Academics

Bertolon Welcomes Two New Faculty Members

The Bertolon School of Business is thrilled to announce the addition of two new members to the Bertolon School of Business faculty : Dr. Yu Hu and Dr. Saverio Manago.

Yu Hu

Dr. Yu Hu was born and raised in Shanghai, China, and completed his undergraduate degree in Economics and Accounting in his home country. While working for a mutli-national Japanese company, Dr. Hu decided to switch his focus to marketing and took off to Belgium to do so. He was not, however, accepted into the marketing program and instead, completed his Master’s Degree in Financial Economics in just one year! While in Belgium, Dr. Hu met the love of his life, Mina; they were married before moving to the U.S. in 2001, to pursue his Master’s degree in Marketing Research at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, IL, about 30 miles outside of St. Louis, MO.

While completing his master’s degree, Dr. Hu’s mentor advised him to continue on and pursue his PhD. He took his mentor’s advice and enrolled in a PhD program at Virginia Tech, in Blackburg, VA, where he spent the last four years before completing his degree this past spring. His main research interest is in consumer behavior, looking at how consumers decide what to purchase. (Dr. Hu was in fact a student at Virginia Tech during the massacre in April 2007, and was on campus that day, only a building away from the carnage.)

This is Dr. Hu’s first tenure-track teaching position; he is very pleased to be launching his career at Salem State. His favorite thing about joining the Salem State faculty is actually learning from the students. He says that their intense motivation to study, “makes me very humble.” Although, Dr. Hu has spent the last several years in the college setting, he did not have the closeness to the students that he experiences here at Salem State. For this, he is very grateful.

Saverio Manago

Dr. Saverio Manago comes to Salem State College from Virginia where he was stationed as a Colonel in the U.S. Army. He joins the Bertolon School of Business in Operations Management, focusing on operations, statistics and logistics information.

Dr. Manago spent an impressive 28 years in the U.S. Armed Forces. He joined while still an undergraduate student at Fitchburg State College. He began his military career as a private and eventually worked up to Colonel. He received both his MBA and MS in Systems Management and Operations Research at Kansas University in Lawrence, Kansas, and his PhD at Kansas University while serving. Throughout his career with the Army, Dr. Manago was deployed twice to Iraq, once as part of the infantry during the Gulf War, and once during the current war. The last deployment caused a great amount of stress on the large Manago family so he decided it was time for a change in career. He finished out his time working as part of a think tank at the Center for Army Analysis in Virginia.

After deciding to retire from the Armed Forces and enter the academic world, Dr. Manago wanted to give back to the state college system that provided him with the tools to reach such success, so he set his sights on Salem State College. He is thrilled to join the team at the Bertolon School of Business and is very excited to be working with the Danvers Historical Society (DHS) on service projects that he will be completing with his classes. The projects include a financial analysis for the DHS and the development of a database for the DHS to utilize.

When asked what his favorite thing about being a new member of the faculty at Salem State, Dr. Manago immediately replied, “the students” without blinking an eye. He said that interacting with and learning with the students is his single most favorite thing about coming to SSC and he looks forward to forging even deeper relationships as he gets settled in. Dr. Manago also really enjoys being able to connect with his students who are fellow veterans. The Bertolon School of Business predicts great things from Dr. Manago and welcomes him with open arms.