by M. C. Jennings | Sep 5, 2017 | Academics, COBA Faculty, Current Students, School of Information Technology and Computing, Uncategorized
Rich Tanner
COBA would like to welcome Rich Tanner, new Clinical Professor of Digital Entertainment. Rich has taught for the School of Information Technology and Computing part-time for the past several years and will now be working with technology students on a full-time basis. Tanner has an A.A.S. in Computer Graphics and Programming from Missouri State University, a B.S. in Information Technology with a Concentration in Graphics and Game Development from Abilene Christian University, and a M.S. in Human Computer Interaction from Iowa State University. Rich was contracted as an iOS Developer and Consultant for the KAART Group, was contracted to develop a number of mobile applications for ACU, and worked as a Mobile and Senior Software Developer for USAA. Tanner teaches 3D Modeling, Animation, Mobile Application Development, Game Asset Creation and Texturing, and Character Creation in Maya, Photoshop, and Unity. Tanner brings skills and ingenuity to his classes that will instruct and develop technology students in new and exciting ways.
What do you teach at ACU?
The cool stuff! As a DET faculty, I get to teach 3D Modeling, Animation, and Mobile Application Development (a CS course).
What committees/other duties do you have at ACU aside from teaching?
I have been assigned as a Developer Mentor for Wildcat Software, our student run software company.
What drew you to teaching? Why did you want to work with students?
It’s what I do! Even at USAA, I often found myself drawn to roles where I could teach and mentor new employees and interns. My wife and I also spent 3 years as Youth Ministers while we were in Plano, and I’ve been practicing my teaching on my own children for the past 19+ years. I love seeing people get excited about new ideas and material, and helping people realize their potential. Plus, I just generally get excited about the kinds of things that I get to teach! It’s only natural to share that excitement with a room full of people.
Outside of teaching, what passions and hobbies do you have?
Obviously, I enjoy spending time with my family. My wife and I have been married for almost 21 years, and we have four children. Richelle, who is 19, is a new transfer student to ACU, studying Elementary Education. Kira is 15 and goes to Abilene High. Xandra is 12 and is a student at Craig Middle School. And Connor, who is 7, goes to Bonham Elementary. Connor is the only boy, and was born here in Abilene right before I graduated from ACU. We all enjoy watching lots of movies together and playing various games. I spend my free time (when I have any) working on home renovations, playing video games (usually single player adventures), and doing lots and lots of reading.
by M. C. Jennings | Aug 1, 2017 | Academics, COBA Faculty, Current Students, Human Resource Management, MBA, Uncategorized
Dr. Brad Crisp announced last week that Dr. Phil Vardiman, Professor of Management, will begin serving as director of COBA’s online graduate business programs beginning August 1, 2017. Dr. Vardiman will have responsibility for the MBA and MS in Management (MSM) programs offered in collaboration with ACU-Dallas and will interface with other ACU-Dallas programs through their academic and leadership councils.
Dr. Phil Vardiman
Vardiman earned a Bachelor of Science from ACU in 1976, earned his MBA from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in 1992, and holds a Doctor of Philosophy from Texas A&M. Phil has a long history both in education and industry, having served as the Regional Human Resources Director for Cardinal Health from 1997-2000, Human Resources Manager for Avery Dennison Corporation from 1986-1997, and Production Supervisor/Quality Analyst for General Tire & Rubber Company from 1977-1986. He has been heavily involved with human resources and entrepreneurship organizations in both educational and industry settings and has published numerous articles in academic journals as well as presenting papers at 16 academic conferences. Dr. Vardiman also actively consults for businesses, working with them in the areas of human resources, training, quality, safety, and leadership development. Vardiman has taught at ACU since 2002, with special teaching interests in Human Resource Management, Entrepreneurship, Management & Organizational Behavior, Leadership Development, Safety & Health, and Organizational Development. In addition to these teaching interests, he has been active in leading students on COBA Study Abroad trips, traveling to Australia, China, Honduras, and Oxford as well as working with numerous university service activities, advising and club sponsored activities. Known to his students for his “Conceptual Truths” and enthusiasm, to say that Phil Vardiman has a passion for helping others grow and succeed would be an understatement.
When talking about his new appointment, Dr. Vardiman says that he is excited about serving on the COBA and ACU-Dallas Leadership Teams and for the opportunity to understand ACU-Dallas better. While serving as ACU Faculty Senate Chair, one goal of his had been to help ACU faculty become more familiar with ACU-Dallas and to build relationships between the ACU on-campus faculty and the ACU online faculty. When asked what his priorities will be while serving as the Director of the COBA online graduate programs, Vardiman said that he will look at faculty, possible changes or additions to course curriculum, and increasing student enrollment. He anticipates looking at the MBA concentrations to affirm what is working and what can be developed to increase offerings to online graduate students, stating that at this time, there is no intention to add concentrations but there may be additions in the future.
Dr. Vardiman said that he is most excited about the learning opportunity that this new position will require. His desire is to have a rigorous and solid MBA that is well respected and he is excited to play a part in making that happen. Should current undergraduate students fear they won’t have the opportunity to have him as a professor, don’t worry – he will still be teaching his favorite class MGMT 330 in the fall along with International Business while in the spring he will teach his Safety, Health and Security class. Vardiman said that he was adamant that if he accepted this new positon, that he be allowed to continue to keep teaching undergraduates, stating, “If I lost that, it wouldn’t be worth it.” Teaching is his passion and helping ACU grow into the future is the catalyst for deciding to enter into this administrative role.
Dr. Brad Crisp stated his support by saying, “Phil is an excellent teacher and mentor, and he recently completed a term in leadership of ACU’s Faculty Senate. Joey Cope, Stephen Johnson, and I are all excited about what Phil will bring to this role to support the growth and quality of our MBA and MSM program.” Congratulations to Dr. Phil Vardiman on his appointment as Director of COBA’s Online Graduate Business Programs.
by M. C. Jennings | Jun 29, 2017 | Academics, COBA Faculty, Current Students, Uncategorized
COBA students studying abroad in Leipzig, Germany, continued their coursework and site visits this week. Pictured below is the group on a typical Thursday morning sitting in a Financial Management class from 9:00 am – noon in Leipzig.
During breaks, the group has met and had the opportunity to visit with refugees from Syria and Iraq. The refugees are taking an intensive German class so they can live and work here in Germany.
Wednesday, the group went to Social Impact Leipzig, an early-stage incubator for social entrepreneurship ventures. Their host was Jennifer Pauli.
She showed the group around the location, which is primarily shared office space for firms that are participating in the incubator program. Then they heard pitches from some of the firms that are currently in the program.
One of the pitches was given by Mike from Night Bank. His firm is similar to AirB&B, but with a socially minded twist. People with unused rooms donate them to Night Bank for a specified number of nights. Night Bank books tourists and guests in the rooms and charges them a fee. Night Bank then uses 90% of the fees they collect to support aid projects around the world. One recent project was a water collection tower in Kenya. The person who donates their room to rent gets to select the project they would like their fees to support.
We’ll continue to blog about the adventures of our group in Leipzig as their time starts to wind down and another group travels to Asia. Keep checking back and share this blog with your friends!
by M. C. Jennings | May 18, 2017 | Academics, COBA Faculty, Uncategorized
Each year, one ACU faculty member is honored as Teacher of the Year. This year’s honoree is COBA’s own Dr. Ryan Jessup, assistant professor of marketing. Jessup is a highly respected faculty member who inspired the following comments from his students:
- “He is a great teacher who cares so much about his students and wants them to succeed in all things.”
- “He’s the literal best #datamining.”
- “He truly wants to find ways to engage students in personal relationships and in class. It is not only about teaching content, but finding ways to apply the content in current ways to be able to understand and apply it in the future.”
Dr. Robert Rhodes, ACU Provost, said, “Ryan is one of the most dedicated faculty I have seen not only to his work but to his students as well. He’s very passionate about what he does and who he engages with.”
Dr. Ryan Jessup accepts the Teacher of the Year Award from Dr. Robert Rhodes, Provost
We asked Dr. Jessup a few questions about who and what inspires his teaching.
Who was your inspiration for teaching?
My mother was a wonderful, hardworking educator as a first grade teacher at a public school that served low income students. I think that I learned from her how hard it is teach and how hard it is to care about students. She did both and she did both extremely well. One thing I learned from observing and conversing with her was that when someone is poor and struggling to eke out an existence, education often takes a backseat to survival. I know that my mother labored long hours and she did it, not to receive recognition, but because it was the right thing to do. I thank God for my mom who set such a wonderful example in all facets of life, including her efforts to be an effective teacher even when it would be so much easier to take a shortcut.
What do you love most about teaching?
Undergraduates are special. They are bursting with potential, sort of like those little toy cars that you pull back to wind up – when you let go you never know where they’ll end up. Just like those toy cars, undergrads need to be carefully “aimed” so that they fulfill their potential while still maintaining integrity. It is our job to help aim the students, a responsibility I do not take lightly. It can be challenging and humbling because I make my share of mistakes, often causing me to ask “who am I to ‘aim’ these students when I am so filled with error?”
What is your teaching philosophy and what do you hope students learn from your classes?
It pleases me when an individual begins to understand and grasp concepts, and I dedicate myself to producing such attainment in my teaching. Similarly, I desire that attentive and hardworking students complete my courses with well-founded confidence in their course-related abilities as they apply them to the real world.
Substance not hype
I recently had a conversation with a faculty member in my department in which we were discussing a corporation, and I stated “they are all hype, and I don’t like it.” The faculty member replied “well, it is a good thing you do not teach marketing classes, then”, using sarcasm to humorously imply that marketing is mostly hype. Initially befuddled by his comment, I replied “But I do not teach marketing from that perspective – I want students to learn to sell and market their products with substance and honesty, not hype.” Since coming to ACU to teach marketing this has been one of my touchstone principles: marketing can be based on substance and is not merely an academic synonym for hype. So, I have striven to teach students that they should not rely on hype as their preferred tool of persuasion.
Natural consequences of behavior meets meta-learning
I love sports. However, my first semester as an undergraduate at ACU, I (and my teammates) forfeited every intramural sport in which we competed: flag football, soccer, and ping pong. I never did it again, but why did I do it the first semester? In retrospect, I suspect that it was because my parents always insured that I was at games, thus I had not yet learned personal responsibility for showing up on time. However, the natural consequences of my behavior – not planning sufficiently well and thereby forfeiting each competition – soon taught me to adapt. Similarly for today’s college students in the classroom: many of them need to learn how to learn, whether by learning to not be distracted by devices or learning to show up to class. This meta-learning is essential for growing up. I want them to learn to learn. If someone always correctly decides for them during college then they will be forced to learn to decide correctly in the real-world where the safety net is far less secure. So, I often allow students to experience the natural consequences of their decisions in order to encourage this meta-learning. I tell them on the first day of class that (1) college is an opportunity to learn that they must seize and (2) it is a safe place to fail — but they should always try! If they fail or do poorly in my class, I don’t “fire” them; I’ll even give them another chance to learn, even though it may take two or more semesters!
Emphasize connections with what they already know
Learning can be intimidating. When a student encounters a challenging course, led by a teacher with high expectations, it can even feel overwhelming. One component of my philosophy of teaching is to first remind students what they already know in order to induce connections with the new things they are learning. The reasoning underlying this is the associative network model of memory (Wickelgren, 1981). According to this theory, our memories are stored using a distributed network of neurons and when one element is activated (e.g., McDonald’s), closely connected nodes are activated as well (Big Mac, Hamburglar, fries, kids, fast food, etc.). I try to first connect into their existing associative network and then build onto it the new information and ways of thinking which I am trying to convey.
Allow research experience to enhance my teaching
Lastly, I have striven to allow my research experience to improve my teaching. I think that conducting research is a true asset to teaching because it provides real experiences in interpreting and critiquing information that are hard to obtain if one has never been out on the research frontier. For example, I try to convey a healthy skepticism of data and research findings in every class I teach. I often encourage students to contemplate the potential flaws in the studies we examine. I try to rarely teach things as fact, but, rather that these are research findings or this is a theory about human behavior. I think I am benefited in that I teach research classes, yet even the field of education (i.e., teaching) strives to train teachers to use research-based strategies, indicating a shared recognition of the value that research lends to teaching.
Congratulations to Dr. Ryan Jessup on being named ACU’s 2017 Teacher of the Year!
by M. C. Jennings | May 8, 2017 | Academics, COBA Faculty, Current Students, Faith Infusion, School of Information Technology and Computing, Uncategorized
What is your educational background?
- BBA in Business Computer Information Systems, UNT cum laude
- MS in Information Technology, UNT
Karen St. John
What is your work background?
- Worked as an Academic Advisor – ten years both graduate and undergraduate
- Computer Audit Specialist training for IRS/ Treasury department for seven years
- Started teaching at the University level in 2009
What do you teach at ACU?
Information Technology courses: Scripting, Networking, Database Administration
What committees/other duties do you have at ACU aside from teaching?
- Board member for family business – Pinecrest Cemetery in East Texas
- Wife, married 17 years (18 this May)
- Mom to six kids
The St. John Family
What drew you to teaching? Why did you want to work with students?
I have always loved to learn as much as possible. Working with students is enjoyable and rewarding.
What’s the best part of working with students?
Taking an intimidating concept, breaking it down and explaining it, and watching students have the “lightbulb” moment when it clicks.
Have you ever given up any big opportunities to keep working with students?
Turned down opportunity to work at a major bank doing anti-money laundering.
Outside of teaching, what passions and hobbies do you have?
I love to cook. We live in the country and have chickens, sheep, goats, and cattle.
Tell me about a project or accomplishment that you consider to be the most significant in your career.
I was recognized by the Treasury department for my contribution and efforts in working with the Regulatory Audit division, which was nice. However, I am most proud that I have balanced having a big family with my career. Most of the women I went to school with had to choose one or the other.
Who is your role model, and why?
I think my Dad is my biggest role model. He has a strong work ethic, is smart, unselfish and one of the best examples of what a good Christian looks like. His professional career was that of a programmer and database administrator. He has been a song leader at church for as long as I can remember. He has been happily married to my mom for over fifty years.
Who was your most inspirational professor and why?
I was incredibly fortunate to earn my degree at UNT. I had several professors that taught me important lessons that I try to pass on to my students. Dr. Steve Guynes taught me that the way to look good is to make everyone around you look good.
What is something that students might be surprised to find out about you?
I learned handwriting analysis for a project in a government class once. And I am colorblind.
What would you really want students and alums to know about you?
I feel incredibly blessed to be working at ACU. I love to come to work every day! The students are fantastic. The faculty and staff are wonderful to work with.
by M. C. Jennings | May 3, 2017 | Academics, Accounting, COBA Events, COBA Faculty, Current Students, Faith Infusion, MAcc, Uncategorized
COBA honored the MAcc (Master of Accountancy) class of 2017 at a luncheon on Tuesday, May 2nd that was sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Amanda Stephens receives MAcc award from Dr. Curtis Clements
Amanda Stephens was named the Outstanding MAcc Graduate of the Year. As an undergraduate student, Amanda majored in Accounting with minors in Spanish, Sociology, and Public Service. Amanda will start full-time in January with Whitley Penn in its Forensic, Litigation, and Valuation Services Department.
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Chris Baker
Chris Baker, partner with PwC and ACU alum, addressed the graduates and encouraged them to live a life of authenticity and integrity in all that they do. He also impressed upon them the need to give back to the world around them.
Dr. David Perkins
Dr. David Perkins gave a blessing over the graduates, reading Deuteronomy 8, and exhorting them to never forget the Lord, live humbly and remember that everything has been given to them by God – including their abilities.
MAcc Class of 2017
Graduates, your adventure begins now. Congratulations to the Master of Accountancy graduating class of 2017!
To download and/or order prints of pictures from the luncheon, click here.
