First Recipient of the William and Elizabeth Burkavage Fellowship in Business Ethics and Social Responsibility Named

         University of Scranton professor Irene Goll, Ph.D., is the recipient of the first William and Elizabeth Burkavage Fellowship in Business Ethics and Social Responsibility.  The endowed fellowship was established in 2009 by William J. and Judith G. Burkavage in memory of (his parents) William and Elizabeth Burkavage, and provides support to assist University faculty in new research on issues of sustainability, social responsibility and business ethics.

         An associate professor of marketing/management in the University’s Kania School of Management, Dr. Goll is currently engaged in research on corruption, national values and sustainability. She is the author of “The Moderating Effect of Environmental Munificence and Dynamism on the Relationship between Discretionary Social Responsibility and Firm Performance,” which appeared in the Journal of Business Ethics. She has also published articles that examine corporate social responsibility as an important component of a firm’s culture, philosophy or ideology in the prestigious management journals Organization Studies and Industrial Relations.

         According to Kenneth Lord, Ph.D., associate dean of the Kania School of Management, Dr. Goll was among those who helped to revive a course in organizational social responsibility, a semester-long class that examines “the economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic categories of social responsibility, with a focus on the moral philosophies that underlie and the individual and environmental factors that affect ethical decision making.”

         “Dr. Goll has made business ethics a hallmark of her management courses, as she and her students commit significant time and effort to the examination of ethical implications of business decisions and how ethical leadership principles play out within the framework of the organization’s culture,” said Dr. Lord at a presentation held on campus announcing the Burkavage fellow. “We are deeply appreciative of the magnanimous gift of William and Judith Burkavage that allows the University’s Kania School of Management to recognize and promote outstanding faculty achievement in scholarship and pedagogy centered on the mission-critical topic of business ethics.” 

         Dr. Goll joined the faculty at The University of Scranton in 1988. She earned her Ph.D. from Temple University, Philadelphia, her master’s degree from University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill., and her bachelor’s degree from The Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
University of Scranton professor Irene Goll, Ph.D., is the recipient of the first William and Elizabeth Burkavage Fellowship in Business Ethics and Social Responsibility. Seated from left, are Dr. Goll, William and Judith G. Burkavage. Standing from left are Harold Baillie, Ph.D., provost and academic vice president; Delia Sumrall, D.B.A., chair of the Marketing/Management Department; Michael Mensah, Ph.D., dean of the Kania School of Management, Kenneth Lord, Ph.D., associate dean of the Kania School of Management, and Patrick Leahy, Ed.D., executive vice president at The University