Joseph Simpson appointed director of Integrated Security Education and Research Center

Joseph J. Simpson has been appointed collegiate assistant professor in the Department of Management in the Pamplin College of Business and director of Virginia Tech's Integrated Security Education and Research Center (ISERC).

He will provide leadership for the center’s activities in education, research, and outreach to industry and other organizations. He will help develop scenario simulations in the center and teach courses in the department.

The ISERC is a collaborative, multidisciplinary venture to promote experiential learning, research, and outreach in integrated security, one of the university’s Destination Areas.

Modeled after real-life security operations centers, ISERC seeks to allow students and researchers to experience security scenarios through simulations and to study the stakeholder perceptions, information and communication flows, and decision-making processes in such settings.

The center’s key facility is currently a technology-enhanced classroom in the New Classroom Building.

Many disciplines and units are represented in the integrated security destination area, but the units most closely involved in the creation and support of the center are Pamplin, the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, and the Hume Center for National Security and Technology.

Simpson’s research interests are strategy, organizational security, innovation, and corporate governance. He has published in journals, including Tourism Management, Journal of Travel Research, and Journal of Business Ethics on topics of security strategy, corporate governance, and military veterans in organizations. 

He has taught courses in strategic management, innovation, entrepreneurship, and management principles. 

A former U.S. Army Ranger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, Simpson has a combined 10 years of experience in military special operations and nuclear weapons security. During his tenure at a nuclear weapons facility, he conducted audits and evaluations of the facility’s programs, including physical security systems, protective forces, access controls, personnel security, and information security. 

He has owned multiple businesses and currently owns and manages two 5,000-square-foot outpatient treatment centers that employ about 40 people and several contractors. He has served on the boards of three nonprofit organizations that are aimed at helping individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Simpson holds a doctorate in business administration with a focus in strategic management from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley; an MBA from the University of Texas–Pan American; a master’s degree in homeland security management from Long Island University; and a bachelor’s degree in intelligence studies from American Military University. He also has a graduate certificate in international security studies from Stanford University.

— Story by Sookhan Ho. Photo by Chris Marano.