Perdue School Professors Earn USM Regents Awards for Excellence

SALISBURY, MD---Two professors from Salisbury University’s Franklin P. Perdue School of Business have earned the University System of Maryland’s highest faculty honor: the Regents’ Award for Excellence.

Dr. Leonard Arvi, who teaches in the Economics and Finance Department, was honored for mentoring and Dr. Frank Shipper of the Management and Marketing Department was honored for research and scholarship.

“Dr. Arvi has played an important role in mentoring business students, which is always critical in their transition from education to the workforce, but especially since the global economic recession,” said SU President Janet Dudley-Eshbach. “His continued guidance, even beyond their graduation from SU, has resulted in our Perdue School graduates landing great jobs and/or pursing graduate or doctoral studies.”

Dudley-Eshbach continued: “Dr. Shipper is a prolific scholar, having researched and written extensively on businesses that are primarily owned by their employees. Through his work, one colleague estimates he has reached over a million students in more than 125 countries. Moreover, he has inspired colleagues to expand their own research and has guided and mentored them. He encourages a high level of productivity in others.”

Arvi is credited with ensuring that his students are adept at every form of networking, including using new technologies, such as LinkedIn and a Guidebook mobile app, to connect to other students, alumni, professional organizations and potential employers. Colleagues note that he has worked to make SU a prime recruiting target for employers including Fannie Mae, the world’s largest securitization firm, which has hired at least 25 SU students since 2009.

“His reference helped launch my career during a time when the financial services industry was shrinking,” said Stephen Hedrick ’10, one of more than 50 students for whom Arvi has written recommendation letters, assisting with job and grad school searches.

“I take it as a personal mission to ensure that students are employable and graduating on time with less student debt,” Arvi said.

Other former students called Arvi a “wise advisor” to those interested in presenting research or participating in SU’s entrepreneurship competitions.  They added: “Dr. Arvi utilized all resources available to make sure his students were educated and engaged. Through his endless ‘open-door’ policy, he was more than willing to mentor all of us.”

Recognized nationally and internationally as a scholar on employee-owned companies, Shipper has published nine journals cases and articles, produced two book chapters, presented at 10 conferences, published nine cases in 21 textbooks, drafted the soon-to-be-published book Shared Entrepreneurship: A Path to Engaged Employee Ownership, and contributed to the documentary We are the Owners all in the last three years.

“Because of its unusual, but sound qualitative methodology, this research has drawn significant attention,” said Shipper, whose studies of several companies have spanned more than 25 years. Recently, he was awarded the Kevin E. Ruble and Louis O. Kelso fellowships from Rutgers University, and earned grants from the Foundation for Enterprise Development and the National Center for Employee Ownership in California and the ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Program) Association in Washington, D.C., to support his work.

“Dr. Shipper has practiced what his firms do, sharing in the work and the rewards with colleagues,” said Dr. Richard Hoffman of SU’s Management and Marketing Department, one of 11 collaborators from SU and other institutions whom Shipper has involved as co-authors on various publications.

Arvi earned his Ph.D. in finance from Florida International University in Miami and began teaching at SU in 2008.  Shipper earned his Ph.D. in business administration from the University of Utah and has taught at SU since 1991.

For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU website at www.salisbury.edu.