If you have taken Accounting for Decision Making or Managerial Finance, then you have probably have had, heard of, or have been indirectly involved with Professor William St. John. St. John is a clinical professor at the Lally School of Management and Technology at Rensselaer and has been here for 11 years, dealing with students both at the graduate and undergraduate level. During his time here, St. John has also presented several seminars on finance, accounting, and entrepreneurship in the Ukraine while being the director of international programs in the Center for Entrepreneurship. St. John does not do any research and tries to focus as much of his time as possible on teaching and the methods used in teaching.
When asked what he liked most about Rensselaer, St. John said that "The students are great, it’s just fun to work with them." He enjoys that the majority of his students are sophomores and that he remains in touch with them even after they take his class. He gets to see them progress and eventually graduate.
If he could change one thing, St. John said it would have to be the class sizes, to reduce them from around 50-52 down to around 40, but at the same time he realizes that money and space constraints usually make that impossible.
St. John has developed a project that has become widely used, not only here at Rensselaer, but at other schools as well. It is the Tech Bottling project, and it’s a project that was developed by St. John, created with the intention to utilize the skills learned in management classes such as Managerial Finance, Accounting for Decision Making, Computer Information Systems, and Statistics. He has presented the corporate presentation for this project at other schools, and it has been very well received.
He has received numerous awards for his teaching including the David M. Darrin Counseling Award, 1995; Professor of the Year by the Interfraternity Council, 1995; initiated into the Order of Omega, the Greek and Honor Society, 1994; Professor of the Year from the Management Honor Society, 1993 and 1998; Professor of the Semester by the Graduate Management Student Association, Fall 1993.
St. John’s campus service includes serving as faculty advisor to the Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, advisor to the Order of Omega, and advisor to the Phalanx Honor Society. He is also a mentor in the Faculty Intervention Program, helping first-year students that are in academic trouble after their first semester. He recently was member of the Curriculum Subcommittee for the Laptop Implementation Task Force, following the campus’s decision to require laptops for all first-year students.
St. John holds a B.S. from Siena College, an M.S. from Union College, and a Ph.D. from Rensselaer. He is a graduate of the United States Army War College and the United States Army Command and General Staff College.
To vote for Professor St. John for person of the year, keep an eye out in The Poly later in the semester for more details.
