About Concord University
For more than 150 years, Concord University has served the southern region of West Virginia, southwest Virginia and beyond, educating teachers, business leaders, scientists, social workers, as well as future medical and legal professionals. With a 14:1 student to faculty ratio and over 70 programs of study, Concord provides you with a quality education no matter what you choose.
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Assistant Professor of Business
Dr. Allison Bean is an assistant professor of business at Concord University. She began teaching at Concord in the Fall of 2022. Before joining Concord full-time, she was a project manager and earned her Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. Dr. Bean is a graduate of Mercer University’s School of Business. She earned her Executive MBA from Wesleyan College, where she was recognized with the “Distinguished Student” award and had the opportunity to study business operations in Chile and Argentina. She completed her doctoral research at Walden University on “The Strategies of Successful Project Managers Leading Virtual Teams.” Dr. Bean worked for several Fortune 100 companies and specialized in designing and improving processes. She was in the financial services and insurance industry for over 15 years, where she’s done everything ranging from supervising risk managers to developing technologies that identified fraud and identifying and solving gaps in compliance. She says of her time at Concord, “My most enlightening experience was the Spring of 2023 graduation. So many of my students expressed how much they learned from me and expressed gratefulness for caring about them. I didn’t realize I could make such a huge impact in such a short period of time.” Dr. Bean spends her free time serving in her community, playing sports, traveling, reading murder mystery books, and spending time with her husband, Dr. Michael Bean, and their two daughters, Michaela and Mickenzie.
Dr. Allison Bean
Assistant Professor of Business
Dr. Tracy Luff
Professor of Sociology & Director of Honors Program
Summer McElwain
Class of 2021
Dr. Scott Inghram '03
MSW Program Director and Associate Professor
Chair, Department of Social Work and Title IX Coordinator
When Dr. Pendergast was finishing her Ph.D. in Social Work Education at the University of South Carolina, she dreamed of teaching at a school like Concord. “I have wanted to live in the mountains for as long as I can remember,” she says. In 2007, she accepted a tenure-track position at CU and has found a home here. “The campus community is welcoming and accepting,” she says. Before completing her doctoral degree, Dr. Pendergast was a practicing social worker, valuable experience she shares with her students. “When I speak with students about social work, I explain that this is the best job and worst job you can have,” she says. “It’s very rewarding to see how people can change their lives, and it can be discouraging when these changes do not come.” Dr. Pendergast is dedicated to preparing her students for the realities they’ll face after graduation, and says she enjoys “being a small part of their journey.”
