Diane Lockwood

Posted by Joseph Phillips, Jr. on Friday, June 7, 2013 at 8:48 AM PDT

Diane Lockwood is retiring from SU after being a member of our faculty since 1981!  Diane came to Albers to teach organizational behavior, but for most of her time here she has been teaching information systems.  What happened??  Well, I learned what happened at a dinner we had last night in her honor.

In the early 1980's our accrediting body, AACSB, mandated that business schools begin including information systems in the curriculum.  But Albers had no faculty trained in this area, and Albers was not alone.  Other schools faced a similar situation, so AACSB put on a series of training sessions to retool faculty.  When the call went out at Albers for volunteers to participate in the AACSB training, Diane stepped forward.  The rest is history, but it shows that (1) Diane is willing to take risks, and (2) Diane is a team player and willing to do what it takes to make our program successful!

Therefore, we are very grateful for Diane's more than three decades of service to SU and we will surely miss her!  That was the theme last night at the dinner as colleagues recounted how supportive she has been of them.

I recall that when I first joined SU in 2001, coming from Creighton University in Omaha, it was so comforting to discover that Diane was born and raised in Nebraska!  Here was someone I could trust to tell me exactly what she thought with no "Seattle Nice" to muddy things up.  It has definitely worked that way, right Diane?! :}

Over three decades, you get to teach a lot of students, and so in that regard Diane is leaving a very impressive legacy.  Jeff Greenaway is one of Diane's former students who attended the dinner.  He made the observation that Diane had not only had a profound impact on him, but also on many other people that she has never met.  Why??  Because many of the things Diane taught Jeff, Jeff used in his work over the years.  One example he cited was one of Diane's maxims - "In God we trust, everyone else bring data." :}

It turns out there was another former student at the dinner, namely her current colleague and co-author, Professor Terry Foster!  Terry earned his MBA at SU and so was also a student of Diane's!

In her time on our faculty, Diane published more than 30 journal articles, which averages about one article per year.  That is a great level of output to sustain over three decades at an institution such as Seattle U., one that stresses both good teaching and scholarship!  Diane also received two teaching awards during her time at SU, and served as Department Chair and on numerous committees at the school and university level.  Her excellence as a faculty member was recognized when she was named to hold the Robert O'Brien Endowed Chair in Business.  We estimate she taught 15 different classes over the course of her career, which is a high number of course preparations for a faculty member.  (Her former department chair, Pat Fleenor, claimed it was 14 more than he ever he did! :})

Diane is known for her passion for fishing, especially salmon fishing.  A few of her colleagues alluded to this and we look forward to her tall tales now that she will have more time to pursue them!

Diane will be recognized as an emeritus professor at the upcoming graduation ceremonies on June 16^th.  Thank you, Diane, for your many contributions to Seattle University over the course of your career!!