The University of Evansville’s (UE) Schroeder Family School of Business Administration announced the investiture of two faculty members during a ceremony on Wednesday.
Rania Mousa, PhD was named the Mead Johnson Nutrition Endowed Chair in Business and Yolanda Obaze, PhD was named the Guthrie May Endowed Chair in Business.
Mead Johnson Nutrition
In 1993, the Mead Johnson Nutrition Endowed Chair in Business was established at the University of Evansville through a generous gift from Mead Johnson Nutrition and the Bristol-Myers Squib Foundation seeking to participate as responsible neighbors and members of the communities where its people live and work and where its facilities are located. The company understands its obligation to participate in and enhance the life of those communities. Originally known as the Bristol-Myers Squibb Chair, the Mead Johnson Nutrition Endowed Chair in Business is dedicated to building on the strengths of the University’s business school. The goal is to give students the opportunity to study with an outstanding professor who will inspire them to achieve greater levels of excellence and make a life-transforming difference in their academic careers. This endowed chair honors Mead Johnson Nutrition’s long-standing relationship with UE which began when the University moved to the City of Evansville in 1919. Throughout the years, representatives of the company have supported the UE as trustees, advisory board members, volunteers, and students. Mead Johnson has employed hundreds of University alumni.
Mead Johnson Nutrition Endowed Chair in Business Rania Mousa, PhD, Associate Professor of Accounting, holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the American University in Cairo, Egypt. She also holds a Master of Business Administration from Illinois Institute of Technology and a PhD in Accounting from the University of Birmingham in England. Mousa has been teaching at the University of Evansville since 2010. She teaches courses in Financial Accounting, Accounting Information Systems, Computer Accounting, and Forensic Accounting. Mousa’s doctoral research centered on examining the implementation process of open standard reporting technologies in the United Kingdom’s His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and Companies House. Her research has expanded to cover a wide range of areas, including accounting information systems, financial and non-financial reporting technologies, electronic government, financial inclusion, and pedagogical research in forensic accounting and accounting education. Over the last 13 years, Mousa has published 14 peer-reviewed publications, including 11 papers and three book chapters. During her tenure at UE, Mousa has received multiple awards, including the Schroeder Dean’s Research Award in 2017 and Teaching Award in 2019. In August 2022, she received the American Accounting Association’s Forensic Accounting Section’s Best Teaching Innovation Award for a fraud case she created. This year she has received the 2022-2023 UE Global Scholar Award allowing her to present her paper on Grameen America’s remarkable response to the COVID-19 pandemic at the University of Bologna in Italy.
Guthrie May Endowed Chair in Business – The Guthrie May Endowed Chair in the Schroeder Family School of Business Administration was established by the University of Evansville to honor Guthrie May for his long-standing devotion, effective leadership, and financial support to the University of Evansville, with the intent of promoting teaching excellence and community outreach by the Guthrie May Endowed Chair in the Schroeder Family School of Business Administration. Guthrie May graduated from Evansville College in 1931. Guthrie and his wife, Alice ’34, were tremendous friends of their alma mater. This fact is best exhibited by the gift of their home, the May House, to UE to be used as the President’s residence. To previous generations, the “American Dream” meant home ownership. Prior to World War II, the vast majority of Americans did not own their homes. More than anyone else, Guthrie May brought the “American Dream” of home ownership to Evansville. He built more than 7,000 homes in Evansville and in other communities across the country. He also was involved in the development and construction of shopping centers, business condominiums, and residential condominiums. Guthrie May’s involvement with community leadership is clear from the many boards on which he served and activities in which he participated. He was a member of the University of Evansville Board of Trustees, the Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporations Board of Directors, the Administrative Board of Trinity United Methodist Church, the Board of Directors of United Way of Southwestern Indiana, Evansville’s Future Board of Directors, Metropolitan Evansville Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, the Evansville Board of Realtors, the Evansville Rotary Club, Citizens National Bank Board of Directors, and many other boards. He was the recipient of many honors and awards from various charities and the local community.
Guthrie May Endowed Chair in Business Yolanda Obaze, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management. She also serves as the Director of the Center for Logistics and Supply Chain Management. Obaze obtained both her MBA and PhD from the University of North Texas. Obaze was instrumental in the creation and implementation of the Logistics and Supply Chain Management (LSCM) program and continues to teach a significant portion of the curriculum. She ensures the efficient running of the Center through cross-industry collaborations. Obaze currently serves as the Academic Advisor for the LSCM student organization, Business Professional of America student chapter, and the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity at UE. In 2018, she received the Schroeder Dean’s Service Award. She is passionate about her research in the humanitarian logistics field. Her doctoral research centered on the community-based context of humanitarian logistics and supply chain management. She continues her research by helping much of the community-based companies in the Evansville area. Obaze serves on the Board of Directors for both the Evansville Association of the Blind and the Potter’s Wheel Ministries. Her research work also extends to Aces Haven, the on-campus food pantry that addresses food insecurity among students and the local community. Obaze received the Schroeder Dean’s Research Award in 2019 and was a 2020 UE Global Scholar Award recipient. In 2019, she was awarded the Annual Decision Sciences Institute’s Best Theoretical Paper Award for her work on social supply chain management.
