Faculty

Douglas Anderson
Doug@RicciStreet.net

Doug received an undergraduate honors degree in history and English from the University of Texas at Austin (1972) and an MFA (Master of Fine Arts) degree in writing from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (1982). Between the degrees, he was employed as a translator and started a publishing company providing supplemental foreign-language reading material to high school classes nationwide. He joined the Medaille College faculty in 1985, having taught previously at Texas A&I University in Kingsville.

In 1993, the US Department of Education awarded Medaille a $1.25 million Title III faculty development grant that Doug wrote. Also in 1993, Random House published Doug's novel First and Ten, a murder mystery about the Buffalo Bills. Mr. Anderson has also published in Texas Monthly, Kirkus Reviews, and small press magazines. He has edited legal and juvenile books for the University of Texas Press and for Georgetown Press and Eakin Press, all in Texas.

In the mid-1990's, Doug discovered how the Internet and especially the Web could make his courses paperless and increase his contact with students. During a sabbatical in 1998, Doug taught himself webmaking, nonlinear information design, Javascript, database programming, and web server management. They helped him to develop the proof-of-concept prototype web site at RicciStreet.net that has replaced printed textbooks in his courses and created a community of learners supplementing his face-to-face classes. He mentors other faculty who are also interested in applications of constructivist pedagogy to the Web.

After teaching writing for over ten years as part of Medaille's Humanities Department, Doug moved to the Business Administration Department where he teaches MBA courses in multimedia and e-commerce:  MBA 504, MBA 600, MBA 604, and MBA 624. These courses help students learn how the Internet is changing business and how they can communicate and manage online. Ricci Street is a living example of how the Internet is changing Doug's business, graduate education. Ricci Street models what he teaches: project management supplemented by online research, collaboration, and reporting.

Doug is an enthusiastic bicycle rider and budding videographer and he enjoys collecting Devonian (350 million years ago) fossils from creek beds around Western New York.

Luis Borges
LBorges@medaille.edu

Luis Borges is joining us from the Industrial Engineering Department of ITESM, the Technology Institute of Monterrey, campus Estado de Mexico.

Luis has a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Marquette University in Milwaukee. He spent most of his life in Brazil, where he got his M.Sc. in Production Engineering from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre and his B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Bahia, in Salvador. Salvador, on a peninsula, is surrounded by tropical beaches ... long, lovely, arcing, coconut-palm backed beaches, as you can see.

Luis has over two decades of experience working as a consultant, a manager, and an engineer in several industries, such as petroleum (Exxon), copper (Caraiba Metais), telecommunications (Telebahia), and construction. He also has a Six-Sigma Black Belt diploma.

Luis moved to WNY with his wife and son in August. During the second mod, he will teach MBA 503 Statistics and MBA 622 Multinational Business. Meanwhile, you'll have plenty of opportunity to ask Luis why he left those long, lovely coconut-palm beaches to come here.

Luis is a native speaker of Portuguese and his last name is pronounced BOR-gess -- rhymes with gorgeous.

Walt Kolt
wkolt@adelphia.net

Mike Lillis
MLillis@Medaille.edu

Mike has a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from the University of Buffalo and an MBA with a concentration in Finance from Canisius College. A former M&T Bank executive and organizational consultant, Mike did a five-year stint as Business Department chair and served as the first MBA program director. He guided the original development and state certification of the MBA curriculum on campus and wrote much of the curriculum for the Amherst campus programs. He piloted the development of new MBA concentrations in personal finance and public policy and guided the department through its initial accreditation by a nationally recognized accrediting body, the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE).

At the graduate level, Mike teaches MBA503, MBA601, MBA602, MBA605, as well as elective level course work in human resources management and strategic management. Mike's classes are becoming increasingly paperless, as he incorporates a variety of instructional technologies and other creative teaching methods, such as collaborative learning, asynchronous communication, and curricular integration.

Mike's wife Kathy is chief of the Division of Emergency Medicine and medical director of the Emergency Department at the Children's Hospital of Buffalo. She also serves as medical director for Mercy Flight Inc., Aeromedical Paramedic Service, and is a classic workaholic. Mike occasionally sees his wife at home (usually on weekends) where they enjoy their four children: Michael (9), Christopher (7), Alexandra (5), and Julianna (2). Mike's three oldest children are avid hockey players. All four children, including Julianna, skate much better than he does.

Jim O'Donnell
jtodonnell@aol.com

Jim earned his BS (Accounting) and MBA (Finance) at Canisius College. He spent just shy of 30 years working in accounting, finance, administration and operations management. He's worked at Reed Paper, Occidental Chemical, and most recently as a vice president at HSBC bank.

Jim's had the opportunity, over his business career, to work in a variety of settings. Though he spent 18 years at HSBC bank, he has also worked in the retail, wholesale and manufacturing sectors. In addition to financial and cost accounting, he has experience in international business, merger integration, total quality management, line operations management, training, and project management.

Jim's wife Jane is a pediatric nurse practitioner working in the Lung Center of Children's Hospital. Their four children include Tim, who teaches social studies at Herkimer (NY) Junior-Senior High, Mary, seeking congressional work in D.C., Tom, who is a fellow in English literature at UCLA and Hugh, still an undergraduate.

Evan Wardner
ewardner@medaille.edu