Business for The
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BUSINESS FOR THE ALSO INSIDE: Ambrosians Shaped By Post-Collegiate Volunteer Experience The Magazine of St. Ambrose University Summer 2018 | Volume XLVI SCENE Number 1 Managing Editor Under the Oaks Craig DeVrieze ’16 MOL 2 Two new academic programs will start this fall; a big-time addition at St. Vincent's Athletics Staff Assistant Complex; the College of Business welcomes a Darcy Duncalf ’12 new dean; students identify problems they can Contributing Writers solve with leadership in work-based action; and Rebecca Harris-Klawon the SAU library archivist is passionate about Steven Lillybeck being the designated memory-keeper on campus. Dawn Neuses ’94 Robin Ruetenik ’15 MOL Profiles Designer 8 Faculty Profile 'There Is Something About This School' 6 Rebecca Harris-Klawon Professor of Management Arun Pillutla, PhD, Photographer is happy to be part of a welcoming Ambrosian Dan Ormiston ’17 culture on campus. www.sau.edu/scene 20 Alumni Profile [email protected] Dancing, Emmys and Oprah Colleen Dunnegan '02 is living her dream. Photo credits Rebecca Harris-Klawon: digital illustration—front cover and p. 22 Features John Mohr Photography: p. 11 10 A Better Way of Doing and Teaching Business 8 Dan Ormiston: inside cover, p. 2, 12, Business for the Greater Good is the College of 14–15, 16, 18, 25 Dan Videtich Photography: inside Business' "North Star." cover, p. 4–5, 6, 8–9, 10, back cover Scene is published by the 14 Esprit de Corps Communications and Marketing SAU volunteers followed a path to self-discovery office for the alumni, students, while helping people around the world. parents, friends, faculty and staff of St. Ambrose University. Its purpose is to inform and inspire Alumni News and Class Notes through stories highlighting the many quality people and programs 22 In Everyone's Life, There's the Summer of '67 that are the essence of St. Ambrose’s John Robinson '68 took a summer class with distinguished heritage of Catholic, 10 values-based education. Circulation is the hopes of graduating sooner than expected. approximately 30,000. What he got instead changed his life forever. St. Ambrose University—independent, diocesan, and Catholic—enables its 24 A Writer is Born – In a St. Ambrose Classroom students to develop intellectually, John Robinson '68 is a critically-acclaimed spiritually, ethically, socially, artistically and physically to enrich their own lives novelist whose career began at SAU. and the lives of others. 25 The Gift of Giving: Donors like Jon Schroeder '17 St. Ambrose University helped capital campaign exceed its goal; Camille 518 W. Locust St. Ponce '14 MSLP builds on her grandmother's Davenport, Iowa 52803 example; and SAU connections tie family, friends 14 and strangers. a message from the PRESIDENT Adapting to the Changing Pace of Business The 33 young men who comprised the This past spring, the St. Ambrose DBA inaugural class of students at St. Ambrose in earned a Top 10 ranking among doctoral the fall of 1882 had two courses of study to business programs across the country from pursue along with their Catholic education. CollegeChoice.net. That’s a list that starts with Harvard, and we’re proud to say we One of these was a classical curriculum, belong. a five-year course of study that included many of the foundational liberal arts our This year will bring other significant changes students study today. within the College of Business, starting with a new dean with a fresh perspective. Maritza The other was a commercial curriculum, Espina, PhD, formerly a dean and professor built around business-related subject matter at the Universidad del Este–Ana G. Mendez of the day—math, letter-writing, geography, University System in her native Puerto Rico, bookkeeping, commercial law, reading, will add to our COB’s continuing responsiveness spelling and, even, penmanship. to a more global business outlook. Business education always has been a Also this fall, three undergraduate degree primary curricular focus at St. Ambrose. programs—applied management studies, And as business needs and practices changed business administration and business dramatically over the ensuing 136 years, administration–accounting—will join business education at St. Ambrose evolved the MBA among the first six St. Ambrose as well. programs offered fully online. Today, our College of Business offers Finally, as you read further in this magazine, undergraduate degrees in eight major fields you will learn that the College of Business of study, as well as four graduate degree this year is building courses and assignments programs—the H.L. McLaughlin Master around the concept of Business for the of Business Administration, a Master of Greater Good, focusing more intentionally Accounting, a Master of Organizational on principles we have long promoted across Leadership and a Doctor of Business our curricula. Administration. Good business is good for us all, and The MBA was our first graduate degree, and, St. Ambrose and our business faculty will like all of our business programs, it has evolved continue to prepare graduates who are ready through the years to meet the demands of an to lead, innovate and enrich lives—on the job increasingly fast-paced, digital world. This as well as off. year, we offer a fully online MBA degree to accommodate working students who need to Sister Joan Lescinski, CSJ, PhD set their own learning schedule. Our DBA, meanwhile, is a model for lifelong business learning—and a highly regarded model, at that. 1 under the OAKS Meeting New Needs: A Matter of Degrees In the past decade, St. Ambrose University added 11 new undergraduate and graduate programs in response to society’s changing needs. There are two new programs on the docket for 2018-19: a Bachelor of Science degree in Data Science and Analytics and a fully online Master of Public Health degree. Next fall, St. Ambrose expects to begin offering Bachelor of Social A Big-Time Addition at SVAC Work and Master of Science in Ongoing upgrades to SAU athletics facilities continue this fall when the Criminal Justice degrees. Fighting Bees football team takes up residence in a new locker room, storage According to Sandy Cassady, and office facility at the St. Vincent’s Athletics Complex. PhD, vice president for strategic Head football coach Mike Magistrelli ’03 MEd calls the facility “a one-stop initiatives, the new academic shop” for the team’s practice-day workouts. programs result from significant thought and planning. Typically, “For a ‘small-time’ college football program, this is a big-time facility,” the there is at least one year of veteran coach said. “It is certainly exciting to see St. Ambrose take this step.” preparation involved with each program before it officially The facility will provide walkout access to the practice fields at the SVAC, becomes a major. along with an onsite training room and laundry room, and, most importantly, two large locker rooms—one for offense, one for defense—with more than 90 St. Ambrose also is exploring lockers each. other programs, including a Master of Engineering Leadership Equipped with WiFi-enabled large-screen televisions, the locker rooms also and an accelerated pre-licensure will serve as meeting spaces and film rooms. The junior varsity squad, degree in the Bachelor of Science which uses the SVAC field for home contests, also will use the space. in Nursing program. “Combined with the new practice field, the Ambrose Dome and the new “It's part of the University's Wellness and Recreation Center, this certainly is another chip in the recruiting strategic plan to develop new game,” Magistrelli said. academic programs with high “I think it will make our work as coaches easier. I think it will make the demand,” Cassady said. “Many experience of the players more enjoyable. It’s a tremendous upgrade in of our programs are also facilities and obviously something we’re ecstatic about.” developed in response to the workforce demand.” The new facility is part of the ongoing growth of the SVAC in partnership with Assumption High School. 2 under the OAKS New COB Dean Brings Experience in Leadership, Service When Maritza Espina, PhD, joined St. Ambrose University as dean of the College of Business in July, she brought with her more than a decade of leadership experience and 16 years of scholarship in management research, publications, teaching, and service. She plans to use her expertise to strengthen and grow the College of Business, which now includes eight undergraduate and four graduate programs, as well as the Professional Development Center. Prior to joining St. Ambrose, Espina served as dean of the Business School for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Universidad del Este (UNE) of the Ana G. Mendez University System in Puerto Rico. During her 11-year tenure, she led 19 academic programs; achieved international accreditation by ACBSP; created six new academic programs; and increased enrollment and course offerings to approximately 1,500 business students on campus and 1,000 off-campus. “One of the major challenges facing business and higher education today is the gap between alumni skills set and industry needs,” Espina said. While at UNE, she addressed that challenge by securing $2.7 million from the US Department of Labor to launch the Center for Empowerment and Free Enterprise (CEFE). Its mission is to improve the quality of life and standard of living of undergraduates and help them develop skills for academic and professional success. Espina said the St. Ambrose University mission of enriching lives was very appealing, as much of her work history reflects the same goals. Espina earned a bachelor’s degree in statistics from the University of Puerto Rico, and a master’s in operations research and statistics and a doctorate in management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.