Dr. David S. Fearon, Ph.D.

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I came to Central Connecticut State University in 1986, serving as Chairman of the Management and Organization Department from 1987-1990. I became a tenured Professor of Management in 1996.

I am keenly interested in learning and teaching how managerial and organizational knowledge is created and enacted in the workplace for productive and profitable work. My specialty in the organizational behavior of learning for innovation is grounded in degrees in Sociology from Colby College and Educational Leadership from Central Michigan University and my PhD from the University of Connecticut.

A proud recipient of the University’s Excellence in Teaching Award, my workshops and consultations are organized as an on-going experiment to discover optimal learning designs matching how people in the best companies work, manage, learn and grow. Courses in innovation, quality, knowledge management, quality, strategy & operations, organizational behavior and management fundamentals also serve as primary laboratories for my published works on effective organizational and managerial learning behaviors on the job, online, and in the classroom.

My book with Steven Cavaleri, Inside Knowledge: Rediscovering the Source of Performance Improvement. (ASQ Quality Press, 2005) is a full novel of business fiction that delivers principles for continuously improving the quality of one’s pragmatic knowledge for operational innovation. I recently completed a comprehensive guide for teaching with a first edition textbook: Organizational Behavior: a Strategic Approach (John R.Wiley & Sons, 2006). My chapter in Educating Managers with Real World Projects (Information Age, 2005) entitled “A Management Education Model for Bridging the Academic and Real Worlds” with Eugene Baten and Cheryl Harrison stems from my long-term role as Business Professor in Residence in Healthcare at Hospital for Special Care. My team originated a work-based management education program for operational managers using the hospital’s strategic plan to frame the action research and action learning curriculum. Starting this cycle of my career, I co-edited and wrote Managing in Organizations that Learn with Steven Cavaleri (Blackwell, 1996).

My experience spans over forty years of converting collegiate resources to meet learning needs of students, organizations, and communities. Before coming to CCSU, I taught at the University of Hartford, Colby College, and the University of Southern Maine. My main management experience was as Dean of Public Service at the University of Maine at Farmington and Director of the University System-wide Health Education Resource Centers. Prior to this, I originated roles to spearhead collegiate outreach by Three Rivers Community College (then Mohegan Community College) and Eastern Connecticut State University (then Willimantic State College).

I live in New Hartford, Connecticut with my wife of 42 years, Connie. Our son David is in Santa Barbara, California and our daughter Laura is in Jackson, Wyoming.