Letters and Notes from Faculty & Students – Portfolio: Orneita Burton, Associate Professor

To support my collegiality, I share a representative sample of letters and notes from faculty and students with whom I have shared various relationships and experiences. They form a variety of responses that represent my time here as colleague, instructor, mentor, counselor, tutor, navigator/guide, and friend.

I believe the greatest blessing we can experience is to make a difference in someone’s life. The difference between the years prior to becoming an associate professor and those prior to full professorship is that an associate professor looks to their own development. By contrast, growth towards full professorship looks to support the advancement of others.

As a teacher, I want students to understand how to make a difference in whatever role they serve, and that the opportunity to help someone can happen at any time, in many unanticipated ways. As a mentor, I consider the talents of new faculty and look for opportunities to help them grow in their professional development.

In this list, I begin with a letter that came to me by email in 2010 from a peer during my undergraduate years as an engineering student at the University of Arkansas. I end the list with the letter from a colleague who I chose to work with in recent years during the trials of life that come with working and trying to complete a PhD program. My prayer is that many people will be impacted in similar ways as we serve Christ in our respective ministries at ACU.

2010 Unsolicited Letter from Kerry Smith; relationship – served as his tutor in U of A engineering program

2011 Unsolicited Letter from Jeanene Reese – CORE co-teacher, VS co-advisor

2011 Solicited Letter from Jozell Brister – co-author and researcher

2012 Solicited Letter from Ryan Goodwin – minister, Wylie Church of Christ

2012 Solicited Letter from Jess Weeden – undergraduate research assistant

2018 Dr. Mary Finney, Distinguished Emeritus Professor, Ohio University, Worthington, OH 43085-346, 2017-2018 MSR Chair

2015 Dr. Lee Robbins, retired professor, Harvard University; founding member of the Management, Spirituality and Religion (MSR) interest group, Academy of Management (AOM)

2015 Dr. Kathryn Pavlovich, Professor of Strategy and HCM, University of Waikato, New Zealand, 2015-2016 MSR Chai

2015 Richard Major, Exemplarity, Professor of Strategy and Transformation, Institut de Gestion Sociale, Paris, France, International Rep at Large, MSR

2015 Dr. John Weaver, Dean of Library Services, ACU

2015 Dr. Don Pope, Associate Professor of Management, COBA, ACU

2015 Dr. Doug Foster, Professor of Biblical Studies, CBS, ACU

Unsolicited Letter from Phil Boone – Financial Support

Unsolicited Note from Student – thanks

Unsolicited Note from Student – anonymous thanks

Unsolicited Note from Student – financial support

Unsolicited Note from Student – dinner

Unsolicited Note from Student – thanks

Unsolicited Note from Student – financial thanks

Unsolicited Note from Student – speaker thanks

Recruitment Calls – this year I saw one of the first students I spoke to through recruitment calls graduate!