DR. BRENDA PONSFORD is the Dean of the School of Business at Henderson State University, a post she assumed last July. Prior to coming to Arkadelphia, she was a tenured full professor, chair of the Marketing Department and Director of the MBA program at Clarion University of Pennsylvania. She moved to Pennsylvania from California where she had been a tenured associate professor of marketing at Sonoma State University. She has also taught at Morgan State University in Maryland, the University of San Diego, Seton Hall University in New Jersey and Radford University in Virginia. She was also a visiting professor at the  Institute of Business and Economics, The Academy of National Economy, Moscow, Russia.

Brenda earned her Ph.D., M.B.A. and B.S. degrees (double majoring in  Economics and Marketing) from  Virginia Tech and a law degree from Concord Law School. She is a member of both the California and District of Columbia bars and has served on several American Bar Association business law committees.

Brenda has traveled to more than 35 countries, primarily in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, meeting with educational foundations, university administrators/academics, government officials, and education recruiters. She worked in Beijing as a senior technical advisor on a short term assignment for the North China Aeronautical Materials Research Institute, Beijing, China. Brenda has a strong publications record in professional journals and at academic conferences focusing on marketing and international business areas. Her primary research interests include legal/ethical issues, marketing strategy and outcomes assessment studies.

In case you missed the announcement at the February 14 meeting, the Arkadelphia Rotary Club will now cover the cost of a guest's meal in an effort to increase membership. Rotarians should complete Part A of the linked How to Propose a New Member form to be submitted to the club secretary when a guest visits. If the form is submitted, then the club will cover the entire cost of the potential member's meal.  

Who will YOU invite to the next Arkadelphia Rotary Club meeting?

VICTOR V. CLAAR, Ph.D., is professor of economics and teaches courses in economics to both undergraduate and graduate students. He recently was a Fulbright Scholar at the American University of Armenia—a landlocked country at the intersection of Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Iran—where he conducted research and gave lectures to graduate students. 

Professor Claar has a long, impressive record of publications, including his influential book, Economics in Christian Perspective: Theory, Policy and Life Choices, now in its sixth printing and recently translated into Chinese. One reviewer said of the book’s authors, “they demonstrate an impressive breadth of vision [and] deftly move from the big picture and macroeconomics to the care for the individual and restoring hope for the least of these.”

While you may have heard that economics was once dubbed the “dismal science,” Professor Claar’s work demonstrates that this field is quite the opposite, especially when it does what Professor Claar does: combine sobering analysis and Christian principles to offer a vision of hope. Professor Claar is also the author of Fair Trade? Its Prospects as a Poverty Solution, an incisive, thoughtful work that challenges us all to rethink how we buy what we need and want.

WILLIAM HAWKINS is currently the president of the Hamilton Center for National Strategy, a research and consulting group specializing in national security and international economics. Last year he retired from the staff of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He worked in Washington for nearly twenty years including serving on the staff of the House Republican Research Committee and on the personal staff of Rep. Duncan Hunter, a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee. He also worked for the U.S. Business and Industry Council for eight years concentrating on foreign trade and defense industry issues. From 1997-2000 he hosted a national radio talk show, and also served on the board of the Asia-America Initiative.

He earned a BA degree at the University of Illinois with a double major in world history and international relations; an MA in diplomatic and military history from Stephen F. Austin State University; and an MA in economics from the University of Tennessee. He has taught economics at Appalachian State University, the Univ. of North Carolina-Asheville, and Radford University.

He has published hundreds of articles in both scholarly journals and popular media including for the Army War College, the Naval War College, the Journal of Military History, Army Magazine, Military History Magazine, Military History Quarterly, Naval History, National Review, Industry Today, The National Interest and China Brief among others. He is currently a contributing editor at Family Security Matters and frequently blogs at The American Thinker.