Two longtime Lakeland College faculty members have been promoted from associate professor to full professor.
Greg Smith, who joined Lakeland's faculty in 2003, is now professor of biology. Scott Niederjohn, who joined Lakeland's faculty in 2004, is now Charlotte and Walter Kohler Charitable Trust Professor of Business Administration.
Lakeland President Dan Eck announced their promotions this week. The decision is based on their accomplishments in the classroom and their service to and on behalf of the institution.
Smith has played a significant leadership role in the growth of Lakeland's natural science majors, which continue to be some of the college's most popular programs.
He is co-founder of the popular Lakeland Undergraduate Research Experience (LURE), which allows students to work alongside their faculty as peers in conducting primary research. Smith's research with students in the LURE program focuses on understanding the mechanisms of protein aggregation as they relate to prion diseases (Chronic Wasting Disease in deer and elk, Mad Cow Disease in bovines, etc.)
Smith partnered with fellow biology faculty member Paul Pickhardt to create Lakeland's tropical biology course in Belize, a hands-on opportunity to conduct research in the rainforest. Among other courses Smith designed or co-designed at Lakeland are bioinformatics and scientific analysis and writing I and II.
Smith serves as advisor for the pre-nursing program, a partnership between Lakeland and Columbia College of Nursing, and he is the college's Commencement Grand Marshal.
Smith received a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon in 2001 and completed his post-doctoral work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2003. His bachelor's degree is from Carleton College.
Niederjohn is in his second stretch as chair of the Business Division, which contains the college's largest programs. He also serves as director of the master of business administration program.
A nationally-recognized expert on financial literacy, Niederjohn led the creation of the Lakeland Center for Economic Education, which works with EconomicsWisconsin to create financial literacy and economics curriculum and other tools for K-12 teachers. The center has trained hundreds of teachers since its inception.
Niederjohn serves on the Governor's Council on Financial Literacy and won the Governor's Financial Literacy Award in 2011, 2012 and 2014. In December 2014, he was featured in Money magazine for his work on financial literacy.
His research has been featured in numerous academic journals, and his research and thoughts on public policy and other state issues regularly have him quoted by statewide media outlets.
In the fall of 2013, Niederjohn taught at the University of Luxembourg as a Fulbright Scholar.
Niederjohn received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and an MBA with an applied economics concentration and a bachelor's degree from Marquette University.