Amy Nguyen-Chyung.
HPU has announced the appointment of Amy Nguyen-Chyung, Ph.D., as the new dean of the HPU College of Business. A highly accomplished academic leader with a distinguished background in entrepreneurship, innovation, and global business, Nguyen-Chyung will lead the college into an era of growth and transformation.
“Dr. Nguyen-Chyung brings unparalleled expertise in fostering entrepreneurship and building innovative programs that will benefit our students and the broader community,” said HPU President John Gotanda. “Her entrepreneurial mindset, coupled with her commitment to academic excellence, aligns perfectly with HPU’s mission to prepare students for the demands of a rapidly evolving global economy.”
Nguyen-Chyung plans to lead initiatives at HPU that include the development of new academic degree and non-degree programs that foster entrepreneurial thinking and building business and international partnerships to create more win-win experiential learning opportunities.
“I am honored to be selected as the new dean of Hawai‘i Pacific University’s College of Business. The HPU leadership has been taking exciting steps to transform the University, and I’m looking forward to contributing by positioning the College of Business for the future and finding innovative intersections with HPU’s distinctive colleges and professional programs,” Nguyen-Chyung said.
“Having led the MBA capstone and multiple entrepreneurial institutes and initiatives at University of California San Diego and Rady School of Management, I know experiential education and entrepreneurial thinking give advantage to future business leaders, and I’d like to strengthen these areas in the College of Business. I am excited to work with the HPU leadership, faculty, students, alumni, and our partners both local and distant – including our private, public, non-profit, and military sectors – to build a competitive offering of more personalized business education aligned with the future of learning and work and with HPU’s unique location bridging Hawaiian, continental US, and international students and stakeholders.”
Nguyen-Chyung joins HPU from the University of California San Diego (UCSD) where she was the faculty co-director of the Institute for the Global Entrepreneur, a collaboration between the business and engineering schools. At the UCSD Rady School of Management, she played a pivotal role in elevating the school’s entrepreneurship rankings and spearheaded the capstone series that launched new ventures and was a recipient of the Most Valuable Professor award. Her leadership extended to the Sullivan Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, where she chaired the faculty committee. She also directed the Rady MicroMBA program and led Rady’s first global immersion program to Vietnam in 2024.
Before UCSD, she served as an assistant professor of strategy at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and also taught at the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business and The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. An innovative researcher and accomplished educator, she has received recognition and grants from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, published in scholarly and practice journals, and authored award-winning and widely distributed teaching materials.
Beyond academia, she has over 15 years of experience in consulting and international finance and investments, working with Fortune 500 companies and startups worldwide. She supports diversity in high growth ventures as a Limited Partner at Next Wave Impact, San Diego Angel Conference, and SoGal Ventures.
Nguyen-Chyung holds a Ph.D. and an M.S. in Business Administration from UC Berkeley’s Haas School, a joint MBA MPA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, and an undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, in East Asian Studies from Harvard University.
Nguyen-Chyung will begin her tenure as dean of the HPU College of Business in July 2025. In the meantime, she will be a consultant at the University.
For more information about the HPU College of Business, go to: www.hpu.edu/cob.
