Professor Cliff Ragsdale receives Graduate School's outstanding mentor award

Cliff Ragsdale, the Bank of America professor of business information technology, has received the Graduate School’s 2018 Faculty Outstanding Mentor Award for the Pamplin College of Business.

Sponsored by the Graduate School, the annual award recognizes excellence in mentoring graduate students. Students nominate recipients, and one professor from each college receives an award.

Ragsdale’s primary research focuses on applications of quantitative modeling techniques to managerial decision-making problems. He has served as a financial, statistical, and information systems consultant for numerous major businesses across a range of industries. He has authored a textbook and numerous articles and has given more than 60 presentations at conferences.

He serves as director of graduate programs for his department and is the academic director of the Pamplin Center for Business Intelligence and Analytics. Those who nominated him noted that in all of his roles, he works closely with graduate students. He has been a member or chair of more than 30 graduate committees and received the outstanding faculty in doctoral education award from Pamplin College of Business in 2017.

His nominators said he is known for “the integrity, care and kindness with which he handles each graduate student relationship.” Current and former students noted that Ragsdale is a positive role model with high ethical standards and a passion for his work.

Zeb Bowden, a former Ph.D. student, said, Ragsdale creates a positive and inclusive environment in the classroom and strove to ensure students understood and could apply the complex concepts and materials in play. Professor Megan Wydick Martin, a former student now at Meredith College, said Ragsdale offered unwavering support and encouragement while she was completing her Ph.D. and also caring for a son born with a genetic disorder who required a great deal of medical care during his first year of life. “What is also staggering is how the efforts of one person can truly make a difference in so many lives,” she said.

Ragsdale earned his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia and his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Central Florida.