Professor Ken Bates, SPHR

Associate Professor of Business
Department Chair

BS, Houghton College, 1971; MBA, Loyola College, 1980; SPHR.

Experience: Professor Bates has taught at Houghton since 1989. He has been actively involved in the Christian Business Faculty Association and served as chair of its board from 1998 to 1999. He is also a member of the Society of Human Resources Management, the Buffalo-Niagara Human Resources Association, and the Willard J. Houghton Foundation Board of Directors. He has served on various college committees at Houghton, including the Strategic Management Advisory Council, the Academic Affairs Council, the Teaching & Learning Technology Roundtable, and the Financial Affairs Council. Currently he chairs the P.A.C.E. Advisory Committee.

Professor Bates joined the faculty after a 17-year career in management. Most recently he had served as an association executive in a Washington, DC based trade association and before that in a management capacity for a not-for-profit, charitable organization.

In 1994 he co-founded the Houghton Development Group who built and now operate The Inn at Houghton Creek.

Professor Bates is a member of the local Houghton Wesleyan Church and is an elder in the Presbyterian Church of America. He currently serves on the board of Allegany County's American Red Cross and on the board of Partners with Russia.

Professor Bates' most important roles are as husband to Barbara Bates and father to two grown children, Shannon and Peter Bates.