William Dudley Geer - Teaching Career

Teaching Career

Fully dedicated to Christian education, he began his teaching career at Mars Hill College, Mars Hill, North Carolina in 1951. In 1953, he became an Associate Professor of Business and Economics at Mississippi College, Clinton, Mississippi followed by a return to Stetson University as Assistant Professor of Economics in 1956. He joined the faculty of Samford University in 1959 as Associate Professor of Economics, becoming a full professor in 1963, chairman of the Division of Business in 1964 and first Dean when the division was elevated to School status in 1966. He helped Samford start the first evening master of business administration (M.B.A.) program in Alabama and advised more than 900 M.B.A. graduates during his tenure. He retired after 31 years on the faculty.

He served as a visiting faculty member at the School of Banking of the South at LSU in Baton Rouge during the summers from 1968 to 1972 and became the first holder of the Margaret Gage Bush Professorship at Samford University in 1986. He was a member of Alpha Kappa Psi Professional Business Fraternity, and the honor societies of Beta Gamma Sigma, Phi Alpha Theta, Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Eta Sigma. In 1962 he received the designation Chartered Life Underwriter from the American College of Life Underwriters.

He was a member of the Southern Business Administration Association, serving as president 1971-72; the Council of Business School Deans for the Alabama Commission on Higher Education; the Alabama Academy of Science, serving as vice-president of the Economics and Industry Section; Alabama Council on Economic Education Board of Directors; the Southern Risk and Insurance Association; American Finance Association; Financial Management Association; Southwestern Finance Association; Eastern Finance Association; American Risk and Insurance Association; American Society of Chartered Life Underwriters, Birmingham Chapter of the American Society of Chartered Life Underwriters, American Economic Association; and the Southern Economic Association.

He served as Trustee and chairman of the Executive Committee of the Annuity Board of the Southern Baptist Convention; chairman of the Birmingham Consumer Advisory Council; a member of the Board of Management - Five Points YMCA; Trustee of the Birmingham Fabricating Company - Birmingham Bolt Company Bargaining Unit Employees Pension Fund; a member of the Education Committee of the Alabama Real Estate Committee; the Research Committee of the Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce and the Alabama Post Secondary 1202 Commission - Task force III.