Spotlight on Malcolm Coco

Dr. Malcolm Coco

Dr. Malcolm Coco

 

What is your educational background?

Bachelor of Business Administration, University of Southwestern La.

Personnel Management and Supervision, Central Michigan University

Doctorate of Public Administration, Nova Southeastern University

 

What is your work background?

I was a United States Air Force Pilot for 22 years.

 

What do you teach at ACU?

I teach Human Resource Management courses and am the Director of Internships for COBA.

 

What committees/other duties do you have at ACU aside from teaching?

Too many to list.  I was Associate Dean from 1993-1997.

 

What drew you to teaching? Why did you want to work with students?

When stationed at Dyess AFB in the 70s, I met a number of ACU faculty/staff/and grads.  I determined then based on those relationships that ACU was special and that after my Air Force career I would like to work for ACU.


What’s the best part of working with students?

Working with young people with fresh ideas, passion, and engagement.

 

Have you ever given up any big opportunities to keep working with students?

The offer to be the Director of Human Resources at ACU and several other HR director jobs.

 

Outside of teaching, what passions and hobbies do you have?

Anything outdoors: bow hunting, fly fishing, and duck hunting especially.

 

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Enjoying the great outdoors.

 

What is a good, early story about your teaching?

I’ve always enjoyed inviting local, national and international HR professionals to speak in my class.

 

Tell me about a project or accomplishment that you consider to be the most significant in your career.

Being the Deputy Director of U.S. air force pilots world wide assignments for 40,000 air force pilots as well as being the Associate Dean during some of the most challenging times for the College of Business.

 

Do you do any charity or non-profit work?

I volunteer with Rotary International, Big Country Society for Human Resource Management, Military Officers Association, and Herald of Truth.

 

Who is your role model, and why?

Anyone of a few faculty who can fully engage students.

 

Dr. Coco on a field trip with students.

Dr. Coco on a field trip with students.

 

Who was your most inspirational professor and why?

Former Department Chair, Lamar Riench.

 

If you could have a superpower, what would it be and why?

To have a better ability to connect people with Jesus.

 

What is something that students might be surprised to find out about you?

That I was a State Champion pole vaulter and sprinter.

 

What would you really want students and alums to know about you?

To know how much I really care about our students  and how much I appreciate our student’s parents giving us their children for an education.

 

 

 

Meet the Dean Tour Launched

Dr. Brad Crisp officially began his tenure as Dean of the College of Business Administration in May and has been building an agenda since then for his new role. One of the items on that agenda has been to reach out to and connect with alumni from COBA. Thus, the idea for the “Meet the Dean Tour” was born and is now in full swing.

Dr. Brad Crisp, Dean of the College of Business Administration

Dr. Brad Crisp, Dean of the College of Business Administration

 

Starting in Abilene with 56 alumni and friends, Dr. Crisp described ACU’s long standing success in business education and our recent path of progress with our School of Information Technology and Computing, Griggs Center for Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy, Lytle Center for Faith and Leadership, and a new online MBA program.

 

Meeting with COBA alumni in Austin

Meeting with COBA alumni in Austin.

 

Along with our first event in Abilene, alumni and friends gathered in Austin and San Antonio October 11-12th for a Meet the Dean lunch in each city.  The opportunity to network with business and technology professionals and learn about the growing opportunities with our academic programs was enjoyed by 28 attendees at each event.  Alumni who graduated within the past 10 years joined Dr. Crisp for a “Beat the Dean” event at Top Golf in San Antonio as they attempted to best the new Dean. It was a fun time of networking with about 20 alums, and Dr. Crisp was able to withstand the challenge.

 

COBA Alum at the Beat the Dean San Antonio event

COBA Alum at the Beat the Dean San Antonio event

 

The next stops for the tour are Dallas on October 27 and Fort Worth on October 28, followed by a tour stop in the Silicon Valley on November 2.  The tour will finish on November 7 and 8 in Houston.  We want to give a big thank you to our tour sponsor, Steve Green and Anvil II Management. We are also very grateful for sponsorship of the following city stops:

 

Abilene: David Swearingen and Johnson & Johnson

Austin: Bill & Jan McClellan and Gary Skidmore

Dallas: Heritage Christian College and Partner Source

 

To our alumni and friends, your support of our work to educate business and technology professionals for Christian service and leadership throughout the world is a great encouragement to us.  We hope that you’ll register to attend one of the remaining dates on the Meet the Dean tour.  For information on the dates and to register, please click this link.

Spotlight on Katie Wick

Dr. Katie Wick

Dr. Katie Wick

What is your educational background?

I was drawn to the University of Virginia for my undergraduate education.  The campus is a magical place steeped in history and tradition.  When I came to UVA, I was convinced I was going to be a doctor, and as I was taking my first course in chemistry I realized that I was going to have to slog and push myself through my prerequisites for medical school.  Simultaneously, I happened to enroll in principles of microeconomics with 550 other undergraduates and the class made my heart sing! I decided I need to dive into economics further.

My game theory and experimental economics classes convinced me to make the study of economics my future. Strategy, games, choices, and decisions came alive in the economics laboratory, and I simply had to find a way to get to graduate school to study further.  With the guidance of my advisor, I applied to experimental graduate programs and received an amazing offer from the University of Pittsburgh where the real work in economics began.

Playing economics games with handheld devices out on the famous UVA lawn with my experimental economics class (that's me on the very far right in the red and my advisor/professor right next to me). This was a big deal since it was WAY before iPads!

Playing economics games with handheld devices out on the famous UVA lawn with my experimental economics class (that’s me on the very far right in the red and my advisor/professor right next to me). This was a big deal since it was WAY before iPads!

After two to three years of the basic course work (basic is a misnomer since it was scary hard), I started my research in experiments.  My dissertation was based around two experiments I designed to test efficiency in public good giving.  It was such a thrill to conduct every aspect of the experiment and see it take shape from just an idea to the design then the programming, the recruiting of subjects, the running of the experiment in the laboratory, and the analysis afterward.  The day I defended my dissertation was almost as exciting as the days I welcomed my children into the world!

 

What is your work background?

You’ll notice the narrative of my work history exactly coincides with the development of my family.  My first professor job was at Allegheny College in Meadville, PA where I was blessed with amazing students who loved economics as well as game theory and experiments.  At the end of my very first week of work, our first foster child came to live with us, a little boy named Braden who we had the privilege of later adopting. Concurrently, my husband was in his family medicine residency, and when he graduated, he would begin active duty with the Air Force due to the terms of his medical school scholarship.  After two years of working at Allegheny, my husband was given orders to Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, TX, which we had to look up on a map! God went before us to provide a community of support including an amazing church and friends.

Dr. Matthew Wick, then a captain in the USAF on his first day of active duty service at Dyess with our 2-year-old son Braden

Dr. Matthew Wick, then a captain in the USAF on his first day of active duty service at Dyess with our 2-year-old son Braden.

I was 30+ weeks with our second child when we moved to Abilene, and I took two years off from teaching to be with our small kids.  I missed being with students and teaching, and I reached out to the academic community in town.  I started teaching part-time at McMurry in the fall of 2012 when I was 36 weeks pregnant with our 3rd child! I had missed the excitement of the first day of school in those two years away.  That was a busy semester!

I taught part-time at McMurry for one year and full-time for three years. We loved living in Abilene.  After my husband’s active duty commitment was over, we decided to stay and put down permanent roots here, and we had one more kid too!

 

What do you teach at ACU?

My main teaching focus at ACU is the principles of economics courses (macro and micro) and equipping our COBA students for their upper level business classes.  This spring I will be teaching one of my favorite classes on game theory which studies choices in strategic settings.  We also play a good deal of games which makes it a very fun and memorable class.  I also hope to add other economics topics classes in the future.

 

What drew you to teaching? Why did you want to work with students?

The mentoring process is my favorite part of teaching.  I love getting to know about student’s uniqueness and helping them learn material in a way that makes sense to them.  I went to a large university where having a mentor relationship with your professor was very difficult if not close to impossible in some cases.  It became paramount that my students have a different experience than I did, one where they were known.  In addition, I LOVE school, have always loved school, so it’s exciting that I always get to be in school!

 

What’s the best part of working with students?

I love that I get to be a small part of this transformational time in their lives.  College is a shaping experience academically, socially, emotionally, and spiritually.  It is a great privilege to be able to encourage them on this journey.  In addition, students make me laugh, and they help to keep me relevant.

 

Outside of teaching, what passions and hobbies do you have?

When I’m not teaching, I’m usually at home or out and about with my “tribe.” They are my biggest hobby and my greatest joy in life.  Currently, my kids are 2, 4, 6, and 8 years old so they are still at an age where they require attention which is both great and hard.

Other than my tribe, I love to spend time with my friends, exercise, read, and I am very involved in my church community.  I have a huge passion for the foster and adoptive community, and we hope to open our home again to children in the future.

What is a good, early story about your teaching?

While I was still a student in my doctoral program, I taught a section of Intermediate Microeconomics in the summer when I was 24 years old.  I remember walking into the classroom, very nervous, and one of the students asking me about the professor and if this was known to be a hard class.  I giggled on the inside.  I guess they thought that I was taking the class and not teaching it!

 

Tell me about a project or accomplishment that you consider to be the most significant in your career.

Up to this point, I don’t think anything has topped the feeling of the accomplishment of my dissertation.  Conducting every aspect of those experiments and single authoring the papers created an incredible sense of triumph.

 

Do you do any charity or non-profit work?

Most Thursday mornings I work in my church’s food pantry where we provide groceries and household goods to approximately 25 families that day. These families and the others working the food pantry bless my life in tremendous ways.  I also lead a life group and counsel couples in the premarital journey with my husband.

 

Who is your role model, and why?

My parents! My father worked tirelessly to provide for us as well as let us know we were always loved.  He was also an incredibly successful surgeon bringing healing to thousands of patients and teaching hundreds of budding doctors.  My mom was the rock upon which our whole family stood, and she is our earthly guide in this life.  She also led each of her children to know and love the Lord.

 

Who was your most inspirational professor and why?

There are many, and I could pick inspirational teachers/professors for different phases of my life.

Childhood – my mom, Helen Johnson, who encouraged me to love learning and see it as a constant adventure at a young age.

Middle/High School – Dr. Tracy Inman who taught me an intensive three-week summer course in humanities studying different perspectives of the afterlife at my favorite summer camp (lovingly dubbed nerd camp by my friends and family). Her guidance helped challenge my critical thinking skills and nourish my individual ideas.

College – Dr. Charles Holt who opened my eyes to the world of game theory and experimental economics. At the time, I didn’t know he was such a leader in this field and that working in his laboratory would put me way ahead in skills for graduate school. I was so blessed by his leadership and guidance.

 

At UVA's Intermediate Honors (I'm on the far right) with Dr. Charles Holt in the center. We all call him Charlie.

At UVA’s Intermediate Honors (I’m on the far right) with Dr. Charles Holt in the center. We all call him Charlie.

If you could have a superpower, what would it be and why?

Flying! Oh, how freeing it would be!  Plus, you could see the world from a different perspective and travel places quickly.

 

What is something that students might be surprised to find out about you?

My husband and I were dating for less than 10 months when we got married!  We are coming up on our 11th anniversary this Christmas.

 

What would you really want students and alums to know about you?

When I was in graduate school, I longed to teach at a university just like ACU. Working here is a blessing, and teaching, mentoring, and working with students is my professional dream-come-true. I am honored to share in the mission of ACU.

The Wick Family

The Wick Family

Spotlight on Amanda Pittman

What is your educational background?

I graduated from ACU in 2001 with a degree in advertising and public relations with a marketing minor.

 

Amanda Pittman and the Pittman Family

Amanda Pittman and the Pittman Family

 

 

What is your work background?

I’m starting my eleventh year here at ACU. I’ve had the privilege to work in Student Life, University Marketing and here in the College of Business. I’ve loved my time in each spot and have loved learning more about ACU from different perspectives.

 

What do you do at ACU/COBA?

I’ve recently joined the Griggs Center team to launch and manage our mentor programs for the student leaders who are interested in entrepreneurship. So far, we’ve matched 20 students with successful entrepreneurs. I’m looking forward to hearing how the conversations are going!

 

What drew you to work at ACU? Why did you want to work with students?

I love the energy on campus – I think students keep you young and keep the desire burning to always learn, grow and change. My grandparents both taught here and I remember them saying the same thing! After working in industries outside of the university, I came to really love and appreciate the rhythm of the school year, as well.

 

What’s the best part of working with students?

Hands down, the best part to me is the opportunity to form relationships with students. My family has been blessed by countless students that have loved on our kiddos, interned for us, introduced us to their families when they came to campus, invited us to their weddings and on and on. I’m thankful for social media and the chance I have to follow their adventures once they leave this place!

 

Outside of ACU, what passions and hobbies do you have?

We are pretty involved with our church family at Highland and our small group. My husband, David, and I enjoy every chance we get to hang out with these sweet families. Our three kiddos, Easton who is 8, Gentry who is 5 and Findley who is 4, keep us very busy between soccer, dance classes and school activities. We love living in Abilene and we love the sense of community and family we feel here.

 

Pittman 11

The Pittman Family

 

What is a good, early story about your first job or when you were in college?

When I was doing my first internship in Los Angeles at a film studio, it really did matter if you could get the coffee order right. I was sent on many a trip to Starbucks and I definitely earned more opportunities in the office because I always got their coffee order correct and got it back to them quickly. While that might sound lame and cliche, it proved early on that I could take and follow directions and complete a task quickly and efficiently. When you take care of the little things (and don’t complain about them or while you are doing them!), they begin to trust you with a little bit bigger things. Eventually, I landed a job at the film studio!

 

Do you do any charity or non-profit work?

I have the privilege of serving as chair for the Board at Rainbow Bible School.

 

Who is your role model and why?

My role models are all the women in our small group. They are each accomplished and intelligent women who are doing beautiful jobs managing their families, careers, friendships and interests/passions. It’s never an easy journey, but I am blessed tremendously by their examples, support, friendship and encouragement as we figure out how to do life! As you begin your career, whether you are married or not, it’s vital to find a community or group that challenges you and supports you.

 

Amanda and her small group

Amanda and her small group

 

Who was your most inspirational professor and why?

I really learned a lot from Dr. Jeff Warr and Dr. Charlie Marler in the JMC department. They are no longer teaching full time at ACU, but they were really amazing professors. They had high expectations and demanded our best. They each also had unique ways of making what they were teaching really fascinating and relevant.

 

If you could have a superpower, what would it be and why?

Probably something like freezing, rewinding and/or fast-forwarding time. So like, altering time. Is that even a thing?

 

What is something that students might be surprised to find out about you?

I’m older than my husband!! Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh….