With Her Many Research Interests, Prof. Stickney Earns 2018 Mid-Career Distinguished Educator Award
May 16, 2018
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In the 10 years since Associate Professor of Management Lisa Stickney arrived at the University of Baltimore, her impact on UB's Merrick School of Business and the greater scholarly community has now afforded her the coveted Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society's 2018 Mid-Career Distinguished Educator Award. The MOBTS committee voted unanimously to bestow the award upon Prof. Stickney.
The MOBTS award criteria for the Mid-Career Distinguished Educator acknowledges educators with seven to 20 years of experience, who have an established and well-respected record of innovative teaching, exemplary service and leadership to the society, as well as impactful intellectual contributions to the scholarship of teaching and learning.
As a teenager, Stickney dreamed of a career in the U.S. Air Force, flying airplanes. Instead, this self-professed "quant enthusiast" found academia much more to her liking. As chair of the Department of Management and International Business, and a four-time recipient of the business school's Dean James Chair for Distinguished Teaching, Stickney, who earned her Ph.D. from Temple University, balances her time in administrative roles, teaching, service and research. She has accumulated an impressive research record that reflects her keen ability to collect data, synthesize and model it for interesting, sometimes provocative, scholarly works, specifically in areas of management pedagogy, as well as gender roles and anger in the workplace.
Active at the reviewer and editorial levels for several scholarly publications, including the Organization Management Journal and Management Teaching Review, as well as and pedagogical journals such as Case Research Journal, and Journal of Management Education, her talent for numbers and innate curiosity contributes to the high standards of these and other publications.
When asked about the MOBTS honor, Prof. Stickney first thought of her academic peers and the collaborative research process she so enjoys.
"I am truly honored, and this award means a great deal to me because I was selected and judged by my peers, fellow management professors from a variety of universities," she says. "Having an opportunity to share ideas and work out problems with others—the whole collaborative process— provides me with a vehicle to work with others in my research. It allows me to explore research areas that I might not have explored on my own, including completely different research streams. I'd also add that being at an institution that does not require me to have a single focused research stream is important to me, and I am glad to have the freedom to pursue any avenue of research that interests me, as many do."
The various ways that she moves the Merrick School of Business and professional organizations in terms of teaching and service were significant contributing factors to her being first nominated by her colleague Regina Bento, a long-time management professor in the Merrick School of Business and the MOBTS committee selecting her for this award.
"Lisa is always demanding, but fair to our students," Bento says. "She knows that she would do our students no favors by asking any less from them than they could possibly achieve. She helps them stretch, she gives them the tools to succeed, and she supports them every step of the way, leaving no one behind."
Curren MBA student Zach Nelson agrees with Bento's assessment, noting that Stickney brings forth a classroom environment that is a refuge from the long and stressful days that many UB students face in their everyday work.
"I know that my peers and I are working all day and then coming to class at night—many students include a two-hour commutes to and from campus," Nelson says. "Dr. Stickney understands that students won't learn if they are stressed or tired. Her classroom is a very relaxed environment, filled with witty jokes, friendly banter, goofy cartoons, all of which supports the class material in some way. Don't get me wrong—we still have to work just as hard as any other MBA class, but the task of learning is approached differently."
In her letter announcing the award, University of Michigan-Dearborn's Associate Professor of Management, Joy E. Beatty details the factors that lead to Stickney receiving the award:
"[T]he committee was impressed by the level of leadership and participation you have shown, as well as your ability to adapt to a range of related disciplines and roles," the letter states. "You are always a team player, whether you are the designated leader or a team member. Your colleagues know that when they ask you to participate, you will excel at completing the task and supporting collaborative work."
Prof. Stickney will receive the award at the MOBTS annual meeting in South Carolina in June.
Learn more about Prof. Stickney and UB's Merrick School of Business.