TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida State University College of Business presented the inaugural Distinguished Ph.D. Alumni Award to Dr. William "Bill" L. Megginson, Professor and Rainbolt Chair in Finance at the University of Oklahoma's Michael F. Price College of Business, on Friday, February 16. Megginson, the first recipient of this award, received his Ph.D. in finance from Florida State in 1986.

"Bill has been an outstanding and well-respected scholar for many years in the field of finance," says William Christiansen, finance department chair and Bank of America Professor of Finance. "We are very proud that Bill is one of our Ph.D. graduates. He is certainly deserving of this special award."

Megginson was selected as the recipient of the award from among a pool of candidates who were all full professors - with many of them holding named professorships or endowed chairs. The nominees were selected after reviewing the College of Business database of Ph.D. alumni receiving degrees on or before 1990 and had utilized their education and experience to achieve a very high level of performance and distinction in their field of expertise.

"We saw the need to create an annual award that would serve to honor an accomplished senior scholar who received their Ph.D. from one of our seven departments in the College," states Caryn L. Beck-Dudley, dean of the College of Business. "We felt such a recognition would serve to inspire our current students and promote the research reputation of our College and the high-quality of our Ph.D. programs. Dr. Megginson has achieved a high level of success and distinction and we are excited to honor him as our first recipient of the Distinguished Ph.D. Alumni Award."

Dr. Megginson is a voting member of the Italian Ministry of Economics and Finance's Global Advisory Committee on Privatization and Scientific Advisor for the Privatization Barometer. His research interest has focused in recent years on the privatization of state-owned enterprises. He has published referred articles in several top academic journals and is the co-author of seven textbooks. His research has been frequently cited in academic and professional publications and he is the 84th most downloaded author (out of 56,000) from the Social Sciences Research Network. Additionally, he has served on numerous academic associations, served as associate editor for four academic journals and served as a privatization consultant for the New York Stock Exchange, the OECD, the IMF, the World Federation of Exchanges, and the World Bank. Prior to entering academia in 1986, Megginson worked for five years as a petroleum chemist at the world's largest styrene monomer plant and at the largest independent petroleum refinery in the U.S. His B.S. is in chemistry from Mississippi College and his MBA is from Louisiana State University.

Founded in 1950, the FSU College of Business is one of the youngest business schools and is recognized as one of the nation's 10 largest business schools. The college's undergraduate program is ranked in the Top 25 by both the U.S. News & World Report and BusinessWeek. It is FSU's second largest academic unit on campus with an enrollment of more than 6,300 students, and boasts a distinguished faculty of 115, including a Francis Eppes professor, three university named professors, seven Eminent Scholars and 30 endowed professorships.

For more information about the College of Business, please go to www.cob.fsu.edu.