TIGERVILLE, S.C. (courtesy ngu.edu) — Dr. Rick Martinez, associate dean for undergraduate programs of the College of Business & Entrepreneurship (COBE) and distinguished professor of management at North Greenville University (NGU), recently received the 2020 Sharon Johnson Award from the Christian Business Faculty Association (CBFA). The Johnson Award is awarded annually to recognize God-honoring intellectual contributions by individuals who incorporate learning, business, and faith into a dynamic process to promote Christian faith integration in business, as championed by Dr. Sharon Johnson.
The award, sponsored by the R.W. Beckett Corporation, was established to preserve the passion and commitment of integrating personal faith and business as modeled by Johnson. This award is bestowed annually to individuals actively making their intellectual work known among colleagues, students, and the broader business community.
“Knowing the genuine Christian character of this award’s namesake, and the great body of work by previous recipients of the Sharon Johnson Award, I am deeply humbled and truly honored to be named among them. I remain committed to exploring what it means to represent Christ in the marketplace,” said Martinez. “It is a greater joy to share this achievement with my colleagues and students at North Greenville University, where this kind of biblically integrative thought and application actually matters deeply.”
Martinez, who joined NGU and COBE in 2019, and Johnson have been friends for many years.
“Rick took a class from Sharon as an MBA student at Baylor University in the early 1990s. Several years later, Sharon was assigned to mentor Rick when he began working at Baylor,” said Dr. John Duncan, dean of the COBE at NGU. “Rick also served alongside Sharon at three institutions: Baylor University, Cedarville University, and Charleston Southern University.”
“According to recent calculations by the CBFA Board, Rick has published more articles in the Journal of Biblical Integration in Business (JBIB) and the Christian Business Academy Review (CBAR) than any other CBFA member who has not already received the award,” said Duncan.
Also, Martinez has made at least 12 presentations at CBFA conferences throughout the years. His work has been published in highly regarded refereed journals such as Christian Scholar’s Review, Christian Business Review, Business Horizons, Journal of Management, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Markets and Morality, Journal of Managerial Issues, and International Journal of Organizational Analysis.
Martinez served the CBFA in the past as an editor of JBIB, an associate editor of Christian Scholar’s Review from 2005-2008, and has been on the editorial board for Christian Business Review since 2012. He has served in administrative leadership roles at Christian institutions such as Charleston Southern University, Houston Baptist University, Oklahoma Baptist University, and NGU.
“I have personally learned much from Rick about Christian scholarship and faith integration, and I have watched him mentor fellow faculty members at the two institutions where we have served together,” Duncan said. “During 2019-20, he conducted an eight-part faith integration workshop for our business faculty at North Greenville University to help our faculty better understand how to integrate biblical faith in the classroom.”
Martinez holds a bachelor’s in political science from Arizona State University, an MBA from Baylor University, and a Ph.D. in Management from Texas A&M University.
“Because of his exemplary record of Christian scholarship and because of his longstanding relationship with Sharon Johnson, I know of no one more deserving of receiving the Sharon Johnson Award than Dr. Rick Martinez,” said Duncan.
Learn more about NGU’s College of Business and Entrepreneurship at ngu.edu/college-of-business-and-entrepreneurship.