equally important to say, ‘Oh, you did that very well,’” she said.

Shah has served on a variety of University Senate Governance committees, including the Senate Committee on Educational Policy (SCEP), the Faculty Academic Oversight for Intercollegiate Athletics Committee (FAOIAC), and currently as a member of the Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee (AF&T). She said that committee work has allowed her to reflect on the immense effort and time that goes into running the University, the abundance of well-intentioned and enthusiastic people who work at the University, and the importance of returning to one’s department or unit and sharing that perspective. Shah said six years on SCEP gave her insight into the challenges and issues faced by the University as an institution, and then how that translated into the various student populations.

Shah explained, “I’m very learning oriented, I have to be learning all the time. Every day I have to learn something new, even if it’s just a new word.” Perhaps that’s why, in tandem with her extraordinary academic accomplishments, she somehow finds time for reading, cooking (occasionally for as many as 100 people!), competitive Sudoku, and contract bridge – activities through which she does, mostly likely, learn something new every day.