About me...

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Area of Study: Accounting

Institution: University of Central Oklahoma

Year: 2005

Area of Study: Management

Institution: Southern Methodist University

Year: 2010

Area of Study: Management/Methods

Institution: Oklahoma State University

Year: 2016

What do you like most about your field? 

I am fascinated with data science/analytics and how this space touches pretty much every discipline of business because it is essentially the quantitative hub. It doesn't matter if one is talking about accounting, IT, or supply chain, OB or strategy; an essence of analytics is present.

Why did you enter the academic profession?  

I chose to leave corporate life for two reasons, help prepare students for the business world, and perform research. Given my management, business owner, and data analytic experience, I uniquely bridge real-life instances to the classroom for innovative learning. As a forward thinker, I purposely keep a pulse on new technologies being used in the business world and integrate them into the classroom. A recent example is using Slack in all my courses to expose students to a changing communication dynamic.

What is something unique and personal about you?  

My wife and I have the same birthday, August 23rd. We got married on our birthday, so it is triple special! Going with the theme of three, I proposed to my wife in a Starbucks on the Northwest Expressway of Oklahoma City on 03/03/03! Our inside joke is anytime we get Starbucks it is a "mini" proposal celebration! :) Beyond being married for 17 years, my wife and I have two children.

Did you ever think about a different career besides business?    

Sort of, while I was working at my family's trucking company. When I lived in Greeley, Colorado around 1999 the cable guy said something about flight training at Aims Community College when he wasn't working. Not too long after after the conversation, I enrolled in the program and had my first flight in a Cessna 172 on May 11th, 1999. I continued in aviation while being involved in the family business until 9/11/2001. On this date, I had a flight planned to Grand Island, NE, to do a cross country for Instrument/Commerical proficiency. After all planes became grounded and uncertainty in this industry, I decided to leave my aviation dream with complex and high-performance ratings. My total time in a single-engine is 195 hours (C-172, C-182, and C-210) and 7 hours in a multi-engine (C-310).

What are some high impact moments you recall in academia?     

Honestly, many instances come to mind when reflecting on high-impact moments. This initial response is because of being someone who practices mindfulness and understanding things beyond the current product while considering unseen processes and dynamics. This being said, a recent instance is building a research team that involved two Ph.D.'s, an undergraduate business student, and a healthcare administrator. I believe this project was high impact because it was the first time in the school of business where a faculty member (me) invited and mentored a student to be on a research team that resulted in a B-level journal publication. This project was very much applied research and oriented around how organizations should rethink how they address discrimination and harassment training in the workplace. 

Are there any big projects you are currently working on?  

Yes, there are quite a few things running in the background beyond my teaching responsibilities.  For one, I converted the statistics course that was historically taught using Excel into a course that uses R. My decision to do this was to familiarize students with an applied data science skill of learning R syntax while taking the statistics course. I believe this helps them become more marketable. I've three studies underway, all with different designs and research questions. Topics involve management, human decision-making, behavioral intentions.