College of Business and Economics celebrates retiring faculty Tuesday, June 2

WWU News

On This Page

• WWU Stories
• News Releases and Announcements
• WWU in the News
• Campus News and Information

College of Business and Economics celebrates retiring faculty Tuesday, June 2

May 19, 2026

by Jennifer Nerad

University Communications

Three longtime faculty members in the College of Business and Economics, who are retiring at the end of spring quarter, will be celebrated at a reception from 5-7 p.m., Tuesday, June 2, in the Western Gallery. Appetizers and beverages will be provided, and all are invited to attend.

The event will honor Professor of Decision Sciences Deepinder Bajwa, Professor of Decision Sciences Peter Haug, and Associate Professor of Finance Pamela LaBorde.

Deepinder Bajwa

Decision Sciences

Since joining Western in 1999, Professor Deepinder (Deep) Bajwa has established himself as a cornerstone of the Decision Sciences Department. He taught core management information systems (MIS) courses - including principles of MIS, corporate information systems management, and information systems and management decision making - to undergraduates and MBA students, helping to shape the next generation of business technology leaders.

Reflecting on his career, Bajwa feels most proud of the connections he has built with colleagues, students, and the global academic community. He counts among the highlights his awards for research and service, mentoring students who have gone on to impactful careers, and authoring and presenting numerous papers at national and international conferences.

Bajwa's research focuses on collaborative information technologies and has been published in leading journals, including the Journal of Management Information Systems, Decision Sciences, Decision Support Systems, Journal of Computer Information Systems, Group Decision and Negotiation, and others. His work is internationally recognized, and he has collaborated with scholars across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Over his career, he has earned numerous accolades, including the 2011 College of Business and Economics Distinguished Research Fellowship, the Dennis R. Murphy Faculty Research Award, the 2023 INFORMS Group Decision and Negotiation Outstanding Service Award, along with multiple competitive summer research grants, best paper awards, and nominations.

Bajwa enjoys traveling, golfing, and sampling global cuisines, and hopes to do more of that in retirement, as he plans to divide his time between Bellingham in the springs and summers and returning to his hometown in India for the fall and winter months.

Peter Haug

Decision Sciences

For nearly 40 years, Professor Peter Haug has combined his two passions - teaching and traveling the world.

Shortly after coming to Western in 1986, he began working with faculty and industry leaders to design WWU's nationally recognized Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management (MSCM) Program. He built an advisory board, started an internship program, and directed the MSCM Program since its launch in 1993.

A passionate traveler, Haug has visited more than 120 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, and North Korea, building a treasured global network of friends and colleagues along the way. He traveled the 5,772-mile Trans-Siberian Railroad from Vladivostok to Moscow, and he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro (5,895 meters) in Africa, Rashphari Peak (5,508 meters) in Pakistan, the Inca Trail Hike in Peru, and the Druk Path Trek in Bhutan. His journeys also took him to military sites in Russia, England and South Africa and he furthered his knowledge of maritime operations by traveling aboard a container vessel across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Haug served as a Fulbright Senior Scholar in China and India, conducted research at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, and taught at the University of Iceland as part of a faculty exchange.

Inspired by his own experiences traveling the globe, Haug has always encouraged students to experience a wide range of cultures, environments, languages and people. He's led study tours to China, Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia.

Haug has received numerous honors for teaching and mentorship, including the WWU Excellence in Teaching Award (1994), the first Distinguished Teaching Fellowship from the College of Business and Economics (2005), the Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award (2019), and was the 2005 commencement speaker.

Pamela LaBorde

Finance

Associate Professor Pamela LaBorde arrived at Western in 1990 and spent more than three decades shaping how students think about money, markets, and their own financial lives. She taught personal investing, corporate finance, financial analytics, and more, grounding every course in actual data and practical application. She was an early adopter of technology. Long before it became standard practice, she pulled actual company data into her classes and walked students through Excel as a primary analytical tool.

Of all the courses she taught, personal investing is where she felt her impact most directly. The financial knowledge students gain in that class can change a person's life, she said, and students told her they had started investing because of the course. They opened investment accounts and were applying the concepts and making financial decisions - something they had not considered doing before taking her course.

Her research earned the David Merrifield Research Award and the Dean's Research Award. Her teaching earned the Allette and Cayden Franklin Excellence in Teaching Award and the MBA Program's Outstanding Faculty designation. She published in peer-reviewed journals throughout her career and contributed to textbooks and educational media used in classrooms across the country.

Away from the office, she works with ceramics, designs polymer clay jewelry, spins yarn and argues with her 3D printer. She gardens sporadically and draws whimsical illustrations in watercolor and ink. She hopes to get better at all these things during her retirement.

Jennifer Nerad covers Western's College of Business and Economics and College of the Environment for the Office of University Communications. Have a great story idea? Reach out to her at [email protected].