ESU Honors Two Faculty as Distinguished Professors

East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania will present its annual Distinguished Professor Awards to Dr. Robert McKenzie, professor of communication studies, and Dr. Frank M. Pullo, professor and chair of sport management, during an all-university meeting on Tuesday, September 4, at the Abeloff Centerfor the Performing Arts. The awards are the university’s highest faculty honor. They recognize the excellence of superb faculty members and their outstanding contributions to the academic life of East Stroudsburg University in the areas of teaching, scholarship, creative endeavor, and service to the university or community.

Dr. Marcia G. Welsh, university president, and Dr. Nancy VanArsdale, professor of English, will present the awards. Dr. VanArsdale is also president of the ESU Chapter of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF).  Thirty professors have received the Distinguished Professor honors since the award was established in 2000. Nominations for the award are reviewed by The Distinguished Professor Awards Committee, comprised of six faculty and two administrators. The committee selects two award recipients annually.

A member of the communication studies faculty since 1992, Dr. McKenzie has served as the department’s internship coordinator and has taught more than a dozen theoretical and practical communication courses, most focused in the broadcasting concentration that he launched in 1994.  Dr. McKenzie is perhaps best known for his years of service to WESS (90.3 FM), ESU’s student-operated radio station, and for his commitment to opportunities for students to study abroad.  Since 1995, Dr. McKenzie has served as director of ESU’s Vintage Radio Project, soliciting grants and donations, supervising archivists, and preserving, digitizing and broadcasting classic radio programs from the 1930s-1950s.

Since his arrival at ESU, Dr. McKenzie has served as the university adviser to WESS. In 1995, he wrote the grant to acquire the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) World Service for WESS Radio, and has been the host of The Talk Show, which has featured more than 300 guests in its 20 years on the air. McKenzie also hosts WESS’s weekly Stones Hour, a model program integrating a professional focus on broadcasting with his personal passion for the Rolling Stones.

Since the fall of 2011, Dr. McKenzie’s newspaper column, Rounding Some Corners, has appeared weekly in The Pocono Record.  In this anchor column, Dr. McKenzie often offers thoughtful commentary on a wide range of current issues.

Dr. McKenzie earned a bachelor of arts in history with a minor in business administration from Millersville University of Pennsylvania, and his master’s degree and doctoral degrees in speech communication from Penn State University. His professional and scholarly works includes nearly two dozen journal publications and book reviews in both English and Spanish, more than 50 presentations, and essays and chapters in books.  His text, Comparing Media from Around the World, has been adopted by universities in the U.S. and abroad.  He has also held managing-editor positions for three academic journals and served as a consultant to the Autonomous University of Sinaloa in Mazatlan, Mexico, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City and the U.S. Consulate in Juarez City, Mexico.

Dr. Pullo has served the university community 38 years as a faculty member in various positions of leadership. He graduated from East Stroudsburg University in 1973, and continued his education to earn a master’s in physical education in 1976 and a doctorate of education from Temple University in 1989.

Dr. Pullo has a rich history of service to the university. In addition to serving as interim dean of the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance (now the College of Health Sciences), he also served as chair of the former department of movement studies and exercise science for five years and has served as the chair of the department of sport management since its inception in 2004.

Dr. Pullo’s scholarship includes published works, presentations, attendance at various conferences related to sport management and physical education. In addition, he has been a member of the graduate faculty since 1985 and has served on 40 thesis committees. He gathered research data on sport recreation sites from over 55 universities across 15 states during his last sabbatical.

In addition to the time and energy that Dr. Pullo has spent mentoring faculty members from across campus about topics ranging from strength training to facilities management, he has also served in leadership capacities of several university-wide committees highlighted by his service as chair of the University-wide Promotion Committee for seven years.

He was appointed as the first strength coach for then-East Stroudsburg State College’s athletic teams by President Bell and served as the adviser to the Powerlifting Club from 1982-1987.  In 1992, Dr. Pullo also created the college’s Sport Management Club and became its first faculty adviser.

Dr. Pullo has also served in the East Stroudsburg University Alumni Association. He was vice president from 1987 to 1990 when he was elected president, serving in that position until 1995.

For more information about the annual Distinguished Professor Awards, contact the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties office at ESU at 570-422-3278 or visit http://www4.esu.edu/insider/?cat=331.

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