| Winter 1999 | ||
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Publication of news and current events from the Albers School of Business and Economics. |
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Business Students Win Case of the Year Competition |
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New Graduate Program in Professional Accounting |
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1999 Albers Distinguished Speakers Series |
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Undergraduate Program News |
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Albers People |
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Upcoming Events |
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| DEAN’S MESSAGE
I am very pleased to report that the Board of Trustees in February approved two new degree programs for the Albers School. We have added a Master Degree in Professional Accounting and a new Bachelor Degree in Risk Management. The Master Degree in Professional Accounting is designed to meet the educational needs of students that would like to fulfill the education requirements for the Certified Public Accounting examination under the new state standards that go into effect in January 2000 as well as students seeking graduated education in accounting. The Risk Management Program is a new, leading-edge curriculum that provides an integrated or enterprise-wide approach to risk analysis and transfer. The Risk Management has been designed as a partnership program with business. We have used the advice and direction given by our industry advisory board in designing the curriculum. We are now seeking both internship opportunities and immediate scholarships for students coming into the program as juniors. In addition to the new degree programs, the Albers School is implementing an E-Commerce concentration that will be available both at the graduate and the undergraduate level starting in the Fall. This will initially be a three-course sequence consisting of 1. Object-Oriented Systems Analysis and Design, 2. Database Systems, and 3. Electronic Commerce, Internet, and Distributed Computing. We are seeking funding now to develop a state of the arts Center for knowledge and Information Management to be used in developing our students’ skills in E-commerce, systems management, and database usage. We are seeking the advice and support of our alumni and friends in all three of these new initiatives. If you are willing to work with us or our students in any of these programs, please call me at (206) 296-5699 or send an E-mail to me at jwd@seattleu.edu Jan Warren Duggar |
Business Students Win Case of the Year Competition For the first time, students in the Albers School of Business and Economics won the regional competition in both the undergraduate and graduate categories for the field case of the year competition of the Small Business Institute Directors Association. Twelve students developed business cases and strategies designed to strengthen and advance two local area businesses. Six undergraduate students in the Policy/Strategy course committed 550 hours of business analysis work for Larry Goldman, owner of Ace Jewelry and Loan in Seattle. Six graduate students in the MBA Competitive Strategy course committed 750 hours of business analysis work for Don Tsai, president and CEO of Hylink Technology Inc. in Bellevue. "The students provided a real service to the business community with this consulting and it speaks highly of the capability of our students when engaging in this mutually beneficial learning experience," said Harriet Stephenson, director of the Entrepreneurship Center. Since the school started competing in 1991, either a graduate or undergraduate team has won a regional award in eight out of the nine years for their participation. In five of the nine years, a graduate team has placed in the national competition-with a first place in 1993. For more information about the Albers School of Business and Economics and the Entrepreneurship Center, visit their web site at http://www.seattleu.edu/asbe/ec. |
The Gift of Time and Technology to Non-Profits Student teams in the graduate class, Info 560: Information Technology and Business Applications completed several projects for non-profit organizations as part of their service learning projects. Projects included: an equipment & supplies database for Habitat for Humanity to keep track of donation inventory in warehouses, a database to trace volunteers and dogs for Canine Companion (dogs for the developmentally disabled), a web page for Atlantic Street Group (assistance for minority youth, ESL, and Citizenship classes) and a database to track survey data for STEP (an HIV education group). |
Albers Hosts Satellite Sessions with Eli Goldratt The Albers School is a host site for eight sessions via satellite with Dr. Eli Goldratt, best known for creating the Theory of Constraints and his business novel, The Goal. He has sold over three million copies of his books, which are used by hundreds of schools and thousands of companies, and translated into 23 languages. The Goldratt Satellite Program sessions are broadcast from the Netherlands and started on the Seattle University Campus on March 3 with 50 registrants. Several companies, seeking a common vocabulary and approach for solving problems, sent three or more participants. According to faculty facilitators, Greg Magnan and Alan Leader, the participants are actively engaged and the post-session discussions are lively. |
New Graduate Program in Professional Accounting As part of a strategy for continuing to serve the public accounting profession under Washington State’s new five-year educational requirements, Seattle University is announcing a new graduate degree in professional accounting. The accounting faculty has been in consultation with its Accounting Associates Advisory Board, other public accounting professionals and educators here and in other parts of the nation. Their approach for sustaining a strong, competitive accounting program that can respond to the profession's growth and changing needs is to serve the reconfigured professional accounting market at the undergraduate level with an emphasis on enterprise accounting and at the graduate level with an emphasis on public accounting. Seattle University will be accepting students into a Masters of Professional Accounting beginning Fall Quarter 1999. Students will be entering the masters program from basically two sources: students with undergraduate degrees in accounting and students without degrees in business and/or accounting. Students wishing to pursue the masters in accounting work without business and/or accounting studies will first finish a business and accounting foundation requirement, and then undertake studies in the Master of Professional Accounting. |
1999 Albers Distinguished Speakers Series Dr. John W.
Mitchell, U.S. Bancorp Economist, Nicholas R.
Lardy, Foreign Policy Scholar and Author SAFECO
President and CEO, Boh Dickey |
Albers School Workshop on Environmental Management The Albers School of Business and Economics sponsored a workshop on Sustainable Environmental Management. It was open to business faculty throughout the State of Washington and was co-sponsored by the World Resources Institute (WRI). The program consisted of speakers from industry, environmental groups and the WRI, in addition to case study materials and texts for classroom use. The Albers School's own Allen Bellas was one of the presenters. Dr. Bellas’ research interests include Environmental Economics, Pollution Control, and Markets for Pollution Permits. |
The Albers School is pleased to announce its Risk Management major in the bachelor of arts in business administration degree program. This major offers students a dynamic and interdisciplinary approach to managing the various risks that firms and individuals face today. It is the only Risk Management program available in the Northwest United States. Local risk managers from banking, insurance and other businesses, consulting firms, nonprofits and government agencies have expressed strong support for the development of an academic program covering both pure (insurable) and operational risks in a variety of institutional settings. Industry leaders participated in the development of the program to ensure it meets the needs of the business community. The Risk Management major will provide students with an understanding of the various risks firms and individuals can face: operating risks, legal exposures, political risks and financial and market related risks. In addition to identifying and quantifying risk, students will study methods to manage risk through insurance, loss prevention, hedging and other techniques. Students must complete an approved internship in the risk management and insurance field. Graduates of the program will be prepared to take positions in risk management in corporations, financial institutions or government agencies, as well as firms focusing on controlling risk, such as insurance companies and risk management consulting firms. The major also serves as an excellent platform for graduates pursuing careers in management, marketing, and finance. |
Accounting Students Offer Free Income Tax Preparation For the 25th consecutive year, the Albers School Accounting Department and the Delta Eta Chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, a student accounting organization, are offering free income tax preparation service through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. Each year students in the program prepare more than 900 returns. "VITA provides a valuable community service and learning experience," said Ann Dawson, accounting instructor. "Such a service is an integral part of the Jesuit tradition of developing student commitment to community service." The VITA program was developed by
the Internal Revenue Service primarily to assist low
income taxpayers. Seattle University is the oldest
VITA site in Washington. For more information call
206-296-5799. |
Albers School Receives Grant to Encourage Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development The Herb Jones Foundation awarded a grant to the school in the amount of $280,000, over a three-year-period, to encourage entrepreneurship and small business development, faculty support, and curriculum enhancement. Herb Jones was a long time supporter of the Albers School. For the last several years, his generosity has supported the ASBE Mentor programs, the Entrepreneurship Center, and the COPA program. His foundation established after his death last spring, funds programs that support entrepreneurship and small businesses at five local schools. "We will encourage start ups, new product ideas, human growth, and values in organizations. The first decade of the 2000s will be the entrepreneurial decade. This opens the opportunity for us to explore how entrepreneurship can help solve social challenges such as poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, and crime. The grant will enable SU's Entrepreneurship Center to be a part of designing the Entrepreneurial Decade," said Harriet Stephenson, director of the Entrepreneurship Center and professor of business management. |
As you know, team work is a buzz word of the present day work environment and in an effort to better prepare our undergraduates for a team oriented work world, the Albers School held its first "Team Leadership Retreat" in February. Co-sponsored by the Certificate of Professional Achievement (COPA) program, the retreat was developed with feedback from our students. Frequently required to work in teams on classroom projects, Albers students wanted better understanding of the individual roles they play in a team and what impacts group dynamics. The challenge was to design a program that encouraged team interaction, but also gave students concrete feedback on their communication and leadership skills. With the assistance of Liz Skofield, Director of Campus Life, Teresa Christianson, Recruiter for Washington Mutual and Lorie Johnson, Albers Placement Center Director, a program was designed that paired student participants with business professionals that demonstrated team leadership skills using a mountain climbing theme. Throughout the day, students interacted through a series of structured exercises while their business professionals observed their skills in such areas as creative problem solving, relationship building, leadership, and communication skills. Time was structured to allow students to assess their performance, receive on-going feedback from their professional, and set goals to work on in future team efforts. Here are some comments from our evaluations: "This event teaches us to work in a team, defend our opinion, adapt to others’ opinions, and learn to look at the problem as if in a real meeting. I think there should be more events like this." "Today was a blast. The retreat was a great way to get to know more about how you work in a group and what others perceive. Also, it is helpful to be more aware of how people contribute to a group and how to work with them." The Team Leadership Retreat will be offered again next year and we are planning modifications and enhancements suggested by this year’s participants. If you would like to be part of this program or assist in developing other programs for our undergraduate students, please contact Wendie Phillips, Director of Undergraduate Programs at (206) 296-5790 or wphillip@seattleu.edu |
Under the guidance of Professor Al Ansari, three of our MBA students, Martin Geiger, Dennis Lambert, and Ellen Tepper, participated in a research project called "Project Network" for US West. Students from Seattle University, Portland State University, Arizona State University, and St. Thomas University (Minn.) were each awarded a $5,000 scholarship for their work on this research project. They worked on addressing the problem - to what extent does network capacity exist (or will exist in the near future) that allows a new entrant to compete effectively against the incumbent local exchange carrier, in this case US West. The Albers graduate office has moved to communicating news, schedule changes, advising alerts, and upcoming events with our graduate students via email. Over 750 students are currently on the list. The school is taking the first step toward an Exchange Program with the Institute of Business Management (University of Caen, France). Students in the Albers' graduate programs will now be able to take up to three courses at the University of Caen and have them apply to their program at Seattle University. We are anticipating on having our first students from France entering our MBA program this fall. Beginning this Fall, the Albers School is planning on offering courses in E-Commerce and additional Information Systems classes. Dean Jan Duggar is beginning work on an additional computer lab in the Pigott building for E-commerce and database management classes. He will be seeking support and advice from faculty, donors, alums and current students for the design. For more information on graduate programs, contact Mary Carpenter, Director of Graduate Programs at 206-296-5708 or at carpms@seattleu.edu. |
Rave Reviews for New Executive Leadership Program This fall, an exciting new program, the Executive Leadership Program, began. Developed for mid- and senior-level managers from companies throughout the Northwest, the program has an interdisciplinary design created by faculty from the School of Education, School of Theology and Ministry, and the Albers School of Business and Economics. Core to this design is an emphasis on ethics and values in relationship to leadership theory and practice. Mentoring and executive coaching are central components within the program. This program is at the heart of the university's mission to educate the whole person. Courses include Leadership: Vision and Practice, Team Building and Leadership Skills, Ethical Leadership, Effective Enterprise and Leadership Synthesis. The seven-month cohort experience takes place between September and March and is limited to 24 participants in order to ensure personalized attention. Executives, many on succession plans for future responsibilities are chosen by their companies,. Companies are supporting the participants with funding that covers all school expenses (tuition, books, parking, etc.) as well as providing release time from their regular work schedule for participation in the 17-credit certificate program. This year's inaugural cohort, representing the Boeing Company, Weyerhaeuser, Frank Russell, Seattle City Light, Port of Seattle, Safeco, Costco, and ArtCatalog.com., voices strong enthusiasm about their experience. |
Albers Students Share their Talents In just the past two years, students in our new MBA 510 course have shared thousands of hours of their talents with charities around the northwest. Below is a partial list of the beneficiaries of their work. Toys for Tots |
Barbara Parker Publishes Book on Globalization Barbara Parker, associate professor
of management, has written a textbook, Globalization
and Business Practice: Managing Across Boundaries,
which has been published by Sage Publications,
London. |
The placement center is very busy this time of year. Preparing students for interviewing, reviewing resumes and keeping the job and internship listing fresh each week. Here are a few of the interesting sessions coming up in the next two months. Etiquette Dinner "The Food Test" Wow, what a great restaurant, this guy really must want to hire me. Now let’s see, I know that one of these water glasses is mine, but which one? Okay, bread, I know I’m suppose to put it on one of these small plates, but is it the one on the left or on the right? Look at this menu, well, this company’s got to have an expense account to cover this, I’m going for the Lobster! This is going to be a great company to work for…Not if these are the thoughts going through your mind! Employers want more than technical skills to get the job done. They need to know that you will represent them well when dealing with their customers, competitors, and colleagues. The annual Etiquette Dinner will be April 19, 5:00-8:30pm in Campion Ballroom. Dress for Success Do you know what to wear for that all-important first appointment? How about the second and third with the same employer? Do you wear the same thing each time? Can you only afford one good Interview suit? Now what? Do you know what "business casual" really means? What are you going to need in your wardrobe that first year in your new career? The experts from Jay Jacobs are hosting the "Dress for Success" on April 21. International Students Programs Return home a success - A workshop to help you market your education and experiences in America to the job market back home. Interviewing American Style – A workshop to help you better understand the process of how interviews are conducted and the expectations of American Interviewers. Don’t let a cultural misunderstanding keep you from a career in America. Job Search on the Internet Students and alumni will learn all the latest strategies for using the internet for a job search. April 27 at noon Albers Mentors Appreciation Breakfast As this year's mentor program comes to an end, we will be honoring their dedication and support at a breakfast given by President Steve Sundborg, S.J. and Dean Jan Duggar on May 20. For information on Albers Placement Center programs and services, call 206-296-5687. |
International Study Tours |
The Albers School web pages are getting an update. Webmaster Sam McGraw has been spending time reformatting the school pages to fit the new SU format while adding more information for alumni, current students, and prospective students. Most of the work will be finished in April. Please visit our site www.seattleu.edu/asbe and let us know if it meets your needs. Sam can be reached at 206-296-5698 or mcgraw@seattleu.edu Diane Lockwood and Al Ansari had a pair of articles accepted for publication. The first titled "Recruiting and Retaining Scarce Information Technology Talent: A Focus Group Study" will be published in the journal of Industrial Management & Data Systems. The second paper entitled, "Supplier Product Integration: A new Competitive Approach" has been accepted for publication in the Production and Inventory Management Journal. Diane also spoke with SU’s Sullivan Scholar high school applicants on E-Commerce and the Northwest International Business Educators Network (NIBEN) Conference on "International Issues in E-Commerce." Harriet Stephenson’s paper entitled, "Are Business Decision Makers Still Unethical Especially Compared With Oneself? A Longitudinal Study" has been accepted for publication in the Academy of Educational Leadership Journal. Greg Prussia, Tim Sorenson, Peter Brous, and Vinay Datar have been selected to receive Summer Faculty Research Awards. Barbara Parker has returned from her sabbatical in New Zealand. She recently organized the NIBEN conference and has been appointed the director for the graduate and undergraduate international business programs. Barbara was also notified her paper: "Diversity strategies: Perspectives in action" will appear in the Academy of Management Executive. This article was co-authored with Parshotom Dass at the University of Arkansas. David Arnesen will serve a three year term as Chairperson of the Management Department starting Spring Quarter. Greg Prussia’s paper entitled "A Panel Study of Coping with Involuntary Job Loss" was accepted for publication in the Academy of Management Journal APICS award – Ben Anderson, SU Operations Major In February, Karen Brown gave the keynote address at Boston Scientific's annual awards dinner at the Columbia Tower. She is currently a visiting professor of operations management at IESE in Barcelona, Spain. Other Speakers recently seen at the Albers School…Ingvar Petursson, chief technology officer at Corbis, and Mike Dubes, president and CEO of Reliastar Northern Life and Karen Olson, director of marketing at TechWave were guest speakers in MBA 511. K. Shamsuddin, senior vice-president for foreign exchange, at Seafirst Bank and Ravindra Deo, chief investment officer at Benington Capital spoke recently in Vinay Datar’s finance classes. Vinay Datar was interviewed on KING 5 News and Northwest Cable News offering comments on the currency crisis in Asia, the Boeing Merger and Greenspan's comments about 'irrational exuberance'. Peter Raven, will be presenting a paper, "Cultural Dimensions and Advertising: A Comparison of Three Countries," at the Western Marketing Educators' Association meeting in Palm Springs in April. His Marketing Management course this spring will produce a promotional event for Huling Bros. car dealership. The class will form a marketing agency, organize and produce a marketing plan and implement a promotional event. As part of her role as a member of the Wharton Work/Life Roundtable, Sharon Lobel is currently beginning work on one of 6 original case studies examining how leaders can facilitate change in organizations to make them friendly to personal interests, while encouraging attainment of business goals. The case will be completed and presented at the June meeting of the Roundtable. This research was featured in Sue Shellenbarger's Work and Family column in the Wall Street Journal on March 10, 1999. Ben Anderson, a graduate student and employee at Fluke Manufacturing, won the APICS student paper competition at the local and regional level and placed second at the national level. His paper was based on his observations of the manufacturing practices at Mercedes in Brazil. He visited the plant as part of Albers Brazil study tour. Dale R. Cyr, MBA alum, was named as New Executive Director of the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers, (ARDMS) in Rockville, Maryland. |