Embry-Riddle Worldwide Faculty Add Extra Experience to Expand and Humanize Business Education

When it comes to offering business degrees that put students on course to becoming aviation industry leaders, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Worldwide Campus stands apart.

In addition to renowned online courses that are specifically designed to accommodate the lifestyles of busy working professionals, Embry-Riddle’s deep connections to the global aerospace industry ensure students have direct access to internship and career opportunities with today’s top employers.

Another distinguishing aspect of a Business degree at Embry-Riddle Worldwide is the expertise and experience of the College of Business faculty, whose skills span a range of key aviation and aerospace disciplines and serve to enhance the solid business foundation that students receive.

One such example is Associate Professor Dr. Michael D. Santonino III, who teaches courses in the Master of Business Administration in Aviation and the B.S. in Aviation Business Administration programs.

Dr. Santonino, who earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the ABET-accredited New York Institute of Technology, recently completed a sabbatical that took him back to his engineering roots and allowed him to become the first Worldwide College of Business faculty member to publish in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer (IEEE) Access journal, quite an accomplishment for a business professor who has been out of engineering for 20 years.

“It has been a while since I was designing RF/microwave circuitry, calculating S-parameters, and measuring on spectrum analyzers and complex phase-arrays systems,” Dr. Santonino said with a laugh. “But I wanted to recall the ‘good old days’ and blend my engineering and business management background to publish in IEEE, even though it was a long and arduous journey to publish in such a high-quality journal.”

For Dr. Santonino, the high-tech side of the aviation industry was rooted in his DNA at the start of his career as he worked on the Rockwell B-1B Lancer bomber’s integrated RF countermeasure system at Raytheon Company-Sedco System.

He continued a successful engineering career at AT&T Bell Labs Microelectronics (as a member of the Technical Staff), Motorola Inc. and Harris Corporation as he also pursued a double doctorate in management and marketing from H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship at Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, which is AACSB accredited.

His career ladder progressed from electrical engineering to business management after post-graduate study, which, in turn, led to teaching.

Dr. Santonino joined the Worldwide faculty 12 years ago to teach a variety of management and marketing courses online, at several of Embry-Riddle’s U.S. campuses and at the Asia Campus, where he spent up to four months a year for eight years in a row.

“Eventually, anyone in business has a decision to make,” he said. “Over time, if you decide where your passion best fits, follow that path. My passion was touching the lives of a culturally diverse student population by teaching at military bases and our students in Singapore. My time at the Worldwide Campus has allowed me (and many other faculty members) to reach a diverse student body across the globe. It has been a life-changing journey.”

While Dr. Santonino’s own accomplishments are unique, his additional range of aviation experience is not. The entire instructional team at the Worldwide College of Business has extra expertise that they share with every student who pursues any one of the 14 bachelor’s or master’s degrees the school offers.

“We have learned the lessons,” Dr. Santonino said, “so we can share them with our students.”