Cliff T. Ragsdale teaches several courses for the Institute in the area of operations research, based on his best selling text “Spreadsheet Modeling and Decision Analysis.”  One of Cliff’s special talents is making his subject, which can be quite challenging technically, widely accessible. His courses do not have flashy bells and whistles, but are consistently rated among the best at Statistics.com.

William Barbour, Audi of America, says:  

“This course was flat-out excellent. Dr. Ragsdale sets the gold standard for teaching, from his clear and informative text to his prompt and helpful forum responses to his efficient and effective course design. I now have tools that I can put work immediately to benefit my company.”

Cliff is Bank of America Professor of Business Information Technology at Virginia Tech where he also serves as Academic Director for the Center for Business Intelligence and Analytics. His primary research interests involve applications of quantitative modeling techniques to managerial decision making problems.

Dr. Ragsdale has served as a consultant for a variety of organizations including General Mills, The World Bank, Frontline Systems, and Dominion Energy. His research has been published in Decision Sciences, Naval Research Logistics, Operations Research Letters, Computers and Operations Research, OMEGA, Personal Financial Planning, Financial Services Review, Decision Support Systems, and a number of other scholarly journals.

He is a Fellow of the Decision Sciences Institute and a member of INFORMS. He has also served as the faculty advisor for the Virginia Tech student chapter of APICS and on the Board of Directors for the Southwest Chapter of APICS.