Balancing leadership and learning at WMU Haworth
KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Second-year MBA student Jumangie Smith is discovering the depth of his capabilities through his academic career at Western Michigan University’s Haworth College of Business. Hailing from Tillery, North Carolina, Smith’s commitment to enhancing his knowledge has already begun to have positive results on his career.
Having earned an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from North Carolina State University in 2018, Smith began his career as a project engineer at Georgia Pacific. After spending a few years there, he transitioned to Smurfit Westrock (previously Westrock) in 2020 where he currently holds a maintenance and reliability superintendent position. In this role, Smith is responsible for 25 direct and indirect reports as well as the maintenance functions on the backend of the facility and overall mill reliability.
With a successful career established, Smith saw the potential an MBA could have for strengthening his abilities in the workforce.
“I chose to pursue an MBA to better learn the inner workings of businesses from a financial and data perspective and to develop my leadership skills. The most appealing aspect of the WMU program was the focus on understanding how to use data to achieve desired business outcomes. My interest in business dates back to high school where I had an aptitude for business management and participated in organizations like DECA, so I always knew this would be an area of interest in my career too.”
Even with only one year of the program completed, Smith is finding ways to implement what he is learning into his job responsibilities in real time.
“I hope to apply the program in many ways to my career, mainly around personal leadership and management skills and understanding business finances. In my current role, I am responsible for a department of over 20 people. Learning how to be an effective manager is critical to my team and business’s success. So far, I have been able to apply what I’m learning from classes I’ve taken in this program to my career. I aspire to reach higher levels in the organization. Thus, I will need a better working knowledge of finance and accounting, and I will be able to apply my learnings in this aspect as well.”
While taking on graduate education can be intimidating, especially when it coincides with a full-time position, Smith has found WMU Haworth’s MBA program manageable and productive.
“At first, I was a little hesitant about pursuing graduate education while working a full-time job that could have long or unusual hours,” Smith says. “But by just going out and doing it, I have learned a lot about my ability to balance competing priorities. The program setup allows me to balance work and education without falling behind in either. This is also in part due to WMU Haworth professors understanding the needs of their students and having buy-in from my direct manager at work.”
Throughout his time in the MBA program, Smith has developed as a leader in his workplace, setting himself apart from the crowd.
“The first class I took, Leadership for Managers, was focused on the experiences of leaders and how they developed. During this class, I was able to reflect on my leadership style and adjust, becoming more effective. Two of my biggest learnings that I applied instantly were how a leader should spend their time to be effective and the phrase ‘Did you do what you said would?’ I’ve written both on my whiteboard at work as a daily reminder. So far, I have been able to see positive results in my teams, and I hope that trend continues.”
Smith plans to graduate from the MBA program in summer 2027, fully prepared to better his team as a business leader.
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