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October 2009 Faculty Focus
Three New Faculty Join Marketing Department
By April Babington
If you walk down the hall of Marketing faculty offices this semester, chances are, you’ll see some new faces. Beginning this past August, Drs. Ron Clark, Alex Hamwi, and Ahren Johnston joined the Marketing staff and are rapidly becoming enmeshed in teaching, research, and service activities. In addition, they are learning the Springfield area and beginning the process of settling into homes.
Ron Clark
He sang in the Gibbs High School chorus alongside Kenney Chesney in Knoxville, Tennessee, and will be singing and playing tenor saxophone on the Marketing Department float during the upcoming MSU Homecoming Parade, October 31.
Performing live is a passion for Assistant Professor Ron Clark, who has opened for the Temptations, Mel Torme, Chuck Mangione, and played saxophone with the Palm Beach Symphony and New Gardens Band. A huge Beatles fan, Clark saw Paul McCartney live in concert this August. He has also seen live, in-concert, Elvis, Michael Jackson, Jimmy Buffett, and the Dave Matthews Band, to name a few.
Finding his way from musician and businessman to professor was a natural progression for Clark. “While I had always toyed with the idea of being a teacher, I realized that I really wanted to teach when I was a director of marketing at a publicly traded consulting firm and I couldn’t explain to my young daughter what Daddy did for a living. It was then I realized that I wanted to do something more fulfilling than increasing sales and landing big contracts.”
Dr. Ron Clark takes a break at the familiar Hammons Fountain with his daughter Natalie and son Jake as they explore their new home.
Having earned a Ph.D. in Marketing, with a Minor in Social Psychology, from Florida State University, an M.B.A. with a Marketing concentration from Auburn University, and a B.B.A. in Management from Northwood University, Florida, Clark now combines his passion for live performance and academia. According to student Emily Sherman, “He’s lively and very interesting in class; he keeps us entertained and focused.”
Clark and wife Kimberly are happy to be bringing up their young family in the Ozarks. Kimberly also works at MSU as an administrative assistant in the College of Natural and Applied Sciences. Together, they are raising ten year old Natalie, a violin playing ballerina who loves the outdoors, and two year old Jake who loves anything with wheels.
Alex Hamwi
Not a lot of people working as head cook in a popular haunt such as Front Porch BBQ in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, go on to finish a Ph.D. in Marketing, and yet that’s exactly what happened to new sales Assistant Professor, George “Alex” Hamwi.
“I was young, around 13 years old, when I knew that a career in academia was what I wanted,” said Hamwi, but it would be years before he would see his dream of working in academia come to fruition. With a background in sales with AIG and Oikon, Hamwi would then move to procurement and small business development for the Small Business Administration in the state of Alabama. This is when he gained firsthand knowledge of teaching by facilitating training seminars.
Completing his doctoral studies, while subsequently teaching at Georgia State University, assured Hamwi he was right about teaching. “That reinforced my suspicion that I liked teaching and had a knack for it.”
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Dr. Alex Hamwi stands with the father of the Dean of Marketing at Caucasus School of Business, Tbilisi, Georgia, in front of the oldest orthodox church in the world.
Hamwi successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation this past summer at Georgia State, having completed an M.B.A. (Marketing emphasis) at the University of Alabama, and a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi. Says Hamwi, “Marketing takes Psychology and applies it in a real world way and that’s what led me to Marketing.”
A highlight for Hamwi is teaching a six week graduate summer session in Sales Management at the Caucasus School of Business, Tbilisi, in the country of Georgia. He will go back again in summer 2010. Taking courses while living in Paris one summer was also an influential event for Hamwi.
A self-described ‘foodie,’ Hamwi is a single man living in Strafford, enjoying the outdoor life the Ozark’s affords.
Ahren Johnston
Fascinated by Logistics since working as the superintendent for Master Halco in Memphis, Tennessee, Assistant Professor Ahren Johnston is now teaching Logistics & Supply Chain Management for the MSU Marketing Department. Asked why logistics is important for success, Johnston states, “The person in charge of a company’s logistics is in charge of most of the money.”
Blond, with a youthful appearance that belies his experience, Johnston credits the lakes and woods surrounding Springfield as a major draw to MSU. Hailing from St. Paul, Arkansas, ten miles from the White River’s start, Johnston appreciates the similar landscape here in the Ozarks.
Successfully defending his dissertation this past August, Johnston received his Ph.D. in Logistics & Transportation from the University of Arkansas, where he also completed his BSBA in Small Business Management and MTLM, Master of Transportation and Logistics Management.
Dr. Ahren Johnston enjoys the Ozark's lakes and scenery, but the beach is what he's longing for come vacation time.
Johnston and his wife of 11 years, artist Tanya Johnston, are currently refurbishing the home they bought in Springfield. Woodworking and home refurbishing are hobbies for Johnston, who built and installed the cabinets in their last home.
Johnston also holds distinction as the new Web Master for the Marketing Department, to which he brings experience as creator of his wife’s webpage (TanyaJohnston.net). Reggae, Punk, and Ska are Johnston’s music of choice, while the beach is his ideal vacation.
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