CoB Dean's Excellence Awards

Research Excellence –

Sydney Chinchanachokchai

Service Excellence -

Asoke Dey

Staff Excellence -

Dan Reichert

Undergraduate Teaching Excellence -

Jim McKelvey

Graduate Teaching Excellence -

Thaddeus Neururer

Research Excellence –

Federico de Gregorio

Service Excellence -

Vanja Djuric

Staff Excellence -

Caroline Tuesday

Graduate Teaching Excellence -

Andrew R. Thomas

Research Excellence –

Alexa Fox

Service Excellence -

Julianne Jones

Staff Excellence -

Nancy Stott

Research Excellence – Co-winners:

For the first time ever, a tie! Equally deserving of this award for their very impressive records and publications, having published in the top 5 journals in their respective field based on the impact factors, as well as presentations, working papers, and other types of intellectual contributions over the past five years.

Thaddeus Neururer

Dr. Thaddeus Neururer, assistant professor of accounting, joined the CoB in 2017. His publications have been in the top journals in the fields of accounting, finance, and management. His current research interests include the effect of accounting and related information on investor uncertainty, ex-ante risk distributions, the valuation of derivative securities, and asset pricing in general as well as the informational properties of analysts’ forecasts, their processing costs, information spillovers, and analysts’ non-EPS forecasts.

Service Excellence -

Erin Makarius

It is often said if you want anything done, ask a busy person to do it. This year’s award recipient, Dr. Erin Makarius, associate professor of management, exemplifies this statement. While Erin’s contributions to academia are many, we especially draw attention to the following activities in which she has or does participate in: Human Resources Management (SHRM) advisor, Academic Program Review, Measuring Student Success Committee; President of the United States Council of Advisors on Science & Technology: Advanced Manufacturing Partnership 2.0 Work Creek Leader, Dissertation Committee (currently serves on three committees), and elected Representative at Large to the Academy of Management – Division Leadership.

Staff Excellence -

Brenda Papoi

This year's winner, Brenda Papoi, has demonstrated her willingness to support the college above her normal job requirements; first in support of the Taylor Institute and now as administrative assistant to the Marketing Department. She demonstrates the ability to be proactive and innovative. Coming on board in 2008, Brenda is an excellent team player, puts a high priority on the needs and success of the CoB, and successfully works with people in the college, across the UA campus, and with outside business partners.

Research Excellence –

Li Wang

Dr. Li Wang, associate professor of accounting, has demonstrated excellence in her research since joining the CoB in 2007. In the last five years, she has published a total of nine high quality papers. Of these, two have been accepted for publication in A+ rated journals.

Service Excellence –

Jill Bisco

Dr. Jill Bisco, assistant professor of finance, joined the CoB faculty in 2014. During her tenure at the University, she has made meaningful contributions to the university, CoB, and to the community. It is her efforts in developing degree programs in the area of risk management and insurance and correspondingly working with students to establish a finance honorary chapter on campus where her service to the department and its stakeholders has been exemplary.

Staff Excellence –

Matt Dowd

Joining the College of Business's staff in 2002, Computer Lab Support Specialist Matthew Dowd is all about how he can best contribute his talents and expertise to meeting CoB's technology needs. Most commendable is Matt’s interaction with students and departments to provide excellent customer service, ensuring technology issues are quickly resolved.

Research Excellence –

Dr. Eric Brisker

Dr. Eric Brisker, assistant professor in the Department of Finance, has a record of high quality publications and is also actively involved in scholarly activities including conference presentations, discussions, and serving as an ad hoc reviewer for several journals. Since arriving to the University in Fall 2012, Dr. Brisker has had eight articles published or accepted for publication. The average quality of these publications is very high with three papers published in journals on the Finance department's “A” list and two published in the Finance department's “A” financial planning list. To date, his work has been presented at nine regional or national conferences. Moreover, he has a diverse research portfolio with scholarly contributions in the areas of capital structure, executive compensation, financial literacy, and mergers and acquisitions. In addition, Dr. Brisker has worked with 11 different coauthors so the common thread in quality of his work is him.

Service Excellence –

Dr. Deborah Owens

Dr. Deborah Owens, associate professor in the Department of Marketing, exemplifies what it means to be a leader in her community, at The University of Akron, and to the academic discipline overall. Her breadth and depth of service have impacted students both within and outside the College of Business, at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Included in this list would be her work with the Honor’s College in various capacities, as a Steering Committee member of the EXL Center, the Student Success Steering Committee, work in preparing the Hult Prize Team from The University of Akron, her engagement with Women in Business and Women’s Leadership Summit, as a faculty advisor for numerous CoB student organizations, and the many hours spent mentoring and advising students. For the past 8 years, Dr. Owens has created, organized, and operated a summer “Business School Bootcamp” for Project GRAD students. Project GRAD is a nonprofit education program focused on helping underrepresented inner-city students reach their future career goals by motivating them to attend college after they graduate from high school. Her passion and commitment is contagious and inspiring with her dedication for service remarkable.

Research Excellence –

Dr. Erin Makarius

Dr. Erin Makarius is very deserving of this award. Her publications have been in the top journals in the management field; contributing to the field of organizational behavior, human resources, and management education. She regularly presents papers at various national and international level conferences, and, in recognition of her research on reputation, was invited to publish a book chapter in the SAGE Encyclopedia of Corporate Reputation. Seminal to the committee's recommendation is Dr. Makarius' outstanding 2015 Organization Science publication, “Choosing the Company You Keep: Racial Relational Demography Outside and Inside of Work,” complete with its impact factor of 6.309.

Service Excellence –

Dr. Mahesh Srinivasan

Dr. Mahesh Srinivasan has been engaged in service at every level at the University while also providing service to the Management profession. Most notable has been the high impact level of his service on President Obama's Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) 2.0 initiative as the lead of a sub-group within the Workforce Development-Workforce Education workgroup to develop pathways for advanced manufacturing education. He has served on the University Faculty Research Committee, was selected to participate in the UniverCity Community Leadership Institute inaugural class, and has provided comprehensive contributions to the College's Supply Chain major, from industry participation to student engagement.

Research Excellence –

Dr. Christopher Plouffe

Not only does Dr. Christopher Plouffe teach sales courses and is the Director of the Fisher Institute for Professional Selling, he also is an outstanding academic researcher. His work is regularly published in top quality, peer-reviewed journals, and others are noticing his excellent work, as his citation count is approaching 1,000. He consistently demonstrates excellence through the number of research publications, quality of publications, research impact, and conference presentations.

Service Excellence –

Debmalya Mukherjee

Dr. Mukherjee is an eager participant in numerous service activities that support and enhance the management discipline, his community, and the classroom. He was selected to participate in the UniverCity program, which links university leaders with local leaders to enhance collaborative efforts with the city of Akron. He regularly reviews for management journals and was selected to the planning committee for the annual Academy of Management Conference, which reaches 12,000 professionals. Community service is realized through classroom engagement via the Management Consulting Project Course. His overall professionalism and academic efforts have brought the CoB significant attention.

Staff Excellence –

Ms. Andrienne Calderon

Andrienne Calderon, M.S., is the intelligent, good-natured, straightforward glue that holds the CoB together. Whether it is her duties in ensuring the physical plant of the CoB building is in shape, or serving as the college advisor to the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society, she demonstrates true leadership by regularly exceeding daily responsibilities to contribute to the success of the CoB. She also is responsible for administering numerous scholarships and maintaining AASCB reports.

Research Excellence –

John Goodell

Dr. John Goodell, assistant professor of finance, has demonstrated both breadth and quality in his research since joining the CoB in 2008. His research interests include cultural finance, gender issues in finance, financial impacts of social capital and trust, law, and finance, emerging markets, pensions, financial architecture, and cost of equity. Goodell consistently demonstrates excellence through the number and quality of his research publications in high quality journals, conference presentations, and involvements in professional organizations, while also serving the academic field of finance through his editorship. In the past two years, Goodell has co-authored ten published or accepted discipline-based articles, nine pedagogical articles, and two book reviews. Two of these articles have been published in the Journal of Banking and Finance, a premier journal in Finance. He is the assistant editor of the Journal of Teaching in International Business, associated editor of the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, and has served as a reviewer for various journals.

Service Excellence –

Melinda Newman

Dr. Melinda Newman, associate professor of finance, joined the CoB faculty in 2000. Throughout her career, she has focused her service contributions to her students and to her department. Since 2004, Newman has served as an advisor to undergraduate honors students majoring in finance. Her leadership responsibilities and participation in various committees, such as the Undergraduate Student Experience Committee, University Honors Council, and University Honors Program Scholarship Recruitment, continue to make significant impacts to departmental, college, and university goals and initiatives. She has served as Director of the Building Bridges Program and continues to be instrumental in helping to place students as interns or in permanent jobs with area firms.

Staff Excellence –

Mary Hardin

Joining the College of Business's professional staff in 2001 as director of technology, Mary Hardin is no stranger to adapting and developing new solutions to the ever-changing technological needs of the CoB, its students, and constituents. Always having the College's best interests in mind and taking a proactive approach in her responsibilities, she manages the acquisition, installation, configuration and maintenance of all IT equipment within the CoB. In addition to her usual job duties this year, Hardin has been instrumental in overseeing the design and installation of the Business Analytics Lab as well as a significant Website upgrade.

Research Excellence –

Li Wang

Dr. Li Wang, associate professor of accounting, has attained an outstanding record of research and publications since joining the CoB in 2007. She regularly publishes in top journals including Review of Accounting Studies, considered an A+ journal; Journal of Information Systems, the top ranking premier journal in the AIS field; International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, a prestigious journal of high quality; and Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, which is ranked among the top journals in the accounting and finance disciplines. Wang has presented her research at many professional meetings and conferences, and her papers have been cited by other scholars. She currently has working papers that have high potential for publication in top quality journals.

In 2012, Wang was awarded the Dean's Research Quality Award and was also nominated for the Dean's Research Excellence Award. In 2009, she came in second for the Andrews Best Paper Award at the American Accounting Association Ohio Region Conference.

Even as a doctoral student, Wang gained recognition for research excellence, receiving the Best Doctoral Student Manuscript Award in 2004 and again in 2005 at the American Accounting Association Ohio Region Conference.

Service Excellence –

Frederik Beuk

Although he has only just completed his second year at The University of Akron, Dr. Frederik Beuk, assistant professor of marketing, has already gained a reputation for outstanding service to his students, the college and the university.

Beuk's accomplishments have made a significant contribution to raising the stature of the CoB's sales management program and the Fisher Institute for Professional Selling. In 2011-12, he coached ten UA students who participated in the World Collegiate Sales Open. After three qualifying rounds, two of the CoB students were among 20 students, out of an original group of 200 from 21 different schools, who advanced to the finals. CoB student, Joshua Woolls, eventually took first place. In 2012-13, Beuk again coached a winner, Brittany Nagy, who took second place in the World Collegiate Sales Open and in the National Collegiate Sales Competition.

In addition to serving as coach for the sales competitions, Beuk also serves as adviser for the college's chapter of Pi Sigma Epsilon, the national professional organization for sales, marketing and management. He has played a significant role in re-invigorating the chapter and in, Spring 2013, they placed 2^nd in the Top Chapter competition at the organization’s national convention. Beuk also helped the group organize the “Run the Roo 5k” and other events held on the UA campus during the 2012-13 school year.

Staff Excellence –

Danica Houle

Danica Houle, M.A. Danica Houle, senior administrative assistant, who joined the CoB in 2006, is known for her excellent interpersonal skills and cheerful, upbeat demeanor. These attributes not only help to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere in the CoB Dean's Office, but also enhance the image of the CoB among the many stakeholders with whom she interacts both on and off campus.

Houle is often commended for her outstanding professionalism, competence and commitment to the CoB and the University. She is recognized as a team-player who can be counted on to do whatever is needed to get the job done, and often takes a leading role in planning and organizing college events and activities.

During the past year, Houle was instrumental in pulling together the CoB's formal AACSB Maintenance of Accreditation report, coordinating the visit of the AACSB team, and facilitating the many behind-the-scenes activities related to the visit, while continuing to efficiently manage all her other tasks and responsibilities.

Service Excellence –

Alvin Lieberman

Alvin Lieberman, associate professor of accounting and coordinator of taxation studies, has been a dedicated member of the CoB faculty for almost 44 years. His record of outstanding service to the college and the university spans decades. Lieberman founded two highly successful tax conferences which he organizes each year. He has organized the National Tax Conference for 33 years and the International Tax Conference for 10 years. He has cultivated and maintained relationships with many leaders in the community and his work with those contacts has contributed significantly to the CoB's Bachelor of Science in Accountancy program and the Master of Taxation program, which he co-founded. For the past three years, Lieberman has served as coordinator of the first accounting course taken by all CoB students, ensuring that all students have a common learning experience. Lieberman possesses a great wealth of institutional memory that he shares willingly for the benefit of students, faculty and the college. He serves on many CoB and School of Accountancy Committees and, over the years, has represented the college on numerous University Committees.

I consider service to be an important component of the duties of an effective full-time faculty member of the College of Business and during my forty three years of full-time teaching at The University of Akron, I have attempted to do my share. - Alvin Lieberman

Staff Excellence –

Myra Weakland

Myra Weakland, assistant director of graduate programs in business, joined the CoB in 1992 a few years after graduating from the college with her MBA degree. Weakland has earned a reputation for being a problem solver who is accurate and thorough in her work. She is very customer-oriented and is recognized for her high level of service to CoB graduate students and faculty. Her work with the college's international graduate students has been a major factor in the development of the diversity of the CoB's graduate student body. Weakland is very knowledgeable about the college's graduate programs and the many administrative processes that impact graduate students. She has developed excellent rapport with individuals in the many different departments across campus with which she must cooperate to keep a multitude of processes running smoothly for students and faculty. During the recent major overhaul of the graduate curriculum, Weakland assumed a leadership role in managing the smooth implementation of the many changes and transitions required.

I am honored to be recognized by the college for service excellence. Being open to change, concern for student success and building strong relationships within the CoB and across campus have been keys to my success. I am proud of what our graduate programs team has accomplished in the past few years: an updated MBA curriculum, a Saturday MBA option and rankings in U.S. News and World Report and Bloomberg Businessweek - to name just a few of our achievements. - Myra Weakland

Research Excellence –

Akhilesh Chandra

Dr. Akhilesh Chandra, professor of accounting and director of the Institute for Global Business and the Center for Research & Training in Information Security & Assurance, has had his research published in numerous journals and proceedings. His primary research focus is to understand internal controls, governance and decisions using accounting information. He considers business research a crucial tool in informing the decision process, increasing understanding of accounting's role, and challenging us to consider alternatives for improvement.

Chandra also believes that while the research being conducted within CoB plays an important role in today's business world, the greater impact can — and should — be found in the classroom.

My class is enriched and enlivened many times over as a direct result of my research. I use my understanding of research issues to engage students to be critical, creative and innovative for personal and professional fulfillment, while contributing to their organizations and the society. Specifically, my research allows me to challenge students to identify and define accounting information and its role in every event, ask basic, simple questions, question assumptions and status-quo, examine current approaches, develop and consider alternatives, and understand why and how accounting is the common and most significant denominator in every event. - Akhilesh Chandra

Service Excellence –

William Hauser

Dr. William Hauser, associate professor of marketing and director of Suarez Applied Marketing Research Laboratories has, throughout the years, offered his time and expertise not only to the CoB and The University of Akron, but to his community as well.

Within the CoB, Hauser has been the college's representative on the UA Institutional Review Board, an advisor to the SIFE Student Organization, and a member of the CoB Undergraduate Curriculum and Marketing RTP Review committees. At the University level, he has served on the University Park Marketing and Communications Task Force and in an ad hoc advisory capacity to both the Institutional Marketing Department and E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Center. The community has also benefited from Hauser's service as a board member of the Leadership Akron Alumni Association and Victim Assistance Program and as the UA Faculty Representative to the United Way of Summit County's Neighborhood Leadership Development Program.

I feel that it is important to be involved in both the community and at UA, particularly the CoB, because both are integrally intertwined. Serving the community is, in a way, serving the University and vice versa. Hopefully, my involvement in the community positively reflects on the CoB and UA. - Bill Hauser

Research Excellence –

Il-Woon Kim

Dr. Il-Woon Kim, professor of accounting and international business and associate director of the Institute for Global Business, is renowned for his research in cost accounting, management accounting, and international accounting. During the past 15 years, he has focused his work primarily on corporate cost accounting practices, not only in the United States, but also in Japan and Korea (target costing), and Germany (consumption accounting), studying process improvements, theory of constraints and throughput accounting, and international comparative analyses of different accounting systems around the world. With the Consortium of Advanced Management – International (CAM-I), Kim has been involved in many research projects on target costing for large companies, such as Boeing, Chrysler, Caterpillar, Timken, Continental Tevis, Mercedes Benz (Germany), Futaba (Japan), Alta Management (Japan), and HyunDai Motor (Korea), the results of which have been published in the CAM-I Research Monograph Series and professional journals.

Just as the business community has benefited from Kim's findings, so have his students. Kim's work outside of the classroom has played a vital role in his teaching.

Much of my research outputs have been directly incorporated into teaching my graduate classes. These outputs are current and relevant, but not available in textbooks. - Il-Woon Kim

Service Excellence –

Thomas Costigan

Thomas Costigan joined the CoB faculty in 1997 and, over the years, has served the college in a variety of capacities. He has been a member of the undergraduate curriculum committee, chair of the Department of Finance scholarship committee, and course coordinator for the basic finance course. In addition, Costigan has been a frequent guest speaker in several business classes and has offered seminars on getting started in investments to students and their guests. He has also served as an academic judge for a business plan contest held within the entrepreneurship program.

I enjoy working with and for the students in these varied capacities. My hope is that my work contributes to their business growth. - Tom Costigan

Research Excellence –

Roger Mayer

Widely published, Roger C. Mayer, professor of management, has received numerous accolades for his work as a teacher and researcher. Mayer’s research interests center on organizational trust, employee motivation, decision making, organizational effectiveness and social capital. Mayer believes that faculty research not only plays a vital role in the classroom, as current and pertinent findings augment time honored concepts and theories, but also has an impact on students’ futures long after graduation.

My research focuses my attention on one of the basic building blocks of human interaction — trust. We have found, under rigorous scientific procedures, that trust affects bottom line profits of a business, and that trust in management can be increased. It has led me to write and publish experiential exercises that I use in my classes and which are used at major business schools across the United States and beyond. As my students realize that my research is currently being used in such diverse arenas as improving productivity in U.S. corporations, building trust to under gird economic development in war-torn Afghanistan and helping the U.S. military strengthen its cyber security, it helps them understand that what they are learning is current and important to their careers. - Roger Mayer

Service Excellence –

Pamela Keltyka

Dr. Pamela Keltyka, associate professor of accounting, has been a member of the UA faculty since 1997. Over the years, much of her service to the CoB and UA has centered on the curriculum. She has served as a member of the curriculum committee for the School of Accountancy and chair of the CoB curriculum committee. Keltyka has also been a member of the School of Accountancy Scholarship Committee for several years and has coordinated the annual selection of award recipients. Since 2006, she has served as the faculty adviser for the accounting fraternity, Beta Alpha Psi. Professionally, Keltyka is an active member of the Institute of Management Accountants.

I was caught by surprise when I was selected for this award. It is nice to know your peers appreciate what you are doing. I thoroughly enjoy working with the students as the BAP faculty adviser. It is fun to watch them grow and become leaders of our industry. I love it at The University of Akron. This is where I am supposed to be. - Pam Keltyka

Research Excellence –

Aigbe Akhigbe

Dr. Aigbe Akhigbe, Frederick E. Moyer chair and professor of finance, is recognized worldwide as a research leader and has received many accolades throughout his career. Among his most notable honors, Akhigbe was ranked 6th out of 17,573 finance authors of all time during the past 50 years, in an article written by T. Jalbert, S. Alangar, and N. Young, titled “Additional Evidence on Prolific Authors in Finance Over the Past Half Century,” Advances in Financial Education, Volume 6, Summer 2008. His research interests cover issues ranging from investment processes to corporate finance and the financial services industry.

Service Excellence –

Susan Hanlon, D.B.A.

Dr. Susan Hanlon, associate professor of management, joined the CoB faculty in 1990. Throughout her career at UA, Hanlon has played an instrumental role in the development of educational programs within the college. She served as director of the Center for Family Business within the Fitzgerald Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies from 1997 to 2006, and as interim director of the Institute from 1998 to 1999. As chair of the CoB Summer Scholars Awards Committee in 2007-2008, Hanlon helped create the Summer Scholars Program that teams undergraduate Honors students with faculty in research endeavors. Hanlon is also the faculty advisor for the Department of Management Honors Students.