UA Business School Names Chair of Ethics

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – An internationally recognized professor of management, Dr. K. Michele Kacmar, has been named to the Durr-Fillauer Chair of Business Ethics at The University of Alabama business school.

“We are extremely fortunate to have a scholar of Dr. Kacmar’s stature aboard as the Durr-Fillauer Chair of Ethics,” said Dr. J. Barry Mason, dean of UA’s Culverhouse College of Commerce. “While we infuse the importance of practicing good business ethics into all of our courses, we realize that there is an increased sensitivity among business leaders and industry recruiters to the importance of responsible corporate governance, and this is an important step in recognizing that sensitivity.”

Kacmar comes to the Culverhouse College of Commerce from Florida State University, where she served as the Charles A. Rovetta Professor of Management and director of the Center for Human Resource Management. The position, in the school’s management and marketing department, was funded by $1 million in gifts from Durr-Fillauer Medical Inc. and key former Durr-Fillauer executives.

As the Durr-Fillauer Chair of Ethics, Kacmar will lead faculty and students in developing research agendas in ethics, provide expertise to the University’s public constituencies on various issues related to ethics, teach ethics-related courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels, and give guest lectures.

“We wanted a nationally recognized scholar to lead our ethics program and give us national visibility,” said Dr. Ronald Dulek, head of the College’s department of management and marketing. “With Dr. Kacmar, we found the best! Her research accomplishments, particularly those in the field of business ethics, vault us to the forefront of leading schools of business. She is a major hire for the College.”

Dulek further said Kacmar’s arrival comes at a particularly opportune time.

“She will help us take our ethics program to the next level at a time when corporate governance and transparency is the main topic in about every boardroom.”

The former Durr-Fillauer executives who were primary donors to the chair were Charles E. Adair, W.A. Williamson Jr., and John W. Durr all of Montgomery; and former Durr-Fillauer stockholders George W. Fillauer and Carlton E. Fillauer, both of Chattanooga, Tenn.

The donors who contributed to the endowment, originally announced in 1994, included James Mahlon Buck Jr. of Radnor, Penn.; the Montgomery law firm of Rushton, Stakely, Johnston & Garrett; Kirksey Dortch of Birmingham; and Stanhope Elmore Jr. of Dothan. Others were Ann Palmer, John W. Durr III, William M. Jordan, Cullen F. Smith, and Charles T. Gross.

Kacmar received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Illinois State University and her doctorate from Texas A&M University.

Her research interests include ethics, impression management, and organizational politics. She has published more than 60 articles in journals such as Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and Journal of Business Ethics. She co-authored a textbook with Drs. William P. Anthony and Pamela L. Perrewé entitled “Human resource management: A strategic approach.” The book is currently in its 4th edition.

Kacmar has received numerous teaching awards, a variety of research awards, several best paper and best reviewer awards, and was selected as one of five Developing Scholars at Florida State University for 1998. In 2002 she was awarded the Alumni Achievement Award by her alma mater, Illinois State University.

She served as the associate editor for Human Resource Management Journal from 1996-1999 and as the editor of the Journal of Management from 2000-2002. She currently serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, Journal of Managerial Issues, Human Resource Management Journal, and Organizational Analysis. She is active in the Academy of Management having been elected to the executive committee for the HR Division, served a three year term as the HR division newsletter co-editor, and is currently fulfilling a 5-year rotation that will culminate with the presidency of the division.

Kacmar also was elected to the board of governors for the Southern Management Association and served a six year term on the board of directors of the Society for Human Resource Management Foundation. She is a Fellow in the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology and the Southern Management Association.

Prior to accepting a position at UA, she served on the faculty at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., and Illinois State University in Normal, Ill.

Kacmar worked in industry as a programmer analyst for the Continuum Co. in Austin, Texas, as an automation trainer for Whirlpool Corp. in LaPorte, Ind. and sold real estate in Normal, Ill. She also worked in human resources at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nev. during her sabbatical in 2000.

With respect to consulting, she has worked with a variety of organizations including Mirage Hotel and Casino, Whirlpool, Florida Bar Association, Department of Insurance, FAPEO, Bellagio Hotel and Casino, Scott McRae, Department of Health, and Burger King.

UA’s Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration, founded in 1919, first began offering graduate education 1924. It has been recognized repeatedly by such publications as Business Week, the Princeton Review and U.S. News & World Report for offering a high-quality, cost-effective education.

Editor’s note: Photo available on request.