John K. Ryans named endowed chair in business college

The BGSU Board of Trustees appointed Ryans to the endowed chair position at its meeting Tuesday (April 1).

The position was created in memory of James R. Good, a 1951 BGSU graduate and international businessman who left his estate to the University, designating that it be used to endow a chair in the College of Business Administration.

When he died in March 1989, Good was owner and president of Oasis Development Corp., a real estate development firm in New York City. The Fostoria, Ohio, native had previously spent 30 years with Continental Grain Co., where he was vice president of the World Grain Division and was instrumental in opening grain trade with the former Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China.

A faculty member at Kent State since 1970, Ryans is among 52 Fellows of the Academy of International Business-the highest recognition in the field-and one of the 100 charter members of the American Marketing Association Foundation's Leadership Circle. His numerous consulting clients have included Xerox and the U.S. departments of Commerce and Education, and he has designed and/or presented in-house training programs for many firms, including Digital Equipment, Firestone and Nestle.

Ryans said he welcomes the opportunity to help build on BGSU's undergraduate and graduate international business programs, which he called among the strongest such programs in the Midwest. "

In addition, I am able to continue to develop relationships with the Cleveland and Toledo international business communities," he continued. "Northern Ohio is one of the leading exporting regions in the nation, and this university is in a prime location to play a critical role in the region's continued growth."

Ryans' expertise will bolster the efforts of BGSU's College of Business Administration in international business, Dean James A. Sullivan said. "

Almost every aspect of business is becoming more international in scope and process. This increased global focus provides colleges of business with one of their greatest challenges," Sullivan noted. "

We must expand opportunities for students and faculty to enhance their understanding of managing organizations in an international environment and must strengthen relationships with internationally oriented companies," he said. "Although we have made advancements in both of these areas, Dr. Ryans brings international business experience and expertise that will allow us to make significantly more progress."

Ryans, who earned his doctorate in business administration from Indiana University in 1965, has been Bridgestone Professor of International Business and professor of marketing at Kent State since 1994. During that time, he has coordinated the undergraduate and doctoral programs in international business.

From 1970-94, he was a professor of marketing and international business in Kent State's Graduate School of Management, and from 1970-77, he also served as an associate dean of curriculum, budgeting and external relations.

Ryans won the Kent State Research Council's Distinguished Scholar Award in 1999. The following year, he received the Paul Pfeiffer Distinguished Teaching Award from the university's College of Business Administration, and in 2001, he was honored by the Kent State Teaching Council as an outstanding faculty member based upon nominations by recent graduates.

Before joining the Kent State faculty, the U.S. Air Force veteran taught for one year at the University of Kentucky-where he had also earned his undergraduate degree in 1954-and four years at the University of Maryland. His master's degree in business administration is from the University of Tennessee.

Ryans has written or co-authored more than 20 books and monographs, as well as dozens of journal articles. In 2000, he published an online publication, "Focus Groups," with HighTechCampus (now Edgia, Inc.), a Houston, Texas, content provider.

BGSU's College of Business Administration has earned continuous accreditation since 1954 from AACSB International-the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Fewer than one-quarter of all business colleges in the United States currently meet AACSB accreditation standards at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

(Posted April 10, 2003 )