Catherine Ridings

Dr. Catherine Ridings is a Professor Emeritus in the College of Business at Lehigh University, where she dedicated 23 years to academia. She served as the Director of the Undergraduate Business Information Systems program from 2006 to 2013 and held the position of interim department chair for Decision and Technology Analytics. Dr. Ridings has taught various courses, including Java programming, Artificial Intelligence, and Database Management. Her primary research focuses on virtual communities, exploring aspects such as social networks, trust, knowledge management, and electronic commerce. She has published extensively in reputable journals like the Journal of Management Information Systems and received accolades for her dissertation on trust in virtual communities, which won the Decision Sciences Institute's 2001 Elwood S. Buffa Doctoral Dissertation Award. Her contributions to the field have been recognized with Lehigh University's Robert and Christine Staub Faculty Excellence Award in 2020 and the Deming Lewis Faculty Award in 2023. Dr. Ridings holds a Ph.D. in Decision Sciences (Management Information Systems) from Drexel University, an MBA from Drexel University in Management Information Systems, and a BS/BA from Villanova University in Computer Science and Arts & Sciences Honors Program.