The summer before my freshman year, as I scrolled through CAB for the first time, I came across a course that looked different than most of what Brown has to offer. Management of Industrial and Nonprofit Organizations (ENGN 0090), commonly referred to as ENGN 9, is one of few classes at Brown that focuses on business. The course covers fundamental business and entrepreneurship topics such as marketing, strategy, operations, finance, organizational structure, and human relations. ENGN 9 looked interesting to me, so I registered for it and showed up on the first day. I quickly learned that ENGN 9 has a reputation as an iconic class at Brown, taught by the renowned Professor Barrett Hazeltine along with Professor Thano Chaltas.
Professor Hazeltine is legendary. He has taught at Brown since 1959 and now serves as a Professor Emeritus, though he still has a large presence in Brown’s engineering department. He has played a key role in the growth of entrepreneurship education at Brown and alumni of all ages point to Professor Hazeltine as their favorite professor. He has done such an amazing job that he has won the senior class teaching award thirteen times, before the award became named after him. Before the pandemic, Professor Hazeltine’s signature move was shaking students’ hands when they participated in class. He walked up and down the aisles of the lecture hall in Barus and Holley, always making sure that each student understood the material and encouraging us all to raise our hand to get one of his famous handshakes. Although the gesture is no longer possible, Professor Hazeltine’s kind, supportive presence and eagerness to form meaningful relationships with students is still evident over Zoom.
Professor Chaltas’ name may not be as famous on campus as Professor Hazeltine’s, but his teaching is one of the main reasons why ENGN 9 is such a great course. Professor Chaltas is a former ENGN 9 student and one of Professor Hazeltine’s biggest fans. His teaching reflects his positive experience in the class, as he does all he can to make sure that all students learn and enjoy the course as much as he did. He truly cares about each and every student and wants everyone to get a lot out of the course. Somehow, he is able to build a strong sense of community in a large lecture setting, which makes it fun to go to class. He uses PowerPoints to display the material during lecture and also encourages discussion and participation in class. Whenever I interacted with Professor Chaltas, whether it was him greeting me coming into the lecture hall or chatting with me during his office hours, I always felt that he valued and cared about how I was doing generally and how I felt about the course. This goes for most Brown professors, but I think that Professor Chaltas goes the extra mile in getting to know his students despite the large class size of ENGN 9.
One of the best parts of the class is that the professors bring in many guest lecturers. Since both professors are extremely connected and Professor Hazeltine has strong relationships with many of his former students, most of the lecturers are Brown alumni who have found success in business. This was especially impactful for me because I felt a connection to many of these people who had been in a similar position to me during their undergraduate time. Some of my favorite guests were Tom Scott and Tom First, the founders of Nantucket Nectars who both took ENGN 9. Another notable former ENGN 9 student who came to speak was Dorsey James, who has had a very successful career in business focused on entertainment and shared memorable stories of experiences with celebrities.
ENGN 9 is an interesting and useful course, regardless of your area of study. Students of all different concentrations enjoy the class. Professor Chaltas concentrated in Religious Studies and although his concentration has pretty much no relation to the course, he enjoyed it so much that he went on to teach it. Even if there is no chance that you will pursue a career in business, the lessons from ENGN 9 are applicable to many fields. Both professors always made an effort to relate the content from class to everyday life and decision making, which I appreciated.
The workload for ENGN 9 is very manageable, with the majority of it being five short papers (about five pages each), a final paper (about ten pages), and a final exam. All of the assignments and readings come from the Harvard Business Review, so you are always studying real world situations. If you asked me before taking ENGN 9, I would be the last person to say I enjoyed reading business cases, but I ended up finding them really interesting. The syllabus includes cases from companies that are fun to learn about like Whole Foods and Tesla. One of my favorite cases was Rip Van Wafels, which I found particularly interesting because the man who founded the company was an ENGN 9 student and first sold his products on Brown’s Main Green.
I have no doubt that ENGN 9 will be one of my favorite courses in my four years at Brown. The teaching is excellent, and the content is interesting and relevant. I loved the course so much that I decided to take the next level of it, Managerial Decision Making (ENGN 0900), the following semester. Also taught by Professor Hazeltine and Professor Chaltas, it was another great class. If you have a space to fill in your schedule for this spring semester, ENGN 0090 should be at the top of your list. I can guarantee you’ll get a lot out of it and enjoy your experience.