Skip to content

COVID-19: Piedmont Together—Living and Learning During the Pandemic

Learn more
Piedmont University
  • Academics
  • Visit
  • Apply
  • Giving
  • Athletics

Piedmont News

  1. Home
  2. 2023
  3. March
  4. 14
  5. Two Strikes Put Waller in Higher Education
  • Events
Back to news
Related Stories
  • Piedmont University Business Grad Starts Career as an Auditor — And Much More is to Come

    Last month, Piedmont University Walker College of Business alumna Brittany Latham started a new job

    Keep Reading
  • Facing the Fear: Am I Choosing the Right College? 

    Sometimes I go to the grocery store, stand in front of the cereal aisle and

    Keep Reading
Contact Newsroom
Marketing & Communications
Phone: 706-778-8500 x1152
Email: rpleasant@piedmont.edu News Archive
Mar 14, 2023
/ Article ,Featured ,News ,Parents ,Uncategorized

Two Strikes Put Waller in Higher Education

This series spotlights the people who educate Piedmont University students. We ask them about their childhood, their first jobs, and why they love what they do.

New Jersey native Dr. J. Kerry Waller, Dean of the Harry W. Walker College of Business, is a New York Mets fan who loves the business of sports. 

Waller earned his undergraduate degree in economics at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, and a teaching certificate alongside it. Fresh out of college, he was a substitute teacher while also running his own baseball card shop. 

Unfortunately, his Shoebox Sports Cards company ended with a Major League Baseball strike in 1994-95.

“The market collapsed, absolutely cratered after that,” Waller said. 

Waller then taught at the high school level for a while, but another unfortunate event would end that endeavor as well. Teachers in the district had just returned after a bitter strike.

“People five years into their career were counting the days to retirement,” he said. “I just didn’t want to live like that, so I shied away from public education.”

Waller decided that if he were going to teach, it would be at the college level. He was 30 years old when he began to prepare for the GRE and grad school. He would ultimately complete his PhD at Clemson University.

After working for an insurance company and software solutions company Blackbaud, Waller returned to Dickinson as a visiting professor. When his alma mater offered him a tenured track position teaching business and finance, Waller declined. His true love was and is economics, a subject he said is “all about understanding and explaining behaviors.”

Waller brought that love and an affinity for the South with him when he came to Piedmont and met Ed Taylor, then dean of the Walker College of Business. Taking over that role himself one day was the furthest thing from Waller’s mind.

“Ed took me under his wing and talked to me about the associate dean’s position. He made me think about some things that at the time just didn’t seem possible,” Waller said.

Taylor saw in Waller a “real deal” academic who would cherish interaction with students.

“No. 1, he was totally qualified in one of the disciplines in the business school, and he valued the linkages you make with students,” Taylor said. “Piedmont’s competitive advantage is that we do a good job at that.”

As a first-generation college graduate, Waller profoundly appreciates “the transformative power of education.” Those words were his contribution to the committee that conceived the Vision, Mission, & Core Values for Piedmont. 

It was also Waller’s personal experience as an undergraduate at Dickinson. 

“I didn’t know the possibilities when I got there, but I changed so much in those four years,” Waller said. “That should be our goal. We should transform these students’ lives, transform what they can be.”

Share This Story
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
Previous Article
Next Article
Piedmont University
Contact
  • P.O. Box 10 | 1021 Central Avenue
    Demorest, Georgia | 30535
  • Phone: 1-800-277-7020
  • E-Mail: info@piedmont.edu
Helpful Links
  • Self-Service
  • PilgrimNet
  • Faculty & Staff Directory
  • Campus Safety
  • Library
  • Information Technology
  • Payments
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • Title IX/Legal Disclosures
  • Consumer Disclosures
  • Accessibility
  • Employment
  • Cigna Transparency in Coverage
  • Academics
  • Visit
  • Apply
  • Giving
  • Athletics
  • About Piedmont
    • Celebrating 125 Years
    • Our History
    • Vision, Mission & Values
    • Leadership
    • Rankings, Recognitions, and Alumni Outcomes
    • Faculty & Staff Directory
  • Academics
    • Academic Catalog
    • Piedmont Promise
    • College of Arts & Sciences
    • College of Education
    • College of Nursing & Health Sciences
    • Walker College of Business
    • Online Programs
    • Library
    • The Fine Arts at Piedmont
  • Admissions & Aid
    • Apply
    • Graduate Admissions
    • Financial Aid
    • Request Information
    • Accepted Students
    • Tuition & Fees
    • Student Accounts
    • Piedmont University Viewbook
    • Parents & Families
  • Alumni
  • Campus Life
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Residence Life
    • Student Support Services
  • Resources
  • Info For…
    • Future Students
    • Current Students
    • Alumni & Friends
  • Piedmont News
  • Piedmont Events
  • Academics
  • Visit
  • Apply
  • Giving
  • Athletics