THE UTILITY PROFESSOR

Professor James Pettijohn says, “I’m not a ‘baseball nut,’ but I do enjoy St. Louis Cardinals baseball.” He continues, “One of my all-time favorite Redbird’s players is Jose Oquendo, who’s now one of their coaches. I think I liked him because he was a ‘jack of all trades,’ a utility player. You never knew where he was going to show up on the field. At least once, he even did a credible job pitching.” Dr. Pettijohn says he likes Oquendo because he sees himself as a utility professor. “You never know where I’m going to pop up on the class schedule. During my 39 years of teaching at three institutions, I’ve taught everything from business math to business communications, labor economics to e-business, introduction to business to entrepreneurship, and almost every undergraduate finance course, as well as three graduate finance courses.”

Dr. Pettijohn earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with majors in Business and Chemistry (yes, chemistry) from William Jewell College and his MBA from Drury University. During nine years of teaching at Missouri Western University, he worked on his Ph.D. in Business Administration (finance, banking and human resources) from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and was awarded that degree in 1980. Early in his career, he was mentored by Dr. Ethel Shrout his office mate and later department chair at Missouri Western University who, he says, “taught me how to be a professional.” Dr. Pettijohn came to Missouri State University in 1982 from The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. During his years at MSU, he has been a faculty member, FGB Department Head, and Associate Dean of the College of Business Administration. In the latter capacity, Dr. Pettijohn wrote the self-study reports for COBA’s initial AACSB accreditation and subsequent re-accreditation, and then during what he calls his “practice retirement,” the College’s reaffirmation of AACSB accreditation in 2007. Dr. Pettijohn says that his teaching philosophy is borne out of learning style research which shows that individuals learn in different ways. Because of that, he says “I always attempt to provide students with a variety of types of learning activities during my classes.” The bulk of his research has been related to financial education; however, for the last decade, he says that he has developed an interest in e-business and that many of his more recent publications have been in that area.

Dr. Pettijohn, who was raised in rural northwest Missouri, and his wife, Robin, have been married for almost 41 years, have two children, and five grandchildren ranging in age from 12 years down to seven months. His hobbies include enjoying his grandchildren, fishing (especially with grandchildren) and being a “gentleman farmer” on their Central Missouri farm (which has been in his wife’s family for over 170 years). Dr. and Mrs. Pettijohn are not big pet people but they do enjoy raising goldfish in their outdoor fish pond. On the downside, however, these “pets” have become the evening meals of possums and hawks. His favorite non-fiction book is the Bible, and his favorite fiction author is Louis L’Amour. His favorite quote, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight,” comes from Proverbs 3:5-6, which he says, “is great for keeping me focused on what is important.”