Management professor wins outstanding service award

Richard E. Wokutch, of Salem, Va., R. B. Pamplin Professor of Management and management department head, has been awarded the Sumner Marcus Award for Outstanding Service by the Social Issues in Management Division at the recent annual meeting of the Academy of Management. The award, named after the founder of the division, is the division’s highest honor, given for career achievement.

Wokutch, a faculty member of Virginia Tech since 1977, teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in business ethics and social issues in management, several of which he developed. His research interests are in international business ethics and the global management of corporate social performance. He has written or edited three books on this topic: Rising Above Sweatshops: Innovative Approaches to Global Labor Challenges (2003); Worker Protection, Japanese Style: Occupational Safety and Health in the Auto Industry (1992); and Cooperation and Conflict in Occupational Safety and Health: A Multination Study of the Automotive Industry (1990).

His contributions are also reflected in the successes of the department’s graduate students over the past several years, including two of his own students who have won best dissertation awards.

Wokutch, who became department head in July 2003, has led many study-abroad programs to Asia and Europe and received two Fulbright awards to do research in Japan and Germany. Wokutch earned a bachelor's degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh.

Virginia Tech’s nationally ranked Pamplin College of Business offers undergraduate and graduate programs in accounting and information systems, business information technology, economics, finance, hospitality and tourism management, management, and marketing. The college emphasizes the development of ethical values and leadership, technology, and international business skills. A member of its marketing faculty directs the interdisciplinary Sloan Foundation Forest Industries Center at Virginia Tech. The college’s other centers focus on business leadership, electronic commerce, and organizational performance. The college, committed to serving business and society through the expertise of its faculty, alumni, and students, is named in honor of Robert B. Pamplin (Class of 1933), the former CEO of Georgia-Pacific, and his son, businessman and philanthropist Robert B. Pamplin Jr. (Class of 1964). Virginia Tech, the most comprehensive university in Virginia, is dedicated to quality, innovation, and results to the commonwealth, the nation, and the world.