Kutztown University’s College of Business named Dr. Christine ‘CJ’ Rhoads, of Douglassville, the 2013 Top Faculty Researcher of the Year at the Business Advisory Board meeting Feb. 25.
The award is determined by a subcommittee of the Scholarly Activity Committee, after reviewing the research done by faculty in the College of Business.
‘It was very difficult to determine a winner as all the nominees did high quality research, but the committee was impressed with CJ’s grant report on Telehealth, which they felt had the most impact,’ said Dr. Victor Massad, fellow faculty member and chair of the Scholarly Activity Committee.
Rhoads had received a grant last year to research Telehealth in Pennsylvania, and the report, just recently released, advised the Pennsylvania Legislature on the best steps to help mitigate some of the healthcare issues faced by rural counties.
Massad also noted that Rhoads was very active in the community, and earlier in the year had been recognized as one of the 25 Most Influential Women in the Lehigh Valley. In previous years she had received the Athena Leadership Award, as well as being named One of 50 Best Business Women in Pennsylvania.
Rhoads noted that it was the many people who have been working with her who deserved the accolades.
‘I realized quite a while ago that we could get a lot more done together than I could do by myself. All of my journal articles last year were co-authored with terrific people, and there was a whole team working on the grant, without whom I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere.’
The focus of Rhoads’ research, and her most recent work for the non-profit organization, HPL 501c3 Institute, is to bring together elements from several seemingly disparate academic fields; leadership, technology, business, strategy, and healthcare. She is currently working on two books.
The first is designed to help business owners improve their own health and prosperity; ‘The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Running a Business: Strategy and Leadership,’ to be published by Praeger (a scholarly publisher) in May. The second, ‘What Every Physician Should Know About Telehealth,’ is part of a new series of books called ‘Secrets from the World of Healthcare’, which will reveal the results of her research important to people in the healthcare field, and will be available in summer of 2014.
An associate professor in the College of Business at KU, her almost 30 years of business experience runs the gamut from running entrepreneurial startups in the technology industry to being vice president in established Fortune 500 companies in the finance industry. She is a widely published author with six books and more than 160 articles.
Rhoads received her doctorate of education in educational technology with a minor in business administration from Lehigh University, and her master of education from Temple University in educational psychology focusing on instructional design. She is the founder and CEO of HPL Consortium, Inc. and managing director of HPL 501c3 Institute.
Though situated in Douglassville and incorporated in Delaware, both organizations are virtual in scope, and have associates and volunteers all over the world.
HPL 501c3 Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping underserved individuals achieve the goals of health and prosperity as well.
They manage three programs: 1) Health Lifestyles, which brings Qigong and Tai Chi exercise programs to senior centers and hospitals, 2) Making a Better Future, which brings entrepreneurial opportunities and leadership programs to underserved youth in Pennsylvania and Delaware, and 3) Entrepreneurs Traveling To Prosperity, a business coaching group for entrepreneurs and small business owners.
HPL Consortium focuses on developing technology tools to help groups connect toward health, prosperity, and leadership. Currently teams are working on a comprehensive technology platform that will facilitate interacting with others through technology. HPL Consortium, Inc. was formerly known as ETM Associates, Inc., but changed its name when its focus moved from consulting to platform development.
