Rate My Professor Ravi Paul

Professor Ravi Paul is Professor and Chair of the Department of Management Information Systems in the College of Business at East Carolina University, where he also serves as Associate Dean for Academic Quality. He earned his Ph.D. in Industrial Management with an emphasis in Management Information Systems from Clemson University in 2000, an M.S. in Industrial Management from the same institution in 1990, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Bangalore University in 1986. Before entering academia, Paul held several positions in the IS/IT industry, including MIS Manager and Systems Engineer at Integrated Support Systems, Inc. from 1992 to 1999, Consultant and General Manager at East Park Printing in 1996-1997, and President of Aristos Consulting, LLC since 2002. His academic career includes serving as Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Systems at New Jersey Institute of Technology from 2001 to 2002, and joining East Carolina University as Assistant Professor in 2003, promoted to Associate Professor, and becoming Department Chair in 2020. He also served as Interim Executive Director for Global Affairs at ECU from 2016 to 2017.

Paul's research specializations include global virtual teams, online learning and distance education, transactional distance and relative proximity theory, computer self-efficacy, knowledge sharing in virtual communities, and IS service quality. His publications appear in journals such as IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, Distance Education, American Journal of Distance Education, Journal of Information Technology Education, Information and Management, Requirements Engineering Journal, and Journal of Computer Information Systems. Notable works include "Global Virtual Team Performance: The Effect of Coordination Effectiveness, Trust, and Team Cohesion" (2016), "Revisiting Zhang’s scale of transactional distance: refinement and validation using structural equation modeling" (2015), "Computer self-efficacy, anxiety, and learning in online versus face to face medium" (2012), and "Analyzing the structure of expert knowledge" (2006). Paul has received major teaching awards, including the UNC Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching (2011-2012), ECU Scholar-Teacher Award (2010-2011), UNC Board of Governors Distinguished Professor for Teaching Award (2010-2011), ECU Alumni Association’s Robert L. Jones Award for Outstanding Teaching, and College of Business Commerce Club Teaching Excellence Award (2009-2010). He delivered the commencement address at ECU’s Fall 2012 Graduation and holds fellowships as College of Business Fellow and Chancellor’s Leadership Academy Fellow.