Alumni
Outstanding Graduate Faculty
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2008 - J. Ben Arbaugh |
Dr. Arbaugh joined the UW Oshkosh College of Business as a member of the management team in 1994. His specialties and research interests include: graduate management education, online management education, and project management.
Ben is currently the Editor-select for Academy of Management Learning & Education. This honor marks the first time in its 68 year history that the Academy of Management has named a professor from a non-doctoral level institution to be an editor of one of their four journals.
He is a very active researcher with articles being published in a variety of journals. In 2006 he received the Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education Best Article Award, and in 2007 received Best Paper Awards from the annual meetings of both the Academy of Management and the Decision Sciences Institute.
Ben has developed and currently teaches all the graduate Project Management courses along with the required Personal and Professional Development course.
Ben earned his Ph.D. from the Ohio State University, his MBA from Wright State University, and his BBA from Marshall University. Prior to coming to UW Oshkosh, he was a project manager with the United States Air Force and an assistant manager with the K-Mart Corporation.
Five MBA students nominated Ben for this award. Common threads run through their comments: Dr. Arbaugh is a master at education, both in person and online. He gets everyone in the class to participate and his interactions with the students are top notch. His classes are very well organized and managed and he always tries to connect with you on a personal level. Dr. Arbaugh is an excellent role model and because of him, I know I will be a life-long learner.
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2007 - Ashay Desai Associate Professor of Management |
Dr. Ashay Desai joined the UW Oshkosh College of Business asa a member of the management team in 1998. His specialties and research interests include: application of agency theory and institutional theory, international diversification, issues in strategic human resource management and turnaround management.
In 2002 he received the Irwin/McGraw Hill best paper award by the Southern Academy of Management. In 2004 he was awarded the Management and Human Resources Team Teaching Excellence Award.
Ashay teaches the capstone Strategic Management course in the MBA Program. Over time he has modified a traditional lecture/discussion course to a more student-driven discussion format to actively utilize MBA students' diverse work experiences.
Ashay earned his Ph.D. from the University of Memphis, his MBA from the University of Wyoming, and his B.Com from the University of Pune in Pune, India. Prior to coming to UW Oshkosh, he worked in the human resource department for Indian Hotels Company Ltd. in Bombay, India, and in logistics for Finolex Cables Ltd. in Pune, India.
Brian Peterson (MBA '07), who nominated Ashay for this award, says that the strength of the MBA Program is in the quality of the professors,b ut one in particular stands out: Dr. Ashay Desai. Dr. Desai did an excellent job of managing class discussions by keeping students on task yet allowing them the freedom to comment. He brought a sense of humor and a level of energy to the class that made learning very enjoyable. His level of understanding of course material and the interrelations with other business disciplines was very impressive. Brian ended with one final comment: Ashay is one smart guy.
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2006 - Donald Simons Professor of Accounting |
After teaching at Marquette and Boston University, Don Simons joined the accounting faculty at UW Oshkosh 21 years ago, and has been actively involved in the MBA Program ever since, both as program director and faculty. Don was MBA Program Director from 1987-1995 and again from 1997-2004, after which he returned to full time faculty In the MBA Program, he has taught Accounting Foundations and Cost Management many times, both in the classroom and online.
Don was involved in the development of the Kimberly-Clark partnership, the MBA Consortium and was one of the first instructions to present online courses, using Lotus Notes, Blackboard, and now Desire2Learn (D2L). He has also conducted research in online course delivery.
Don currently serves as team leader for the accounting faculty and teaches the undergraduate course in governmental and not-for-profit organization accounting as well as his MBA courses. He looks forward to continuing his teaching in the MBA Program.
Joe Fikejs (MBA '05), who nominated Don for this award, says that Don integrates humor in each of his classes while requiring thought-provoking assignments, testing students' applied knowledge, integrating current topics,a nd all the while showing respect for students and their opinions. Don is extremely knowledgeable about the submit matter, and is dedicated to having his students leave at the end of the semester with a new view of accounting.
Joe says that true learning begins when a person leaves his or her comfort zone - Professor Simons understands and "gets" this. He takes what can be a dry, boring subject and genuinely makes learning fun.