Margie L. McInerney, PhD, possesses a track record of proven success culminating in her present role as a professor of management at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Excelling in her position since 1990, she first joined the academic institution in 1986 as an associate professor. During her career at Marshall University, she was also the director of the nurse anesthesia program and the director of the honors program. Prior to these appointments, she served in the field of education as a research associate and teaching/research assistant at The Ohio State University between 1980 and 1983 and as an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington between 1982 and 1986.
Inspired to enter the field of education by her aunt, a junior high school teacher, Dr. McInerney always admired her aunt’s strength and desired to emulate her passion. However, this passion did not come to fruition until the latter stages of her professional career, having spent the first half of her vocational journey in the banking industry. Commencing her career in 1977, she was a bank examiner for the Comptroller of the Currency at the United States Treasury Department in Atlanta, Georgia, for two years. Subsequently, she served as a bank auditor for Citizens and Southern Bank in Macon, Georgia, in 1979. Subsequently, Dr. McInerney found the banking industry did not adequately match her skill set; therefore, she sought to enter the field of academia. Attending The Ohio State University Max M. Fisher College of Business, she then received a Doctor of Philosophy in human resource management in 1983. Her prior educational credentials include a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Akron earned in 1975 and a Master of Business Administration from Marshall University in 1977.
Outside of her primary career efforts, Dr. McInerney has taught at several other prominent universities, having served as an adjunct faculty member at the South campus of Ohio University in Ironton since 1987 and at Central Michigan University in the Wright-Paterson Air Force Base since 1988. Previously, she spent time as an adjunct faculty member and as an instructor at Wesleyan College between 1979 and 1980. Civically engaged in her community as well, Dr. McInerney has served on the board of advisors for Alias 14 W since 2018, as a committee member for Rubberlite since 2012 and for the LERA Automobile Industry Council since 1988, and as an administrative advisor for Delta Zeta since 2011. Additionally, she lent her time and expertise to First United Methodist Church in Huntington as a member of the administrative board of directors, to the Girls Club in Wilmington, North Carolina, as a member of their board of directors, and to Sigma Nu Fraternity in Huntington as an advisor.
Dr. McInerney attributes much of her success to her passion for seeing her students succeed. To this end, she feels fortunate that Marshall University has provided her with a number of opportunities to develop professionally. Likewise, she says that her success as a researcher arose from her genuine love of learning, having always been interested in new areas of research and sharing her findings with her students. In this regard, Dr. McInerney has published several academic presentations and management cases in her areas of expertise and was the first author of “Integrating Artificial Intelligence Into Traditional University Business Management Programs” in “Artificial Intelligence and Its Impact on Business” in 2019.
To commemorate her achievements, Dr. McInerney has received a myriad of accolades in honor of her educational prowess. Most recently, in 2021, she received the Distinguished Service Award from Marshall University, having been inducted into the Marshall Society of Human Resource Managers’ Hall of Distinction the same year. She earned the Meet the Scholars Award from the advisory board of the Lewis College of Business in 2017, the West Virginia State Government 30-Year Service Pin in 2016, and the Online Teacher Award in 2009. Furthermore, Marshall University bestowed upon her its Hedrick Outstanding Faculty Award in 1997. Dr. McInerney was also named an Outstanding Professor by the Interfraternity and Panhellenic Councils at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in 1985, among other honors.
Although she has experienced numerous career achievements, Dr. McInerney cites that the highlight of her career was taking her mother and daughter to the award ceremony, where she accepted the Hedrick Outstanding Faculty Award. She shared that she is particularly proud of her own ability to adapt and evolve with the ever-changing nature of society and technology, as Marshall University was a pioneering institution in transitioning to remote learning through interactive television. To wit, Dr. McInerney was the second professor from the institution’s College of Business to participate in the initiative. Currently, her research interests are in human capital and artificial intelligence. In the coming years, she aims to continue teaching for as long as she is able.