College professor, entrepreneur, former corporate executive, and author, Steven Austin Stovall has a varied and extensive background.

He is an Associate Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship at Southeast Missouri State University.

Stovall brings to the classroom a wealth of real-world business experience. He has started four companies – the latest was Austin’s Casual Eatery & Bar in Wilmington, Ohio, a 150-seat restaurant in the heart of the historic district. In addition, he has held executive positions with a Fortune 500 company in the fields of Sales and Human Resources Management. As a management consultant, he has worked with hundreds of companies throughout North, Central, and South America.

Dr. Stovall is a professional speaker having conducted numerous workshops on management, supervision, sexual harassment avoidance, team building, social media, stress and time management, motivation, entrepreneuring, increasing sales, improving customer service, and other topics. He has addressed local, state, and national organizations as well as CEOs and managers of multibillion-dollar companies.

As a writer, he has over 500 items in print in various magazines and journals, including works as a columnist for several national business publications. He was founder and editor of Customer Service Report, an international bimonthly publication devoted to customer service. Dr. Stovall has written four books on business-related topics. His first, Taking Care of Business, has been very successful here and abroad. His fourth book, Cases in Human Resources Management, has been used in over 1,000 different colleges and universities.

In addition to his doctorate from Antioch University, he holds an MBA and BBA from Texas A&M, Commerce and graduated with Academic Distinction. He has won numerous entrepreneurial awards, has appeared on TV and radio, is listed in several prestigious Who’s Whos, and is frequently called upon as an expert source for magazine and newspaper writers around the country.

A seventh-generation Texan, Stovall left the Lone Star State in his late-20s and has lived in Ohio, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, and for over a year in Belize, Central America. Missouri is now his home.

Teaching Awards:

• 2026    Dr. Arnold L. Mitchell Courage in Leadership Award – TRIO, SEMO
• 2025    Impact Leader Award – National Society of Leadership Success
• 2023    Significant Accomplishments in Teaching Award – Harrison College of Business & Computing, SEMO
• 2023    Outstanding Faculty Member – Department of Management, SEMO
• 2023    Provost Award for Teaching Excellence, Excellence in Experiential Teaching – SEMO
• 2022    Faculty of the Year – Hawkspys, SEMO Athletics
• 2020    Outstanding Faculty Member – Department of Management SEMO

Journal Publications:

• 2025    “So Much Fun, They Don’t Realize They’re Learning: Creating & Implementing Experiential Activities,” Journal of the North American Management Society
• 2024    “Social Capital Decay, A Post-Industrial Society, and Faculty Industry Experience: Higher Ed’s Engagement Opportunity in Applied Disciplines,” Journal of the North American Management Society (coauthor)
• 2023    “Lifestyle or Profit? The Complex Decision-Making Criteria for Local Food Entrepreneurs,” Agriculture & Human Values (coauthor)
• 2022    “Unstacking the Russian Doll: An Integrative Interdisciplinary Analysis of Restaurant Operations,” Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy (coauthor)
• 2021    “Development of a Flexible Point-based Tenure and Promotion Document in the Age of Societal Uncertainty,” Information Systems Education Journal (coauthor)
• 2021    “The Times, They Are a Changin’: A Logical Approach for Developing a Promotion and Tenure Document for Uncertain Times,” Academy of Educational Leadership Journal (coauthor)
• 2020    “Embracing Differences: Experiential Exercises for Teaching Diversity in Undergraduate Business Programs,” Journal of International Business Education (coauthor)
• 2011    “Simeon North: A Portrait of an Early 19^th Century Entrepreneur with 21^st Century HRM Challenges,” Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship
• 2009    “Recreating the Arsenal of Venice: Using Experiential Activities to Teach the History of Management,” Journal of Management Education