UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Eight members of the Penn State Smeal College of Business faculty, which ranks among the best in the world in research productivity, have received promotions.
Forrest S. Briscoe has been promoted to professor of management and organization. Briscoe, who also holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Sociology, joined the Smeal faculty in 2007. Much of his research focuses on how organizations adopt new practices and how changes spread across industries and fields of organizations. He’s also interested in how organizational decision-makers react when there is controversy and contention surrounding the changes they are considering, and when stakeholders advocate for or against those changes. Briscoe earned a doctorate in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Glen E. Kreiner has been promoted to professor of management. Kreiner, who is also a John and Becky Surma Dean’s Research Fellow, joined the Smeal faculty in 2007. He is currently studying people with intellectual disabilities in the workplace, with specific interests in their workplace experiences and the policies/practices that facilitate their employment. Kreiner is also engaging in projects dealing with: mindfulness in the workplace and mindful leadership, stigmatized workers and managers; ethics officers; health coaches; “transient” or “nomadic” professionals; workers on the autism spectrum; and the social and systemic factors involved in the subprime mortgage financial crisis. He earned a doctorate in business administration from Arizona State University.
Brent Moritz has been promoted to associate professor of supply chain management. Moritz joined the Smeal faculty in 2010. His research interests include supply chain management, behavioral operations, operations strategy and cognitive decision processes. He has a particular focus on inventory and forecasting decisions. Moritz holds a doctorate in operations and management science from the University of Minnesota.
Christoph Hinkelmann has been promoted to clinical associate professor of finance. He came to Smeal in 2011, after having served on the faculties of Wake Forest, Auburn and Texas A&M. His expertise lies in empirical asset pricing. Prior to earning his doctorate in finance at the University of Rochester, Hinkelmann worked as a vice president and portfolio manager, and he served in the Division of Monetary Affairs at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
Lisa O’Hara has been promoted to clinical associate professor of management and organization. O’Hara joined the Smeal faculty in 2011. Over the past 10 years, she has designed and taught courses in human capital-related fields at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Prior to joining Penn State, O’Hara designed and taught classroom, online and hybrid courses in managerial communication and other related topics. Before she entered academia, she was employed in human capital positions. O’Hara earned a doctorate in instructional design and technology from the University of Pittsburgh.
Christopher Solo has been promoted to clinical assistant professor of management information systems. Prior to joining the Smeal faculty in 2016, he served more than 21 years on active duty in the U.S. Air Force, where he held leadership positions in the intelligence, acquisition program management, and operations research analyst career fields. During that time, Solo served on the faculty at the U.S. Air Force Academy. He taught undergraduate courses covering probability and statistics, optimization, decision analysis, queueing theory, and simulation. Solo holds a doctorate in industrial engineering and operations research from Penn State.
Fred Hurvitz has been promoted to senior instructor of marketing. He also is the Kohl’s Professor of Practice in Retail. Prior to joining the Smeal faculty in 1989, he spent nearly 20 years in the private sector as a local businessman. He earned an MBA from Penn State while owning and managing several local retail establishments. Hurvitz specializes in retail and merchandise management.
Carolyn Todd has been promoted to senior instructor of marketing. Todd joined the Smeal faculty in 1997 after spending 23 years in operations and marketing in both nonprofit and business organizations. She was a product market manager for Telcordia and worked for Verizon Communications in both line and staff operations positions. Todd earned an MBA, with a public management concentration, from Boston University.
Hurvitz and Todd received their promotions on Jan. 1. Promotions for Briscoe, Kreiner, Moritz, Hinkelmann, O’Hara and Solo will be effective on July 1.