Temponi honored for paper on theory development in management

By Marc Speir
University News Service
May 16, 2007

Emerald Publishing Group recently honored Cecilia Temponi, professor of operations management in the McCoy College of Business Administration at Texas State University-San Marcos, by presenting her with the 2006 outstanding paper award for “best theory development in management.”

The academic editorial board of the prestigious Emerald LiteratiNetwork database selected the paper from more than 300 international journals published by the company.

Her winning paper is titled, “Continuous Improvement Framework: Implications to Academia,” and was originally published in the Journal of Quality Assurance in Education.

The article analyzes the main elements and concerns of developing a culture more receptive to the implementation and maintenance of a continuous improvement approach to higher education. 

“A culture of a long-term commitment to continuous improvement implies engaging the administrative and academic systems and all the stakeholders of the institution,” Temponi said.

Her findings maintain that required accreditations in colleges and universities place an increasingly important role to improving higher education and its impact on academic stakeholders.

After publishing more than 30 articles in her academic career, Temponi says the recognition makes her feel vindicated.

“It was very rewarding to see that my research efforts were recognized by world-wide experts as a contribution to theory development in the field, and as theory applicable world-wide,” Temponi said.

Temponi has more than 10 years of national and international industry experience in several sectors of the economy including oil, software, consulting, and various levels of management. She is also founder and advisor of the Hispanic Business Student Association (HBSA) at Texas State.

Temponi will be traveling to China and Taiwan May 19 to June 4 to deliver speeches at universities and chair a session for doctoral students at the International Conference on Systems Management.

Additionally, she plans to help the HBSA defend their 2006 award for best national chapter of the year at the National Hispanic Conference in October 2007.