weLEAD Online Magazine

leadingtoday.org

The weLEAD In Learning Team

By J. Howard Baker, Ph.D.

The new weLEAD In Learning web site (www.weLEADInLearning.org) is due to be launched this summer and much work has already gone into this project.

Our mission is to help present and future leaders around the world better understand the concept of a learning organization and to assist them in promoting personal learning and a learning culture within their organizations.

Our interdisciplinary team is in place, and I would like to introduce the weLEAD In Learning team members in this article.

Dr. J. Howard Baker – Project Editor

Dr. J. Howard Baker is Assistant Professor of Computer Information Systems at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. He holds a B.S. in Management from Samford University (Birmingham, AL), a Master of Accounting (MAcc) from the University of Southern California, and a Ph.D. in Information Systems from the University of Texas at Arlington. Before entering his teaching career he worked for a Fortune 100 company as a project leader, two large financial institutions as head of information systems auditing, and as an information systems consultant in Europe and Australia. Dr. Baker has been a Franklin Covey 7 Habits of Highly Effective People certified facilitator since 1993, and has served the University of Texas at Tyler as their facilitator since 1997. He is also an adjunct professor in the Master of Public Administration program at the University of Texas at Tyler. His areas of research include knowledge management, learning organizations, leadership, and data security. He is Editor of the weLEAD In Learning web-based education project. He is also a regular contributor to weLEAD magazine (www.leadingtoday.org)

Dr. Sumit Sircar – Project Contributing Editor

Dr. Sumit Sircar is Professor and Director of the Center for Information Technologies Management in the College of Business Administration at the University of Texas at Arlington. He has also been the Associate Dean and Chairman of the Information Systems and Operations Management department at UT Arlington. He earned his doctoral degree at the Harvard Business School. He is a Certified Computing Professional and Disaster Recovery Planner. Dr. Sircar has published numerous articles in the area of information resource and technology management in a large number of journals, including the MIS Quarterly, Journal of Management Information Systems, Communications of the ACM, Information & Management, and Journal of Database Management. He currently serves on the Editorial Board of Information Systems Research.

Dr. Jerry Brenner – Writer and Reviewer

Dr. Jerry Brenner is an Associate Professor and Distance Learning coordinator for the Division of Human Services at Thomas University, Thomasville, Georgia. He has worked in special education and rehabilitation for almost twenty years. Dr. Brenner has a consulting business specializing in vocational evaluation, job analysis, and statistical analysis, and is also a professional landscaper. He is married to Dr. Sandra Brenner, and has three children, Lacie, Michael, and Danielle.

Linda Chezem, J.D. – Writer and Reviewer

Linda Chezem, J. D., is Senior Judge, Harrison Circuit Court, Corydon, Indiana. She is a board member and Vice President of the board of trustees for the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership. She is also Professor for 4-H Youth, School of Agriculture, at Purdue University and Professor, part-time, at the Indiana University School of Medicine. She has been a Judge since 1976 and served as Judge, Court of Appeals of Indiana from 1988-1998. She has received the National 4-H Alumni Award, given for outstanding service to the 4-H program, in 1994. She holds a B.S. from Indiana State University and a J.D. from Indiana University, Bloomington School of Law. Her current research interest is policy leadership for justice through health and education. It focuses on issues of alcohol and other addictions and the exercise of judicial leadership in justice policy.

Dr. Timothy Dolan – Writer and Reviewer

Dr. Timothy Dolan is Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Master in Management Program, Southern Oregon University. He received both his MA and Ph.D. in Political Science (International Relations Methodology and Public Policy/Futures Studies) from the University of Hawaii. His BA is from San Diego State University in Political Science. He teaches all public management courses, and all upper-division and graduate-level public policy analysis courses. He is graduate advisor for 64 active participants in the Medford and Klamath Falls programs. He is also involved in teaching a seminar series for the Master in Management program in Guanajuato, Mexico. Dr. Dolan is a certified facilitator for the Franklin Covey 7 Habits of Highly Effective People material. He teaches both upper-division and graduate levels of the 7 Habits course.

Dr. Eric Mohr – Writer and Reviewer

Dr. Eric Mohr, a certified instructional designer/developer, currently creates training curricula for account and sales leaders within Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in Plano, Texas. For nearly two decades Dr. Mohr taught writing and literature. He spent his last year of teaching (1998) at Kennesaw State University in northwest Atlanta. Eric earned his M.A. in Occidental Literature from California State University, Los Angeles and holds a Ph.D. in American Literature from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Mohr’s career focus remains on effective leadership instruction through clear communication, a focus that began with his years of experience in higher education as a writing/literature professor and continues with his current assignment as a training specialist at one of the world’s top information technology outsourcing firms.

Dr. Thomas S. Upton – Writer and Reviewer

Dr. Thomas S. Upton is Producer, Web and CD-ROM Technologies, at Dallas TeleLearning, located at the LeCroy Center for Educational Telecommunications, Dallas County Community College District. Dr. Upton leads the development team in the production of Internet-based and CD-ROM based college courses. He holds a Doctor of Education degree from Texas A&M University-Commerce in Supervision, Curriculum, and Instruction in Higher Education with an emphasis in Learning Technology and Information Systems. His research interests include effectiveness of computer-based instruction, effective delivery of distance education, interactive multimedia/hypermedia systems, and streaming media technologies.

Dr. Randal Urwiller – Writer and Reviewer

Dr. Randal R. Urwiller, an assistant professor of English at Texas College, Tyler, TX, received his B.A. from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, his M.A. at the University of Texas at Tyler, and his Ph.D. at Baylor University. He is currently chair of the Department of Languages and Literature at Texas College and has nearly twelve years teaching experience at the collegiate-level. He has taught a wide variety of English courses including composition, grammar, linguistics, African-American literature, the English novel, Milton, and Shakespeare. He has been listed in Who's Who Among America's Teachers and has completed the Franklin Covey 7 Habits of Highly Effective People seminar. His research interests include the development and practice of Servant-Leadership in all facets of academe. Dr. Urwiller lives in East Texas with his wife, Penny, and two children.

In addition to this regular team of editors, writers, and reviewers, the weLEAD In Learning web site will also feature special guest contributors. Our first guest contributor will be Tom DeMarco, author of many books including Slack, Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency. A review of this book can be found in the January 2002 issue of weLEAD magazine. (http://www.leadingtoday.org/Onmag/jan02/br2-jan02.html

Mr. DeMarco was a winner of the 1986 Warnier Prize for “lifetime contribution to the field of computing” and is currently a principal of the Atlantic Systems Guild (http://systemsguild.com/). He is a featured speaker at international conferences, and will be the keynote speaker at the 3rd International Conference on Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, and Networking Computing, Madrid, Spain, June 28, 2002. (http://www.atlsysguild.com/GuildSite/Guild/Events.html)

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About the author:

Dr. J. Howard Baker is Assistant Professor of Computer Information Systems at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Dr. Baker has been a Franklin Covey 7 Habits of Highly Effective People certified facilitator for eight years, and has served the University of Texas at Tyler as their facilitator for four years. During the summer he offers a graduate and undergraduate course at U. T. Tyler in personal and organizational leadership. He holds a B.S. in Management from Samford University, a Master of Accounting (MAcc) from the University of Southern California, and a Ph.D. in Information Systems from the University of Texas at Arlington. Dr. Baker is Editor of the weLEAD In Learning Online project.