DeWitt Named Interim Director Of MBA Program

7-21-97
University Park, Pa.--Dr. Rocki-Lee DeWitt has been appointed interim director of the MBA program at Penn State's Smeal College of Business Administration.

DeWitt succeeds Dr. Glenn Pitman, who is stepping down as Smeal College associate dean for professional masters programs to become dean of the business school at the State University of New York-Binghamton.

DeWitt joined the Penn State business faculty in 1989 and is well known for her work in the classroom, having earned the MBA Excellence in Teaching Award for the past three consecutive years. In addition, she was honored with the MBA Achievement in Diversity Award both this year and last. She has had instrumental roles in the MBA Strategic Planning Task Force and the MBA Core Curriculum Redesign Task Force, and has served as MBA adviser for the management and general management concentration. Also teaching in the Smeal undergraduate and doctoral programs, DeWitt has served on numerous college-wide and Department of Management and Organization committees.

Before pursuing a career in higher education, DeWitt was national parts sales manager with International Harvester Company for five years, overseeing annual sales of $25 million and improving the efficiency of the company's parts marketing and distribution processes.

She has published numerous articles on the subject of corporate downsizing and related topics. Her most recent works are soon to appear in the Strategic Management Journal, the Journal of Management, and the Journal of Applied Social Psychology. She also has made presentations before the Academy of Management and the Strategic Management Society.

Among DeWitt's current research projects are ones concerning the different modes of corporate restructuring and senior managers' roles in implementing budget reductions. She has been a faculty associate with the Center for the Management of Technological and Organizational Change and the Institute for Organizational Effectiveness, two Smeal College research organizations.

She earned her bachelor's degree from New York University, her master's from The Ohio State University and her doctoral degree from Columbia University.

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Contact: Charles C. DuBois, The Smeal College of Business Administration, 814/863-3798