Mildred Golden Pryor, PH.D.

Professor

Dr. Mildred Golden Pryor rose to her current status from humble beginnings, growing up in a farming family in rural Mississippi. She never imagined that college was possible for a farm girl like herself, but she took the plunge after her mother and her paternal grandfather helped instill in her the confidence that she could go on to do great things. After graduating as valedictorian from her high school, she attended Northwest Community College, and then later Memphis State University (now University of Memphis), where she received her BBA and MBA degrees. She broke through as a woman in the male-dominated field of business and earned her Ph.D. in 1971 from the University of Mississippi. Pryor has more than 50 years of combined experience in education and the professional world of business. She was rewarded for her dedication and expertise with the distinction of Texas A&M University System Regents Professor in 2018. Dr. Pryor also received a variety of academic and industry excellence awards.

A Conversation with Mildred

What would you tell a student who is thinking about attending A&M-Commerce?

“Faculty members, staff and administrators care about students. We listen. We do everything we can do to help students and each other. Students are our customers, they are the reason we exist. Students are also co-managers of the teaching/learning process.”

What draws you to your discipline?

“My discipline is management, which I am drawn to because of the potential to positively impact all types of organizations. I teach MGT 527 (Strategic Management); and I publish in this area as well. At the doctoral level, I have four fields, three of which I teach (Production and Operations Management; Organizational Theory and Behavior; and Quantitative Methods). I publish in those areas as well. Quantitative Methods is a real asset in my teaching and in my publishing.”

What has been your favorite course to teach?

“As mentioned previously, my discipline and my academic fields qualify me to teach a variety of courses. I really love to teach MGT 527 (Strategic Management); Management 575 (Operations Management); MGT 591 (Quality Management and Six Sigma); and MGT 594 (Transforming Organizations).”

Tell us about a project you are currently working on or recently completed.

“My colleagues and I are working on several manuscripts for which we are targeting the Journal of Management History and other academic journals. I am fascinated by people who have made major positive impact (e.g., Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King, Mary Kay Ash, Mary Parker Follet and Lilian Gilbreth).”

Tell us about yourself (educational background, research interests, etc.)

“It is much more interesting to tell you about who influenced me to care about success and to make significant achievements in terms of education, teaching, research and service. One of those people was my daddy's dad (my grandfather), a farmer who had a 7th-grade education and who taught me that I could do or be anything I wanted to do or be. Another was my mama who graduated from high school. My mama was the smartest person I ever met in my life. She was a farm lady. We chopped cotton, picked cotton, and raised our own vegetables and animals. Mama read books (and encouraged me to read books) from the bookmobile that came to our school. At a garage sale, she found a lot of books by Aristotle, Plato and other old masters. She read them all, and she penciled in her ideas in the margins of the books. I have those books. Yes, I read them too. She gave me a thirst for knowledge and application of knowledge that has sustained and inspired me in my academic career and my management career in industry. There are other relatives, teachers, colleagues, students and others who have taught and inspired me as well, including Dr. W. Edwards Deming and Dr. Joseph Juran, who taught me to love quality and continuous improvement. Also Brian Cullen, CEO, inspired me and trusted me to lead the TQM/SQM (continuous improvement) implementation at E-Systems/Raytheon, Greenville, Texas.

Educational Background

• Ph.D. Business Administration (Production & Operations Management, Quantitative Methods, Organizational Theory and Behavior, and Economics), University of Mississippi, 1971
• M.B.A., Memphis State University, 1965
• B.B.A., Memphis State University, 1964

Academic Positions

• Professor, Texas A&M University-Commerce, 1968-1979, 2002-Present
• Chairman of the Department of Marketing and Management/Professor, Stephen F. Austin State University, 1979-1984
• Professor, Troy State University, European Division (England, Germany, Turkey), 1975-1976

Selected Awards and Honors

• Texas A&M University System, Regents Professor
• TAMUC Mayo Professor
• TAMUC Eminent Faculty Scholar, 2020
• TAMUC Faculty Senate Academic Life Committee and Texas Association of Black Personnel in Higher Education, Harry Wade Senior Faculty Award Nominee, 2018
• Hunt County African American Leadership Conference, Martin Luther King Educator of the Year (MLK) Award, 2018

• Texas Association of Black Personnel in Higher Education Award, 2018
• Quality Texas Conference, Leader, Quality Initiatives and Awards, 2017
• TAMUC Faculty Senate Awards in Teaching and Research
• TAMU System Teaching Excellence Awards

Research Interests

• Strategic Management
• Quality Management, Six Sigma,
• Organizational Transformation
• Management History

Professional Organizations

• Academy of Management
• Southwest Academy of Management
• Southwest Case Research Association

Selected Publications

• Taneja, S., Atinc, G., & Pryor, M.G. (2018). Strategic Reorientation in Failing Firms: The CEO Perspective. Journal of Business Strategies, 34(2): 125-144.

• Collins, J. R. and Pryor, M.G. (2018). Perfect Deliverable – Non-Negotiable Customer Requirement: On-Time Delivery. Southwest Case Research Association Proceedings.

• Pryor, M.G. (2017, July). Small Business Systems and Their Entrepreneurial Owner-Managers, Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, 22(3): 42-53.

• Poursaied, N. and Pryor, M.G. (2017, January). Comparing the Performance of Quality Management in SMEs with and without ISO 9001 Certification, Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, 22(1): 49-67.

• Taneja, S., Pryor, M.G., and Hayek, M. (2016). Leaping Innovation Barriers to Small Business Longevity. Journal of Business Strategy 37(3), 44-51.

• Pryor, M.G. and Taneja, S. (2010). Henri Fayol, Practitioner and Theoretician – Revered and Reviled, Journal of Management History, 16(4), 489-503.

• Pryor, M.G., Hendrix, M., Alexander, C. and Collins, B. (2010). World Class University: The Implementation of Strategic Quality Management (SQM), International Journal of Education Research, 5(2), 109-127.

• Pryor, M.G., Anderson, D., Toombs, L.A., and Humphreys, J.H. (2007, April). Strategic Implementation as a Core Competency: The 5P's Model, Journal of Management Research, 7(1), 3-17.