Academics at MBC
Faculty
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION FACULTY
Dan Dowdy
Dan Dowdy, associate professor of business administration, advises and teaches
in the Adult Degree Program at the Roanoke Center. His course offerings include
Business Senior Seminar, Business Strategies, International Business, Principles
of Marketing, Business Practicum, and Business Internship. He also has taught
Human Resource Management, Organizational Behavior, Small Business Management,
Principles of Financial Management, and Personal Finance. He coordinated
a study abroad program to Costa Rica in July 2007. As director of corporate
education, he is responsible for the Professional in Human Resource Management
and Essentials of Human Resource Management certificate programs. He served
as co-chair of the business administration department from 2002-2005.
Prior to coming to MBC in 1993, Professor Dowdy owned an executive recruiting business in Roanoke. He also held corporate, division, and plant management positions with Owens-Illinois, a Fortune 100 packaging company.
Professor Dowdy is a member of the Roanoke chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management and the New Century Technology Council. He has been a long-time participant in the Association for Continuing Higher Education, an international organization in which he served as a regional chair. He is co-founder and treasurer of the Interfaith Hospitality Network of the Roanoke Valley, an organization supported by 29 congregations throughout the Roanoke Valley that provides assistance and shelter for homeless families. He is a board member of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, and he is a consultant in adult higher education and for entrepreneurs and start-up businesses in the Roanoke area.
Professor Dowdy holds a BA from Lynchburg College in business administration and German, and an MBA from the University of Hawaii.
Claire Kent
Claire Kent is an associate professor of business administration for Mary Baldwin
College. She teaches management courses, particularly focusing on women in
management, business strategy, organizational behavior, and human resource
management. Professor Kent began teaching and advising at the Adult Degree
Program’s Charlottesville Regional Center in 1991, where she also managed
the MBC satellite operation for several years. She took a sabbatical leave
in 2000 to complete a study on the perception of life balance and related
factors. Upon her return in 2001, she assumed a faculty position in the residential
program on the main campus. She serves as a leader in her department, most
recently resuming the role of department chair for business administration
in the Residential College for Women. Professor Kent was also recently appointed
to The Bertie Wilson Murphy Distinguished Chair in Business Administration.
In addition to her work with MBC, she conducts workshops in the private sector
on life balance, employee coaching, gender communication, and generational
differences in the work place.
Prior to her affiliation with Mary Baldwin, Professor Kent served on the faculty at Piedmont Virginia Community College where she taught business courses and coordinated an internship and cooperative education program for the Business Technologies Division. Prior to her teaching career, she held a variety of positions in the business environment including jobs in telecommunications, advertising, and the medical supply industry. She received a BBA degree from James Madison University in 1979, summa cum laude, with a double major in management and marketing, and earned the MBA degree from James Madison in 1984. She is active in a number of professional associations, such as the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and The Academy of Management. She is married and has two college-age daughters.
Bob Klonoski
Bob Klonoski, assistant professor of business administration, advises and teaches
in the Adult Degree Program at the Charlottesville Regional Center located
at Piedmont Virginia Community College. His course offerings include the
Business Senior Seminar, Business Strategies, Venture Creation, Principles
of Financial Management and Business Law.
Prior to coming to MBC in 2006, Professor Klonoski served as the Vice President
of Communications for the United States Senate Federal Credit Union. He has
also served as the Director of Strategic Marketing for a foreign exchange company
in Washington, DC, a vice president of Marketing and New Product Development
for Citicorp in New York, and a vice president of Strategic Planning for Chemical
Bank (now J. P. Morgan Chase) in New York. Mr. Klonoski also founded and ran
several small businesses, including a food service business and a television
production company. He currently serves as the president of the BozArt Gallery – an
artists’ cooperative in Charlottesville.
Professor Klonoski holds a BS in finance from Fairfield University, an MBA
from the University of Connecticut, and a JD from Brooklyn Law School.
Sally Ludwig
Assistant professor Sarah H. Ludwig (Sally) practiced law with the firms of
Smeltzer & Hart
in Roanoke, Virginia, and Ludwig & Ludwig in Staunton, Virginia, before joining
the Mary Baldwin faculty in 1992. Dr. Ludwig teaches Business Law I and II, Constitutional
Law I and II, Mass Media Law and Ethics, and Judicial Process. She also
serves as the Pre-legal advisor for Mary Baldwin students interested in law school
or law related careers.
Dr. Ludwig received a BA from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in Lynchburg, VA, and a MA in English from the University of Virginia. After teaching 11th and 12th grade English at Fairfax Hall School in Waynesboro for four years, she returned to school and received a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law.
In addition to teaching part-time in the Residential College for Women, Dr. Ludwig also offers her courses as independent tutorials for Mary Baldwin Adult Degree Students. Her areas of special interest are First Amendment and Equal Protection law.
Melissa Malabad
Mrs. Malabad is an assistant professor of business administration for Mary
Baldwin College. She teaches marketing courses, particularly focusing on
communication, consumer behavior, and marketing strategy. She has also taught
courses in marketing database development, integrated functional systems,
and personal selling.
Melissa joined the MBC faculty in fall 2006, after teaching for three years in the marketing department at James Madison University’s College of Business. While at JMU, Melissa participated in various freshman orientation activities, and served as the marketing advisor to The Breeze sales staff. Her past experience includes working at the Department of Social Services, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and WVPT-Virginia’s Public Television, where her positions involved case management, volunteer management, fund development, and database design and management.
In addition to being a member of the American Marketing Association, she is on the board of directors for Harrisonburg-Rockingham Rebuilding Together, an organization that assists low-income, elderly, or disabled individuals with home modifications. She also participates as an ad hoc reviewer for MERLOT, Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching.
An avid reader and crafter, Melissa is a life-long resident of the Shenandoah Valley, and resides in Harrisonburg with her husband and two sons.
Catherine Ferris McPherson
Cathy Ferris McPherson is an associate professor of business administration
and marketing communication for Mary Baldwin College, where she teaches and
advises students in the Adult Degree Program at the Richmond Regional Center.
She teaches courses in marketing principles and strategy, advertising, integrated
marketing communication, business strategy, and the senior thesis. She joined
the faculty in 1993.
Professor McPherson has 25 years experience in all aspects of marketing and
is a professionally trained focus group moderator, specializing in the areas
of retail and service marketing. As a business consultant, she has worked closely
with companies such as Luck Stone, Dupont Fibers Federal Credit Union, World
Access, and Goodwill Industries of Central Virginia in the area of brand strategy
and development, as well as provided customer service and marketing training
for individual retailers and shopping center developers, including Forest City
Enterprises and Donohoe O’Brien. She conducts workshops and speaks frequently
on the topic of building brands from within the organization, and branding
as a business philosophy.
Ms. McPherson is a co-founder of Dress for Success Richmond, a non-profit organization that helps low-income women successfully prepare to enter the job market through self-esteem enhancement and professional skill development.
She holds a MBA from Marshall University (formerly WV Graduate College) and a BA in business/economics from Mary Baldwin College, and has the Certified Marketing Director designation through the International Council of Shopping Centers. Ms. McPherson is active in the Richmond chapter of the American Marketing Association, and is a past president of the organization.
COMMUNICATION FACULTY
Alice Araujo
Associate Professor
Alice Araujo teaches courses in Intercultural Communication,
Gender and Communication, Women and Film, Interpersonal Communication,
Small Group Communication, Public Speaking, Communication Research, and
Senior Seminar in Communication. She serves as Chair of the Undergraduate
College and University Interest Group of the National Communication Association
and as a reviewer for that NCA Section. In addition, Araujo
has worked as a facilitator for the Virginia Foundation of Independent
Colleges and for the Associated Colleges of the South Summer Workshops
for College Teachers.
Dr. Araujo has received two grants from the National Institutes
of Health to study gender and the communication of empathy toward
perceived adversarial groups. Her current research interests also include
intercultural alliances with a focus on social class. Araujo earned her
PhD in Communication Studies from the University of Kansas, her MA
in Mass Communication from Miami University of Ohio, and her
undergraduate degree in Communication and English from Allegheny College.
Bruce
Dorries
Assistant
Professor of Communication Bruce Dorries serves as chair of the department.
In addition to teaching Public Speaking, Mass Communication, Media Writing,
Principles of Public Relations, Principles of Advertising, Communication
Theory, and Senior Seminar in Communication, he writes a bi-weekly column
about environmental issues for Staunton’s The
News Leader, and contributes to other regional publications as a
feature writer and photojournalist. His research interests include media
coverage of people with disabilities and community service learning/civic
engagement.
Dr. Dorries earned his BA in Journalism and History at Baylor University, his MA from The University of Corpus Christi State University (now Texas A&M at Corpus Christi), and his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. Prior to graduate work from 1990-95 to earn a doctorate in communication, Dorries worked for six years in the public relations and journalism industries.
His interests and hobbies include: child rearing, tree raising, aerobics, yoga, cycling, paddle sports, camping, gardening, and study of Eastern philosophies and world religions.
Allan
Moyé
Assistant
Professor and Director of Studios Allan Moyé has taught
communication courses at Mary Baldwin College for nine years, including
video production classes, film studies, screenwriting, and broadcasting. He
received his undergraduate degree from East Carolina University. He
studied screenwriting at Georgetown University and UCLA, filmmaking at
the New York Film Academy, and has had extensive training in audio production.
He earned his MFA in Drama/Communications from the University of New
Orleans, in which program he studied under filmmaker Miroslav Mandic
in Prague, Czech Republic.
Moyé also teaches screenwriting for the University of New Orleans' Low Residency MFA program and has been an instructor at UNO's Summer Seminars in Madrid, Spain.
He is a recipient of the Governor's Award for Screenwriting at the Virginia Festival of American Film and has won awards from America's Best Screenplay competition and the Wisconsin Screenwriter's Forum. Two of his narrative screenplays, "The Blue Man" and "The Good Neighbor" have been optioned in Hollywood. Moyé has produced and directed various short films and been a contributor to many narrative and documentary projects. He is front man and songwriter for the rock ‘n roll band, The Findells.
