Summer 2016
Corners of Calvin Hall
Moving Forward
End of an Era
College of Business Administration
New Building
Class Notes
Start of the Next
Letter from the Dean Dear CBA Alumni: I am very excited and humbled to take on the role of dean in the College of Business Administration. When I arrived on campus in 1999, I never gave any consideration to this sort of challenge. It is interesting where life takes you sometimes when you work hard and try to do the right things for other people. By far, the best thing about the dean role is all of the talented faculty, staff, students and alumni who I get to work with on a daily basis. Together, we will continue the work of fulfilling our mission. The college received some exciting news this spring, as Bloomberg Businessweek ranked K-State as the 39th best undergraduate business school in the United States among public universities (Page 2). This designation paces our program well ahead of schedule in the K-State 2025 strategic plan, and reinforces the positive momentum we have seen in our academic and career development initiatives. I am particularly proud of our outstanding score in the employer satisfaction portion of the survey, as it shows the career readiness of the students we are producing. In this issue, we felt it was important to take a moment and reflect on the shared history of the
college and Calvin Hall (Page 4). The building has served as our home since 1960, and it holds a special place in the memories of generations of K-State business students, faculty and alumni. Boxes have begun to take over Calvin Hall as we prepare for the big move over the summer. The construction effort (Page 9) continues to be on time and on budget as we head down the homestretch, with our faculty and staff moving into their new offices in July before welcoming students for classes this fall. All of this would not have been possible without the financial support of our alumni and friends through the Innovation and Inspiration Campaign (Page 12), which has already raised 83 percent of the college’s $100 million fundraising goal. Since the time has come to say goodbye to Calvin Hall, that also means it is time to say goodbye to Calvin Today as the name of our alumni magazine. We plan to rebrand and update the look of the magazine for the fall issue, and would like your input on what our new name should be. You can submit your suggested new name for the magazine at k-state.edu/CBAMagazineName.
I know that everyone is excited to get a look at the finished building, so I wanted to let you know about a pair of events that we are planning to celebrate the opening. On Saturday, Aug. 20, we will host a community open house from 3-5:30 p.m. The big celebration will come on Friday, Oct. 7, as we dedicate the building at 4 p.m. For more information visit cba.k-state.edu/newbuilding. I invite you all to stop by and take a look around when you are back on campus this fall. We look forward to seeing you! Best regards,
Kevin Gwinner Edgerley Family Dean of the College of Business Administration
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Class Notes
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Alumni Profile
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Table of contents
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Features
Calvin Today Spring | Summer 2016 Calvin Today is produced and published twice a year by the Kansas State University College of Business Administration.
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End of an Era
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Moving Forward
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Coming Down the Homestretch
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Innovation & Inspiration CBA Campaign
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Editor Brent Fritzemeier Design Guolin Zhao and Mike Duah, Kansas State University Communications and Marketing Photography Tommy Theis and Jeff Moore, Kansas State University Communications and Marketing
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Edgerley Family Dean Kevin Gwinner Dean’s staff Stacy Kovar, Ph.D., associate dean for academic administration Chwen Sheu, Ph.D., associate dean for academic programs Eric Higgins, Ph.D., associate dean Dawne Martin, Ph.D., assistant dean for diversity Bente Janda, assistant dean for student services Melanie Horton, assistant to the dean
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Department heads Brett Wilkinson, Ph.D., accounting Eric Higgins, Ph.D., finance William Turnley, Ph.D., management Esther Swilley, Ph. D., marketing (interim) College of Business Administration Kansas State University 110 Calvin Hall Manhattan, KS 66506 Comments? Kansas State University College of Business Administration 110 Calvin Hall Manhattan, KS 66506 Email: calvintoday@k-state.edu Phone: 785-532-2753 Fax: 785-532-7216
Visit us on the web at cba.k-state.edu/calvintoday.
Views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Kansas Board of Regents, the Kansas State University administration or College of Business Administration faculty. Correspondence related to Calvin Today should be directed to the editor, Brent Fritzemeier. Calvin Today is printed by Kansas State University printing.
Produced in cooperation with the Division of Communications and Marketing.
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10th annual Big 12 MBA Case Competition at the University of Oklahoma’s Price School of Business.
Kansas State University’s College of Business Administration Ranks in Top 50 of Public Undergraduate Business Schools by Bloomberg Businessweek The Kansas State University College of Business Administration was ranked as the 39th best undergraduate business school in the United States among public universities in Bloomberg Businessweek’s recent 2016 Best Undergraduate Business Schools.
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The college was ranked 82nd overall, when private universities are included, which represents a 41-spot increase from the last Bloomberg Businessweek rankings. Of particular note is the college’s standing in the employer survey portion of the rankings. In the survey, employers were asked to list 10 business schools from which they recruit, and then to rank those schools based on the quality of the students from those schools. A school’s final ranking was determined both by how the school was ranked by employers and by how many employers ranked a particular school. Kansas State University ranked 58th overall and 28th among public universities in the employer survey. “The significant increase in our overall ranking and our outstanding placement in the employer survey is a testament to the emphasis that the college has placed on developing experiential learning opportunities and career development programs for all of our students,” said Kevin Gwinner, Edgerley family dean of the College of Business Administration. “As we move into our innovative new building for the fall 2016 semester, we can expand those opportunities and programs for our students, which will allow us to continue to move upward in business school rankings.”
The college is home to more than 2,600 undergraduate students who can choose from six majors and two minors. In the past five years, the college has placed a strong emphasis on career development programs — which include the Professional Advantage, Executive Mentor and the newly created Career Coach — that are designed to engage business students early on in their academic careers to provide the necessary tools and expertise to select the right career path and develop essential skills to succeed in the workplace. “Professional development is key to success for business graduates, and we are taking this to a new level with personalized guidance from career coaches,” said Kurt Roberts, executive director of the Career Coach program. “Our biggest priority in the College of Business Administration at Kansas State University is for our students to have successful, fulfilling careers. These programs ensure that every student can succeed in finding an amazing career that is right for them.”
The competition, which is sponsored by Deloitte, challenges MBA students from around the Big 12 with a realworld problem from a local company. The teams were asked to advise the Boeing Co. by assessing the financial viability of an aircraft project as well as addressing human capital and supplier issues. Students had 24 hours to research, analyze and recommend a course of action. Each four-member team had 15 minutes to present its analysis and recommendations to judges, followed by a 15-minute Q-and-A session. The Kansas State University MBA team included Drew Hertel, Ellis; Adam Sobba, Richmond; Kyle Klein, Loveland, Colorado; and Tony Silvernagel, Spearfish, South Dakota. The team was coached by management instructor Sabine Turnley and marketing instructor David Lehman, and was advised by associate dean for academic programs Chwen Sheu and graduate program coordinator Lynn Waugh. “Competing in a case competition of this level requires excellent analytical skills, a strong work ethic and a persuasive communication style,” Turnley said. “Our team had the complete package, and we are so proud of what they have accomplished.”
K-State CBA Team Takes Second at Big 12 MBA Case Competition
As part of its second-place finish the team was awarded a cash prize of $3,000, while Klein won Outstanding Q-and-A and was awarded a $250 prize.
A team of Kansas State University Master of Business Administration students took second place at the
“Participating in a competition of this caliber allows our MBA students to
showcase what they have learned at K-State,” Turnley said. “The team did a remarkable job with its financial analysis and the extensive research that was needed to design such an extensive proposal. Their outstanding performance reflects very positively on the quality of the students and teachers we have within our college.” The Big 12 MBA Case Competition will be at Baylor University next year, before coming to Kansas State University’s Manhattan campus in 2018.
K-State Launches Data Analytics Online Graduate Certificate to Meet HighDemand Job Market The study of big data is bringing big opportunities through Kansas State University with the launch of a new online graduate certificate in data analytics in fall 2016. Data analytics is a rapidly growing interdisciplinary field that involves collecting, processing and analyzing large data sets. Analysts then effectively communicate research findings to key decision-makers who use the data to strategize changes or solve problems in their companies or institutions. “As many real-world problems are becoming more complex, data and algorithm-driven decisionmaking emerges as an increasingly important approach in academia, industry and government,” said Bongsug Chae, professor of management at Kansas State University. “As a result, data analytics is becoming one of the most essential skills for professionals in social science, business, education and engineering.” Companies such as Google, Amazon and Netflix use big data — characterized by their large volume, velocity of real-time information and variety of data sources — in internet searches, social media and e-commercial applications, according to Shing Chang, associate professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering at Kansas State University. “Most CEOs agree that those who use data the best to make business decisions are most likely to gain
In response to the increasing demand for qualified data analytics professionals, Kansas State University’s graduate certificate, which takes 15 credit hours to complete, includes required coursework in both a data science track and applied analytics track. Data science focuses on the techniques, methods and algorithms for storing, retrieving, managing, parsing and computing data. Applied analytics courses teach students to apply those computational methods toward business problems and communicate with stakeholders. “K-State’s unique program ensures that students with strong data science skills are also aware of practical applications and can communicate research results,” Chang said. “Those with strong data analytics skills will also be able to understand and appreciate the data science that answers big data challenges. Students work together in a capstone course where companies can provide their own real data challenge problems that need to be solved.” This real-world experience prepares students for careers in data science or analytics, where there are not enough qualified candidates to meet exponential job growth. Forbes lists data science as the toughest job for employers to fill in 2016, and Glassdoor lists it as the best job in America, with more than 1,700 openings and a median base salary well over $100,000. According to Chae, the growing data analytics field is an example of disruptive digital innovation — technology that changes the existing market and value network and requires people to meet new market needs. The interdisciplinary nature of the data analytics graduate certificate will help students develop well-rounded skills to meet new market demands. The program is offered through Kansas State University’s College of Business Administration, College
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ground on their rivals,” Chang said. “All industries can benefit from employees with competent data analytics skills, but higher education is lagging behind in providing graduates who are well-equipped in these skills.”
of Engineering, College of Arts & Sciences, and Global Campus. Learn more about the data analytics online graduate certificate, or begin the admission process at global.kstate.edu/business/analytics.
Kansas Entrepreneurship Challenge Awards More Than $10,000 to Student Entrepreneurs A statewide student entrepreneurship competition featuring 29 high school teams and four universities has awarded entrepreneurial-minded students from across the state more than $10,000 in prize money. The Kansas Entrepreneurship Challenge gave high school and college students from Kansas experience in the process of making a business proposal. The event was organized by the Kansas State University Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship in conjunction with Network Kansas. “It was very gratifying to see so much hard work culminate in the Kansas Entrepreneurship Challenge at K-State,” said Anne Dewvall, manager of e-community partnerships at Network Kansas.
“The highlight was seeing the incredibly talented entrepreneurs from across the state present in front of judges, parents and their peers.” To qualify, students first competed in idea competitions at the local level for the chance to represent their school in the challenge. The students then traveled to Kansas State University where they delivered a two-minute “quick pitch” of their business to a panel of judges that consisted of entrepreneurs, statewide business leaders and investment experts. From those pitches, the judges selected eight high school finalists and four collegiate finalists, who each then had the opportunity to do a more in-depth presentation, followed by a Q-and-A session with the judges. “The Kansas Entrepreneurship Challenge is an opportunity to showcase the tremendous entrepreneurial talent we have in the state of Kansas,” said Chad Jackson, director of the Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship. “The real-world experience of pitching a business in front of the business experts we have on our panel is invaluable to these students, and provides real-world feedback and support to launch companies within our state.” Representing Kansas State University in the collegiate division was Ben Jackson, senior in marketing, Manhattan, and Harrison
Proffitt, December 2015 bachelor’s graduate in marketing, Hutchinson, who won $2,000 and first place for their pitch for Bungii, a mobile application that will connect users with a driver and pickup for moving big objects around town. The Co2llect team of Cory McCurry, Marcos Felipe Goncalves Silva and Michaela Diercks from Fort Hays State University took second place and $1,500 home for their pitch centered on a carbon dioxide measuring device and app. Brista Robinson, Washburn University, placed third with a $1,000 prize for her pitch of Kanza Konez, a potato chip ice cream cone. Rounding out the collegiate division was Emporia State University’s Megan Allen, whose pitch for natural skin product Nfusion took home $500. In the high school division, Tegan Maxson and Gwyn Dean, Labette County High School, took home first place and $1,500 for their pitch of M&D Crop Diagnosis, a dronepowered crop diagnostic service. In a tie for second, with each team taking home $1,000, were Corbin Crawford and Logan McHenry, Hoisington High School, for their smartphone screen replacement service Cardinal Screen Repair, and Ahrash Karbasi and Chris James, Blue Valley Northwest High School, Overland Park, for their e-sports tournament business Competitive Gaming Legion.
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Cover Story
End of an Era For the past 57 years, Calvin Hall has been the home of the College of Business Administration. Before making the transition this summer to our new home, we take a look back at our time in Calvin Hall. by Brent Fritzemeier
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When C. Clyde Jones came to Kansas State University in 1960, he walked through the arched limestone doorway of Calvin Hall and wondered how business students would ever fill such a large building. “When I came in 1960, there were 15 faculty members and about 680 students in the major,” Jones said. “We all rattled around in Calvin Hall like marbles in a cigar box. It was such a huge building for the amount of people we had at that time.” Calvin Hall was new to business students and faculty, but the 52-year-old building had been a fixture on campus since John F. Stanton, state architect, completed it in 1908. It was originally designed as the Domestic Science and Art Hall, the location of home economics and art programs. In April 1925, it was renamed Calvin Hall in honor of Henrietta W. Calvin’s contribution to the home economics program and college.
The College of Home Economics moved to the newly built Justin Hall in 1960, while Calvin Hall became home to the business administration and accounting departments. During this formative time in the life of the college, Jones joined the faculty as the department head. In 1962, the business administration and accounting departments were reorganized into the School of Commerce, and Jones was named its first-ever dean. The following year it was renamed the School of Business Administration before becoming the College of Business Administration in 1969. Once the college had officially been established, the next challenge quickly became getting the newly formed college accredited. “Accreditation standards were very well known and very rigid,” Jones said. “You had to have a certain percentage of classes that were taught by faculty with doctoral degrees, somewhere around 60 percent. The joke back then was that when I came in 1960, I increased our doctoral degrees by 100 percent; there was no other faculty member who had one.
“I was given three new faculty positions to fill immediately, so, of course, I set out to fill those with doctorates. It was a challenge to recruit faculty because, at that time, the program was not very well established. Our salary levels were not high enough for someone to decide to come here for the money. In 1960, an assistant professor might make $5,000 or $7,500. When I started as a department head, my salary was $13,500. You basically were looking for people with new Ph.Ds and hoping they would mature into the kind of scholar who would publish a lot of great research. Once we received that accreditation, faculty recruitment and retention became much easier.” The size of the college, which today boasts 67 full-time faculty members and 2,600 undergraduate students, isn’t the only thing that looks unrecognizable when you compare between eras. Things like class registration, which today can be done online in minutes, was a huge ordeal before computers. “Registration back then was something to behold,” Jones said. “You would walk into Ahearn Field House, onto a dirt floor because they wouldn’t want to scratch up the basketball court,
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and see all kinds of tables set up for students to register. Of course, there was no air conditioning. Faculty and advisors would be sitting at all of these big long tables, and students would come in and fill out a form for a trial schedule. “They would sit there and go through what was called a line schedule, which was a printed document about a half-inch thick, and find all of the different sections of a class they were trying to take. Students would pick one and write it into their schedule, and then would go look for another class at another table. It was all trial and error — you would spend hours in there trying to get your schedule figured out, and when you finished, you might have to redo it because one of the classes that you had put down had closed while you were trying to figure everything else out.” Just like technology eventually changed student registration, technology was the impetus behind the next renovation to Calvin Hall, almost 25 years after it became the college’s home. In the early 1980s, there were few computers on K-State’s campus. The addition of a large computer lab on the first floor of Calvin Hall made the college one of the first on campus to
have this progressive technology available to K-State students. More renovations followed in the 1990s and 2000s in an attempt to keep up with the swell of student population and the impact technology was having on the business world. This involved adding more bathrooms, adding the north and south staircases, renovating faculty offices and, most importantly, converting 10,000 square feet of attic space into computer labs, conference rooms and a small student study area. Even with those renovations, it became clear in recent years that the college had outgrown the space available in Calvin Hall. What had once felt like marbles rattling around in a cigar box had evolved into feeling like sardines in a can. There wasn’t enough classroom space for all of the classes offered in the college. Students had nowhere to sit between classes or meet for group projects, and some staff members had to have offices in other buildings on campus. Thus, in September 2014, the college began construction on its new 150,000-square-foot home that more than triples the workable area of Calvin Hall.
“As I look at that sparkling new building, I wasn’t sure it would ever happen at Kansas State University,” said Jones, who campaigned for a new building during his tenure before retiring in 1986. “As we grew as a college, we tried repeatedly to either move to a better existing structure or build a new space. The new building is a marvel, in both in size and quality. It will be one of the best — if not the best — building on campus.” Jones has stayed active in the Manhattan community, including the college’s annual C. Clyde Run to benefit Shepherd’s Crossing, a local ecumenical ministry that offers budget counseling, referrals and financial support to residents in Riley County and St. George. He’s thrilled that the new building will benefit today’s students and staff. This summer marks the end of an era in the college and a place that so many alumni, faculty and friends look back on with great fondness and memories. However, it won’t take long after seeing the new home of the college for that feeling of nostalgia to be replaced with a pang of jealousy over what the next generation of K-State business students will get to experience.
Feature
Moving Forward A new era of leadership begins in the College of Business Administration by Brent Fritzemeier
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Following a nationwide search, it was announced in April that Dr. Kevin Gwinner had been chosen as the Edgerley family dean in the Kansas State University College of Business Administration. Gwinner, who had served as the interim dean since June 2015, was the Jon Wefald chair of business leadership and served as head of the marketing department from July 2005 to June 2015. He will continue to lead the college in areas of teaching, research, scholarship and outreach conducive with the college’s mission. “I am thrilled to welcome Dr. Kevin Gwinner as dean of the College of Business Administration,” said Provost and Senior Vice President April Mason. “Dr. Gwinner will be an excellent leader as we move into the new College of Business Administration building and continue to advance programs promoting the success of students as future business leaders. He will move the college forward to achieve its 2025 goals.” Before coming to Kansas State University in 1999, Gwinner was an assistant professor of marketing at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. Before that, he worked in industry, implementing a competitor intelligence program for Pharmaceutical Card Systems and developing merchandise plans and distribution strategies for May Department Stores.
Gwinner’s primary research expertise is in improving and managing service employeecustomer interactions and corporate sporting event sponsorship. He has published 36 peerreviewed journal articles and four book chapters. In addition, he has presented his research at 48 national and international conferences. His research has been cited more than 13,000 times in peer-reviewed journals. In 2005, Gwinner’s research on consumer relational benefits was recognized as the most influential article published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science in the previous seven years. He also won the Outstanding Research Paper Award for the best article published in the Journal of Service Research and the Commerce Bank Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching. In the community, Gwinner volunteers on the executive board and is past president of the Boy Scout Coronado Area Council, which provides scouting opportunities to 2,600 youth across 32 counties in central and western Kansas. Gwinner received his doctorate in marketing from Arizona State University. He also has a Master of Business Administration and bachelor’s in finance from Arizona State University.
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Get to Know the New Dean Calvin Today: You began your career in the corporate sector. What made you decide to go into education? Kevin Gwinner: My father was a marketing faculty member in the College of Business at Arizona State, so I had been able to watch him progress through his career. It was always something in the back of my mind, and after I finished my MBA program and began to look at job opportunities, none of them really excited me at the time, so my dad suggested I go into academia.
CT: You’ve been at K-State since 1999. What is it about the college and Manhattan that has kept you around? KG: The people here, not only within the college but also at the university and in the community, are just extraordinary. Manhattan is just a great place to live and a great place to raise a family. All three of my kids have grown up here, and my wife and I can’t imagine calling any other place home. All of the colleagues I get to work with on a day-to-day basis are what makes this place truly exceptional.
When I began, I thought I would really enjoy the research side of it, but as I got into it, I realized that I really enjoyed the teaching side of things as well. It is a nice marriage of the analytical, quantitative style of thinking along with the ability to work with students and make an impact in their lives.
CT: In your time during the past year as interim dean, what are some things that surprised you about the job? KG: The biggest surprise was the amount of time I would be spending externally, outside of the college. Going into it, I had the thought that it might be about 25 percent of my time — between
doing things like fundraising and relationship building or working on issues at the university level. It has turned out to be closer to two-thirds of my time. In retrospect, it makes sense. In the structure of business schools today, the dean is the external face of the college — going out and securing resources that allow the people within the college to have the funding and other support they need to do their jobs. CT: The new building will be completed this summer. How will it change the business student experience at K-State? KG: It’s a phenomenal building, and we are extremely excited for the college to move into that space. The biggest change for our students will be that they will spend a lot more time in the college. Today, our students come into Calvin Hall, and they have to sit on the floor in the halls because there are no other places to sit while they wait for their classes to start. Afterward,
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unless they have another class, they just leave the building. They go to the Union, the library or home to work on projects and homework because there just isn’t space to do that in Calvin Hall. Our new building was specifically designed to encourage people to stay and interact with each other. We will have 50 study rooms the students can use to interact and work on group projects together. The professors will all be there, and it will be much easier to find and interact with them. There are a ton of great spaces — like the atrium and the outdoor patio area — that will make the building a place where people will want to come and hang out. I don’t think that’s exclusive to business students, either. I think students from all over the university will find the building to be a place where they can relax, work with other people and study. We want this to be a very vibrant and used facility.
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CT: There is a lot of forward momentum in the college right now. How do we maintain that momentum going forward? KG: Continuing to move forward is always the big challenge. In my view, we have done a lot of things in the past few years that have a positive impact on our students, like our Professional Advantage, Executive Mentor and Career Coach programs. We need to continue to refine and evolve those programs to best serve our students. We have several new specialized learning areas in the new building for entrepreneurship, finance, management information systems and our sales program. We are working hard to refine and develop new programs that take advantage of these unique new spaces for educating our students. I also think it’s important to step back and take a look at the vast number of things we are doing in the college and decide what we want to concentrate on in the future. That’s not just a dean’s decision: It’s a collegewide discussion about what we want to be known for, how we are going to brand our college, and perhaps what we need to stop doing that we’ve done in the past so we can focus our resources and energy to make the things that we want to do better.
CT: Budget cuts at the state level have had a huge impact on higher education in Kansas. What challenges does the college face given the state’s current economic climate? KG: We’ve had a budget cut this fiscal year, and we’ve been asked to plan a budget cut for the next fiscal year as well, which we are anticipating might be as much as 5 percent of our general use budget. Our general use budget is in salaries, so we have to figure out alternate ways to fund those salary dollars, and, at the same time, keep the personnel we need to move the college forward. We will likely have to redirect some discretionary funds, monies that could have been spent on important things like faculty and
staff professional development or improving our research and teaching efforts.
CT: What do you believe are some of the college’s strengths that set it apart from other schools? KG: One of the ways that we are really distinct, especially from other undergraduate business colleges, is our focus on career preparation. That starts with our Professional Advantage program, which is a series of employer-led workshops that help educate students on relationship and network building skills. Those workshops teach things like how to interview and network or how to dine in a professional setting. These are topics that aren’t necessarily taught in a classroom but are vital to career success in the business world. The Executive Mentor program pairs students with executives who have seven or more years of experience. It gives them a sounding board and a contact in an industry in which they hope to build a career. These mentors give our students guidance on the kinds of things they need to do in college to position themselves well down the road. Our newly launched Career Coach program helps each student think about what they want to do as a professional — starting broadly as freshmen and then narrowing in as they progress through college. It’s designed to help students discover what their strengths and weaknesses are. As it evolves, this program will really become our centerpiece and a driver that will help students determine what major they should be in, what kind of person would make a good executive mentor, what professional advantage activities would be most beneficial, and what student organizations to join. The purpose of all of these programs is to focus on preparing students for jobs in a career field they will love. Another strength is our specialized learning areas. We’ve revamped our MIS curriculum to be on the cutting edge of that industry with a lot of applied projects. Our finance program offers real-life applications in which students use actual dollars a donor has provided to make investment portfolio decisions in the stock market. In our entrepreneurship area, we are doing some really interesting things, not only with our own students, but also reaching into the high schools across the state and working with them to come up with unique programs revolving around how to start a business. That outreach will become a great feeder into our college of bright, business-minded students. Our sales program is one of only a handful of sales programs around the country, and we have a 100 percent job placement of students that come out of that program. In our accounting area, our Master of Accountancy allows students to gain a master’s degree — in addition to their undergraduate degree — in four and one-half or five years of study, which sets them up well for an outstanding career in the accounting field.
CT: What are some ways you see the college evolving in the next few years? KG: We are currently in the process of hiring up to 20 new faculty and staff positions with a new student fee proposal now going through the approval process. That influx of new employees will put us at a staffing level that will allow us to have a major impact on the learning environment of our students. We will be able to lower class sizes, offer new elective courses and more sessions of the current electives we have on the books. It will allow us to do more in advising our students and have more IT and building support staff to make sure we are getting the most out of our new space. CT: One aspect of what the college does that might get overlooked is the research being done by faculty. What are some things that the college is doing in research to move the needle? KG: Research is a critical component of what many of our faculty do. Our tenure and tenuretrack faculty specifically are engaged in research. They publish articles in peer-reviewed journals and practitioner-related articles that help move management thought forward. We are very interested in having impactful research being done — whether that’s an impact on the profession the research is being done in, or it has an impact on the academic knowledge in that area. We support research efforts in a variety of ways. We have research grants, travel money for faculty to attend conferences and present research, and databases and software that allow them to do that research. What we need to do better is publicizing that research amongst the business community. We do a great job of producing impactful research, but we aren’t as good as we could be at telling the story to the people that the research affects. I think that is probably true of most business colleges, so that is one way we can really stand out — by showing the business world how our research can affect their decisions. CT: Outside of work, what are some of the things that you enjoy doing? KG: My wife and I have three kids — a freshman in college, a senior in high school and a freshman in high school — so a lot of our time revolves around them and their activities. We are big snow skiers, and I enjoy mountain biking on single track trails, so we like to go over to Colorado a couple of times a year to do that. Cooking is another hobby of mine. I am the grill guy at home and like to try new things in the kitchen.
“One of the ways that we are really distinct, especially from other undergraduate business colleges, is our focus on career preparation.” — Dr. Kevin Gwinner
New Building
Coming Down the Homestretch It’s been about 20 months since heavy equipment made its way onto the building site to begin construction on a stateof-the art new home for the college. After months of moving dirt, pouring concrete, raising steel and doing the thousands of other things that go into the construction of a building of this magnitude, the finish line is now in sight. The finishing touches are now being put onto the 150,000-square-foot project, which remains on budget and on schedule for its July move-in date. Faculty and staff will begin to occupy the building in July, starting with those with offices on the second and third floors on July 9, followed by offices on the first and fourth floors on July 30. On Saturday, Aug. 20, the college will host a community open house from 3-5:30 p.m., before welcoming students for the fall semester the next week. The building will be dedicated with a celebration at 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7. For more information visit cba.k-state.edu/ newbuilding.
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Innovation & Inspiration CBA Campaign Update 12
Innovation & Inspiration CBA Campaign Update by Brent Fritzemeier The College of Business Administration aims to provide its students with a clear path to success, and strives to give them every opportunity to do so through scholarship support, mentorship, applied learning and relevant programs that prepare them for successful careers. Kansas State University’s goal to be a Top 50 public research university by 2025 is ambitious, and the College of Business Administration plays an important part in reaching that goal. The college’s prestige is rising, recently being named the 39th best public undergraduate business college in the country by Bloomberg Businessweek. In October 2015, K-State publicly launched its Innovation and Inspiration Campaign, which will raise $1 billion to advance K-State toward being recognized as a Top 50 public research university. As part of that campaign, the College of Business Administration has its own goal of raising $100 million to benefit four areas: student success, faculty development, programmatic support and facility enhancement. “The reception to the campaign has been extremely positive, and I have been blown away
For more information on the Campaign, or how to participate, contact:
by the generosity of our alumni and friends,” said Kevin Gwinner, Edgerley family dean of the college. “As I’ve been out talking to donors and prospective donors, I’ve realized how much people are willing to give back to Kansas State because of the great experiences they’ve had here. I’ve really been humbled, not only by the financial amount of some of the donations, but also the generosity of alumni giving their time and expertise. There are so many different things that people can do with their money, so to see that passion from so many people has been extremely satisfying.”
Through the end of April, the college has raised 83 percent of its goal, with $83 million in donations. The college couldn’t have accomplished such a high level of success without the support of alumni and friends. “I got a fabulous education here that provided me with an amazing foundation for what has been a very rewarding career,” said Steve Lacy, chairman of the Dean’s Business Advisory Council. “This campaign will raise the level of opportunity for students by providing more scholarships and a much better environment for learning. I think it’s only appropriate to give back and help the next generation of young people to have that same opportunity to pursue a career that they love.”
Almost half of the $100 million goal is going toward the construction of the college’s new state-of-the-art building. Fundraising co-chairs Paul Edgerley (‘78) and Terry Matlack (‘78) have helped spearhead the campaign efforts from the beginning. “The new building will serve generations of K-Staters to come,” Edgerley said. “It will produce an environment and the technology that will help students be better prepared for their careers. This new building will take the college to the next level and help it become one of the premier business schools in the Midwest.”
Darin Russell, Senior Director of Development darinr@found.ksu.edu 785-532-7525 Kevin Gwinner, Edgerley Family Dean cbadean@ksu.edu 785-532-7227
Galen Bunning, Director of Development galenb@found.ksu.edu 785-532-7515
Student Scholarships
Contributions to Purpose Progress Campaign Progress Campaign Goal
Impact
Impact
This funding allows us to attract and retain the best faculty and staff to serve our students. Excellence funds are often used to provide training and professional development opportunities to enhance employee performance.
In an environment of increasing higher education costs, student scholarships allow us to create access for more students and fulfill our land-grant mission.
2010 8 chairs/ 24 fellowships $10,871,324 faculty endowment $873,489 excellence funds
2015
Student Success $18,667,218 $25,000,000
Faculty Development $5,522,468 $15,000,000
2010 615 awards $755,220 awarded $1,228 average award $7,235,670 scholarship endowment
Facility Enhancement $37,974,573 $45,000,000
Programmatic Support
2015
11 chairs/ 20 fellowships $16,590,252 faculty endowment $1,356,882 excellence funds
679 awards $1,028,535 awarded $1,515 average award $21,771,194 scholarship endowment
2018
2018
20 chairs/ 26 fellowships $25,000,000 faculty endowment $2,000,000 excellence funds
850 awards $1,700,000 awarded $2,000 average award $25,000,000 scholarship endowment
$21,221,341 $15,000,000
1%
Campaign Progress 83% of goal 74% of days into campaign $83,385,600 Campaign Progress $100,000,000 Campaign Goal
Innovation & Inspiration CBA Campaign Update
Faculty/Staff Support
Donors by Category
24% 52%
4%
19%
Friend 1% Foundations 24% Estate and Trusts 4% Corporations 19% Alumni 52%
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Class Notes
2015
1978
Mattie (Loder) King (ACCT) married Jesse King on May 23, 2015. She works for Meadowlark Hills in Manhattan as a receptionist.
Steve McLaird (FINAN) has been named senior vice president of government activities for the Object Management Group, an international, open membership, not-for-profit technology standards consortium.
2012 Samantha (Rysavy) Blake (MKTG) is an account executive of facility solutions for Staples. She is happy to manage K-State as a contract customer.
2006 Samantha Hughes (MKTG) started as a buyer in the rental/repair group of Textron Aviation in 2014. In 2015, she started in repair process for all Textron Aviation brands, which include Hawker, Beech and Cessna.
1973 Mark Mawhiney retired from his role as a national bank examiner with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
1952
In Memoriam Allan Webber (1960) passed away Feb. 4, 2016. A CPA, he worked for Kennedy and Coe, retiring as a partner. He was the first inductee into the College of Business Administration’s Accounting Hall of Fame, and was an avid supporter of K-State Athletics. He and his wife, Leora, were married for 59 years. Larry Salzer passed away Dec. 5, 2015. He was a member of the college’s faculty in the department of management for a number of years.
Vera Ann (Rockers) Pysher celebrated her 91st birthday Sept. 4, 2015. She is still rooting for K-State, and has six great grandchildren.
Frank McBride (1949) passed away Nov. 23, 2015. A lifelong supporter of the university, the college is honored to facilitate the Frank and Emma McBride Faculty Research Fund and the Frank and Emma McBride Business Scholarship.
Graduate Studies Advisory Council Formed
The advisory council is made up of the following members:
• Jeff Martin, VP for Regulatory Affairs, Westar Energy
• Chris Althoff, Partner, Invoyent
• Mike Mayo, Principle/President, The Ebert Mayo Design Group
In fall 2015, the college developed a Graduate Studies Advisory Council to serve as a critical partner in various aspects of its graduate programs. A focus group in December 2015 included seven council members and two former MBA graduates, as well as a variety of graduate studies’ faculty and staff members. In April 2016, the entire council met for the first time, with an opportunity to get to know each other, gain an understanding of the current status of the college’s graduate programs, and discuss the different opportunities for developing a win-win partnership between the council members and the graduate programs.
• Matt Crocker, President, Steel & Pipe Supply Co.
• Brian Rempe, President, CivicPlus
• Brent Depperschmidt, President and Managing Partner, Tallgrass Capital Investments
• David Sedlock, COO, AT&T
• Justin Eck, VP-Operations, Wagner Logistics
• Gautam Vyas, Enterprise Alliances Executive, Equifax
1998 Michael Laurie (ACCT) is now a managing director with KPMG’s deal advisory practice in Atlanta, Georgia.
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• Andre Biane, President and CEO, AIB International
• Chris Hernandez, COO, Anon National Flood Services • Victor Jou, Business Owner • Becky H. Joyce, Senior Strategic Buyer, Hallmark Cards Inc. • Benny Lee, CEO, Duracomm • Mike Leikam, CEO, Centralized Supply Chain Services
• Wade Radina, Owner, Radina’s
• Arthur Su, CEO, Dapha Enterprise Ltd., Taiwan
• Mike Widman, AAI, Charlson & Wilson Insurance Agency Inc. • Ken Williams, Director of Licensing/ Business Development, K-State Institute for Commercialization • Chenlung Yang, CEO, Chin Yeh Foods Corp., Taiwan
CSCS Collaboration 15
College of Business Administration Collaborates with International Supply Chain Company for Research and Training In an effort to support the Kansas State University Global Food System Initiative, faculty members in the College of Business Administration have begun a collaborative effort with Centralized Supply Chain Services for research and training in the areas of supply chain management and food system sustainability. Based in Kansas City, Centralized Supply Chain Services, or CSCS, is a $1.8 billion supply chain cooperative that serves as the sole purchasing agent for the Applebee’s and IHOP franchise systems. CSCS is an independent company owned by its members, and is responsible for negotiating all purchasing agreements, distribution arrangements and determining the level of business awarded to different vendors. The company’s CEO, Mike Leikam, is a 1987 graduate of K-State. “A collaboration like this provides K-State students studying supply chain management with valuable real-world experience,” Leikam said. “At the same time, it provides CSCS with fresh creative thinking, as well as a potential pipeline for future employees. As an alumnus, I am also
very interested in aligning the partnership’s goals with the goals of K-State 2025.” Over the past two years, the college has begun to collaborate with CSCS on a number of projects that benefit both faculty and students, while also falling in line with the university’s Global Food Systems Initiative. The collaborations include faculty research projects revolving around supplier risk management, supply chain analytics and food system sustainability. The effort is being spearheaded by management professors Chwen Sheu, Bongsug Chae and Myung Kyo Kim. “In recent years, members of the public have become more concerned about where their food is coming from and what practices are being used to raise that food,” said Sheu, who is also associate dean for academic programs in the college. “With that, sustainability and supply chain management have taken on even more importance with companies like CSCS.” The collaboration has also directly impacted students, with MBA students participating in a food sustainability study as a practicum project
last spring. The students worked with CSCS to do a benchmarking study that looked at current trends within the food industry, what competitors were doing in these areas, and some ways the company could improve on those trends and practices. In addition to the research projects being undertaken, faculty members have also developed and administered training programs that are being implemented in the company. With the success of the collaboration for all parties involved, the college will continue to look for ways to partner with other companies that tie into the university’s initiative. Outreach programs like these closely align with the landgrant mission of the university and the K-State 2025 vision to become a Top 50 public research university by the year 2025. “Collaborations like this are a perfect example of the types of things we can do as a college to engage the business community in great partnerships,” said Kevin Gwinner, Edgerley family dean of the College of Business Administration. “This is truly a win-win experience for both parties.”
Alumni Profile
Dennis Leatherby (Finance ‘82) Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Tyson Foods Inc. by Brent Fritzemeier Dennis Leatherby is executive vice president and chief financial officer of Tyson Foods Inc. He has more than 30 years of experience in finance. Since 2008, he has held his current role, where he is responsible for all aspects of finance and accounting for Tyson while working closely with the company’s executive leadership team to drive performance, strategy and long-term shareholder value.
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Leatherby was named the K-State College of Business Administration’s Outstanding Financial Executive for 2009-2010, voted Institutional Investor’s top CFO in consumer products by Wall Street analysts and investors in 2013 and, together with his team, received three IFR awards in 2014 for Top Financing Package of the Year, U.S. Loan of the Year and U.S. Structured Equity Issue of the Year. Leatherby earned bachelor’s degrees in finance and accounting from K-State in 1982. He and his wife, Kathleen, have two daughters. In April, Leatherby was named the 2016 College of Business Administration Alumni Fellow. Fellows return to campus to discuss current trends and to meet informally with students and faculty. They are chosen based on their high levels of professional accomplishment and distinguished service in their respective careers.
Calvin Today: What are your fondest memories of your time at K-State? Dennis Leatherby: I really enjoyed learning. I was the first in my family to go to college, so being in that kind of learning environment was great. The professors, especially in the finance department, were great and I learned a lot from them. They really pushed me and inspired me to better myself. With their guidance, I was able to land some internships and map out a career plan — things that were so valuable to me early on in life. CT: What was your career path like? DL: I started out in banking in Oklahoma City. I went through a training program that gave me a lot of baseline skills. In the early ‘80s, the oil industry was in trouble, so I went into a special loans division, where I was involved with a lot of activities involving bankruptcies and loan restructurings. That time in my career gave me a lot of insight into the way not to do things — in terms of finance and what can go wrong. That led me to another phase of banking in Dallas where I was involved in a lot of big company
buyout activities. I became acquainted with Tyson Foods when I played a big role in one of its large transactions, and then was hired by the company in 1990.
CT: Was there an important moment in the early years of your career that led to your success? DL: In my late 20s, I realized that success in business was a result of a good team working together. I realized that helping others to be successful directly tied into my own success. That change in my thought process made a huge difference, whether it was in banking, where I could help my clients be successful, or at Tyson Foods, where I could help others around me to be successful. CT: In your current role with Tyson, you’ve been recognized with a variety of awards and recognitions. What are the most important decisions you face daily as a leader in your company? DL: Capital allocation decisions are the most important — what kinds of capital expenditures to make, how much to invest in different brands, how does the company invest in growth, mergers and acquisitions. No one day is the same, but we are always looking to make the best decisions to move the company forward. Those strategic decisions are what I am most involved in and what I enjoy doing the most. CT: Businesses are always looking for ways to evolve and innovate within their fields. How do you foster creative and innovative thinking within your organization? DL: We are always encouraging our teams to grow and get better. For those of us in the food industry, innovation comes in the form of new products and new brand extensions — how to leverage existing brands and put more products through those brands. We are always looking for developments in food service and restaurants and ways to take those products into retail-branded packaging, and vice versa. Funding research and development and staying on top of the latest trends in food are extremely important. Millennials — who have a distinct “foodie” culture — have new and unique desires that are making a big difference in how we think about things also. CT: What is the biggest challenge facing business leaders today? DL: One of the biggest challenges that employers face is developing and keeping talent. A big question facing all companies is where to find growth in a slow-growth economy and where to put resources and time. There is so much pressure from investors and Wall Street to continue to grow
that mergers and acquisitions sometimes are forced onto companies. Finding the right balance between mergers and acquisitions versus organic growth versus returning cash to shareholders through stock buybacks and dividends is difficult in a slowgrowth economy.
CT: What skills or habits do you think help people succeed in their careers? DL: The higher up a person gets in an organization, the more the ability to communicate effectively to all levels of that organization becomes critical. Leaving your ego at the door and working collaboratively in a team environment is a key to success at every level of a corporation. CT: You volunteer your time to help the College of Business Administration advance through your membership on the Business Advisory Council. What made you want to be involved in that way? DL: I really wanted to give back, and I’d hit a stage in my career where I could look back and share a lot of experiences — both good and bad. I try to be open about mistakes I’ve made or seen throughout my career, along with the successes. I think it’s important for students to understand that a career is not a simple path. There are peaks and valleys along the way, and it’s important to keep persevering through all of that. At the end of a career, you want to be able to look back and feel like you’ve accomplished something, regardless of the environment you were in. CT: You have been involved with the college’s Executive Mentor Program. How has that experience been for you? Did you have mentors throughout your career? DL: I’ve been matched up with two different mentees so far, and the experience has been great. I’ve learned as much from them as I hope they have gained from me. I plan to stay in touch with them as they progress through their careers, and I hope to see them thrive and be a small part in that. Along the way, I had several mentors. As a young person, I always tried to learn and grow and get better. I still try to look around and find people whom I admire, and learn from them. CT: If you could give one piece of advice to current CBA students as they prepare to enter the workforce, what would it be? DL: Keep learning. Keep growing. Don’t let setbacks derail you. Always get back up. Never stop trying to improve yourself and build up your skills. Grow in ways that contribute to the team you are on and make others around you better.
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College of Business Administration 1301 Lovers Lane Manhattan, KS 66505-0506
Kansas State University
College of Business Administration New Building Dedication
SAVE THE DATE FRIDAY, OCT. 7, 2016
New building dedication begins at 4 p.m. Celebration to follow. More information to come at a later date. cba.k-state.edu/newbuilding New building address: 1301 Lovers Lane Manhattan, KS 66505-0506
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