Educator and Business Leader Hired as Business Department Chair

June 22, 2020 in News

Dr. David Ober, an experienced educator and businessman, has been hired for the position of Clarks Summit University’s Business Department chair. Vice President of Academics Dr. Bill Higley believes Ober is an excellent addition to the CSU faculty, stating, “First and foremost, he believes in the mission of CSU and wants to do what he can to lead our Business Department to help fulfill that mission.” Higley also notes, “Dr. Ober has an outstanding resume of professional and teaching experience. He has a desire to build a Business Department that meets the ever-changing needs of the world by producing highly competent, Christ-centered businesspeople.”

Qualifications and Experience

Ober earned his undergraduate degree and his Master of Arts in Communications from Wheaton College and his Doctor of Philosophy in Organizational Leadership from Eastern University. Some of Ober’s many notable accomplishments include eight years of teaching and course creation experience, including residential, online and graduate courses; extensive writing and research, including multiple contributions to peer-reviewed publications and textbook chapters; and being twice certified for Higher Education Qualities Matters for online course creation and delivery. Ober has 28 years of business experience which includes being president of two companies, vice president of Hershey Outlets, a leasing director and executive vice president of Fisher Foods. He is also the founder of “Share the Blessing” ministry and a board member of Evangelical Theological Seminary.

Connecting and Improving

Although Ober was most recently the assistant professor of administration at Barry University in Miami, Florida, his new position will be bringing the Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, native back to his home state. Drawn to CSU by “the depth of faculty and administration” and the opportunity of “teaching at a Christ-centered school,” Ober is looking forward to working with the “solid group of faculty and core students” in the Business Department, where he will oversee CSU’s on-campus undergraduate Accounting, Entrepreneurship, Sports Management and Business Administration programs as well as CSU’s online Business Administration program. Ober hopes his years of experience in business administration will benefit the students, specifically by assisting them in the directions they go with their internships. One resource Ober is using to grow and improve the Business Department is feedback from current students and recent graduates of the programs.

Ober is passionate about equipping Christians to work excellently in business professions because, “We worship a God of order and not disorder.” He wants to teach the students to develop an “orderly mind” because “we are called to do all we do with excellence.”

Dr. Ober started his new role in June.

-Mariah Fredenburg (’19 Communications-Writing major)