For Immediate Release – Lawton, OK, June 23, 2008
Cameron faculty members honored with
endowed chairs
Cameron University President Cindy Ross is pleased to announce the naming of three CU faculty members
to Endowed Chairs. Syed Ahmed, Ph.D., Professor, CU School of Business, has been named the
Independent Insurance Agents of Lawton, Inc. Endowed Chair, effective July 1; Ronna Vanderslice, Ed.D.,
Dean, School of Education and Behavioral Sciences, has been chosen as the McCasland Foundation
Endowed Chair in Educational Leadership, effective July 1; and Frank White, Ph.D., Assistant Professor,
Department of Agriculture, has been selected as the Dr. Joseph H. Mullin Endowed Chair in Agriculture,
effective August 11.
“Dr. Ahmed, Dean Vanderslice, and Dr. White exemplify the distinguished faculty we have at Cameron,”
Ross says. “It is gratifying to recognize these three individuals with endowed chairs, knowing that they will
continue to contribute to the quality education that we are providing our students.”
The Board of Regents for The University of Oklahoma, Cameron University and Rogers State University
approved the appointments today during its regularly scheduled meeting, held at the Noble Conference
Center in Ardmore.
The Independent Insurance Agents of Lawton, Inc. (IIAL) Endowed Chair was established in June 1989 to
help sponsor the Business Research Center in the CU School of Business and to conduct a business forum
available to all Southwest Oklahoma. As the IIAL Endowed Chair, Ahmed will support applied research in
economic development for southwest Oklahoma and share the results with the business community
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Endowed Chairs, page 2
through a variety of outreach activities. In addition, he will work to increase the synergy created between
Cameron’s School of Business and Center for Emerging Technology and Entrepreneurial Studies.
Ahmed, Professor of Economics and Director of the Business Research Center, earned his Ph.D. in
Economics from Simon Fraser University and joined the Cameron faculty in August 2001. He has published
articles in numerous refereed journals and has co-authored an instructor's manual for a popular Canadian
Money and Banking Text. Currently he is working on issues in international financial integration and
financial sector reform in developing economies.
The McCasland Endowed Chair in Educational Leadership was established by The McCasland Foundation
in October 2004 to advance the study of educational and school leadership and administration. As the
McCasland Endowed Chair, Vanderslice will develop and expand Cameron’s Educational Leadership
course offerings, work closely with area principals and superintendents to provide support and encourage
area educators to pursue graduate level education.
Vanderslice joined the faculty of Cameron in June 2006 as Cameron’s Project Director for the National
Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and was named Dean of the School of Education
and Behavioral Sciences in June 2007. Earning a doctorate in educational leadership from Texas Tech
University in 1995, she also holds 18 Oklahoma teaching certificates and has been featured on as expert
speaker on education issues at numerous state and regional conferences. In 2005, she was appointed by
Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry as a board member for the Department of Mental Health and Substance
Abuse Services. Additionally, she was appointed to the Teacher Competency Review Panel by the State
Department of Education and the Oklahoma State Regents Minority Teacher Recruitment Center Advisory
Committee. Vanderslice has been listed in Who’s Who Among American Teachers and Who’s Who of
American Women.
The Dr. Joseph H. Mullin Endowed Chair in Agriculture was established in May 1994 through a gift by the
late Joyce Mullin Hansen of Santa Monica, CA, in memory of her father, who practiced dentistry in Lawton
for more than 50 years. The purpose of the Chair is to advance innovative agriculture programs, such as
developing organically grown foods. As the Dr. Joseph H. Mullin Endowed Chair, White will conduct applied
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Endowed Chairs, page 3
animal science research in conservation and organic production. He and his colleagues in Cameron’s
Department of Agriculture will share the findings with the agricultural community and continue working to
incorporate new findings into regional agricultural practices to increase production and profit.
White, who joined the Cameron faculty in 2005, earned his doctorate in animal breeding and reproduction
from Oklahoma State University in 2005. An assistant professor in the Department of Agriculture, his
primary research interest concerns embryonic loss in livestock. In 2006, he received a collaborative
research grant from the Oklahoma IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE).
“On behalf of Cameron’s students, I offer our profound gratitude to the donors who established these three
endowed chairs,” says Ross. “Their contributions live on in perpetuity, providing students with enhanced
educational opportunities and giving Cameron the ability to attract and retain some of the best faculty in the
nation.”
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PR# 08-108
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