OSU Board approves personnel actions

Friday, January 19, 2007

The Oklahoma State University/A&M Board of Regents approved several personnel actions during its Jan. 19 meeting at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in Miami.

Dr. Richard Ghiselli, associate professor and interim associate department head in the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Purdue University, was named professor, director and Charles W. Lanphere Professor of the School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration. He will assume his position on June 29.

He received his associate degree in culinary arts from the Culinary Institute of America, his bachelor's in philosophy from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, and his master's and Ph.D. in restaurant, hotel, institutional and tourism management from Purdue University. He is a certified culinary educator through the American Culinary Federation.

Ghiselli has been an assistant or associate professor in the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Purdue since 1994 and, from 1993-94, an assistant professor in the Department of Human and Family Resources at Northern Illinois University. His experience also includes serving as a club manager, food service director, general manager, and assistant manager at facilities in several states.

He holds members in the American Culinary Federation, the Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education, Indiana CHRIE, Eta Sigma Delta International Hospitality Honor Society, Gamma Sigma Delta Agriculture Honor Society, and the National Restaurant Association.

Dr. Michael D. Woods, professor of agricultural economics, was named head of the department. He received his bachelor's degree in economics and finance from Arkansas Technology University, his master's in agricultural economics from the University of Arkansas, and his Ph.D. in agricultural economics from OSU.

He was on the faculty of Texas A&M from 1981-86, and joined the OSU faculty in 1986 as an associate professor of agricultural economics and OSU extension economist. His specialty is rural development.

His professional memberships include serving as state provincial chair representing Oklahoma for Business Retention Expansion International, the Southern Region Program Leadership Network, the National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals, the Oklahoma Rural Development Council, and the Southern Region Development Center. He is a past adviser for the OSU Aggie-X Club.

Dr. Mark Weiser, associate professor, Fleming Professor of Information Technology Management and director of the Master of Science in Telecommunications Management program, was named associate dean in the Spears School of Business.

He received his bachelor's degree in management information systems from Pennsylvania State University and his Ph.D. in business administration from the University of Iowa. Before joining the OSU faculty in 1995, he was an instructor and a research assistant at the University of Iowa.

Among the awards and honors he has received are the OSU Technology Innovator Award in 2004, Outstanding Advising Award in 2001, the Advancia Award of Excellence in Distance Education in 1998, and the Amoco Innovation in Teaching Award in 1997.

Dr. Toni S. Shaklee, interim assistant vice president for Sponsored Research, has been named assistant vice president for Sponsored Research in the Division of Research and Technology Transfer.

She received her bachelor's degree in political science, magna cum laude, from Southwestern Oklahoma State University, and her master's in political science and Ph.D. in environmental science from Oklahoma State University. She is a Certified Research Administrator.

Shaklee was named an adjunct assistant professor of political science at OSU in 1998, and she joined the Division of Research and Technology in 2004. From 1984-2004, she was with the OSU College of Arts and Sciences Research Support Services, where she served as assistant director of research.

Her professional memberships include the Society of Research Administrators, American Association for the Advancement of Science, National Council of University Research Administrators, and Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Alpha Theta honor societies.

APPOINTMENTS:

• Rodney E. Will Jr., associate professor, natural resource ecology and management;
• Mostafa S. Elshahed, assistant professor, microbiology and molecular genetics;
• Brian K. Norton, assistant professor, engineering technology;
• William R. Degler, assistant professor, library.

TITLE CHANGES:

• Nigel R. Jones, professor of architecture, adds the title of architect III for the office of Administration and Finance.

SABBATICAL:

• Nadine F. Olson, teaching and curriculum leadership, 100% sabbatical to research the state of ELL/ESL teacher preparation in South and Western regions of the U.S. and assess public schools and districts in Central Oklahoma, from July 1 to Dec. 31, 2007;
• Jeffrey D. Spitler, mechanical and aerospace engineering, 100% sabbatical leave to work with a research group, Energy Systems Research Unit, Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland, to expand skills and knowledge in heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, from Jan. 15 to May 31, 2008.

RETIREMENTS:

• Jim D. Hughey, psychology, Jan. 5, 2007;
• Pauline J. Holloway, teaching and curriculum leadership, Jan. 1, 2007;
• Ronald D. Welsh, Oklahoma Animal Disease Diagnostic Lab, Jan. 5, 2007;
• Donald R. Pierce, physical plant, April 2, 2007.  

For OSU-Oklahoma City, James D. Gordon was appointed director of the Technology Education Center.

For the OSU Center for Health Sciences, appointments as clinical assistant professors in family medicine were approved for Dennis E. Blankenship, Mark E. Blubaugh, Jennifer J. Eischen, Michele M. Fowler, Aaron Q. Lane and John C. Stepanek; for Susan E. Young, clinical assistant professor, P.P. surgery; and James E. Harrington, clinical assistant professor, surgery. Jenny J. Alexopulos, associate professor, department chair and interim associate dean of family medicine, has been named associate dean, and the title of Barbara B. Leeper, director of student affairs, has been changed to project manager, student affairs.