36 | INNOVISION MAGAZINE Just after Dr. John Walker retired this past Fall semester, I emailed to set up an interview. Walker initiated an excellent and organized written response for the InnoVision magazine, and upon reading his answers, I had to meet the man behind the written words. When entering the virtual interview, Dr. Walker seemed, right away, like the best professor you never had. His kind, calm, and focused demeanor allowed the conversation to flow fluidly as he retold his thirty-six-year professional journey that included organized steps, strategy changes, and a little bit of ideal timing, that led him here to KU. Walker knew he wanted to be a professor early on, due to his father’s words, based on his son’s nurturing personality, would become either a minister, doctor, or teacher. After witnessing Walker’s patient, calm demeanor, and structured, analytical methodology it makes sense. However, becoming a minister wasn’t a primary pursuit for Walker, and he “just couldn’t take the blood too well” to be a doctor, which ultimately led him to earn a PhD in Business and Economics and become a professor. Another reason Walker pursued teaching was an experience he had when he was twenty-one with his brother who was fourteen. Walker’s brother was struggling with math, so Walker took the time to tutor his brother almost every night, bringing his failing grade up to an “A” over the course of a year. “I found that taking someone from a point of confusion to a point of really understanding the subject was very exciting to me,” Walker explained, “It was then that I decided that I enjoyed teaching and helping people in that way.” Walker’s father was a professor at Penn State, so naturally Walker attended there, where he double majored in both Finance and Chemical Engineering. Soon after, he earned his master’s in chemical engineering at the University of Delaware. At the time, it seemed a logical decision, due to money and job opportunities, to earn a master’s in chemical engineering as opposed to Finance. This proved correct, as Walker procured a position at Air Products in 1984 bringing him closer to KU. He worked at Air Products for five years before continuing his education at Lehigh University for a Doctorate. In the middle of this seesaw strategy between Business/Finance and Chemical Engineering, the thought of becoming a professor came into Walker’s mind as his father had counseled him to earn a doctorate degree for the profession shift. Looking back, Walker sees how his background in chemical engineering helped ingrain in him the mathematical and quantitative skills fundamental for Business. “You gotta make sure your numbers are right,” Walker said with a smile. As a professor, Walker always tried to instill this in his students so that they became comfortable with the mathematics behind finance. After Walker earned his doctorate, it would be another twelve years before he would find himself teaching. Both he and Dr. Jon Kramer applied for the newly opened position at KU having graduated from Lehigh University together. Kramer came onboard first to KU, but when Walker eventually arrived, they became great collaborators as they tag teamed both presentations and research together. “It was great when I got here to have someone like Dr. Kramer who could provide mentorship and friendship at Kutztown,” Walker expressed. PROFESSOR NEWS RETIRING FACULTY JOHN WALKER
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