Smith School Prof. Ritu Agarwal Named Top Scholar, Teacher by University of Maryland

College Park, Md. – February 8, 2011 – Ritu Agarwal, professor and Dean’s Chair of Information Systems at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, was named a 2011-2012 Distinguished Scholar-Teacher by the University of Maryland. Agarwal is one of only four faculty members recognized campus-wide in the prestigious program, which honors tenured faculty who have demonstrated outstanding accomplishments as educators and notable achievements in their respective fields. Each scholar will present a lecture during the school year, and the award carries an honorarium to support professional activities.

Other university faculty members to receive this year’s honor are Avis Cohen, professor in the Department of Biology; Colin Phillips, professor of linguistics, Department of Linguistics; Lawrence Washington, professor in the Department of Mathematics.

Agarwal is one of the top researchers in the field of information technology management. She is the founder and director of the Center for Health Information and Decision Systems at the Smith School. She has published more than 75 papers in top academic journals and she has worked extensively with Fortune 500 companies. Her research has been sponsored by the Society for Information Management, U.S. Department of Labor, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Agarwal has served a variety of editorial appointments and in January she assumed the role of editor-in-chief of leading academic journal Information Systems Research. She is a member of ACM, the Association for Information Systems, INFORMS, and the Academy of Management. She received her Ph.D. in management information systems from Syracuse University.

The Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Program, established in 1978, is sponsored by the Office of Academic Affairs and administered by the Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs. The following Smith School professors with this award in the past: Steve Carroll, Ed Locke, Lee Preston, Samuel Kotz, Kathryn Bartol, Maryam Alavi, Ken Smith, Anil Gupta, Saul Gass, Bruce Golden, M. Susan Taylor, Michael Fu, and Curt Grimm.

About the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 13 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, executive MS, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.