$10 million gift from Robert B. Pamplin family funds professorship in accounting and information systems at tech college

Robert Davidson, professor and head of the Department of Accounting and Information Systems in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech, was recently named the R.B. Pamplin Professor of Accounting and Information Systems by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.

Established in 1994, the R.B. Pamplin Professorship in Accounting and Information Systems is one of several named professorships established with part of the $10 million gift presented to the college by the Robert B. Pamplin family. The professorship supports excellence in education in accounting and information systems.

A member of the Virginia Tech community since 2017, Davidson is a highly productive and impactful scholar. He has developed significant expertise in the area of corporate corruption and white-collar crime.

Davidson is also an effective classroom instructor, consistently receiving high student evaluation scores. Although he teaches less while serving as department head, he plans to offer a Ph.D. seminar in capital markets next year that has been well received by students in the past.

Before coming to Virginia Tech, Davidson taught at Georgetown University and the University of Texas at Austin.

He received his bachelor’s degree from Wayne State University and an MBA and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

Dr. Pamplin is widely recognized as America’s leading historical preservationist and foremost diversified entrepreneur. National and local publications have written of Dr. Pamplin – “Not since the late Victorians has any person accomplished so much in a … single concentrated life.”

Businessman, Farmer, Ordained Minister, Author, Educator, Philanthropist, Historical Preservationist

Dr. Robert B. Pamplin, Jr. is a businessman, philanthropist, farmer, ordained minister, educator, historical preservationist and author of 44 books, including two Book-of-the Month-Club selections.

He has earned eight degrees, including two doctorates, in business, accounting, economics, education and theology (B.S. Bus. Ad., B.S. Acctg., B.S. Econ., M.B.A., M.Ed., M.A. Theology, Ph.D. Bus., D. Min. Theology) and is a tenured professor.

He is Chairman, President and CEO of the R. B. Pamplin Corporation. Dr. Pamplin’s business interest include media, Portland Tribune, and 25 community newspapers, textiles, construction and Columbia Empire Farms.

Dr. Pamplin has served on Presidential and State Commissions, and as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for three colleges and the Portland Art Museum.

He has been awarded many honorary degrees and national awards, including the Distinguished Leadership Medal from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, the National Caring Award from the Caring Institute, the Herman W. Lay Memorial Award for being the outstanding Entrepreneur of the Year, the Woodrow Wilson Center Award for Corporate Citizenship, America’s Outstanding Individual Philanthropist by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Volunteers of America National Volunteer of the Year, and Beta Gamma Sigma Businessman of the Year.

In Oregon, he has been honored with the Governor’s Arts Award, Governor’s Gold Award, named entrepreneur of the year, Portland’s First Citizen, and selected by the Portland Business Journal as one of 20 leaders of change over the past 20 years. Pamplin has been featured in national magazines, newspapers and on television.

He has delivered many commencement addresses and gives more than 150 speeches each year. These include the opening prayer to the Untied States Senate and a speech on ethics at the Pentagon.