Stewart to focus on economic development in new role

Dr. Geoffrey Stewart has been named The Moody Company/BORSF Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair in Regional Business Development for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s B.I. Moody III College of Business Administration.

As chair, Stewart will conduct applied research and scholarship to support regional economic development and provide leadership in developing and maintaining relationships between regional businesses, non-profit organizations and the faculty of the Moody College of Business.

He will lead the development of a speaker series in the college and help enhance student learning through the development of experiential/service-learning projects. In his new role, he will be a liaison with University outreach programs to ensure curriculum is relevant to needs of employers in the regional business community.

Stewart, an associate professor in the Department of Marketing and Hospitality, holds an undergraduate degree in business administration and a master’s in business administration from UL Lafayette and a doctorate in marketing from the University of Tennessee.

He is co-founder of the National Incident Management Systems and Advanced Technologies Institute and has led over 50 service-learning projects with regional businesses and organizations.

His research has been focused on buyer-seller relationships and public-private collaboration.  Stewart is actively engaged in research collaborations with faculty in business, engineering, and computer science.

His campus leadership roles include serving as head of the Department of Marketing and Hospitality Management, as well as a member of the Student Retention Board, University Strategic Planning Committee, Honors Program Faculty Board and Athletics Committee.



Stewart’s awards include the University Advising Award from 2007 through 2011, John T. and Sandra B. Landry Endowed Teaching Award in 2009, and Dr. Ray Authement Award for Outstanding Contributions to Ragin’ Cajuns Athletics in 2014. In 2010, Stewart was recognized by the Marketing Management Association with the Hormel Meritorious National Teaching Award for leading student projects that assisted Delcambre, La., following devastation caused by Hurricane Rita in 2005.

He is also engaged in activities with the Lafayette Economic Development Authority, Professional Marketing Roundtable, One Acadiana (formerly the Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce), and Acadiana Planning Commission.

Stewart will assume his duties in the endowed chair position on Aug. 1.