Dr. Andy Czuchry, holder of the AFG Industries Chair of Excellence in Business and Technology at East Tennessee State University, will deliver ETSU’s spring commencement address during graduation exercises beginning at 9 a.m. May 6, in Memorial Center.
Czuchry has served as the AFG Industries Chairholder since coming to the university in 1992. He also holds a dual appointment as a tenured professor in both the Department of Management and Marketing and the Department of Technology and Geomatics within the ETSU College of Business and Technology.
Czuchry’s love of entrepreneurship is evidenced on many levels.
As a visiting professor at the Hochschule Bremen University of Applied Sciences in Germany, he helped establish ETSU as an international presence through a partnership between ETSU’s Innovation Laboratory and the Business Incubator in Bremen, with both partners assisting new business concerns.
At ETSU, Czuchry has created the Entrepreneurial Leadership Graduate Certificate Program and the Entrepreneurial Leadership Concentration in the university’s Master of Technology Program. These programs of study are designed to help students, faculty, and staff embark on new technology ventures.
In addition, Czuchry is the founder and faculty adviser for The Entrepreneurs’ Club, providing a forum for ETSU students and faculty to interact with successful local business leaders.
Striving for excellence is another of Czuchry’s concerns. Since 1993, he has served as a member of the panel of judges for the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence (TNCPE).
The organization has contributed substantially to economic development across the state. Its Quality Award Program, based on the prestigious Malcolm Baldridge Awards, has assisted hundreds of businesses to implement plans for continuous improvement.
In recognition of his work “to promote performance excellence in the classroom, the community, and the business world,” Czuchry was recently honored as the 2006 recipient of TNCPE’s Ned R. McWherter Leadership Award.
As president of the North-east Tennessee Technology Council, Czuchry developed a framework for networking technology-based companies to promote synergistic development of technology innovation throughout the region.
Czuchry has served as a resource for local business, industry, and the professional community to facilitate implementation of team building, innovation, and continuous improvement programs.
He has worked directly with more than 20 organizations in the past five years and, through his leadership roles, has had an impact on some 100 additional groups. During that same period, he has co-authored 16 peer-reviewed journal articles and 16 peer-reviewed papers.
Before arriving at ETSU, Czuchry was president of the Bedford, Mass., IRISS Corp., a joint venture between Raytheon Company and General Dynamics.
He came to the university with more than 20 years of experience as a professional manager in the electronics industry, including assignments from general management of major electronics manufacturing programs to laboratory management of engineering design teams.
After obtaining a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Connecticut, Czuchry remained there to earn a master of science and Ph.D. degrees with a concentration in aeronautical engineering.
Czuchry and his wife, Sandra, are residents of Gray. They have three sons, a daughter and two grandchildren.

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