THE KANBAR IMPACT
Dear Maurice, Recently, I have been reflecting on many of the events of the past decade at your alma mater. Those thoughts are spurred by the chance to pause at the beginning of the year to consider how profound 2017 was for our university. Over the years, I’ve found myself juxtaposing two memories that are etched in my mind. One was the deep sense of accomplishment I felt during last July’s merger ceremony to form the new Jefferson. The other was the day we met in 2007, when I sought your guidance before accepting the Philadelphia University presidency: We stood at your window, taking in the magnificent view of San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate, and you said, “I want you to see beyond the bridges and even beyond the horizon.” That phrase has lived in my mind since then—guiding us in virtually every significant decision and major initiative we’ve undertaken at Philadelphia University. It continues to guide me as Steve Klasko and I set out to shepherd a revolution in higher education. I’ve also thought about the day in February 2011 when you gathered a group of fellow visionaries at your home for the inaugural Summit of the College of Design, Engineering and Commerce. By that time, you had already established the
new heart of our campus—the Kanbar Campus Center— and created the opportunity for students to explore greater scholarship through the Kanbar Awards. The summit was a key step in implementing the award-winning, market-facing curriculum that has become one of the most important products of your intellectual and philanthropic leadership at our university. Today, seven years after that gathering and 11 years after our first conversations about the University, the many seeds that you planted have come to lush fruition. The Kanbar name— already synonymous with innovation and entrepreneurial success—represents transformation in higher education and a unique breed of accomplished, creative and driven professionals. Your leadership, philanthropy, wise counsel and personal engagement have elevated our students, faculty and alumni, and authored a new model for education.
Impact Highlights
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Business student Jordan DeCicco ’20 wins the 2016 Global Student Entrepreneur Awards regional competition for the development and successful launching of Sunniva, an organic, healthy “super coffee” sold in major retail supermarkets.
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Fashion design graduate Vivian Cooper ‘17 wins the top prize, $35,000 Geoffrey Beene Scholarship, at the YMA Geoffrey Beene Fashion Scholarship Awards Dinner.
This past year alone is replete with examples of your dynamic influence— on our students’ capacities and drive, our alumni’s career trajectories, our University’s academic accomplishments, and the University’s standing among leaders of professions and industries. These are your points of impact, and they are numerous. I am very proud of the students and faculty members whose intelligence, hard work and focus are reflected in the achievements highlighted on these pages. But in writing a letter that tries to capture the breadth of your impact, I was initially uncertain about calling out these examples. Why? Because they are, in a strict sense, reductive, and they understate your influence on this institution and on many, many individual students and faculty members. The reality is that at Jefferson (Philadelphia University + Thomas Jefferson University), the name Kanbar means invention, progress and advancement, and your impact is broad and deep. I cannot comprehensively list the achievements you have made possible through the Kanbar Scholarships, the Kanbar Excellence Awards in Design and the Kanbar Internships in anything short of a tome. How could I articulate the full
intellectual and emotional impact you have had on the students and faculty? How could I describe the broadranging, catalytic effect of the Kanbar College’s academic programs—its influence on teaching and learning across our University and, increasingly, across higher education? How could I capture the energizing environment that the Kanbar Campus Center has provided for literally thousands of students, staff and faculty members? Then another memory returned: your paraphrasing the Talmudic wisdom, “He who saves one life, it is as if he has saved the world,” and your admonition that we “never forget that each student has the capability of changing the world.” I decided that the best way to capture your continuing impact at our University is to convey the personal thoughts of individual students, alumni and faculty whose outlooks and careers you have helped shape. Therefore, I asked a handful of University stakeholders to share their perspectives on the nature and depth of the effect you have made. These voices speak to more than a decade during which you helped contour the academic and professional lives of so many members of the PhilaU (and now Jefferson) community. You’ll find a small sampling of focused reflections accompanying this letter.
Impact Highlights
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A transdisciplinary team of textile engineers, fashion designers, fashion merchandisers and textile materials technology students win a U.S. Department of Defense challenge to redesign military protective chemicalbiological suits.
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Textile engineering graduate student Imran Iqbal wins the 2016 Textile Industry Engineering Scholarship for his work on wicking and absorption in nonwovens composed of nanofibers.
Impact Highlights
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Textile engineer and instructor Mark Sunderland designs innovative rowing suits for 2016 U.S. Olympic Rowing Team at the Rio Olympics.
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Interior Design student Amy Hufford is named the 2016 Interior Design Association’s national Student of the Year.
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MBA students compete in the CFA Institute Research Challenge’s regional finals.
Impact Highlights
Before I turn the pen over to your admirers...
is, therefore, a simple fact that our institution could not be on its exciting new path without you.
I want to focus on where we are now and where we are headed.
The second level is the effect that the Jefferson model will have on higher education nationally and globally. Kanbar College transformed the way our students learn and our faculty interact, and has enabled us to graduate professionals who stand out.
A powerful new academic venture was born in 2017. The intellectual and creative DNA guiding this venture is “Kanbarian.” The impact it will have—the result of your ideas and inspiration—is going to be substantial on at least three levels. The first level is the emerging organization itself. The merger of Philadelphia University + Thomas Jefferson University to form the new Jefferson is creating a unique and special kind of professional education institution, a global university for the future. Innovation has become a constant in today’s world—as you well know—not just an intervening variable. Where entrepreneurship used to be an anomaly, it is now a requirement. Jefferson is built on the promise of human innovation to power the ideas of the future; identify and solve complex societal problems; and give our students a competitive advantage. Philadelphia University’s intellectual resources and entrepreneurial spirit were what first attracted the attention of Steve Klasko and others; they wanted to see the Kanbarian DNA expressed throughout Thomas Jefferson University’s academic programs and its culture. It
Our results are being noticed by academic institutions, employers and commercial enterprises far and wide. Those observers understand that we have created an environment tailor-made for teaching students to seek and solve problems creatively and effectively. They recognize that our students are mastering the skills necessary to create value in the workplace. And they are impressed by how well we prepare our graduates to recognize, manage and lead change—indeed, to thrive in change. Matt Baker, senior vice provost for academic affairs, perfectly captured your role in the creation of our paradigm-changing approach to professional education: “The Kanbar College is not just named after Maurice Kanbar. It is named for his thinking and his action.” The marks of your intellectual leadership are clear and indelible in the new model of the 21st-century professional university we are defining.
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In collaboration with Target and design firm Umbra, two industrial design students and two recent alumni had their products manufactured and sold as part of the mega-retailer’s back-to-school line this past school year.
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Industrial design student Jackson Gordon created a 3-D-printed prosthetic arm, which can be produced for about $100, to help a local man born without a left hand.
Impact Highlights
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Textile design graduate students win five of the top 10 prizes in the International Textile Market Association’s Virginia Jackson Competition.
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Mechanical engineering student Kevin Fox is one of three national winners of the Carolyn and James M. Chenoweth Scholarship sponsored by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
The third level of impact is our graduates’ beneficial influence on the world. They continue to be recognized for their leadership capacities and ability to hit the ground running in full stride. Their influence will consistently grow as future graduates help break down disciplinary boundaries and outmoded organizational structures—advancing entirely new ways of identifying and solving problems. And their influence will be sustained for the long term, because their careers will be continuously fueled by the combination of their individual passions with ongoing and agile learning . . . just as you have done throughout your extraordinary career.
Dr. Kanbar, Maurice, friend, our partnership over this past decade has been one of the most significant experiences of my life, professionally and personally. As Jefferson goes forward into its exciting future, I am grateful to have your support and mentorship. You can be sure that, in building this unique institution, we will be guided by Rule #1:
“We will never be happy with the way things are; we will always be thinking about how to make things better.”
You have always asserted that
Wishing you a healthy, happy and vibrant 2018!
the key to the future is not having the right answers, but asking the right questions; that we cannot walk tentatively into our future, but must discover, innovate and lead.
With deepest appreciation and respect,
In creating the new Jefferson, we are not tinkering with the past; we are issuing a call to arms for a true transformation in higher education. Through all of this, I hear echoes of the many conversations we have had on questions both practical and philosophical.
Impact Highlights
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An iMBA student team achieves one of the highest scores in the Business Strategy Simulation, led by Syed Kazmi and Love Karia, who earned the secondhighest score in several competition categories, beating 3,800 teams globally.
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Engineering student Shana Kaplan received the Susan Miszkowicz September 11 Memorial Scholarship from the Society of Women Engineers (SWE).
IMPACT PROFILE//INDUSTRIAL DESIGN ALUMNUS
JACOB R.
BROSIUS
Among the array of rich, meaningful professional learning experiences that Jake Brosius ‘17 had during his industrial design studies, one stands out: his six-month internship with MK Enterprises and the opportunity to learn directly from Dr. Kanbar. Jake believes he’ll remember one particular conversation the rest of his life. It was about the roots of innovations—about where bold, new ideas actually come from. Dr. Kanbar explained that his ideas emerged from simple curiosity about everyday life. He observed that many people go through life without once questioning the origins of products they use every day—where they’re made, what materials are used, and where those materials come from. But innovators, Dr. Kanbar said, constantly question and continually search for information. He counseled Jake to never hesitate to ask a question and to always dig deep to understand why something was made as it was, and if it could be made better. “I now recognize the power behind simple but continuous inquisitiveness,” says Jake, “and few days go by when I don’t remind myself of Dr. Kanbar’s guidance. He’s enabled me to become a more well-rounded designer—one who stays curious and seeks answers to questions others ignore.”
IMPACT PROFILE//ARCHITECTURE STUDENT
ERIN
RAUP Erin Raup is a woman in motion, literally and figuratively. A fourth-year architecture major, she has been involved in myriad activities—all while also working as a Kanbar Campus Center building manager. “The Kanbar Center is my place of employment—and so much more,” Erin explains. “I live in a house off campus and have a pretty busy schedule. So, the Kanbar Center is my home away from home. During the day, if I am not in class or other activities, you can find me there; if I’m not working as building manager, I’m studying or hanging out with friends. “The Kanbar Center is also much more than just a physical space; it spurs conversations and creates connections. It’s enabled me to meet many wonderful people who are influential in my life—good friends, great coworkers and an amazing boss. The Kanbar Center has also been a professional catalyst, given me concrete job experience, and provided the spark for my first architectural internship last summer.”
IMPACT PROFILE//INTERIOR DESIGN PROFESSIONAL
GABRIELLE
GORMAN
Gabrielle Gorman is barely three years into her career, but she hit the ground running after graduating in 2015 and has covered a lot of ground since, both professionally and geographically. Her Kanbar Scholarship helped drive that fast start, making a real difference for Gabrielle, both in school and after graduating with her interior design degree. Dr. Kanbar’s generosity had three practical effects. First, it enabled Gabrielle to purchase all the special tools, materials and computer programs she felt necessary to get the most out of her training. Second, it gave her the financial freedom to live alone, off campus, without anything to distract her from her focus on studies. And, with lower student loans, she could afford to move to Washington, DC—a very expensive location— to take an ideal job with Jacobs, a global architecture and engineering company. That latter step was pivotal: In DC, she worked hard, getting real-world experience with corporate office design projects. After two years, she was asked to help establish an interiors group in Jacobs’s Houston office and to begin working with national clients. “That’s the exciting situation I am in now,” Gabrielle says, “and Dr. Kanbar gave me the exact boost I needed to get here.”
The Maurice Kanbar Excellence Awards in Design, which were given annually from 2004 through 2014, were created by Dr. Kanbar to acknowledge outstanding, innovative academic performance and to inspire students to pursue excellence in the graphic and industrial design disciplines. The “Kanbar Awards,” as the students referred to them, were the highest recognition given to graduating seniors in graphic design communication and industrial design. They involved a unique competition in which senior capstone projects and senior portfolios were judged according to how effectively students captured the excellence and drive to innovation that Dr. Kanbar himself inspires.
Benjamin Stack ’14, an industrial design major, invented and currently produces new products for Precision RBS, a line of accurate, engineered rubber band launching toys. Kristine Marie Garcia ’14, a graphic design communications major, believes that thoughtful and conceptual designs have the ability to shape the world we live in and incorporates these values into her work as a professional graphic designer.
Over the years, Kanbar Award winners have become successful designers, innovators and entrepreneurs. They have used the awards to help start their careers or to begin advanced study.
The impact of the Kanbar Award on each of its winners has been profound; it has catalyzed careers marked by success and a commitment to reimagining the future.
KANBAR AWARDS
IMPACT PROFILE//EXECUTIVE DEAN, KANBAR COLLEGE
RON
KANDER “I’d need an entire book to summarize Maurice Kanbar’s impact, because he partnered with us from the outset to build Kanbar College. But here’s where I’d start: It is amazing to have a college named for a person whose life exactly reflects the college’s mission, and whose career is a living textbook for its students. Maurice embodies the unique combination of confidence and humility needed to succeed; he has vividly demonstrated the importance of focusing product development on fundamental, underlying problems rather than just symptoms and solutions. His impact has been personal, too: He has changed the way I view my career and life—I am no longer satisfied with just a ‘glass half full’ optimism; I now ask, ‘What does it take to fill up the glass?’”
IMPACT PROFILE//ACADEMIC DEAN, DESIGN & ENGINEERING
MIKE
LEONARD “In the early years during his visits to campus, Maurice Kanbar would regularly stop in the Industrial Design Junior Studio. I’d find him sitting with students, listening intently as they described their ideas, then offering very substantive and detailed feedback. His input energized them. And when we learned that the new college would be named for Maurice Kanbar, students and faculty alike agreed, ‘Of course, that’s perfect, because, after all, he’s one of us!’”
IMPACT PROFILE//DIRECTOR, INDUSTRIAL DESIGN PROGRAMS
“The founding of Kanbar College and the development of an interdisciplinary innovation curriculum were transformational. They enabled us to complete our shift from the old ‘hierarchical design management’ academic framework to the ‘shared process’ approach that guides contemporary professional practices. Teaching transdisciplinary innovation before and after the creation of Kanbar College is like the difference between pushing a car and driving it. Ultimately, I believe it’s impossible to overestimate Maurice’s impact. Beyond the concrete effects of the new academic resources he brought to bear, there is no end to the influence of the energizing, entrepreneurial model he is for students: a real-life example of how to succeed by caring about people, thinking closely about their needs and crossing discipline boundaries to address those needs.”
TOD
CORLETT TT
IMPACT PROFILE//DIRECTOR, FASHION DESIGN PROGRAM
SHEILA
CONNELLY “The key differentiator between the Jefferson fashion programs and those of our competitors is our transdisciplinary, industry-focused approach to education. Our students and their employers benefit from this unique curriculum because of Dr. Maurice Kanbar’s visionary leadership and extraordinary generosity. He has been instrumental in advancing this University and driving a creative, collaborative culture among our students.”
KANBAR COLLEGE The fashion programs were ranked among the best in the world by Business of Fashion:
Kanbar College fulland part-time faculty
Global Fashion Enterprise, Strategic Design MBA and Fashion Design Management:
nationally
#
internationally
#
3
6
Surface Imaging, Textile Design, and Textile Engineering:
nationally internationally
#
#
internationally
23
#9 #
Kanbar College of Design, Engineering and Commerce accounts for almost half (47.4%) of all degrees awarded
3
Fashion Design, Textile Design, Fashion Merchandising and Management, and Textile Material Technology:
nationally
OF DESIGN, ENGINEERING & COMMERCE
31
4,300
STUDENTS ENROLLED IN KANBAR COLLEGE
since its inception, summer of 2012 to
Number of graduates: 1,613 undergraduate degrees 718 graduate degrees
#
7
94
%
job and graduate school success rate
in the U.S. ranked by Fashionista based on successful placement of graduates in industry jobs
fall of 2017
Here are some of the employers who seek out and hire our graduates. 160over90 1DigitalAgency 4Thought Financial Group, Inc. A & H Sportswear Co., Inc. Abercrombie & Fitch Alberto & Associates ALDO Alfred Dunner AlkemyX Allegion Allied Veterinary Cremation Amazon American Cancer Society Ann Taylor Anthropologie Armstrong World Industries ASRE AstraZeneca ATI Physical Therapy Atomic Design Inc. AYC Media Baltimore City Police Office Barry Callebaut Group Beautiful Blooms Events Bed Bath & Beyond Belfor Restoration Belk BHLDN Weddings Bloomingdale’s Boathouse Sportswear Boeing Bonobos Boxwood Architects Brawer & Hauptman, Architects BRR Architecture Bresslergroup BuLogics Burlington Stores Canon Solutions America Carnegie Museum of Natural History Carole Wren Chaby International Christine Taylor Collection Circle Thrift Citibank Coach
Cole Haan Footwear Comcast Commercial Construction, Inc. Continental Converse Winkler Architecture CRB Curry Architects CVS Caremark Daroff Designs Dauntless Design Collaborative David Yurman Deloitte Destination Maternity Corp. Dever Architects DIGroup Architecture dRemodeling Duane Morris LLP East Coast Orthotics and Prosthetics Eastern Controls Echo Design Group Ecology Architecture Urbanism Edelman Eimer Design Everything But Water EwingCole Fastenal Femmebot Clothing Five Below Forman Mills Fort DuPont Redevelopment and Preservation Corporation Free People Freedom Mortgage Freight Handlers Inc. Gap Inc. Genesis Engineering Gensler GK Elite Sportswear GlaxoSmithKline Goodwill of Northern & Western Connecticut Govberg Jewelers Great Society Co. Green Street Veterinary Clinic H&M Hallmart Collectibles
Harrys Havas Henkels & McCoy Herzog and de Meuron Heyne Bogut HOK Hollister Homevestures Honeywell Humid Creative Agency iHeartMedia Intersection Irwin & Leighton Jacobs Jako James J. Anderson Construction J Crew Jet Stream Mobile Wash J.H. Greene & Sons JKRP Architects Jofit JPMorgan Chase & Co. JT Pinch Kate Spade New York Kempner Communication Kieran Timberlake Kitchen & Associates Kohl’s Kramer + Marks Architects Lammey + Giorgio Lantal Textiles Law Office Zhen H Jin LLC LeChase Construction Liberty Mutual Insurance Lillian Jackson Textiles Lilly Pulitzer Lime Rock Park Living in Freedom, Inc. Lockheed Martin Lord & Taylor Lou & Grey (Div. of Ann Taylor LOFT) Lululemon Athletica Lyquix Matthew V. Piotrowski Architect Mattiola Services, LLC Macy’s
Main Line Rehabilitation Associates, Inc. Marrero Glass and Metal Inc. Martarano Engineering Inc. Mary B. Decorative Art McCann Humancare MedRisk Melaleuca Meyer Design Michael Kors Milton Roy, LLC Minervini Vandermark Architecture Mission Escape Rooms Mon Cheri Bridals Monteforte Architectural Studios Muhlenhaupt + Company Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects MV+A Associates Nalls Architecture Nash Urgent Care Naytex Neczypor Dynamics NELSON New View Gifts & Accessories New York Field Services Nike Noahs Cellular; The Condo Shop Nordstrom NORR Architects Notations OLIVE Devices, LLC OshKosh B’gosh Pandora Paul Fredrick Paula Hian Designs Penn Valley Constructors Perform Group, LLC Philadelphia Art Museum PJA Architecture, P.C. Premier Office Solutions PricewaterhouseCoopers Proscape Technologies Publicis Touchpoint Solutions Push10 QVC Ralph Lauren
RAMCO Electrical Contracting Corporation Recraftd Atelier Regal Entertainment Group Reliable Contracting Company Renee Rofe Lingerie Resources for Human Development RG Group RHJ Associates, P.C. Ross Stores, Inc. Saint-Gobain North America Saks Fifth Avenue Saniee Architects, LLC SAP Scopos Hospitality Group SEI SewRob SJC Homes Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Sordoni Construction Services SOSH Architects Sport Court of Southeastern Pennsylvania Springleaf Financial Services Stantec Starbucks Stokes Architecture Story Worldwide Sunglass Hut Sweat Fitness Talbots TD Bank Temple University Tevebaugh Associates The Board of Pensions with the United Presbyterian Church The Children’s Place The Haverford Trust Company The Law Offices of Mark S. Guralnick The Mercadien Group The RealReal The Walt Disney Company Thomas Jefferson University
Thomas Jefferson University Center for Translational Medicine Timberland Tipping Point Media Toll Brothers Tom Jamel Company Tommy Hilfiger Total Construction Inc. TresseNoire Turner Construction Company uFinancial Under Armour, Inc. Universal Studios University of Pennsylvania University of PennsylvaniaCenter for Cellular Immunotherapies UPMC Health Plan Urban Outfitters U.S. All-American Army Bowl Selection Tour U.S. Construction Inc. U.S. Department of Defense Vanguard Vaughn Construction Vechtel Vermont Public Radio Voith & Mactavish Architects LLP Walt Disney Company Walt Disney World Wallace Roberts & Todd Wawa West-Ward Pharmaceuticals White House Black Market Wicked Cool Toys Windjammer Environmental Woden WP Trading Ltd Wyomissing Animal Hospital Yacht Interiors by Shelley Yaeger Architecture Xcel Brands