Robert W. Bigelow Appointed Associate Dean of the School of Business and Management

Thomas Edison State University has appointed Robert W. Bigelow, J.D., Ph.D., associate dean in the School of Business and Management.

In this role, Bigelow will collaborate closely with the school's dean to lead the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) and the recently launched Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Organizational Leadership, Culture and Change programs.

The Ed.D. program is designed for a broad spectrum of executive, managerial, administrator, and consultant roles in industry, military, higher and public/private school education and entrepreneurial enterprises. The program’s scholar-practitioner interdisciplinary curriculum is a dynamic academic and experiential learning model integrating seminal topics from the liberal arts and sciences with contemporary theories, models, tools, and best practices associated with 21st-century leadership, culture and change.

“Dr. Bigelow is a recognized and seasoned academic leader possessing a wealth of experience and expertise in higher education, adult learning, online education and curriculum innovation,” noted Michael Williams, Ph.D., dean of the School of Business and Management at TESU. "His experience in developing innovative business and management degree programs, his legal expertise and student engagement skills will be instrumental in shaping the future of our doctoral programs.”

Bigelow has spent more than 20 years developing and refining online course delivery and pedagogy as a course mentor, scholar-in-residence, and subject matter expert at TESU. He previously served as an academic program director and core faculty member at Capella University, where he played a pivotal role in expanding experiential learning and refining that institution’s flagship FlexPath education delivery system. In addition, he has held faculty positions at Touro Graduate School of Business, Upper Iowa University, and New York Law School. He was also a longtime faculty member in the Cardozo School of Law Intensive Trial Advocacy Program.

Beyond academia, Bigelow served as a supervising attorney at the Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Defense Division in New York City before transitioning to private practice. Leveraging his legal expertise in the media, he served as a legal analyst and guest commentator on Court TV and truTV for five years.

He earned a Ph.D. in education from Capella University, a J.D. in law from Georgetown University Law Center, and a B.A. in sociology from the University of New Mexico.

Learn more about TESU’s School of Business and Management program offerings.