Sunday, Sep 22, 2019
College of Business Administration Professor Honored Twice for Scholarly Research
In the world of academia, it is widely known that research and publication are crucial components of any professor’s career. Second only to teaching, a professor’s research is crucial, serving both as a scholarly identity and a continuous line of inquiry.
Now in his second decade of teaching, Texas A&M-Central Texas Professor Jody Fry remains enthusiastically in the classroom, engaged in graduate level teaching and an inspiration to his students and colleagues.
Currently the Program Director the MS One Planet Leadership Program, Frye promotes this visionary degree program, designed to emphasize awareness and action around business and sustainability.
“Today’s leaders should actively seek to change the world for the better,” he says energetically. “We focus on sustainability principles, challenging students to explore the complex task of creating and leading learning organizations that seek to maximize employee well-being, social responsibility, and performance excellence – the triple bottom line or People, Planet, and Profit.”
Professor Fry is known among his colleagues in the College of Business Administration as one of the most prolific scholars contributing to the research on the topic of spiritual leadership and sustainability, which is about aligning organizations and their people through a sense of purpose supported by a loving culture to co-create a conscious, sustainable world that works for everyone.
But this past summer, however, he was met with unexpected accolades when he was honored not one – but twice.
First, a recent article, “Spiritual Leadership as a Model for Reducing Burnout in Medical Laboratories,” he had published in The Journal of Management, Spirituality, and Religion was selected for ‘Best Paper’ of 2018 and then another paper, “The Role of Spiritual Development in Executive Coaching,” received the best paper award from the Management Spirituality & Religion Division at the 2019 International Academy of Management Conference this August.
“To have been selected for either one of these would be cause for celebration,” remarked A&M-Central Texas Provost, Dr. Peg Gray-Vickrey. “But to have won both prizes in the same year is a very high honor indeed.”
“His work has been cited in more than 8,500 research articles by those who have read and appreciated Dr. Fry’s insights on the topic of business and spirituality,” noted Dr. Lucas Loafman, Interim Dean of the A&M-Central Texas College of Business Administration. “He’s presented at conferences around the world and is a valuable member of the faculty and respected by his colleagues and students.”
“I am very blessed to have made a career in higher education,” he noted. “It’s been my students and their passion for leadership that has been my inspiration. I have the opportunity to pour myself into what I love, including sharing my scholarship with my students and demonstrating how it relates to their effectiveness as leaders.”
