About Me:
I was born (December 4, 1962) in the third largest city in West Virginia, Parkersburg, which sits along the Ohio river. I attend Parkersburg High School, which at the time, was the largest High School in the state. It had around 2,000 students when I went there (1978-1981).
Following high school, I went to college at Marshall University in Huntington, WV. I was not a particularly impressive student my first year of college. Too much time spent pledging a fraternity. It was a year long party and dad was paying the entrance fee. Following that I did manage to get my act together and graduate in the top 70% of my class, which goes to show that your undergraduate career is not always reflective of the quality of work you can achieve.
Following my graduation from Marshall I was disappointed to learn I could earn more working at the local McDonalds. And I also realized that one of the few things I was really good at was school. So the obvious solution was to get more school! YEAH! I was excited about it too. And because I was paying for this degree (with some help from mom and dad) I brought home A's. Makes a world of difference when you pay $4,000 grand a year to attend college. I graduate from Morehead State University in Morehead, KY in 1986 with a MA in Clinical Psychology. WOOT!
I had met my wife in highschool, we were in band together but I was a senior and she was sophemore. Her best friend Beth and I had remained in touch and during a visit home Beth reintroduced us. I was smitten. She was smitten. And we started dating. For the first year and a half we never lived closer than 400 miles. Once I graduated, I started applying to schools and made certain to apply to the doctoral program at University of Alabama at Birminham (UAB - Where Renee was getting her Masters in Healthcare Administration). Fools! They let me in! MUHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA.
I had the opportunity to work with some wonderful people there. I can honestly say there are far worse things in life than being a poor student. I learned more about statistics, business, organizational behavior and theory, and got my first training as a teaching from some faculty who gave generously of their time and energy. I gave my first national presentation (utter FAIL) and recovered nicely. Finally finished my PhD in May 1995.
Western Kentucky University called me in 1993. I made one mistake. I should have asked for a delay in starting at WKU to finish my PhD. I could have finished in 6 months had I stayed on campus. With a job offer in hand, I could have concentrated and completed the thing before leaving. As it was, leaving slowed me by two years. Completing your doctorate long distance from your committee is not fun! Anyway, 15+ years later I'm still at Western and still managing to have fun. I'm not a nationaly known scholar, but then I never wanted to be one of those people anyway. I'm what I want to be, and isn't that a great career anyway?
