PSU recognizes University Professors

  Friday, September 27, 2013 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

PSU recognizes University Professors

Pittsburg State University recognized five veteran faculty members with the distinction of “University Professor” at a reception on Thursday, Sept. 27. This year’s University Professors are Barbara McClaskey, Nursing; Virginia Rider, Biology; Cynthia Woodburn, Mathematics; Donald Baack, Management and Marketing; Bienvenido Cortes, Economics, Finance and Banking; and John Iley, Technology and Workforce Learning.

The rank of University Professor indicates that an individual faculty member is recognized by their peers both on and off campus as an "outstanding contributor in a field of specialization." To be eligible, candidates must also be recognized on campus for "outstanding contributions to the education program of the university."

To be considered for the designation, candidates must have been a full professor for no less than seven years, meaning that a person who begins at PSU as an assistant professor typically would not be eligible to apply for the rank of University Professor for 19 years.

The University Professor designation is for a term of seven years and can be renewed. It carries with it a $4,500 increment that is added to the base salary.

Dr. Barbara McClaskey serves as the BSN coordinator and chairs the BSN committee. She participated in preparation for the accreditation visit from the Council on Commission of Nursing Education and the Kansas State Board of Nursing, as well as being very active in curriculum review and course revisions. Each year, McClaskey takes a group of nursing students on an international study trip to a hospital in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, with more than 100 students total participating in this educational experience to-date. She also has attended numerous professional development opportunities as well as having prepared numerous instructional media presentations for many of these workshops and institutes. McClaskey holds professional licenses in Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. She has been the recipient of the Robert J. Ratzlaff Outstanding Faculty Award.

Dr. Virginia Rider has received many awards and honors such as the Ingram’s “Icon of Education Award” from the Kansas City Business Magazine, Joplin Tri-State Business Journal’s Fifteen Most Influential Women, the Outstanding Mentor Award from the Kansas Idea Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (K-INBRE), as well as the PSU Outstanding Faculty award.

Rider maintains active research programs, which keep didactic course material fresh and interesting. Her students, both undergraduate and graduate, are encouraged to present their research data at national meetings. Serving as campus representative for the K-INBRE, she has brought experts on bioinformatics training (mining of large scale genetic information) to the PSU campus. This grant award, from the National Institutes of Health, has also provided 71 undergraduate students with research scholarships.

Dr. Cynthia Woodburn is an active member of relevant professional societies in both mathematics and math education, allowing her to keep current on research and trends in pure mathematics and teacher education. Dr. Woodburn has also been the recipient of PSU’s Robert K. Ratzlaff Outstanding Faculty Award and she has been awarded a PSU Faculty Development Curriculum Grant for Internationalization. Since her last promotion, she has designed and developed six new courses. She has participated in the PSU iPad Pilot Project in her Geometry for Education course, one of her newly developed courses, making changes to the course to incorporate the iPad. She is also an active member of the PSU eLearning Academy Steering Committee. Woodburn has attended and presented at numerous conferences, institutes and workshops, and has several publications to her credit.

Dr. Donald Baack has received Kelce College of Business Excellence in Research and Scholarly Activity awards. He holds memberships in the Southwest Academy of Management, having served as president and program chairman of the Southwest Decision Sciences Institute. He is an advocate for student participation in ENACTUS (formerly Students in Free Enterprise), and enjoys working with international students. He has researched a wide variety of companies as part of the process of writing textbooks in the areas of organizational behavior, marketing communications, and international business. He has co-written a number of books, modules for custom textbook publishing programs, teaching resources, refereed journals, and attends national and regional meetings of professional organizations. Baack’s works have been cited in more than 10 other books and his books can be found in libraries, college classes, and bookstores in at least 32 countries. He is a long-standing consulting editor for the Journal of Managerial Issues and is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies.

Dr. Bienvenido Cortes’ scholarship activity consists of articles published in peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, and other publications. He has published 47 articles regionally, nationally, and internationally with topics ranging from state-level small business lending to Japan and Chinese monetary policy, and destination casino gaming in Kansas. He has presented more than 50 paper presentations at professional conferences and university and public forums.

Cortes has received the Outstanding Research Award at the Institute of Business and Financial Research Global Conference on Business sand Finance with this paper later being published in the International Journal of Business and Finance Research. He currently serves as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Managerial Issues (JMI).

Dr. John Iley is the recipient of the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEA) “Lockette-Morrison Award,” considered to be one of ITEA’s most prestigious awards and is awarded for service to others in the profession. He holds many professional memberships and has written a number of presentations, papers, and lectures. Iley was effective in the development of the partnership with FSCC for “The Center for Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Service Technician Training and Professional Development” as well as obtaining several hundred thousand dollars in parts and other products for the program.


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