College of Business Administration names Seacrest Faculty Fellows

The James C. and Rhonda Seacrest Faculty Fellows Fund has been established at the University of Nebraska Foundation with a generous $1 million gift. Proceeds from the endowed fund will be used to encourage and retain valued faculty at the College of Journalism and Mass Communications and the College of Business Administration.

Seacrest Fellows selected at the College of Business Administration are John E. Anderson, Bruce J. Avolio, Sang M. Lee, Fred Luthans, Linda L. Price and William B. Walstad.

John Anderson is Baird family professor, chair of the Department of Economics, and an award-winning teacher of economics. He has published important research on urban economics, public finance, and tax policy in top academic journals. He is also the author of a major new textbook, "Public Finance: Principles and Policy." Beyond his substantial academic experience, Anderson has served as a policy adviser to governors, state legislatures and numerous state agencies in the United States. In the international policy arena, he has served as an adviser and mentor in Bulgaria, Russia, Moldova, and Yugoslavia (Macedonia and Montenegro). As senior tax policy adviser in Moldova, he has been involved in the successful USAID Fiscal Reform Project, assisting in the transition process, and also served as an advisor for the Local Government Reform Project. In Yugoslavia, he was involved in the development of a comprehensive tax code for Montenegro and assessment of fiscal sustainability in Macedonia. In Bulgaria, he trained and mentored members of parliament in economic analysis and public finance policymaking. In Russia, he has advised numerous universities on economic curriculum reform, served as a visiting scholar, and taught in the Moscow State University MBA program.

Bruce Avolio is the Clifton chair in leadership and a member of the Senior Scientist Advisory Board with the Gallup Organization. Avolio is also director of the Gallup Leadership Institute, co-director of the UNL and Gallup MBA/MA program in executive leadership, and director of the doctoral program with a specialization in leadership at the College of Business Administration. Avolio has an international reputation as a researcher in leadership having published more than 80 articles and five books. He has consulted with a large number of public and private organizations in North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Israel. His research and consulting also includes work with the militaries of the United States, Singapore, Sweden, Finland, Israel, South Africa and Europe. His latest books are titled, "Transformational and Charismatic Leadership: The Road Ahead" and "Made/Born: Leadership Development in Balance." Other books are "Full Leadership Development: Building the Vital Forces in Organizations" and "Developing Potential Across a Full Range of Leadership: Cases on Transactional and Transformational Leadership." Avolio has worked with a number of government agencies on national level leadership development projects, as well as at state and local levels including developing a strategic leadership development system for the South African correctional services, participating in senior-level leadership development seminars with the Canadian government, working with government transportation agencies leaders in Brisbane, Australia, directing a four-year, $1 million Kellogg-funded grant to develop community leaders throughout New York state, helping to establish one of the first leadership academies for developing educational leadership in New York state, and working with government agency leaders in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, the United States and Sweden. He works with public healthcare and educational leaders on the design of a leadership institute for healthcare providers and educators.

Sang Lee is university eminent scholar, regents distinguished professor, chair of the Management Department, executive director of four outreach centers at UNL, and a member of the Senior Scientist Advisory Board with the Gallup Organization. He is an internationally known expert in the fields of decision sciences, productivity management and global business. Recently, his research in Eastern Europe's economic transition and development of world-class organizations has been widely published. He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Tirana in Albania and Bangkok University in Thailand. Lee is author or co-author of 50 books, mostly in the field of management. He has published more than 170 journal articles, and 360 original papers, and has presented more than 2,000 speeches. He has visited more than 100 universities as a distinguished visiting scholar around the globe. He helped establish the first-ever MBA program at the University of Tirana and the Ph.D. program in business at Bangkok University. He has had a number of funded projects totaling more than $6 million. He is a frequent consultant and trainer for a number of business, nonprofit, and government organizations in the United States and abroad.

Fred Luthans, university professor of management, has taught at UNL for 37 years. He is the author of more than 30 books (including the leading texts, "Organizational Behavior," 10th edition, and "International Management," sixth edition, published by McGraw-Hill) and about 150 articles. He received the University of Iowa Distinguished Alumni Award for Career Achievement in 2002 and last year received an honorary doctorate from De Paul University. A former president of the National Academy of Management, he received this association' s Distinguished Educator Award in 1997. In 2001 he was selected as a charter member of the Academy' s Hall of Fame for being one of the top five published authors in academy journals. In addition to teaching and doing research on workplace motivation and leadership, he consults with companies and gives lectures around the world. Luthans is also a member of the Senior Scientist Advisory Board with The Gallup Organization. He is the editor or co-editor of three top management journals, Organizational Dynamics; Journal of World Business; and Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies.

Linda Price is Gold professor of marketing and chair of the Department of Marketing. She is respected internationally as an expert in market and consumer research. Her research interests focus on the social context of marketplace behaviors and consumers as emotional, imaginative and creative agents. She has introduced several new concepts to the field of marketing and is frequently invited to speak at international conferences and workshops on these topics, and has published widely. Price is co-author of "Consumers," a text exploring worldwide consumer behavior patterns, now in its second edition. She has consulted with a broad range of large multinational and not-for-profit organizations as well as governmental agencies. Price is a well-regarded instructor in the fields of consumer behavior, market research, services marketing and marketing theory.

William Walstad is John T. and Mable M. Hay professor of economics and serves as chair of the Committee on Economic Education of the American Economic Association, which directs the education work for the 21,000 members of this association. Walstad has published several hundred scholarly articles on economic education and entrepreneurship education. He has conducted evaluation, testing, and survey work on projects supported by the National Science Foundation, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the National Council on Economic Education, the Gallup Organization, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Calvin K. Kazanjian Foundation, the Educational Testing Service, and the American Institutes of Research among others.

The College of Journalism and Mass Communications will name its Seacrest Fellows at a later date.

The Seacrest name is synonymous with Nebraska newspapers. The family has a 113-year history with printing and publishing. The family owned several papers in the state, including dailies in Lincoln, North Platte and Scottsbluff.

In setting up the fund, Jim Seacrest said, "The steam engine that keeps the university going is the faculty...the professors."

CONTACT: Marilyn Hoskins, College of Business Administration, (402) 472-3382