Dr. Bill Petty ('64), former dean of Abilene Christian University's College of Business Administration (COBA) and current professor of business at Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business, was recently honored as the national "Entrepreneurship Teacher of the Year" by the Acton Foundation for Entrepreneurial Excellence.
In February, Petty was honored in Austin, where he received a trophy and $10,000. Candidates are nominated by students, and selected by a panel of Acton master entrepreneurship teachers.
Petty earned a marketing degree from ACU, and a master's degree in finance from the University of Texas. He completed a Ph.D. in finance and accounting at UT in 1971. After serving as an assistant professor at Virginia Tech University and a professor of finance at Texas Tech University, Petty joined ACU's business faculty in 1979.
He served as COBA dean from 1981 to1989, and then resigned to devote more time to teaching and writing. He became professor of finance and W.W. Caruth Chair of Entrepreneurship at Baylor in 1990.
"Bill articulated a vision of excellence in COBA that created a culture that would allow faculty to grow and develop in ways that would be on par with other first-rate universities," said Dr. Rick Lytle. "He is a model of what it means to be a world-class Christian faculty member and administrator and one of the most wonderful and loyal alumni that ACU has ever had."
Petty has received numerous other honors, including being named Outstanding University Professor in 1998 by Baylor University. He also received the Distinguished Alumni Citation from ACU in 2001.
He and his wife, Donna, have two daughters, both of whom also graduated from ACU.
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