Walker, Keith Named to Professorships at WTAMU

Feb. 3, 2011

COPY BY: Rana McDonald, 806-651-2129, rmcdonald@wtamu.edu

Walker, Keith Named to Professorships at WTAMU

CANYON, Texas—Officials in the College of Business at West Texas A&M University have named the recipients of two new professorships—the Dr. Jerry Miller Professorship for Entrepreneurship and the Stanley Schaeffer Professorship of Business Ethics. The College of Business is now home to 10 professorships.

Jean Walker, instructor of finance, has been named the Miller Professor of Entrepreneurship, and Dr. Mark Keith, assistant professor of computer information systems, has been named the Stanley Schaeffer Professor of Business Ethics.
The Miller Professor of Entrepreneurship was established in 2010 to support the continued student, faculty and community entrepreneurship activities at WTAMU.

"During his time as dean, Dr. Miller moved the College of Business toward a stronger focus on academic research as a way to enhance quality teaching, established Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), enhanced the Student Managed Investment Fund, opened the door to the world by committing to international recruitment along with international and online delivery of the MBA program and numerous other initiatives," Dr. Neil Terry, dean of the College of Business, said. "He is a transformational leader and his vision is still very much at the core of the current success of the College of Business."

Walker, the recipient of the Miller Professor of Entrepreneurship, earned her M.B.A. from WTAMU in 1980 and joined the business faculty shortly thereafter. Her research has appeared in Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning, Journal of Economics and Economic Education Research and Academy of Accounting and Financial Studies Journal. Her current research includes a case study on the investment and remodel decisions by the regional McDonald’s franchise owners. She teaches corporate finance, financial management and personal financial planning. She also serves as the Sam Walton Fellow and adviser for the University’s SIFE team.

The Stanley Schaeffer Professorship of Business Ethics also was established in 2010 and is designed to stimulate academic excellence and enhance an appreciation of ethical leadership for business students at WTAMU.

"Stanley, Geneva and the entire Schaeffer family have transformed the WTAMU campus and community with their generosity," Terry said. "Stanley Schaeffer is truly an outstanding person that possesses a genuine quality consistent with a professorship in business ethics. He is a wonderful representative of West Texas values and an inspiring alumnus role model for our current students."

Keith, the Schaeffer Professor of Business Ethics, earned his doctorate degree at Arizona State University in 2009 and joined the WTAMU faculty the same year. His publication record includes articles in Decision Support Systems, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Decision Analysis Journal and International Journal of Human-Computer Studies. Keith also has authored chapters in the books Technologies for Reliable and Scalable Operations and Advances in Management Information Systems. His current research topics include a focus on the consumer lock-in and switching costs associated with office productivity software and on privacy risk associated with mobile applications.

The University will recognize Walker, Keith and other WTAMU professors holding endowed chairs or professorships as well as the donors of those endowments at a special convocation and reception from 4-5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15 in the Recital Hall of the Sybil B. Harrington Fine Arts Complex.

—WTAMU—