October Faculty Features

Frances G. Smith, Ed.S., CVE and Kelly Ligon, M.Ed - Collateral Faculty, School of Education
Frances Smith, director of the INFUSIO Technology Lab and Ligon, in the School of Education, made a presentation titled "Training and Technical Assistance through a Tablet PC" at the International Closing the Gap Technology Conference, held in Minneapolis. Smith also is a 2004-05 VCU faculty mentor investigating the use of a tablet PC in education.

Judy VanSlyke Turk, Ph.D., School of Mass Communications
Turk, director of VCU’s School of Mass Communications recently edited the second edition of book titled “The Evolution of Public Relations: Case Studies from Countries in Transition,” along with Linda H. Scanlan, retired associate professor and chair of the journalism department at Norfolk State University. The book was released by the Institute for Public Relations and contains cases written by noted public relations scholars and practitioners from around the world. The book also provides models that demonstrate the current level of best practices in emerging markets. Interested educators, students and professionals can get more information at www.instituteforpr.com.

Edward Peeples, Ph.D., professor emeritus of Preventive Medicine and Community Health
Peeples, VCU professor emeritus in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, has been featured in the September/October issue of the University of Pennsylvania Gazette. The article features Peeples’ 1963 Masters thesis on the 1959-1964 Prince Edward County Virginia public school closing, and focuses on the impact of segregation during this time. VCU's James Branch Cabell Library has a collection of Peeples’ photographs and papers. For more, visit http://www.library.vcu.edu/jbc/speccoll/pec.html. Peeples earned his Master's degree at the University of Pennsylvania in 1963 and served as a VCU faculty member for more than 30 years.

School of Business appoints four new faculty members
José H. Dula, Ph.D., Management
Dula is an associate professor of operations management in the School of Business. His areas of teaching and research include optimization, quantitative methods in operations management including networks, inventory control, scheduling, modeling and probability and statistics. He has taught at Southern Methodist University and the University of Mississippi. Dula also served as a visiting principal researcher in 2003 with the U.S. Census Bureau’s Computing Research Group, statistical research division. His research has been published in Journal of the Operational Research Society, Journal on Computing and Journal of Productivity Analysis. He earned dual Bachelor of Science degrees in applied mathematics and industrial and operations engineering from The University of Michigan. He earned his Master of Science from Stanford University. Afterwards, Dula earned his doctorate in Industrial and operations engineering from the University of Michigan.

Myung S. Park, Ph.D., Department of Accounting
Park, assistant professor of accounting, focuses his teachings and research in financial accounting, managerial accounting and accounting information systems. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, Korea; a Masters of Business Administration from Korea University, Seoul; and a second MBA from Syracuse University. He earned his doctorate from Purdue University. Park’s latest research project, "Pricing of Seasoned Equity Offers and Earnings Management" will be featured in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. Park also is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Accounting and Finance.

Laura Razzolini, Ph.D., Department of Economics
Razzolini is an associate professor of economics. She specializes in public economics, and her research focuses on the effects of cost allocations on the provision of shared goods. She frequently conducts economic experiments in a laboratory setting to test the predictions of models of behavior. Her research has been published in publications such as Experimental Economics, Journal of Economic Theory and Public Choice. She also is managing editor of the Southern Economic Journal. Razzolini previously taught at the University of Mississippi and was program director for National Science Foundation's economics program until August 2003. She earned a Baccalaureate from the University of Florence, Italy; a research doctorate from University of Bologna, Italy; a Masters of Arts and doctorate in economics from Southern Methodist University.

Brent C. Smith, Ph.D., Finance, Insurance & Real Estate
Smith, assistant professor of real estate and urban development, will be teaching and continuing his research exploring the impact of macroeconomic factors on real property investment, and real estate market modeling while contributing to the research demands of the Virginia Real Estate Center, housed at VCU. His previous research activities have been published in Real Estate Economics, Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Journal of Real Estate Research, Urban Affairs Review, and International Journal of Property Tax Assessment and Administration. Smith previously taught at Western Michigan University and Indiana University. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Indiana University, a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame and his doctorate from Indiana University.

Nelson Wikstrom, Ph.D., L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs
Wikstrom, professor in the School of Government and Public Affiars, along with Professor G. Ross Stephens, of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, recently presented a paper titled "Water War: Local Intergovernmental Conflict and Resolution" at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, held in Chicago.