Emily Lammers, Author at PhD Project Stories

Mentor of Mentors

Dr. Carolyn Callahan, former Dean of the College of Business at the University of Louisville, and former KPMG Distinguished Professor of Accounting and Director of the School of Accountancy at the University of Memphis, was the first African-American woman to earn tenure in accounting at a doctoral-granting university. One of the active participants in The PhD Project’s formation,…

Special Issue

The academy lost these two amazing scholars. Both Dr. Henderson and Dr. Williams left a wonderful legacy of research and mentorship that has inspired many.. They were considered “giants “ in the field of Marketing and are sorely missed. The May 2013 arrival of the American Marketing Association’s Journal of Public Policy and Marketing in business professors’…

Two Meetings

At a tense meeting one day in the early 1990s at a large, heavily white university, a student watched in silent respect and admiration as his mentor—a senior African- American faculty leader—stood up to academic ignorance and prejudice and stared it down. The student saw—perhaps for the first time—that it was possible for an African-American…

Chosen

“I’m a role model as soon as I walk into the classroom,” says Professor Laquita Blockson. “When I enter the room and say ‘I’m Professor Blockson,’ I can hear them say, ‘Whoa!’” Dr. Blockson first began contemplating a career as an educator when she was an undergraduate at Florida A&M University. It was there she…

“Dr. Mommy”

Enjoying a successful career at some of America’s best- known companies, Darlene Motley paused to reflect upon getting married. “I knew I wanted children, and I was traveling a lot. I did not want both of us to be working long hours and traveling all the time. “I wrestled over how to make the job…

When a Big Salary Isn’t Enough

As he contemplated shifting gears in his life plan radically—from highpowered, hefty-salaried corporate executive to the professorial podium of academia—Melvin Smith made a big mistake. He assumed that becoming a management professor would slash his income drastically and permanently. But, several years later, Dr. Smith not only leads a comfortable life, he earns nearly as…

To MBA or Not to MBA?

For Angela Andrews changing jobs in the corporate world had become a depressing routine. “You’re in a different cubicle, but it’s the same job.” Despite a string of successful stints in financial accounting at top corporations, Dr. Andrews had never landed in the niche that felt just right. “I couldn’t find the job that fit,”…

“I’ll Get Involved in Your Life”

Sammie Robinson was a child of the 1950s. “I come from a background,” she explains, “where the most optimistic dream was that I would attend a small Black college and maybe become a teacher.” But business appealed to the young woman, and although she did attend college, “it was a vocational experience.” After graduating she…

Introvert or Extrovert?

At first the idea of Michael Kimbrough, rising star at a leading accounting firm, becoming a business school professor seemed just about half right to him. Conducting research and delving into analyses of business issues had always appealed to him, but opportunities to do so in the deadline-delineated life of corporate client service were limited.…

Cross the Ocean

María Cabán-García, already a college professor, lacked three things in her life: the letters Ph.D. and all they stood for. To earn them, she uprooted her life and family, left her native home in Puerto Rico, and took on a challenge so daunting that she dared not to dwell on it too closely. Dr. Cabán-García…