DR. ED PLASTOW
FOUNDING CHAIR and will reach out to the students. We are putting tools in people’s toolboxes and helping them become better thinkers, writers, and decision-makers,” said Plastow.
In 1999, Dr. Ed Plastow made a call to Southeastern College to see if he could take a Dakotas college team to play in Florida the next January. He was not anticipating what would happen next. He had been working as a basketball coach and business professor at Dakota Wesleyan University. One phone call led to the next and eventually Southeastern’s administration of Dr. Bill Hackett and former president, Dr. Mark Rutland, invited him to visit Southeastern and later asked him to help start the business program and coach men’s basketball. “I was delighted with the vision of the college leadership,” said Plastow. When he first arrived at Southeastern, the business program had seven students and one faculty member. The initial program available was in business management, with marketing and accounting quickly added thereafter. At the end of his second year of developing the program, there were 60 students enrolled in business. He recalls that 2001 and 2002 were big years for the program, as Dr. Bill Hahn was hired to start and grow the accounting program. Drs. Lyle and Linda Bowlin followed in 2002. Dr. Lyle Bowlin led the finance program and served as the first dean of the college from 2004 to 2008. He returned as the dean again in 2015. Dr. Joe Childs served as the dean from 2008 to 2015. Dr. Linda Bowlin started the criminal justice program in 2005, which was moved to the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences in 2016. “When we came to Southeastern, we invested our most valuable assets,” said Plastow. His daughter, SHARLA (PLASTOW) COOK ’03, attended Southeastern and played basketball, along with the Bowlins’ daughter, AMY BOWLIN ’05. Both were our top accounting majors. Amy was the recipient
In 2012, he returned to Dakota Wesleyan University to serve as the dean of graduate studies, while continuing to teach online classes at Southeastern. Three years later, he returned to Southeastern full-time, as a professor and associate dean of the College of Business and Legal Studies.
of the Outstanding Young Alumni Award at Southeastern in 2014 and currently works at Workiva as a solutions architect, in Jacksonville. Sharla is currently working as the corporate controller for Checkers & Rally Restaurants, headquartered in Tampa. Hahn’s daughter, SAMANTHA AUDETTE ’09, worked for the business department while earning her degree in English. She currently teaches in Polk County. Plastow served as both men’s and women’s basketball coach, in addition to starting the business program. His career head coaching record at SEU was 198-124, with six national tournament appearances. During his tenure at Southeastern from 1999 to 2012, the college grew from seven to 500 students in 2012. Due to his hard work in starting and growing the college and the efforts of many, he was selected as the Outstanding Faculty of the Year in 2012. “We want our faculty to teach what they have done in real life. Our faculty members really care about the students
Since returning to Southeastern, Plastow has helped develop and grow the MBA program, along with Dr. Jennifer Stukey. In May of 2015, the program had 105 students enrolled and in the fall of 2016 they enrolled 192 students. The MBA program is offered as a hybrid – offering classes both online and face to face. In the fall of 2016, under the leadership of Bowlin and Plastow, the College of Business welcomed more than 860 students. The college has been noted as the fastest growing and second largest college on campus, following the College of Christian Ministries and Religion. Plastow lives by the mottos of “If you don’t have time to do it right, will you have time to do it over?” and James 1:27, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world”(NIV). He and his wife, Shannon, have implemented James 1:27 into their own lives. Every summer they minister in the Alaskan Bush. In addition, their ministry also extends to their family of 10 children, 23 grandchildren, two great grandchildren, and two rescue Golden Retrievers.
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