CONTACT: Lynsee Womble, 806-651-2526, lwomble@wtamu.edu
CANYON, Texas—The Paul and Virginia Engler College of Business at West Texas A&M University is pleased to announce the appointment of three new endowed professorship positions and one new appointment for the fall of 2019. 
Dr. De’Arno De’Armond, associate dean of graduate business programs and professor of finance, has been named the Paul Engler Professor of Business. The Paul Engler Professorship was established in 2019 by the Paul & Virginia Engler Foundation.
The purpose of the professorship is to advance the mission of the business program at WT by supporting the teaching, research and service activities of an outstanding faculty member in the Engler College of Business. De’Armond received a B.B.A. in marketing and an M.B.A. from WT before completing a Ph.D. in financial planning at Texas Tech University in 2009. Prior to joining academics full-time, he worked for both CompUSA and NEC America in corporate support roles.
De'Armond teaches personal financial planning and sales management of financial services. His primary research interests consist of financial planner effectiveness, financial literacy and financial services marketing and has been featured in such journals as The Journal of Retail Analytics, Journal of Behavioral Studies in Business, Journal of Financial Planning and Financial Services Review.
Dr. Kelly McCauley, assistant professor of management, has been named the Engler Professor of Management established in 2019 by the Paul & Virginia Engler Foundation.
The purpose of the professorship is to advance the mission of the business program at WT by supporting the teaching, research and service activities of an outstanding management faculty member in the Engler College of Business. McCauley earned a B.S. in sociology from Furman University, M.S. in applied sociology from Clemson University, and Ph.D. in management from Texas Tech University before joining the faculty at WT in 2014.
McCauley’s teaching areas include organizational behavior and leadership. Her recent research highlights include journal publications in Leadership Quarterly, Human Resource Management Review, Management Teaching Review and Small Group Research.
Dr. Trevor Watkins, assistant professor of management, has been named the J.W. and Nell Foust Professor of Business. Friends of the Engler College of Business and the Paul & Virginia Engler Foundation established the Foust Professorship of Business in 2019 to honor the legacy of J.W. and Nell Foust as Texas Panhandle business pioneers.
Watkins joined the Paul and Virginia Engler College of Business in 2019 after earning a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from the University of Washington. He received a B.S. in human resource management and M.B.A from Utah State University in 2008 and 2011, respectively. Prior to academia, Dr. Watkins spent seven years as a human resource professional in the financial services and manufacturing industries.
Watkins teaches courses within the area of organizational behavior focused on topics such as leadership, motivation and employee well-being. Watkins is currently researching issues related to employee well-being such as physical exercise, healthy eating, coworker positive event disclosures and reactions to disrespectful, abusive supervisors. His work has appeared in the Journal of Management and Leadership Quarterly.
Dr. Oscar Solis, associate professor of finance, has been named the Gene Edwards Professor of Financial Planning, established in 2013 in honor of Gene Edwards, a distinguished Texas banker who enhanced both business and community development through his leadership at the First National Bank of Amarillo.
Solis spent six years on the faculty at Virginia Tech University before transitioning to WT in 2018. He received a B.B.A degree in general business, M.S. degree in personal financial planning, and a Ph.D. in personal financial planning from Texas Tech University.
His teaching areas include business finance, financial planning, risk management, and case studies in financial planning. His research includes publications in Journal of Personal Finance, American Journal of Business Education, International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, and College Student Journal.
Endowed professorship and chair positions are important to the strategic initiative to recruit and retain faculty members that bring innovative and impactful expertise to the students and community served by WT. The announcement of the new professorship appointments brings the total to 23 endowed professorships in the Paul and Virginia Engler College of Business.
The continuing professor appointments are as follows:
- Dr. Leslie Ramos Salazar, Dr. Amjad Abdullat Professor of Business
- Dr. Neil Meredith, Hassan and Jill Dana Professor of Business
- Dr. Darlene Pulliam, James and Mogie McCray Professor of Business
- Dr. Barbara Wang, Gene Edwards Professor of Banking
- Dr. Anne Macy, Gene Edwards Professor of Finance
- Dr. Sharon Burnett, Gene Edwards Professor of Accounting
- Dr. Jillian Yarbrough, Virginia Engler Professor of Business
- Dr. Nick Gerlich, J. Pat Hickman Professor of Marketing
- Dr. Marisa Crisostomo, Dr. Jerry Miller Professor of Entrepreneurship
- Dr. James Owens, Don Hodges Professor of Corporate Governance
- Dr. Robin Patterson, Don Patterson Professor of Business Law
- Dr. Sean Humpherys, T. Boone Pickens Professor of Business
- Dr. Eric Hoffmann, T. Boone Pickens Professor of Economics
- Dr. Jonathan Shaffer, T. Boone Pickens Professor of Management
- Dr. Karyn Friske, Stanley Schaeffer Professor of Business Ethics
- Dr. Bin Shao, Drs. Neil and Anne Terry Professor of Business
- Dr. Jeffry Babb, Dr. Phil Gensler Professor of Computer Information Systems
- Dr. Robert King, David Wilder Professor of Business
- Dr. Andrew Li, Don Williams Professor of Management
For more information about the Paul and Virginia Engler College of Business, visit here.
—WTAMU—