Management Professor Dr. Ron Dulek Delivers UA’s First ‘Last Lecture’

When Dr. Ron Dulek delivers the “first last lecture,” you can bet it will be entertaining, inspirational, touching and informative. Dulek, the John R. Miller Professor of Management in the Culverhouse College of Commerce at The University of Alabama, is the recipient of the first “Last Lecture Series” award.

This new lecture series, sponsored by the UA Graduate School, features a University faculty member, nominated and selected by students, to answer one question in the form of a lecture: “If this were your last time to address a group of students, what would you say to them?” A different professor will be chosen every semester to deliver the Last Lecture.

Dulek, who has taught at UA for 30 years, will present his “last lecture,” “Always Return the Bow,” April 30 at 6 p.m. in 30 Alston Hall.

“I feel like I am having a world-class year,” Dulek said, noting that he has received the College of Continuing Studies Outstanding Teacher Award, the Kitty O. Locker Award for outstanding research in business communication, and the T.D. Moore Undergraduate Teaching Award.

Locker was one of the nation’s most respected authorities on business communication, and Moore is a retired professor of economics and management at UA who strongly believes in recognizing superior undergraduate teaching.

“Ron Dulek is the epitome of the student’s professor,” said Dr. J. Barry Mason, dean of the Culverhouse College of Commerce. “He is engaging, provocative, stimulating and great story teller.”

According to Dr. Natalie Adams, assistant dean of the Graduate School and coordinator of the Last Lecture Series, 165 students submitted nominations for 97 different faculty members.

“We thought that this being the first year for the award we would probably only get a few nominations, but when they began pouring in, we realized that students really liked the idea of having the opportunity to brag about the great talents so many of our professors display every day in the classroom,” said Adams.

Dulek, who teaches business strategy and M.B.A. communications, is a graduate of St. Mary’s College and earned his master’s and doctorate from Purdue University. He has published more than 40 articles in the field’s leading refereed journals, has twice served as associate editor for the Journal of Business Communication and is co-author of six books on business communication. “The Elements of Business Writing” was the number one seller on the Executive Booklists at Prentice-Hall, Houghton-Mifflin and Macmillan Publishing.

Dulek has been selected numerous times as M.B.A. Teacher of the Year, and he has received the Penny Allen Award for outstanding service to students as well as the National Alumni Association’s Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Award.