Stephen P. Shao, Jr. is a college professor/administrator, researcher and technical consultant.   He joined Cumberland University as a full time faculty member in 2017 after serving as an adjunct instructor for several years.  Dr. Shao holds a Ph.D. degree in Management Science from the University of Maryland, an M.B.A. in Business Administration from Old Dominion University, and a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Virginia.  He has received additional training from courses, institutes and industry workshops at the University of Minnesota, AT&T Bell Laboratories and Bell Northern Research.

Dr. Shao has served as a faculty member and taught graduate and undergraduate courses in mathematics, computer information systems, marketing research, project management, operations management and economics at universities in Maryland, Tennessee, and Virginia.  Dr. Shao is a former director of two university research centers and currently serves as founding editor of the CU Labry School’s business publication Wilson County Trends and founding program director of the school’s supply chain management curriculum.  Before his current academic activities, Dr. Shao was employed in the telecommunications industry as a member of technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories in Holmdel, NJ and later as Senior Manager of Strategic Network Planning for the Canadian telecom manufacturer NorTel Networks’ U.S. operations headquartered in Nashville, TN.

Dr. Shao’s research efforts have been supported by a variety of sources, including grants received from the National Institutes of Health, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Tennessee Valley Authority, IBM Corporation, Dell Foundation, BellSouth Foundation, AOL Foundation, AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, Baltimore Regional Planning Council, and others.   In addition to serving on numerous national, state and local advisory boards, Dr. Shao has authored over 150 published articles and conference presentations. Past awards and professional memberships include a AT&T Special Telecollaboration Award, Tennessee Governor’s Certificate of Appreciation, IEEE Society; National Engineering Consortium; Institute of Management Science; International Teleconferencing Association; Who’s Who in Technology Today; International Who’s Who; Tennessee Association of Independent Colleges and Schools and Omega Rho Honorary Society.