152 [leadership] Associate Professor of Business Marguerite Cronk sits in her office working on her computer Oct. 25. Cronk was recognized as one of the worlds international leaders for research in Information Technology. [Jonathan Lindsay] Professor recognized for in Information Technology Few students were aware that many of the professors on Harding’s campus were more than just the teachers that stood before them every day in class and tried to get them to listen to well-planned lectures. These professors were also noted experts in their field. Dr.Marguerite Cronk was an example of one of these professors who achieved much academic praise outside of Harding’s campus. Cronk was the associate professor and director of Harding University’s InformationTechnology (IT) program.Along with the responsibilities that her job in IT entailed, Cronk was also invited to be the keynote speaker at the European Conference on Information Management and Evaluation (ECIME) during the fall 2007 semester. This international conference was held at the University of Montpellier in Montpellier, France, on September 20 and 21.Cronk left for the overseas lecture well prepared. Cronk presented a historical overview of InformationTechnology business value research. According to Cronk, IT was a transitioning field which was the basis of her lecture during the conference. “IT is transitioning from ‘does the machine work and is it accurate?’ to ‘what is the outcome of the machines operation and how can we better the outcome?’”Cronk said. Cronk had been involved in IT evaluation research for 10 years with publications in journals such as the Journal of InformationManagement and Logistics, the South African Business Review and the Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods. She had been part of the ECIME conference committee for the past 10 years and had even served as their chair person for a time while still working as a professor at Harding. Cronk had many requests for her paper when she finished her lecture and said she received a great deal of interest from the professionals who attended the conference.Although that was not the reason for her attendence in France, Cronk still said she was honored by the requests made of her. “[I] thought it was pretty cool,”Cronk said. Dr. Bryan Burks, dean of the college of business, said it was an honor to have Cronk recognized in her expertise. “She is the top of her field,” Burks said. “Dr. Cronk is one of the more impressive scholars in our building. She is a multitalented individual.” Even though Cronk had an already full plate with her responsibilities at Harding and within her department, she still decided that she should share the new information and her own personal thoughts with other experts in the IT field. [Steven Davis] research
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