BLOCH Fall 2014
Henry W. Bloch School of Management | University of Missouri-Kansas City
The case for experiential learning ď Ž Meet the new dean Full-time MBA is new option
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Letter From the Dean
The University of Missouri-Kansas City Henry W. Bloch School of Management Fall 2014
Inside
This December,
get inspired.
Around the Bloch
CHANGE KEEPS OUR SCHOOL RELEVANT The Bloch School of Management is no stranger to growth. In fact, growth has been central to all the exciting things happening at Bloch in the past year, including the opening of the state-of-the-art Henry W. Bloch Executive Hall for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. But it’s not only our facilities that are expanding. Our programs in all areas continually adapt to meet the changing needs of our growing student population. Through programs such as the Regnier Venture Creation Challenge and Aaron L. Levitt Social Entrepreneurship Challenge, we create ways for students to interact with the business community. Furthermore, the Executive Education Center, recently ranked No. 6 in the nation, works to teach established executives innovative ways to expand their organizations.
Henry W. Bloch Executive Hall for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Open to the public December 8.
Our programs, both graduate and undergraduate, are thriving. The M.S. in finance has grown and continues to garner national and international recognition for student success. The M.S. in accounting program now boasts more than 1,100 graduates. These programs were developed specifically with Kansas City in mind. When the Bloch School saw a need in the business community for solid candidates in these areas, together we created a way to mold future employees, resulting in a strong partnership between Kansas City and UMKC. This is just the beginning. We’re developing more curricula to benefit the community, including a graduate program to service the booming real estate population and a rigorous full-time MBA that will incorporate extensive experiential learning. As interest continues to rise in entrepreneurship and innovation, the Bloch School hopes to share its experience and spread these ideas across UMKC — to further solidify that we are Kansas City’s university. I hope you enjoy the stories in this issue. We’re excited to share how we’ve grown, and we can’t wait to see what’s next.
2 Finance students rock the competition. 3 Transfer student finds a home at Bloch. 4 It was a very good year: a photo review 5 Bloch bids farewell to professor Howie Krueger. 6 Alumnus pays it forward in endowing scholarship. 7 Program turns physicians into better managers. 8 Executive Education jumps in the rankings. 8 E.M.P.A. destination: South Africa 9 School gets high praise from recent graduate.
Features 10 Meet the Dean David P. Donnelly wants the Bloch School to be responsive to the needs of Kansas City and beyond. 12 An Education Evolution Experiential learning prepares students for challenges that await in the real world. 18 There’s a New MBA in Town Planning is underway for an intensive full-time program that will appeal to top students. 20 Quest for Knowledge Faculty members research everything from workloads to the effects of language. 25 Civil Discourse The Village Square encourages the politically polarized to find common ground. 28 Case Study Real estate students get creative in developing ways to repurpose an unused school. 32 Girl Power Alumna Lisa Peña works to bring the benefits of Scouting to Hispanic families.
Sincerely,
Made possible by a gift from Joe and Judy Roetheli and the Lil’ Red Foundation Credits
David P. Donnelly, Ph.D., CPA Dean, Henry W. Bloch School of Management
On the cover: Heritage Hall and the state-of-the-art Executive Hall link the proud history of the Bloch School with the future of management education.
Production: UMKC Division of Strategic Marketing and Communications Editor: Gail Borelli Assistant Editor: Megan Cooper Art Director: Terry Raumschuh Photographers: Isaac Alongi, Janet Rogers, Ryan Swartzlander, Dan Videtich Writers: Chandra Blackwell, Gail Borelli, Megan Cooper, Victoria Hoffman, Kara Petrovic, John Martellaro, Suzanne Raney Bloch Magazine is published annually by the Henry W. Bloch School of Management to encourage interest and support among UMKC alumni, friends and constituents.
bloch.umkc.edu
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BSM 14020067
Around the BLOCH Finance students raise school’s profile Kristy Sidwell (B.B.A.), president of the Bloch Financial Management Association chapter, represented UMKC at the NASDAQ closing bell while in New York at Quinnipiac GAME IV Forum, attended by more than 1,100 students.
More honors The UMKC Financial Management Association (FMA) chapter received the Superior Chapter Award for the third year in a row, placing it among the top 5 percent of student chapters nationwide. Fred Hays received one of eight Superior Faculty Adviser Awards.
Team excels with KC Southern project Bloch Finance students took an international competition by storm in April. After winning the local CFA Institute Research Challenge in Kansas City, the team of Derek Bembry (MBA ’14), Jacob Boan (M.S.F. ’15) and Jared Stricklin (M.S.F. ’14) advanced to the CFA Americas competition in Denver. In Colorado, they competed against teams from the United States, Central America, South America, Canada and Mexico. Again, the Bloch students won first place. At the global competition in Singapore, the Bloch students faced off against teams from the Philippines and Italy. The three teams represented the best from among more than 3,700 students at about 825 universities around the world. The UMKC team came in second at the world contest. The Bloch School team won with a project that involved research findings and investment conclusions about Kansas City Southern, a publicly traded railway company. “This competition is well publicized within the Chartered Financial Analyst
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community, and our performance has really raised awareness of our M.S.F. program,” says finance professor John Clark, Ph.D., who mentored the students throughout the competition. The key to the Bloch students’ success against top-tier U.S. universities is the education they receive inside and outside the classroom, says Fred Hays, Ph.D., Henry W. Bloch Missouri Endowed Chair in Financial Services and chair of the Bloch Department of Finance. The students have easy access to faculty mentors, he said, and curriculum and programs are developed in response to requests from the finance and business community. Outside the classroom, finance students are strongly encouraged to compete in local, regional, national and global competitions such as the CFA Challenge. “We encourage head-to-head competition because we know our students are just as good as, or better than, those at other universities,” Hays says. “The repeated success and awards our students achieve garner more interest in our programs.”
A team of four Bloch graduate students won the second annual Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) valuation competition — and a $5,000 cash prize. Derek Bembry (MBA ’14), Yana Kelly (M.S.A. ’14), Becky Kies (M.S.F. ’15) and Ryan Prescott (M.S.F. ’14) represented the Bloch School, which also won the inaugural ACG Cup in 2013. Both winning teams were mentored by Nathan Mauck, Ph.D., Bloch assistant professor of finance.
Transfer student gives up full scholarship for Bloch Rhian Jones (B.B.A. ’16) isn’t afraid to follow her intuition. Jones began her academic journey with a prestigious Presidential Scholarship at another regional university, but she felt something was missing.
Student Highlight
Rhian Jones
After meeting Jeff Chapman, Bloch director of major and leadership gifts, at 1 Million Cups and learning about the Bloch School’s strong connection to the Kansas City business community, Jones knew she belonged at UMKC. “I’m from the tiny town of Burlington, Kansas, and I’d never been in a business environment like what I saw at the Bloch School that day. The exposure to Kansas City and its business community was really cool for me,” she says. Jones decided to transfer to UMKC. “It was kind of the ultimate sin for me to leave a full scholarship,” she laughs. Jones also appreciates that the Bloch School offers for-profit and nonprofit education. She is currently studying business administration but says she plans to delve into public administration courses and is considering getting her master’s in public administration. — Megan Cooper
Alex Chang (B.B.A. ’14) was named “Best of the Best” by the Financial Executives International chapter. He received the top award of $2,500. For the third year in a row, Bloch students finished in the top five at the FMA Quiz Bowl national competition. Bloch received the top prize in 2012.
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2013-2014 in photos Former students, faculty pay tribute to Krueger “Dr. Krueger was hands-down the hardest professor I had in college. I didn’t realize at the time how much I would appreciate his teaching style and no-nonsense attitude. He helped me become a better accountant and definitely helped prepare me for the CPA exam.” — Sarah Colombo Casey (‘01) CPA, Lucity Inc.
Mike Plunkett (B.S.A. ’91) bestows a scholarship on student Jana Duca in honor of his late wife.
Scott Walton (from left), Toby Walton, Fred Harper and Nancy Harper (EMBA ’12) at the alumni golf tournament.
Catherine Lewis (B.S.A. ’85), recipient of the Bloch Alumni Achievement award, speaks at the accounting alumni reunion.
“My frequent visits to Dr. Krueger’s office while attending the Bloch School still remain some of the most memorable times for me. His door was always open, and I took advantage of it. It rewarded me with reinforced accounting concepts and a behind-the-scenes perspective of a convivial professor.”
Faculty Highlight
The years add up
— Chin Le (‘04, '05) Tax manager, McGladrey
Retiring accounting professor looks back fondly on 44 years of service.
Huan Ding (MBA ’11) and students Xing Song and Nisha Stephen share laughs at the celebration for Bloch Executive Hall.
Virginia Stowers (third from left), Marion and John Kreamer Award for Social Entrepreneurship honoree, and her family.
Courtney Siebert (MBA ’08) attends an alumni open house and networking event in March with her guest Eric Sivertson.
You’ve been pegged by alumni as one of the most influential faculty members at the Bloch School. What’s your reaction to that? It validates what I did. I am always pleased to hear about successful alumni and the role I played in their careers. What do you see as one of the Bloch School’s proudest moments? A top achievement was seeing the accounting program rank in the Top 5 CPA pass rates in the nation in the category of medium-size programs by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy CPA Candidate Performance Book in 2012.
Thank you, donors The Bloch School wishes to thank all donors for their generous and continued commitment in the 20132014 year. To make a gift, visit bloch.umkc.edu/donate.
What is one thing you always tell your students? I am not an accounting teacher; I’m an accountant who teaches. I’m an accountant first.
Keep in touch
What do you consider the most instrumental book and why? My favorite book is The Big Eight by Mark Stevens, and it’s a book I recommend to students. It gives a good context of what the eight most influential accounting firms look like in the U.S. and provides a realistic reference to each firm’s competitive atmosphere.
Send us your alumni news and read about former classmates at bloch.umkc.edu.
Bill Dunn Sr. and Henry W. Bloch swap stories at the grand opening for Bloch Executive Hall.
We recently sat down with LaVern “Howie” Krueger — Dr. K, as his students affectionately call him — to reminisce about his years at UMKC. Krueger, who joined UMKC in 1970 as an assistant professor, has seen the Bloch School thrive. During his tenure, he’s served as interim chair of the accounting department; advised Beta Alpha Psi, the university’s premier professional accounting fraternity; and prepared hundreds of students for the certified public accountant licensure exam. Krueger bids farewell to the Bloch School in 2015.
Matt Dority and Bob Bennett, both of Bloch Advisory Council, catch up with fellow Bloch board members.
If you could go back and do it all over again, would you still choose accounting? Yes, it’s been a wonderful career. What are your plans after retirement? I plan to buy a motorcycle.
“Your work largely goes without thanks, but you have shaped the lives of thousands of people. That is a legacy you can rightfully be proud of. “ — Mike Plunkett (’91) COO/CFO PayIt
“Three things come to mind when I think about Dr. K. The first is his astounding intellect. The second is his sense of humor. The third is how deeply he cares about his accounting students. He wants them to be successful and is committed to rigor in the classroom and Beta Alpha Psi as a result.” — David Cornell Associate dean and associate professor of accounting
“I can honestly say that I have never learned so much from a single professor.” — Steven Silano Accounting major and Beta Alpha Psi member
— Kara Petrovic 4
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Around the BLOCH
Rx for Better Leaders Physician Leadership Program helps doctors improve management skills.
Pay It Forward New scholarship benefits Bloch student-athlete. Yasmin Musaddiq (B.B.A. ’17) exemplifies “well rounded.” In addition to working toward dual undergraduate degrees in business administration and psychology (with a GPA of 3.93), she is a star member of the UMKC track and field team. Her involvement and academic successes are just a few reasons Musaddiq was a perfect candidate for the Jennifer DeHaemers Scholarship. The new scholarship was endowed by Nathaniel Hagedorn (B.B.A. ’02, MBA ’04) and Sarah Hagedorn (B.A. ’03, M.A. ’05) to honor Nathaniel’s friend and mentor, Jennifer DeHaemers, UMKC associate vice chancellor for student affairs and enrollment management. The Hagedorns endowed the scholarship after learning that the Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation would match their gift. Through its matches, the foundation helps create substantial endowments, resulting in more financial assistance opportunities for students. Just before Nathaniel completed his undergraduate degree in 2002, his mother died unexpectedly. At the time, his younger brother, Ben, was preparing for college, and the family’s financial situation was limited. Knowing the importance of a college education, Nathaniel looked to DeHaemers for help finding financial assistance for his brother. Within a few days, DeHaemers had developed a package that helped cover nearly all of Ben's college expenses. “I was so grateful for what Jennifer did for our family,” he recalls. “There was a great deal of humanity and kindness in the way she responded. She never asked for anything, but went so far above and beyond to help our family. “I vowed that if I ever had more resources, I would pay it forward and establish a fund in Jennifer's name. I hoped it would help someone else out in a time of need, as Jennifer did for us.” The scholarship has done just that for Musaddiq. “In addition to helping with tuition for two degrees, this scholarship has relieved some of the stress of room and board costs and allows me to live on campus,” she said. “The essay I submitted for the scholarship discussed how I wouldn’t be where I am without the help of others.” Musaddiq recently had a chance meeting with the award’s namesake at UMKC Orientation, where both were working with new students as volunteers. “Once we put two and two together, we were both so surprised. We never thought we’d meet each other,” Musaddiq said. “It was such a great experience to meet the name behind the scholarship that has been so meaningful to me.” — Megan Cooper
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Eugene Fibuch and Arif Ahmed
Yasmin Musaddiq Hometown: St. Louis, Missouri Field events: Throwing the hammer and discus Athletic bio: Began track and field in sixth grade; began throwing freshman year of high school Hammer time: Personal record in the hammer throw — 48 meters
Physicians spend a decade or more in classrooms, laboratories and hospitals, preparing for careers dedicated to science. But some of the most talented physicians have no formal management training. They may not be familiar with market dynamics, human resource regulations and business ethics. “When physicians finish their residencies they become good clinicians but many times have not developed the leadership skills that are required in any C-level position,” explains Arif Ahmed, Ph.D., associate professor of health administration at the Bloch School. “Physicians are integrated in the leadership structure of health-care institutions today, with the majority working in institutional settings. They are at the apex of the decision-making process that drives the cost and quality of care.” The Physician Leadership Program addresses the pressing need for leadership education in health care. It was founded by Ahmed and Eugene Fibuch, M.D., professor emeritus and former chair of the Department of Anesthesiology at the UMKC School of Medicine. Pooling the expertise of the two strong university schools has created what both founders believe is a unique program. The six-month program is designed for those who are in leadership positions or who expect to be promoted in 12 to 18 months. Participants complete 112 contact hours. In its second year, the program increased from nine participants to 16, including 14 physicians and two clinical psychologists. “This program provides participants with the tools to manage the challenges facing physician leaders over the next few years,” says Tara Gunther, a psychologist at Truman Medical Centers and a program graduate. (Some content used with special permission from the UMKC School of Medicine.)
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Around the BLOCH
FOLLOW OUR LEAD
Recent graduate sees wreaths and decals in her future Charlotte Gilman (B.B.A. ’14) graduated with degrees in enterprise management and theater performance. We talked about her time at Bloch and what lies ahead.
Executive Ed programs win recognition. The Bloch School ranks No. 6 in the nation for excellence in leadership programs among educational institutions, according to HR.com. In announcing the Leadership 500 Excellence Awards in April, HR.com cited Bloch Executive Education’s Cerner Certificate in Healthcare Leadership program. The award recognizes the top universities in the nation for their strategies and solutions in leadership development. HR.com ranked 152 schools based on peer and end-user ratings, among other criteria. In ranking sixth, the Bloch School surpassed schools such as Drexel, Cornell, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Princeton and Harvard. “Providing this type of quality education to the business community in Kansas City is core to our mission,” says Kimberly Young, executive director, Bloch Executive Education. “Our regional organizations demand and deserve the highest quality professional development possible and we consider it our duty to provide that through experiential learning, discussion and cohort-based professional development.” For more information on Bloch Executive Education, contact umkcexeced@umkc.edu.
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Graduate schools for mentoring opportunities — Princeton Review (2014)
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Alumni Highlight
charlotte Gilman Public affairs students visit South Africa Executive Masters of Public Administration students traveled to Cape Town, South Africa, from May 24 to June 2. The Class of 2014, along with health services students and Bloch professors Dave Renz, Ph.D.; Scott Helm, Ph.D.; Sarah MartinAnderson, Ph.D.; and Mike Woods, visited the University of Western Cape to gain understanding of public administration and public service management leadership across the world. The trip was part of the Global Issues in Public Administration course, which provides students an overview of the socioeconomic and political history of South Africa. Students visited the Western Cape Economic Development Partnership and took field trips to nongovernmental organizations in underprivileged Cape Town communities and the Khayelitsha informal settlement.
Kauffman grant promotes entrepreneurship The Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation has received a matching grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation for $2.5 million. According to Jeff Hornsby, Ph.D., interim director of the Regnier Institute, over the next three years the grant will be used to boost the impact of the institute’s acceleration programs, including Entrepreneurship Scholars, mentorship programs and entrepreneurship incubators. These
programs provide support for reaching across the UMKC campus and into the community to support those who are engaged in the entrepreneurial process. “Kansas City benefits from entrepreneurs who create and manage new enterprises and who possess the capacity required for economic self-determination,” says Nathan Kurtz, manager of entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation. “The Regnier Institute is a contributing
force to nurturing an entrepreneurial culture and is well positioned to advance entrepreneurship in Kansas City through its educational offerings and research.” For its part, the Bloch School plans to raise seed funding for ventures outside of UMKC and to partner with the UMKC Innovation Center. These initiatives will spread the concept of entrepreneurship and innovation to other academic areas on the UMKC campus.
What was special about your experience at Bloch? Bloch allowed me to be unique. I studied two very different areas, but I was still able to accomplish everything I wanted. Favorite professor or class? Business communication instructor Erin Blocher definitely stood out. My course with her was in my emphasis area, and she gave me my job at the Bloch Communication Center. Favorite extracurricular activity? I’m heavily involved with Unleashed Pet Rescue and Adoption as a foster family. In the past two years, my house has had litters upon litters of puppies — it’s neverending! I am also a supernumerary for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, frequent the gym and am working on launching my designer wreath business, Wild Style Wreaths. How has Bloch prepared you for the future? Great connections! My reference page is full of professors willing to pass along their experiences or refer me to someone who could help me later. My business plan for Phillip Gonsher’s marketing class was for my wreath business. And my enterprise management degree — including a certificate in entrepreneurship and innovation — will help me when I run my family business, Gill Studios, many years down the road. My great-grandfather invented the bumper sticker — that’s the business. Plans following graduation? I’ll begin my MBA at Bloch, then eventually my Ph.D. I can’t wait to see what new avenues will be available by the time I get there. — Megan Cooper
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Building on Success Dean David P. Donnelly intends to ensure that the Bloch School's reputation continues to grow globally, while exceeding the needs of employers and students locally.
By JOHN MARTELLARO
D
avid P. Donnelly took the helm at the Bloch School in February, after serving as acting dean since May 2013. As dean, Donnelly is committed to keeping the accolades rolling in for the school's exceptional programs in entrepreneurship, accounting, finance and public affairs. But the top priority, he says, is meeting the needs of Kansas City’s students, employers and economy. Donnelly came to UMKC in 2004 as chair and professor of accountancy, after serving in the same position at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. He also once led the Accounting Department at Kansas State University, where he earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees. Donnelly earned his Ph.D. in international taxation and accounting from the University of Illinois. “The Bloch School will continue to be a world leader in research and teaching, thanks to the talents of an exceptional team of faculty,” Donnelly says. “The school will continue to follow the twinpillar philosophy, pioneered by Henry Bloch, of nurturing leaders in both the for-profit sector and the nonprofit/public sector, and will continue to be a significant knowledge and economic development resource for the Kansas City region and beyond. “Part of our mission is to produce purposeful leaders who recognize that success breeds responsibility — a responsibility to give back to the community. I want students to recognize that this is the kind of people we want them to become.” A key component of Donnelly's mission is strategizing ways to stay in the forefront of evolution and change in the management field so that Bloch remains in a leadership position — in the world, but especially at home. “We’re looking at the areas where Kansas City needs to be served and making them areas of focus,” Donnelly says. A prime example is the certificate in financial planning, which has been beefed up to meet the needs of Kansas City’s extensive financial services industry. “We also have one of the top accounting programs in the region, and again, that’s about meeting the needs of people who want great careers and companies that need skilled professionals,” Donnelly says. “Accounting and finance positions are the hardest for companies to fill, so we’re putting more resources there. Next, we’re looking at strengthening our Lewis White Real Estate Center, because commercial real estate is another significant industry in
Kansas City that has great career opportunities to offer.” Another area of focus is Executive Education — custom-designed management coursework tailored to the needs of a specific industry, or even a specific company. Leading local companies such as Cerner, Garmin, Commerce Bank and Blue Cross Blue Shield have partnered with the Bloch School to develop education and professional development programs for management-track employees. “Executive education is in demand because of the rapid rate of change in the business world. Companies are recognizing that their people need to keep learning,” Donnelly says. “It’s among our top priorities at Bloch to be the trusted partner Kansas City organizations rely on to build programs that create stronger leadership that can navigate change and build sustainable companies.” Donnelly also wants to not just maintain, but grow, the school’s excellence in the area of entrepreneurship. The greater Kansas City community has coalesced around the concept of promoting the region as an entrepreneurial hub, leveraging the strengths of the Bloch School and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. He wants people to understand that entrepreneurship isn’t just about starting new businesses from the ground up. “When we talk about entrepreneurship, what we’re really talking about is value creation,” Donnelly says. “Value creation is the fundamental concept of business today. Change is the current status quo for companies. It’s not just technology that is evolving rapidly. Markets and the means of reaching them are evolving constantly. Innovation is essential in any enterprise, old or new, large or small. That’s the attitude, the mindset that we are teaching across all areas, in both for-profit entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship.” The next big project for Donnelly and the Bloch School is to spread their expertise in innovation across all of UMKC’s academic units, offering students studying everything from computer science to concert piano an opportunity to incorporate management and innovation into their repertoire. Plans are even underway to extend such offerings to all four campuses of the University of Missouri System. “Innovation will be to the 21st century what mechanization was to the 20th. And we’re out in front of it,” Donnelly says. “That’s a great place to be.”
Get to Know the Dean
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Professional background Worked in public accounting for three years before pursuing a passion for teaching. Donnelly served as faculty member, department chair, associate dean and interim dean during his 30-year tenure at Kansas State University and as a department chair at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas for two years before coming to the Bloch School.
Family matters Donnelly has two daughters and a son. In his free time, he and his wife enjoy spending time with their children and young grandchildren.
Hit the books “When I read for pleasure, I usually gravitate toward fiction. Right now I’m working my way through the Divergent trilogy.”
Favorite part of year “Commencement is always special. It’s fun to see the excitement of the students as they prepare for their new journeys.”
Education B.S. and MBA from K-State, Ph.D. from the University of Illinois
Favorite thing about Kansas City “I always get excited about the sports. They create a great feeling of a close community.”
Any surprises as dean? “The dedication of our faculty, staff and community is incredible. They are all so supportive of the Bloch School’s initiatives and want to see us continue to grow and thrive. It’s very encouraging.” Hobbies Golf and travel 11
the changing classroom Bloch promotes active learning through the use of case studies, flipped classrooms, internships — and an amazing new building. By GAIL BORELLI
“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” — Confucius
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Finance students in the classroom of assistant professor Nathan Mauck use live data and industrystandard software to tackle realistic case studies and problems.
Confucius may have been among the earliest proponents of experiential learning. But the hands-on learning style is also winning fans among faculty and students at the Bloch School. Faculty members increasingly are incorporating experiential learning methods such as flipped classrooms — where class time is reserved for working problems instead of standard lectures — along with simulations and residencies into their curricula. These teachers are convinced that experiential learning is the best way to develop a new generation of business leaders who are perceptive, confident, open-minded and flexible. Experiential learning is active, not passive. Instead of only listening to lectures, students tackle workplace problems that require them to research, reflect, consult and collaborate. Their perspectives broaden as they connect the dots in ways that would never happen if they just read textbooks. They get a feel for how multifaceted the real world can be.
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Associate dean and professor David Cornell can give students more personal attention in his flipped classroom. Students listen to his lectures at home; class time is reserved for working problems, asking questions and finding solutions.
Associate dean and professor David Cornell, Ph.D., credits experiential learning — particularly the flipped classroom method — with reinvigorating his passion for teaching and for increased student achievement. After flipping the mandatory course First Intermediate Accounting in Fall Semester 2012, Cornell saw a 30 percent increase in performance on the final examination. “While this was not a randomized study, it is a statistically significant increase,” he says. “Additionally, the students were more engaged and class time was exciting and fun.” Now students watch his lectures online before the scheduled class. Class time is reserved for working problems in groups and asking questions. Cornell roams the room, listening in on conversations, making suggestions, mentoring, getting to know the students and ensuring that everyone is on track. The room is noisy, and that’s OK. “A good flipped classroom is chaotic,” he says. Assistant professor Brent Never, Ph.D., has found that experiential learning methods also work well with his younger M.P.A. graduate students, who often lack on-the-job experience. He tries to re-create the pace and stress of the workplace with timed assignments that he calls “minute memos.” Each student has an hour to write a oneto 1 ½-page memo for a hypothetical supervisor. When finished, a classmate reviews the memo in one minute — about the time a real boss would spend. Never also mimics the group dynamics of the workplace with a team project. He posts online hundreds of pages of articles and statutes — including red herrings — and asks each group to write a policy memo for the mayor. The goal is a cohesive message that shows no evidence of multiple authors. Other exercises in teamwork and bargaining involve poker chips and blindfolds, symbolizing negotiation and trust. “Experiential learning is the wave of the future,” Never says. “And we want to be at the crest of the wave.” Because experiential learning is such a powerful way to educate adult learners, it’s been incorporated extensively into Bloch’s Executive Education programs, says Kimberly Young, executive director. Two examples from the Executive MBA degree program involve national and international “residencies.” Students spend a week in Washington, D.C., where they take tours, talk with lobbyists
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and gain new perspectives on the political and policymaking processes. Before leaving Kansas City, they meet with key constituents, conduct interviews and do research to set the stage for the learning that lies ahead. To gain global perspective, EMBA students spend 10 days in China, where they meet with expatriates and advisers to understand how business is conducted internationally. Students set up all their meetings before the trip; finding those connections is a learning experience in itself, Young says.
Executive Hall inspires innovation Most business schools have adopted experiential learning methods to some extent. “We aren’t light-years ahead of everyone else” in that regard, Cornell says. But the Bloch School has something the others don’t — the Henry W. Bloch Executive Hall for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, built with a $32 million gift from benefactor Henry Bloch. When the building opened in 2013, it gave the Bloch School a state-of-the-art space where students could dream, brainstorm, innovate, create, interact and otherwise learn by doing. The active learning classrooms in the Executive Hall forgo the traditional configuration that places the professor front and center. Instead, tables and chairs in each room are on wheels, so students can easily roll into groups. Professors are more accessible as they walk among the tables. Students sketch ideas and inspirations on the whiteboards that cover many surfaces. Even the two tiered classrooms that do exist in the building are structured to allow students to break out of standard rows and into intimate small clusters. Technology is another hallmark of the new Executive Hall. The Behavioral Research Laboratory on the first floor boasts sophisticated cameras and recording equipment that enable student and faculty researchers to monitor the subtle facial reactions and body language of research subjects. “This equipment is really cutting-edge. It’s not something available at every business school,” says William Self, Ph.D., assistant professor of organizational behavior. Collecting data in the lab is just one step in Self’s experiential
learning process. Students also design the research studies, manage and analyze data, draw conclusions and communicate the results to the larger community. All of this happens outside the classroom. “Experiential learning is messier,” Self says. “Faculty have to empower students with enough material to go out and make mistakes. Then they have to be there to redirect the students so the learning moment occurs.”
Building on the basics Jeff Hornsby, Ph.D., interim director of the Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, notes that hands-on learning is worthless if the fundamentals aren’t in place. Entrepreneurship students learn the nuts and bolts in a sequence of three classes, then are immersed in the real-life challenges of writing and financing business plans through competitions such as Roo Idea Jump and the Venture Creation Challenge. “‘Curriculum. Experience. Launch.’ That’s my mantra,” Hornsby says. The Regnier Institute’s third-floor Innovation Lab includes an airy brainstorming space furnished with fuchsia, orange and green ottomans and beanbag chairs — and many square feet of whiteboards. Computer “pods” and colorful wheeled chairs fill the classroom spaces. “Students like the bells and whistles,” Hornsby says. “But really, the building is just another tool for teaching. It allows us to add new programs.” In the tech-heavy Finance Lab, each of the 32 workstations has a computer with dual monitors, plus industry standard software and real-time data. A stock ticker lends even more authenticity. “We can give students exposure to things they would really experience in the real world,” says assistant professor Nathan Mauck, Ph.D. “It gives them a leg up when they’ve actually used a company’s data and software. It invigorates the faculty to be able to do this.” Students in Mauck’s Financial Modeling class tackle projects that
involve crunching numbers or working through scenarios suggested by the day’s headlines. Mauck can push one student’s work onto the Finance Lab’s main screen to use as an example. Mauck says his students have responded favorably to experiential learning, although it takes each class a couple of weeks to get up to speed. “Students are used to being passive and lectured to. When asked to do things on the spot, especially in the beginning, they resist.” But that initial reluctance fades quickly. “I’ve never seen a more energized student group,” Mauck says. “Students have been very excited about the new space. They’re bitter if they already graduated or got to spend just a semester in Bloch Executive Hall.”
Space makes a difference Although Bloch Heritage Hall has some wonderful spaces in which to teach, the spaces in Executive Hall are even more wonderful, says Doranne Hudson, executive-in-residence and associate teaching professor. The flexible seating, open spaces and bright colors amp up the energy level. “Space makes a huge difference,” Hudson says. “The interaction between students is tremendous and they learn as much from their peers as they do from me.” She uses both simulations and realtime, company-based change projects as key learning devices in her leadership courses. According to Dean David P. Donnelly, experiential learning is a key to Bloch’s success in providing the skilled graduates who are in demand in Kansas City and beyond. “While there are many styles of learning that are meant to appeal to certain senses, the active learning classroom is a fresh approach that keeps professors and students engaged in the learning process,” Donnelly says. “We are pleased to offer this experience to students and proud to have a facility designed specifically to accommodate this new type of classroom environment.”
Chinese educators reap benefits of experiential learning Bloch Executive Education is home to several programs that bring Chinese educators to Kansas City to gain insight on leadership and faculty development. During their two-week residence earlier this year, 20 participants experienced the active learning classrooms in Bloch Executive Hall and the flipped classroom method. By sitting in on classes and attending seminars by UMKC and Bloch leaders, the Chinese learned about U.S. educational trends and the unique culture that exists at the Bloch School. “Our international groups get the opportunity to learn 16
BLOCH Fall 2014
THE COMMUNITY CLASSROOM
about experiential learning and how it changes teaching and learning methods,” said Huan Ding, Bloch Executive Education coordinator of international programs. While the Chinese educators were learning how to incorporate experiential learning in their curricula, they also received a hands-on lesson of their own. “Simply being in the innovative space that is Bloch Executive Hall helped to open our eyes to insights we hadn’t considered prior,” says Wu Zhijie, vice dean of the School of Foreign Studies at Nanjing University of Science and Technology.
Intern: Majiri Ugboma Community partner: Central Exchange
Intern: Damien Jones Community partner: Kansas City Area Transportation Authority
What better way for students to learn how the workplace operates than to experience it for themselves? Each summer, several Bloch students are selected to work at area nonprofit, community or government organizations as part of the Edward A. Smith Urban Leadership Internship program. Students in their junior year or above compete for the prestigious full-time, paid internships. Sponsoring community partners have included KCPT, the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, Harvesters, Support KC and the Central Exchange. Now in its ninth year, the internship program embodies the Bloch School’s commitment to hands-on learning, as well as to teaching students the value of civic responsibility. The benefits? Students build job skills, network with professionals in the civic sector and work with a faculty mentor and cohort of other students to develop insights about professionalism and leadership. They also receive three credit hours of independent study in leadership. “I have seen the students in this program experience breakthroughs in both their personal and professional development,” says Doranne Hudson, Bloch executive-inresidence, associate teaching professor and program mentor. “They learn from the surprising challenges encountered within organizations, and they build the tools to acclimate quickly.” Jamie Love (B.B.A. ’15), one of three 2014 interns, agrees. “During my internship with Harvesters, I’ve gained knowledge about the organization and hunger in the community. But I’ve also learned a lot about myself and how I can be a leader.” For the interns, the chance to give back to the community only heightened the experience. “It goes without saying that I gained valuable work experience,” says Majiri Ugboma (MBA ’15). “Working at Central Exchange also gave me a chance to make a contribution and be a part of something bigger than myself.” — Megan Cooper
Intern: Jamie Love Community partner: Harvesters – Community Food Network
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Rigorous full-time program will be geared to ‘high potentials’
KEY FEATURES Full-time, 12-month program Paid six- to eight-week corporate internship Three-week global immersion experience Experiential learning model Core principles > Organizational entrepreneurship > Innovation > Social impact > Global perspective Career development services
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BLOCH Fall 2014
In a bid to attract more of the country’s top young business minds to the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the Henry W. Bloch School of Management will launch a full-time, one-year Master of Business Administration program in Fall Semester 2015. The creation of an intensive one-year program, which will blend innovation and entrepreneurship immersion experiences with classic business training, addresses an important need in the area business community. “If Kansas City is going to meet its eventual Big 5 goal of being America’s most entrepreneurial city, it is a prerequisite that the city is home to multiple full-time MBA programs,” says Greg Graves, CEO of Kansas City-based Burns & McDonnell.
Stephen Pruitt, Ph.D., Arvin Gottlieb/Missouri Endowed Chair of Business Economics and Finance at the Bloch School, is confident the new curriculum will fulfill this need. “The development started with a clean sheet of paper, and several characteristics of the program quickly emerged,” Pruitt says. “We wanted the program to have a truly distinct emphasis that blended both innovative thinking and real social consciousness with the quantitative rigor necessary to quickly get to the bottom of the most difficult business decisions.” And rigorous the program will be. Students will be required to complete 42 hours of coursework during the yearlong program, including an internship and a stint abroad. One-year MBAs are becoming increasingly common. The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) tracked one-year, full-time MBA programs for the first time in the 2012-2013 school year. The findings noted 20 such programs with AACSB accreditation in the United States, including the likes of Northwestern, Cornell and Emory universities. Similar programs have seen a propensity for growth. According to the Graduate Management Admission Council trends survey, 55 percent of full-time, one-year MBA programs reported an increase in applications in 2013, with 54 percent reporting increases in 2012. The Bloch School will continue to offer existing MBA programs: a professional MBA, which has been in existence since 1959, and an executive MBA, which the school started in 1995. But unlike those programs, which often appeal to students who want to attend classes part time while continuing to work, the new MBA will require participants to make a full-time commitment to their education. Condensing what has traditionally been two years of work into one will require extremely dedicated students, a fact that has helped the Bloch School create a clear profile of potential participants. The program is designed to attract young professionals with the potential to become future CEOs and COOs, explains David Cornell, Ph.D., associate dean of the Bloch School. “We want people who are high achievers on the fast track to upper management,” he said. The Bloch School will work with a marketing firm to promote the new full-time MBA program to students with top GMAT scores (650 and above) who have at least three years of work experience. According to Doranne Hudson, executive-in-residence at the Bloch School and a member of the marketing committee for the new program, the full-time MBA will attract “high potentials” whose undergraduate degrees may or may not be in business. These students will likely be in their 20s and eager to invest a year away from the workplace, allowing them to broaden their perspectives
with high-achieving peers and to develop a highly portable set of executive skills, she says. Dustin Cornwell, who was recruited from Southern Methodist University to lead Bloch’s MBA programs, said the new fulltime MBA not only will give students a strong foundation in business skills but also will prepare them to lead by honing their communication and leadership skills.
“This program will allow the Bloch
School to reach a new level of quality.” — Henry W. Bloch “More and more, employers say they expect graduates of an MBA program to have technical skills. But what really sets students apart is being able to give presentations, communicate effectively and manage people,” Cornwell says. “A lot of our curriculum is about incorporating those soft skills.” According to Thomas Bloch, vice chairman of the Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation, students who participate in the program will become “some of the best-prepared problem-solvers and entrepreneurial thinkers not only in our region, but also in the increasingly challenging global marketplace.” Bloch believes that launching a top-level, full-time MBA program at UMKC is an important achievement for the Bloch School and will be a boon to the region. “The launch of this MBA underscores our family’s long-term commitment to develop world-class programs that are at the forefront of business education in our idea-driven economy,” Bloch says. Henry W. Bloch, chairman and director of the Bloch Family Foundation and longtime Bloch School benefactor, agrees with his son. “This is the perfect time to implement a full-time MBA. This program will allow the Bloch School to reach a new level of quality,” he says. “We want to be widely recognized as an outstanding school of business.” When the inaugural cohort of students graduate, Kansas City will benefit from the full-circle nature of the program, said Bloch School Dean David P. Donnelly. “We’re taking experienced workers and placing them back in the classroom to fine-tune their managerial skills,” Donnelly says. “We’re providing the necessary tools for excellence, then sending them back into the workforce, where they will be leaders in their respective industries.”
DUSTIN CORNWELL Director, Bloch MBA programs Previous experience Director of admissions for full-time MBA program, Cox School of Business, Southern Methodist University, Dallas
Director of full-time MBA program, Opus College of Business, University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis
Director of recruiting and admissions, Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, DePaul University, Chicago
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INQUIRING MINDS
Faculty researchers delve into diverse topics in pursuit of knowledge By VICTORIA HOFFMAN and MEGAN COOPER
Rational Finance for the Average Joe Leigh Salzsieder explores the increasingly popular area of research concerned with behavioral finance. Specifically, he looks at why people do not make the best investment decisions when planning for the future, particularly retirement. “Traditionally, finance and accounting researchers assume that individuals are rational decision-makers with the ability to process any and all available information, and that they will make choices that maximize utility,” Salzsieder says. “While these models describe some behavior, the massive number of exceptions to these rules leaves us wanting a better explanation.” An example of these exceptions can be found among individuals who allocate contributions to their retirement accounts. After weighing their options, some investors allocate money to index funds with relatively high fees. Salzsieder compares that behavior to choosing to pay the higher of two price tags on an identical item. It is not a rational decision for investors. Behavioral finance relaxes the assumption that individuals are perfectly rational and explains anomalies using theory from fields other than economics, such as psychology. To better understand these anomalies, Salzsieder partnered with Bloch assistant professor of finance Nathan Mauck, Ph.D., to explore portfolio management from a multidisciplinary approach. “If we can replicate this behavior in a laboratory setting, we can begin to selectively manipulate the presence or absence of certain key features that are thought to be driving this behavior,” Salzsieder explains. “The ultimate goal would be to help the everyday investor make better choices.”
Federal nutrition policy. Sales workloads. Corporate social responsibility. Financial portfolios. Diverse as they are, these topics have a common link — each is the focus of recent research by innovative faculty members at the Bloch School. When they’re not in the classroom developing the minds of future management leaders, Bloch faculty conduct research that addresses problems and needs in the community. This scholarship places Bloch faculty on the cutting edge in their fields, and their results are often published in top journals. Research is important in determining accreditation
and rankings. Prominent research projects enhance the Bloch School’s reputation in the community, and the ensuing discussions about developments in the fields of business and management benefit students. “Conducting research allows faculty members to develop the most up-to-date curriculum for our students,” explains David Cornell, Ph.D., associate dean. “We impart upon them fresh knowledge that we can acquire only by frequently reviewing new literature and trends in the market."
LEIGH SALZSIEDER, Ph.D., CPA, ABV Assistant professor of accountancy
Hometown: Shawnee, Kansas Education: B.A., Drury University; MBA, University of Kansas; Ph.D., University of South Carolina Favorite activities (besides research): Coaching soccer, craft beer, travel, fishing
To read more on the featured research, visit bloch.umkc.edu/faculty-spotlight. Leigh Salzsieder is putting the finishing touches on his research before submitting it to the Journal of Behavioral Finance.
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Stressing Product Lines
Building Better Communities
Anyone who has worked in sales can relate: You’re faced with the stress of either too many or not enough product lines to meet consumer needs.
Early in life, Sarah Martin-Anderson developed a fascination with the way public policy shapes health decisions of “the most vulnerable people” — the poor, minorities and the disenfranchised.
Jeff S. Johnson is exploring this very topic in his current research. “There is disagreement about how the number of product lines a salesperson carries affects their performance and stress,” Johnson says. “Some think handling more products is beneficial; some think it’s detrimental.” In a paper titled “The Curvilinear and Conditional Effects of Product Line Breadth on Salesperson Performance, Role Stress and Job Satisfaction,” published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Johnson aims to figure out which, if either, view is right. His findings? “This study reveals that the effect of the number of product lines on salesperson performance is nonlinear, in that neither too few nor too many product lines is optimal. There is a just right level in the middle,” Johnson explains. He says the study further shows that handling more product lines increases stress for the impacted employee but at a decreasing rate as salespeople develop mental processes to adapt. The study also shows that the relationships between number of product lines, performance and stress depend on the extent to which the product lines are complementary or complex and whether they were acquired through mergers and acquisitions. “Sales managers must be cautious when adding product lines, as at some point, they become detrimental to salespeople,” Johnson says. “They must be cognizant of the characteristics of the product lines, because these impact how beneficial the lines will be to the salesperson.”
BLOCH Fall 2014
While she has studied micro-policies, such as hospitals and culture, Martin-Anderson’s most recent research focuses on federal nutrition policy. “Public policies are a determinant of child health disparities, and sound evaluation of these programs is essential for good governance,” she says. She uses the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program as an example in her research to show how the perceived benefits of participation in a program may affect eligible participants’ decision to use the program. Martin-Anderson theorizes that women with a high proclivity to breastfeed are less likely to enroll in the program. “I find that women aren’t signing up because they don’t need infant formula, the most valuable part of the food package,” she explains. But the goal of WIC is to improve the health and stability of vulnerable families by providing supplemental food, health-care referrals and nutrition education to mothers even after they have stopped nursing. Her research suggests that solutions may include lowering the reapplication burden or increasing the market value of the benefits to incentivize breastfeeding.
Sarah Martin-Anderson, Ph.D.
JEFF S. JOHNSON, Ph.D.
Assistant professor of health administration
Hometown: Lincoln, Nebraska Education: MBA and Ph.D., University of NebraskaLincoln Favorite activities (besides research): Walking the dog, lifting weights, playing poker, watching movies, studying astronomy
Hometown: Bakersfield, California Education: B.A., California State, Bakersfield; Master of Public Policy, Master of Public Health and Ph.D., University of California-Berkeley Favorite activities (besides research): Competitive hip-hop dancing, weightlifting, binge watching Netflix, cooking for large groups
Assistant professor of marketing
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“I grew up in the Central Valley of California, but I’m not from the California you see on TV. I come from a workingclass family and a hometown that experiences some of the most startling segregation and inequality I’ve ever seen,” she says. “Those early years in my life shaped my current research.”
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Use Your Words: The Power of Language In the research paper “Speaking of Corporate Social Responsibility,” professor Sunny Li Sun and colleagues from Harvard and Tilburg universities explore how cultural differences in language affect the importance companies place on social responsibility. The team studied whether the working language of a company influences its business philosophy and decisions in the area of corporate social responsibility (CSR). CSR is becoming increasingly important to socially conscious investors and as an indicator of long-term corporate health. A key finding in their research was that it is not necessarily the words used that have an impact, but rather the way they are constructed. The research honed in on future time reference, or FTR. Languages such as English, Spanish, Arabic and Korean use different grammatical structures to speak of the future — “It will be raining tomorrow.” Other languages, including German, Swedish, Chinese and Indonesian, use the same structure for the present and future tenses. “It is raining today” is grammatically identical to “It will be raining tomorrow.” “Languages with strong FTR such as English, French and Spanish exhibit less future-oriented behavior, and thus may be less socially responsible,” Li Sun explains. “Languages with strong FTR tend to reduce the psychological importance of the future and, therefore, long-term sustainable goals such as CSR diminish in importance.” There is hope, according to Li Sun. Firms that are more global in reach and CEOs who have more global education are less likely to be influenced by language in the arena of corporate social responsibility. Li Sun believes this has ramifications for the future of leadership and how we educate the next generation of students. “The value of this research is that it brings support and awareness to the need for global leaders, as well as a leadership mindset in companies hiring global talent.”
SUNNY LI SUN, Ph.D.
Assistant professor of entrepreneurship and innovation Hometown: Liucheng, Zhejiang province, China Education: B.A., Renmin University of China; Master of Philosophy, Chinese University of Hong Kong; Ph.D., University of Texas at Dallas Favorite activities (besides research): Swimming, writing a column for a Chinese magazine
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BLOCH Fall 2014
MEETING IN THE MIDDLE The Village Square encourages the politically opinionated to converse and compromise on issues of the day. The Bloch School takes a front-row seat to the lively discussions. By CHANDRA BLACKWELL
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Mission impossible? The Village Square has adopted a pink pig with curlicue tail and angel wings as a symbol of the enormity of its challenge: getting polarized Americans to stop shouting and start listening to one another.
Allan Katz
Mary Bloch
Peggy Dunn
Key kansas City villageRS
T
he ubiquity of the Internet makes it the ideal venue to express opinions; millions of people use cyberspace to make their feelings known on various social and political issues — from gun control to marriage equality to the latest celebrity fall from grace. The problem is that for many of us, the Internet has replaced real conversation—and the consequences can be detrimental to civic discourse. Enter Allan Katz, a distinguished professor in UMKC's departments of public affairs and political science and a former ambassador to Portugal. Katz created The Village Square in Tallahassee, Florida, to bring back the practice of civil disagreement. And now that practice is coming to Kansas City. The Village Square’s flagship chapter, which will serve as the model for future chapters, is launching in Kansas City, thanks to grants from UMKC and the Bloch Family Foundation. The chapter's inaugural event — a dinner and panel discussion on "The Price of Incivility" — was held in early October at the downtown Kansas City Public Library. “The Village Square is an ideal partner for the Bloch School,” says Bloch School
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Dean David P. Donnelly, “because its central concepts align so well with what the Bloch School stands for: ensuring that people have the best possible information to make decisions, fair and even expression of diverse ideas, and replacing personal bias with critical thinking.” Because the Bloch School’s Public Affairs Department specializes in community involvement, Katz was introduced to department chair David Renz, Ph.D., and before long, a plan was in place. Under the guidance of associate teaching professor Scott Helm, Ph.D., students from a public affairs course at the Bloch School were recruited to create a framework for the program.
Who are these people? The Village Square bills itself as “a nervy bunch of liberals and conservatives who believe that disagreement, dialogue and discernment of fact make for a good conversation, a good country and a good time.” The seeds of the venture began to germinate in 2006 in Tallahassee, where Katz then served as city commissioner, when a divisive local issue made it clear that
the community lacked a shared civic space for conversation between people who didn’t see things the same way. Katz, a Democrat, recruited a Republican co-chair, formed a board, and was off and running with a simple yet innovative concept: to re-engage Americans in civil debate — and make it fun. A headline in The Wall Street Journal recently declared Americans to be “as polarized as Washington.” Katz, though, thinks Americans have simply turned off and tuned out of the current discourse. The purpose of The Village Square is to “[create] a space for people who would like to be involved in civil discussion.” Each Village Square chapter is required to have co-chairs from opposite sides of the political aisle. Filling those roles in Kansas City are Mary Bloch, a Democrat on the Missouri side of the state line, and Peggy Dunn, a Republican from Kansas. Both Bloch and Dunn spoke at a June luncheon at UMKC to introduce The Village Square to Kansas City, and both expressed tremendous enthusiasm about participating in the project. Dunn was quick to note that The Village Square “isn’t just about politics; it’s about
issues that are polarizing.” “It’s such a simple idea,” Bloch said. “It’s a shame there has to be an organization to promote it.” She said the need for civil discussion around hot-button issues is obvious to anyone who watches television. “Everyone is fighting, and no one is talking.” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, a Missouri Democrat who spoke at the luncheon alongside fellow honorary co-chair Rep. Kevin Yoder, a Kansas Republican, agreed. “We are in a unique moment where political tribalism is at its highest — and it’s exacerbated by 24-hour ‘designer’ news coverage,” he said. Yoder cited “the pure abrasive nature of House floor debate” as one of the biggest surprises he’s encountered during his congressional service, and “the idea of dialogue without the threat of one group taking over” as his reason for embracing The Village Square concept. “A lot of issues can be solved by people of different ideological backgrounds if they would just listen to each other,” he said.
Stop rewarding bad behavior Listening is certainly a good start — but one of the questions Katz hears most often is, “What’s the end game?” Really, it’s pretty simple. “Our political system won’t change until leaders lose power when they are divisive and polarizing,” says Katz. “In our hometown, what will change right away is how we discuss the issues, because they’ll be framed not just by advocates, but by the
community.” The Bloch School is poised to remain an integral part of The Village Square community in Kansas City, providing both research and development support for the program. “Our primary goal is to make this program sustainable,” says Donnelly, “so we want to be an avenue of support.” To that end, Bloch School development officers are instrumental in getting the word about Village Square to constituents outside the university. UMKC is also a significant avenue of support for The Village Square. From its recently remodeled physical location at 4747 Troost to the backing of Chancellor Leo E. Morton, whom Donnelly commends as “a strong supporter from the beginning,” the university has already embraced The Village Square. However, Donnelly says he anticipates that as the program grows, so will the university’s role. “The Village Square has always required an interdisciplinary approach,” says Donnelly. “How do you not involve other disciplines on campus in issues that affect the community?” As The Village Square movement expands across the U.S., with plans to launch 20 chapters in the next five years, that “community” is going to look far different from the insular online communities that exist today. Sure, the Internet will still be a popular setting for expressing opinions — but hashtags are short-lived, and digital ties are no match for an old-fashioned face-to-face talk.
How do I get involved? For a list of upcoming events for The Village Square, information about the organization and instructions for how you, too, can join the discussion, visit kc.tothevillagesquare.org.
To create the most effective space for discussion, The Village Square embraces three governing principles:
A comfortable environment
Village Square forums are not lectures; rather, they’re comfortable social events where active participation is encouraged. Drawn from the Jeffersonian dinner tradition, Village Square events include Dinner at the Square, an annual dinner series (and the signature Village Square event), and Take-out Tuesday, a free, bring-your-own-dinner public discussion.
Purposeful diversity
Part of Village Square’s commitment to addressing volatile issues in a thoughtful way is maintaining balance in content, guest speakers and attendees. “The point,” Katz says, “is not to turn liberals conservative or vice versa, or to create consensus. It’s to create understanding and empathy in a room full of diverse opinions.”
Safe context
Three key practices ensure that event participants feel safe to express thoughts and opinions: >> On-site fact checkers quickly verify data if participants feel strongly that inaccurate information is being shared. >> Speakers and participants ring civility bells as a gentle reminder to keep the tone of the discussion respectful and empathetic, even in disagreement. >> Group clapping is banned to avoid a divisive group dynamic and loss of empathy with those who express dissenting views.
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Students Imagine a new future for vacant school By MEGAN COOPER
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What do you do with a 7 ½-story building that boasts an indoor swimming pool, a two-floor parking garage, marble floors and a room full of historic murals? That was one of the questions posed to Master’s of Entrepreneurial Real Estate (M.E.R.E.) students in Spring Semester. The M.E.R.E. students gained firsthand experience with local real estate case studies, including one presented by 2013 Regional Entrepreneur of the Year David Brain. Brain, an esteemed real estate professional in Kansas City, has long been a valued mentor for the Lewis White Real Estate Center. Brain, along with local real estate colleagues, was in search of real estate redevelopment opportunities when he came across the aforementioned Westport Middle School site. The Kansas City, Missouri, School District was beginning to sell its underutilized assets, including the vacant school building at 300 E. 39th St. Brain thought the 1923 Progressive Era building had great potential due to its scale and urban location. His team acquired the school, but they lacked a clear vision for how the space would be repurposed.
Enter Jim DeLisle, Ph.D., director of the Lewis White Real Estate Center at the Bloch School. After DeLisle spoke to Brain about the need for real-life case studies for M.E.R.E. students, Brain realized that involving Bloch students would be a great way to obtain fresh opinions on how to redevelop Westport Middle School. “We were a project in search of an answer,” Brain explains. “And the students were in search of good questions.” Thus Westport Middle School became one of three case studies that student teams analyzed in the Entrepreneurial Real Estate Process course. “It was a unique space with some really interesting characteristics,” DeLisle says of the structure, which houses a fullservice cafeteria, production studio and gymnasium. “The students were able to make several recommendations that all had their tradeoffs.” Some of the ideas included turning the school into residential housing, using the auditorium for performing arts, dividing the gymnasium into office space, developing a rooftop restaurant and
opening an indoor sports arena. The two other teams studied the redevelopment of downtown Overland Park, Kansas. The recession had halted progress on the city’s vision for redevelopment. But with the economy improving, city leaders wanted to revisit whether their vision for downtown expansion was still feasible. Both teams’ recommendations were focused on maintaining the integrity of the downtown area. “It resembles a small town in the middle of the city,” DeLisle says of Overland Park’s city center. “The options proposed by our students were interim land uses to keep the character intact while city officials decide how to move forward with development.” As for Brain, he is eager to explore the proposed alternatives for the Westport Middle School redevelopment. “This was not an easy question, and I told the students that I didn’t want a canned answer,” Brain says. “I asked them to think creatively, and they came up with ideas that, originally, weren’t even on the table.”
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What’s in YOur bag?
Inspiring books and phones are among the common denominators.
Alumna ALISHA TEMPLETON “Basically, I keep my office in a bag,” says Alisha Templeton (MBA '07). As program manager at the Sprint Accelerator powered by Techstars, she is constantly on the move.
Student ZACH PETTET Pettet (B.B.A. ’15) keeps busy outside class volunteering as an ambassador for the Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and co-running a nonprofit ACT tutoring company called Tutorious.
Templeton’s laptop boasts branding from all the startups in the inaugural class of the Sprint Accelerator, which is designed to help health-focused startups gain footing for their mobile ventures.
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The Bloch alumna refers
regularly to the book Startup Communities, written by Brad Feld, the founder of Techstars, “to remind myself of the importance of growing startup communities.”
Templeton uses iPhone gadgets
at events of the Social Media Club of Kansas City, of which she is a board member. She uses the Square credit card reader to charge admission and a camera attachment.
Pettet acquired about half of his
stack of BUSINESS CARDS while working at a car wash. “That’s where I decided I wanted to be an entrepreneur, so they bring me back to where it all started.”
Pettet carries a spiral
NOTEBOOK everywhere he goes. “That’s my go-to item. The way my mind works, to get my thoughts down, I have to put pen to paper. I never type anything.”
OUTLIERS has made a “big
difference” in Pettet's life.The book by Malcolm Gladwell examines the factors that contribute to high levels of success in business.
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Lisa Peña (MBA ’01) is manager of the Hispanic Initiative
for the Girl Scouts of NE Kansas & NW Missouri. Her role in the effort to better serve Hispanic families is to recruit adult volunteers to lead troops, and to connect Latina girls and their families to Girl Scouting. Persuading busy professionals to donate scarce spare time to Girl Scouts isn’t always easy, but Peña says the selling points are unmistakable: The organization, she says, has every potential to empower girls — and the women who lead them. “Girl Scouts is life-changing because it gives girls the experiences that, often, they wouldn’t get,” Peña says. “It helps girls understand that what they have to say is important and teaches them leadership skills through relationship building, and outdoor and cultural experiences. Girl Scouts is something they do when they’re young, but it has a lifelong positive impact for women.” Peña came to the Girl Scouts in November 2013 via a circuitous route that started in Kansas City, Kansas, where she grew up. After graduating from Sumner Academy, she earned her undergraduate degree in liberal studies with a focus on elementary education at Azusa Pacific University in California. A desire to travel, help others and hone her Spanish language skills led her to the Dominican Republic as a Peace Corps volunteer, teaching AIDS prevention and other skills to girls and women. She loved the country and the people so much that she extended her commitment to three years and later returned for two additional years to work with a nonprofit that served at-risk youth. Peña’s husband, Henry, is a Dominican. In between stints living in the Dominican Republic and working at Sunflower House, a Kansas nonprofit focused on child abuse prevention, Peña realized a graduate degree would improve her career opportunities. She chose the Bloch School because of its strong nonprofit administration program. A Peace Corps fellowship helped her financially. Her master’s degree in public administration provides a solid foundation for her nonprofit work experiences. The degree provides the lens that gives her a more complete picture of the organizations behind the causes that she cares about so passionately. While Peña has worked for many organizations over the years, her focus has usually involved empowering young people with knowledge and skills. Her current position working to make Girl Scouts an opportunity for more girls is a perfect next step in that pursuit. “It’s really about empowering girls and empowering women. And that’s why it’s so important.” — Suzanne Raney
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CELEBRATING THOSE BRAVE ENOUGH TO BUILD
Philip Anschutz
The Anschutz Corporation
Tim Barton Freightquote
Sister Berta Sailer and Sister Corita Bussanmas Operation Breakthrough
This year’s group of honorees inspired us all to build an empire, build a team, build goodwill and build a better way. Many thanks to the sponsors of the 2014 Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. All proceeds will help build a path for future entrepreneurs by supporting the Summer Scholars program, an initiative designed to recruit high-quality students interested in entrepreneurship.
Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Kansas City, Mo. Permit #6113
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-KANSAS CITY Henry W. Bloch School of Management 5110 Cherry St. Kansas City, MO 64110
UMKC is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution.
The atrium of Bloch Executive Hall is a popular gathering spot.
5%
Business schools worldwide (including Bloch) accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)
38
Countries represented among Bloch students
$1
million
Bloch scholarships awarded for 2014-15
75%
Enrollment growth in the last 10 years