Houghton to Lead OBU School of Business

Oklahoma Baptist University has named Dr. David C. Houghton as dean of the Paul Dickinson School of Business. Houghton will begin his tenure at OBU on Aug. 1.

"Dr. David Houghton brings a proven record of academic and professional experience to OBU," said Dr. Stan Norman, OBU provost and executive vice president for campus life. "His excellence in the classroom, his scholarly contributions, and his academic leadership will serve him well as the new dean of the Paul Dickinson School of Business."

Since 2008, Houghton has taught as associate professor of marketing at Charleston Southern University where he has served as chair of the department of business and economics. For 11 years, he was professor of marketing at Northwest Nazarene University, where he was director of undergraduate business programs, chair of the department of business and economics and faculty vice chair. As vice chair, he led the transformation from a non-ranked, non-tenured faculty into a rank and tenure system. He played a significant role in managing an early retirement process and worked with the strategic planning process for the university.

"In a time when the corporate world and business practice are viewed with skepticism and suspicion, Dr. Houghton understands the importance of integrating the Christian faith with business studies and practice," Norman said. "Our business school has and will continue to educate students to 'do business' from a Christian worldview. Those who know Dr. Houghton have affirmed his passionate commitment and love for his students, and these students in turn have great admiration and respect for him. I know that the students at OBU will come to appreciate him and benefit from his leadership as dean of our business school."

Houghton earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and accounting with concentrations in marketing and East Asian studies from the University of Kansas. He earned a master's and doctoral degrees, both in marketing from the University of Cincinnati. He received an honorary doctorate from the Kazak-American Free University in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan, where he served as a guest lecturer and educational consultant in 1999 and 2001.

He has taught classes in advertising, business ethics, consumer behavior, decision making, e-marketing, international marketing, marketing management, marketing research, principles of marketing, retail management and strategic management.

Houghton has held the Sam M. Walton Free Enterprise Fellowship since 1999. He is a member of the Society for Consumer Psychology, Association for Consumer Research, Christian Business Faculty Association and World Future Society. He received the Idaho Business Review 40/40 Award, and he served as a board member for Idaho Business Week from 2004 to 2008. He serves on the Praxis Marketing Education National Advisory Committee, and he serves as a reviewer for the Christian Business Academy Review, the Journal of Biblical Integration in Business and the Sheth Dissertation Award: Society for Consumer Psychology.