Michael Becker

Professor Michael Becker provides students with an introduction to law, ethics and legal systems as they affect organizational structures and managerial decision-making in both the business and non-profit sectors. Working with students to help them examine legal processes, constitutional law, business crime, property and contracts - as well as other legal issues they're likely to encounter as managers, entrepreneurs and future heads of business - Professor Becker invites discourse on historical legal precedents and topical cases of the moment. He encourages students to question, examine, form and state their position on what they believe to be ethical, legal, fair and humane.

Professor Becker's own academic research explores law topics that include parental rights in guardianship hearings, due process rights in traffic court matters, and continued evidence hearing after formal proceedings end. Dr. Becker is a law graduate of the University of San Francisco and has been teaching at USF since 1975. He is still on active status with the California Bar Association and regularly performs pro-bono and modest-means legal work for people within Alameda and Contra Costa counties. He is one of the founders of the Contra Costa Bar Association's Modest Means Panel and has been awarded for his many years of service by the Alameda County Bar Association.

EDUCATION

• J.D., University of San Francisco, CA
• Ph.D., Social-Organizational Psychology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
• M.S., Industrial / Organizational Psychology, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins,
• B.A., Psychology, University of California at Berkeley, CA
• B.S., Psychology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

The following list is a selection of recent publications and does not represent the entire body of research. "Sequential Maximization: a Method for Weighing Criteria in Performance Appraisal Systems," Western Journal of Human Resources Management, pp. 39-52, 2012 (with Stephen Huxley)

Honors & Awards

• Outstanding Teaching Award, School of Management, USF
• Alameda County Bar Association Award for Pro Bono Efforts
• Other
• Licensed Psychologist, State of California