University News

Distinguished Faculty Lecture 9/30

September 20, 2010

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MACOMB/MOLINE, IL -- Finance Professor and Western Illinois University's inaugural Cecil P. McDonough Endowed Chair of Business Don T. Johnson is the 2010 Distinguished Faculty Lecturer, which is the highest honor a faculty member can receive.

He will deliver the 42nd Distinguished Faculty Lecture (DFL), "Homes in America: Two Centuries of Improving Americans' Lives," at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 30 in the College of Fine Arts and Communication Recital Hall on the WIU-Macomb campus and at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 15 in
Room 102 on the WIU-Quad Cities campus.

"Home ownership has been a goal for American citizens since before the nation began. In earlier times, home ownership was often a requirement to vote, and today it remains one of the primary pathways to wealth accumulation and emotional satisfaction," Johnson said. "We will look at how homeownership has changed over the years and will address current issues in regard to housing troubles brought about by both public and private policy mistakes."

Johnson, who joined Western's faculty in 1988 as an assistant professor of finance, has teaching and research interests in real estate, including investments, finance, brokerage and appraisal.

He has authored and co-authored numerous articles for professional publications; his research has included work in the areas of asset allocation, landlord-tenant issues, effective financial communications and financial education. Johnson is currently editor-in-chief of "Managerial Finance," president of MBAA-International and past president of the Academy of Finance.

Johnson won Western's inaugural Provost's Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Activities in Fall 2005 and also received the College of Business and Technology's (CBT) Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Activities (Spring 2005). He has subsequently been recognized as winner of the CBT's Award for Excellence in Service (Spring 2009). He serves as adviser of Western's Rho Epsilon Real Estate Fraternity, has served for several years on the University Personnel Committee, the University Campus Planning and Use Committee, and the North Central Accreditation Reaccreditation Task Force. From 1988-2003, Johnson was the program administrator for Western's real estate brokerage certification and pre-licensing program. In 2009, he was a faculty inductee into Western's chapter of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

Western Illinois first presented an annual lecturer award (Annual Faculty Lecture) in 1969 to honor an outstanding faculty member whose professional development in research or creative activity, teaching and service to the University represent the highest standards of the academic community. In 1998 the award was renamed the Distinguished Faculty Lecture.

History Professor Victor Hicken presented the inaugural faculty lecture (1969), "Swing of the Pendulum." Both history and biology have had six lecturers each throughout the years. Economics, English and journalism, philosophy and religious studies and psychology have had three lecturers each, while two lecturers each have come from counseling, geography and music. One faculty lecturer has come from each of the following departments: art, business administration, education, geology, law enforcement, library, physical education, recreation, sociology/anthropology, theatre and women's studies.





Posted By: Darcie Shinberger (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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