BGSU faculty granted emeritus status

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Bowling Green State University honored a number of longtime faculty members who have retired recently or will be retiring soon. In honor of their accomplishments and service, the University trustees on May 4 conferred professor emeritus status upon seven faculty and associate professor emeritus on another three.

Emeritus status is conferred in recognition of distinguished service to the University. To be designated as emeritus, individuals must have been at the University for at least 10 years and been recommended by their department for the designation.

Following are those named professor emeritus:

Dr. Neil Carothers retired in summer 2011 after teaching in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics for 24 years. His research focused on the Banach Space Theory, a branch of mathematical analysis, and has been published in several top journals. He is the author of a research book and a graduate textbook. Carothers is also known for his teaching. In 1989, the Ohio Alpha Chapter of Kappa Mu Epsilon presented him the Excellence in Mathematics Teaching Award. He served as department chair from 1999-2007 and as Faculty Senate vice chair/chair elect in 2010-11.

Dr. John Hoag was with the Department of Economics for 40 years, serving as chair from 1993 until his retirement in 2011. He has returned to serve two years as associate dean of the College of Business Administration. Hoag was instrumental in establishing the economic department’s annual teaching conference and founded the Undergraduate Economics Research Contest, drawing participants from neighboring colleges and universities. He also led the creation of a joint position with the University’s Center for Regional Development. Hoag has published extensively in resource economics.

Dr. Ellen Frankel Paul joined the University in 1981 as founding research director of the Social Philosophy and Policy Center and a professor of political science. She retired in 2011, having written four books and 55 scholarly articles and edited 60 book collections as well as serving as editor of three major book series. Her contributions were critical to the wide success of the journal Social Philosophy & Policy published by Cambridge University Press. She received the Olscamp Research Award from BGSU in 1989.  President Reagan appointed her the U.S. representative to the United Nations Commission for Social Development from 1983-89 and the last two years she was appointed by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to the Ohio State Advisory Committee on Civil Rights.

Dr. Linda Petrosino, dean of the College of Health and Human Services, started at BGSU in 1986 as an entry-level faculty in communication disorders and was promoted to department chair three years later. She will retire June 30 after 10 years as dean. She also was executive director of the BGSU Speech and Hearing Clinic and associate dean for the college. She was instrumental in the creation of BGSU’s Center of Excellence for Health and Wellness Across the Lifespan. Petrosino is a licensed, certified speech-language pathologist. The author of over 100 scholarly articles, she serves as a consulting editor for the Journal of Psychology and Communication Disorders Quarterly. Currently a director on the board of the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions, she has also held leadership roles with numerous professional organizations. Petrosino has received multiple honors, including being named by the Ohio Academy of Science an Exemplar: Women in Science, Engineering and Mathematics.

Dr. Peter Pinto retired from the University in August 2011 after more than 30 years on the management department faculty, where he served as chair and helped the Supply Chain Management program achieve an international reputation. He served in leadership positions for several professional organizations and published widely in his field.

Dr. B. Madhu Rao began his career at BGSU as an assistant professor of operations research and ends on July 1 as the interim dean of the College of Business Administration. He also served as associate and senior associate dean, from 2007-11, and chair of the Department of Applied Statistics and Operations Research from 1999-2006. Rao oversaw BGSU’s executive and full-time MBA programs on campus as well as the professional MBA program at the Levis Commons. He also played a significant role in a major revision of the undergraduate curriculum in business and its implementation. He received the Outstanding Graduate Faculty Award, CBA Faculty Service Award, Faculty Excellence Award and the Faculty Senate Award for Outstanding Leadership and Contributions as Department Chair.

Dr. Robert Vincent retired in summer 2011 after teaching in the Department of Geology for 19 years. Known internationally for his work in remote sensing technologies and the textbook he published on the topic, he significantly increased the department’s focus on geospatial science and brought in several millions of dollars in research funding. In 2004 the University presented him the Olscamp Research Award for his achievements. Vincent created the first startup company in BGSU’s history, Blue Water Satellite Inc. He is also known for his teaching and mentoring, especially of master’s students, and for bringing his real-world experiences into the classroom. He created three courses, supervised graduate and undergraduate independent studies and served as adviser for 36 theses.

The faculty members named associate professor emeritus include:

Dr. Mohammed Dadfar retires from the Department of Computer Science in June after 30 years at the University. His research focused on teaching data communications and operating systems, and has been disseminated through numerous journal articles, refereed conference proceedings and book reviews. A versatile teacher, he taught 23 different undergraduate courses and three graduate courses. He supervised nearly 50 master’s projects and was a member of numerous dissertation and thesis committees. His paper “Application of Computer Algebra in Calculating Perturbation Solution to a Multifrequency Excitation” was published in Computers in Education Journal, for which he won the Harden-Simons Award.

Dr. Karen Kakas retires this summer after working at BGSU for 25 years. Her scholarly activities have centered on K-12 pedagogy and community collaborations. She published three book chapters and two referred articles in addition to showing her work around Ohio and the nation. She presented her work at seven international and more than 30 national conferences and taught eight undergraduate courses that she either created or modified.  During her time at BGSU, she served as the chair of the art education division of the School of Art for more than nine years. Kakas received the Ohio Art Education Association Higher Education Division Award in 2006.

Dr. Walker Maner retires from BGSU in June after teaching in the Department of Computer Science for 28 years. Best known for his founding role in the area of computer ethics, he has presented his research at over 30 conferences and been published widely. Maner taught 12 undergraduate courses and seven graduate courses. He retires as chair of the department and has served on the University’s Computing Council and Academic Computer Users Committee.

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(Posted May 04, 2012 )