Eric Berkowitz: Defenseman helps pave the way to a 7-0-1 start to season
the new normal: Changing the family dynamic in television Pages 6-7
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September 20, 2012 — Vol. 91, Issue 2
~IN MEMORY OF ANNA WEITZ~
Education
Taking care of business College will start offering a master’s of business analytics in the fall of 2013
On Monday, Sept. 17, students held a vigil on the ARC lawn in remembrance of an inspiring girl who lost her battle with cancer
T
he Loras community came together to remember Anna Weitz (right), a poster child for Loras’ 2012 Dance Marathon fundraiser. Anna was an inspiration to all who participated in the event, and she even took part in the festivities herself. She battled rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare cancer of the muscles, for 19 months. During her fight, she spent many hours with her Child Life Staff at the Iowa City Children’s Hospital, as well as with Loras College Dance Marathon members. Much of her time at the hospital was spent in the clinic’s playroom, dressing up her Barbies and dancing. Anna passed away on May 22, 2012, in her mother’s arms. She was 5 years old.
photos by Jim Naprstek Top: Senior Kevin Myers writes a prayer on paper tied to a balloon. Middle: Students sing in front of the ARC. Right: Senior Bethany Melvin reads her favorite memories of Anna.
Breaking through the noise
Steve Robbins speaks about the importance of breaking stereotypes by KAy paul staff writer
For common time on Monday, Loras welcomed First-Year Experience keynote speaker Dr. Steve Robbins. Robbins was born in Vietnam, but then moved to the United States when he was five. He graduated with degrees from both Calvin College (MI.) and Michigan State. He studies how humans react when faced with new things and how the brain responds to them. In a thick Vietnamese accent, Robbins started the morning by explaining to students how difficult it is to speak English. Offering an explanation, he joked about how the English language has words that sound the same but have completely different meanings. After about two minutes, the accent was gone, photo by ELIZABETH EVERSOLE and Robbins was speaking perfect English. His Steve Robbins gestures point? To force the audience to see that individuwhile speaking Monday als make stereotypes. Robbins explained how the brain creates menin the AWC.
tal models of different things, such as stereotypes, subconsciously. He encouraged the audience to try to understand better using the phrase: “the more effort you put into understanding, the more you understand.” The world is filled with noise, which as Robbins said, “can prevent us from seeing people the way they wanted to be seen.” It is an individual’s job to try to block the noise and see people for who they truly are. “Closed-mindedness is the problem,” he said. “People just stick to their own thoughts and refuse to understand and empathize with others.” “It was powerful the way he organized his testimony and story,” said first-year Liz Edwards. “He began with stereotypical jokes focusing on his own ethnicity that led with a lighthearted tone, but his serious accounts at the end made us realize that the matter is not just a joke.” Robbins was brought in for the first-year class, but he draws attention to a serious issue that humanity faces.
In a press conference last week, Loras announced a new addition to its list of liberal arts educational programs. President Jim Collins, in conjunction with Rich Clayton (‘87) and the current undergraduate Business Administration faculty, created the program, which is set to launch in the fall of 2013. The program stems from the business and accounting departments’ success around the U.S. Clayton, a Loras National Alumni Board member and Vice President of Marketing for Oracle’s Business Intelligence and Management Products, is excited for the program to begin. According to Collins, Clayton may also take the reins as an instructor in the program. But for now, he’s excited to help with the program’s inauguration, and the intellectuals it will draw to campus. “The primary goal in launching this new graduate program is to increase the business analysis skills of the next generation of leaders,” Clayton said. “Partners, as successful, leading businesses, will create project-based internships, bring industry leaders to campus and develop thought leadership programs to attract new students and promote industry partnerships.” The growing field of business analytics/intelligence uses data management and analytical tools to evaluate and analyze past performance to improve decision-making, predictive modeling and business outcomes. Based on widespread survey results, there is an estimated 1.5 million person shortage in the area of analytics nationwide by the year 2015. And catering to those statistics is what Collins and Clayton hope will set the program apart. “There’s the duel addition that it’s embedded with liberal arts,” said Collins. “There are a lot of people out in the industry who know analytics, but cannot communicate it or condense the complexity of it into a rational and compelling argument or project proposal.” Clayton thinks that because Loras emphasizes communication and critical thinking, the MBA program is unique. As a result of Collins’ national board contacts, a number of colleges and universities have helped to advise Loras on the development of this program including Alverno (WI), Seton Hall (NJ), DePaul (IL), Notre Dame (IN) and Villanova (PA). Thanks to Clayton’s national professional network, a unique consortium of leaders in the business analytics field has been consulted while actually visiting Loras to further assess its ability, along with the Dubuque community, in supporting and advancing the analytics industry.
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