Nine faculty members retire, leave legacy

When Dave Hampton came to SDSU in 1964 the cost of tuition and fees was $47.50 per semester. There were 15,000 students and those who were under 21 and lived in the residence halls were required to eat in the cafeteria unless they had special permission to dine elsewhere.

Pat Brown was the governor of California and Malcolm Love was president of SDSU. “Appropriately at some point in the ‘60s the university’s president was Love and the vice president was Joy,” Hampton recalls with a smile.

Over the years Hampton, who retires this summer, estimates he has taught some 12,000 students. He often encounters them around town and when they mention they took his class, he replies only half in jest, “I hope you passed.”

In his 40 years as a faculty member, Hampton not only helped students pass classes, he helped the college reach a higher level of excellence, according to Michael Hergert, professor of management and former dean. “Dave helped take the college to a new level and now we reap the rewards,” Hergert says. “He is a textbook example of what a teacher-scholar should be.”

Hampton’s colleagues credit him with building the experiential learning component of the curriculum. “Dave has been a leader in finding the connections between what students learn in school and what the business community needs,” Hergert says. “He created a mechanism through internship courses for students to apply theoretical concepts to the work environment in a structured way.”

Hampton has been a champion for developing a rigorous approach to applied learning, something that has interested him since high school when he was involved in workplace-based learning himself. He believes the ability to apply knowledge indicates a high level of learning and mastery.

After receiving his undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Michigan, he worked in the aerospace industry, mainly in the human resources area. “I was always more interested in the intellectual aspect of work than in administration,” he says. Thus he went on to earn an MBA from the University of Southern California, then wanted to pursue a law degree or a Ph.D.

He chose the Ph.D. (from Columbia University) because he wanted to work in the university environment, he says. But he still earned a law degree from Thomas Jefferson College of Law once he was a full professor.

As a scholar, Hampton has published a dozen books on management, with several reaching multiple editions, often in other languages. In fact, Hergert recalls that when the College of Business hosted some professors from the University of Valparaiso, Chile, they asked to meet some “famous” professors, especially Hampton because they were familiar with his textbook in Spanish and admired his ideas.

Hampton’s international reach also has included visiting professorships at universities in New Zealand and Singapore, and he received grants from the U.S. Information Agency to help universities in Thailand, Nepal and Bolivia develop and improve business education.

He has won many awards for his teaching and scholarship, including the Alumni Association Faculty Award for Outstanding Contributions (the “Monty”) in 2002. He also served as chair of the management department.

Associate Dean Robert Wilbur, '71 MSBA, was a graduate student of Hampton’s back in 1964, not realizing he would someday work closely with him as a colleague. “As long as I have known Dave he has consistently insisted on intellectual honesty and clarity of meaning and expression,” says Wilbur, adding, “He uses his law training to make sure that meanings and intentions are clear.”

“Dave is well-rounded and knowledgeable about many topics, not just the area of his research,” adds Hergert. “He loves learning. He’s a true academic.”

Reflecting on the longevity of his academic career, the ever-modest Hampton quips, “It’s indoor work with no heavy lifting, so I stuck with it.”

Also retiring this year:

Larry Gitman, Professor of Finance
Carol Houston, Professor of Accountancy
Hugh Hunter, Lecturer in Finance
Kevin Lightner, Professor of Accountancy
Caroline Lyons-Lawrence, Associate Professor of Information and Decision Systems
Kanwal Sachdeva, Associate Professor of Finance
Rick Williams, Lecturer in Management
Pieter Vandenberg, Professor of Finance

IDS Professor Marie Flatley is honored this year for her 25 years of service as a faculty member. She has been recognized for her outstanding teaching, has published a major textbook among other scholarly activities, and served as president of the Association for Business Communicators, which recently named her a Fellow.