Making Connections

Mitchell Fiene, a freshman from Prairie du Sac, took his business idea to the skies with a quadcopter equipped with a video camera to survey agricultural fields. He was among six winners of the elevator pitch competition at UW-Whitewater who competed in the national contest sponsored by Collegiate Entrepreneursâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Organization.

Contents

Whitewater magazine is published once per year. Whitewater magazine is not printed with state funding. The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. We promote excellence through diversity and encourage all qualified individuals to apply. Publisher

Christine Clements, Dean College of Business and Economics 262-472-1343

clementc@uww.edu

4 Student organizations

Managing Editor

Anita Clark

Business students at UW-Whitewater build leadership skills and forge professional connections through student organizations.

Contributing Writers

Mark Crawford Christine Martell

Making Connections

Art Director

Joy Yang ’98, ’06 Graphic Designer

Jason Jasinski ’05 Photographer

Craig Schreiner

17 3 From the

Students filled Timmerman Auditorium to hear advice from insurance executive and alumnus Michael O’Halleran.

10 Alumni

dean

Leadership lecture

mentors

15 Internships

21 Undergraduate research

stay connected

27 Study

31 New faculty

abroad

facebook.com/UWWCoBE

youtube.com/uwwhitewater

twitter.com/UWWCoBE

tinyurl.com/cobe-link

member

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Connections among our stakeholders are part of the basic fabric of the college. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Christine Clements, dean

An illuminated stock ticker identifies the trading room in Timothy J. Hyland Hall, where business students at UW-Whitewater use Bloomberg terminals to monitor and analyze financial market data.

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MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN

Connections by Christine Clements, dean College of Business and Economics

e cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.”

– Herman Melville Within the college’s mission statement you will find the following strategic priority: Developing and sustaining partnerships with key stakeholders that lead to mutually beneficial opportunities for students, alumni, faculty, businesses and the regional community. Whenever I get the chance to talk to potential students or new faculty, I emphasize the college’s commitment to bringing students, faculty, staff and the business community together to create an applied and ubiquitous learning community. Learning takes place in and out of the classroom and the intensity with which we pursue this priority, as well as the variety of ways in which we operationalize these relationships, differentiates the education we offer at UW-Whitewater’s College of Business and Economics (CoBE). We in the college have long taken pride in the fact that the number, activity level and caliber of student professional organizations is among the highest in the country. Our student organizations regularly win top national and international honors in competitions, enhancing our visibility and reputation while providing amazing professional experiences for students. We have intentionally integrated outreach activities with

the academic side of the house, utilizing students, faculty and professional staff to address regional business and economic needs through our Small Business Development Center, Wisconsin Innovation Service Center, Fiscal and Economic Research Center, Global Business Resource Center, Voluntary Income Tax Assistance, Low Income Tax Clinic and Wisconsin Center for IT Services. Our newest entity is the Center for Sales Excellence, and we are in the process of developing an Institute for Water Business, as well. We believe the engagement of our college with these centers is a best practice, offering exceptional development resources to our external business community as well as outstanding applied learning opportunities for students. None of these connections could be sustained without the constant support of our greater CoBE community, the alumni, who are willing to mentor our students, share their leadership experiences and provide internship and career opportunities. In this magazine, you will find stories about relationships such as those mentioned above and discover that the connections among our stakeholders are part of the basic fabric of the college. The generosity of our alumni, the commitment of our faculty, the engagement of the business community and the incredible life and energy of our students make this a vibrant and rewarding place to work and learn. We all become something greater than who we are alone when we “Only connect!” – E.M. Forster, “Howards End”

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S t u dent O rgan i z at i ons

Learning, Leading, Serving by ANITA CLARK

photos by CRAIG SCHREINER

hen business alumni return and recollect experiences in the College of Business and Economics, they will typically ask about faculty members with whom they connected. Then they will recall their experiences in professional student organizations, whether they were active in Beta Alpha Psi, American Marketing Association, Pi Sigma Epsilon, DECA, Finance Association, or any of the other total of 28 business student organizations. Those groups were an initial way for these alumni to meet lifelong friends, to make close, personal relationships with faculty advisers, to test their abilities to work in teams, and to lead. Business student Kelsey Krueger looked delighted as hundreds of students, alumni and business recruiters poured into Timothy J. Hyland Hall on a Friday morning in late October. It was the fifth annual – and largest – regional conference hosted by the UW-Whitewater chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA), one of the most successful student organizations in the College of Business and Economics. With co-chair Briana Roy and fellow AMA members, Krueger had spent months planning the conference, which was called “Selling in a New Era: Today’s Trends, Tomorrow’s Sales.” A successful conference left Krueger jubilant about what she had learned about leadership. “Honestly, it’s the best experience I’ve had so far at UW-Whitewater,” she said. A junior marketing major from Mayville, she’s ready to impress potential employers by explaining how she handled details of a complex event. Just as Krueger’s experience shows, student organizations are not simply a means of adding a line to a student’s resume. The groups are integral to the functioning of the college. They are a part of the identity of the school. In fact, they are an essential part of student learning.

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Kelsey Krueger was co-chair of the American Marketing Associationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fifth annual regional conference, which drew more than 400 people to UW-Whitewater in October.

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Students who check off courses as they complete an outline of degree requirements will gain content knowledge, but those who become active in CoBE organizations have a richer, deeper understanding of the leadership skills they will need in careers. They will have “done” the work, applied the theories, networked with professionals, and even competed with other business schools nationwide. Whether failing or succeeding, they will mature and learn, gaining confidence as they accept greater responsibility each semester. Their resumes will show deliverables such as funds raised, community service accomplished, trophies won, and most importantly – obstacles overcome. No matter in which business organization CoBE students become active, they will gain experience and composure. They tackle the nitty-gritty work of scheduling volunteers, recruiting active members and building motivation and spirit. “Over four years, you as a person can transform who you are through student organizations,’’ said Jaeger Nelson, a senior from Madison and president of the Economics Society. “Your level of involvement is up to you.”

F aculty C onnections Organizations help students form deeper relationships with faculty advisers, who welcome opportunities to expand on academic subjects or apply theories to real situations. “It’s not just us talking to them, but us talking with them,” said David Welsch, associate professor of economics and an adviser to the Economics Society. Students have asked him to discuss the economics of crime, for example, in the informal setting of their organization meetings. When potential new faculty members come to interview at the university, in their scheduled meeting with Dean Christine Clements, they learn that the college expects them to go beyond being good classroom teachers and quality researchers. They will be engaged with students beyond the classroom, on evenings, on weekends, at conferences, or doing service activities. Faculty members definitely experience a time cost for these activities, but the personal return more than compensates for their efforts.

T alking

points for job interviews

Job interviewers often ask applicants to describe a project they completed or analyze a situation they handled. “I’ll be able to talk for half a day on the things that I’ve done,’’ Austin Durham, president of the American Marketing Association, said. Student business organization leaders at UW-Whitewater might describe, for example, how they: • Created the first campus chamber of commerce in the state to help student entrepreneurs, a joint project of Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization and Whitewater Student Government.

• Worked as a five-member team from the Economics Society to present policy research in competition at the Federal Reserve in Chicago as part of the Fed Challenge. The hard-working UW-Whitewater team finished within two points of traditional powerhouse Northwestern University in the 2011 contest. • Placed seven persuasive sellers from the Institute for Sales Excellence among the 60 finalists in the 2012-13 World Collegiate Sales Open at Northern Illinois University. • Wrote a detailed AMA annual chapter plan setting out the year’s objectives, strategies and goals with measurable targets, such as securing 30 jobs and internships for members. • Learned how to motivate people, delegate authority and inspire excellence. • Proposed, organized and presented a “State of the College” address to students by Dean Clements at the beginning of the academic year.

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Each student organization in the College of Business and Economics sends a representative to the Dean’s Advisory Council, which meets twice a month with Dean Christine Clements and other top administrators.

Student organizations are woven into the fabric of the college. They have office space in Timothy J. Hyland Hall and the college website highlights a different organization each week. All of these activities support the college mission to educate students who are critical thinkers, entrepreneurial leaders and ethical professionals.

S tudents

talk , dean listens

Business students enjoy regular access to college leaders through the Dean’s Advisory Council, which is comprised of representatives of each student organization. They meet every other Tuesday in a Hyland Hall conference room, gathered like corporate executives around a large rectangular table adjacent to the dean’s office. Dean Christine Clements

attends every meeting; other administrators often come to listen and share information. “Not every student gets a chance to talk about the college and have the dean listen. And not only listen, but take note of what’s going on. That’s really valuable,’’ said Quinton Baker, a senior from Amherst and president of the Dean’s Advisory Council. Topics range from curriculum updates to students seeking more night and weekend access to Hyland Hall. Council members are involved in strategic planning meetings and select the winner each spring of the college’s prestigious Leon Hermsen Teaching Award. “I’ve learned a lot about how groups work and how to make a group successful,’’ Baker said.

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freshman, Mitchell Fiene, pitched his quadcopter, a fourrotor helicopter with a video camera that can survey crops and transmit photos for analysis.

I’ve learned a lot about how groups work and how to make a group successful.

CEO recruits members from beyond the business school, hoping to share the message that entrepreneurs need designers, geographers, artists, and writers. In fact, those professionals might become entrepreneurs themselves. Fink defines an entrepreneur as “anyone who has an idea who acts on it knowing there is some risk involved.” You can be an entrepreneur and still be in a company. You just do things differently. A lot of people have good ideas but they never act on them. They never get off the couch.

– Quinton Baker

E xperiential I nnovation One of the most visible student groups is the Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization, whose members are bubbling over with bright ideas and big plans. “CEO spreads the word about entrepreneurship and tells you what you can do and what is possible,” said Dan Fink, copresident. “The rest of the world tells you what you can’t do.” Constructive criticism and the pressure of competition are part of the fun. “It’s not a bad place to fail, because what have you got really to lose? Even if you do fail, it’s fine. You take a lot of things from it and you know what not to do next time,” Fink said. A sophomore marketing major from Ashwaubenon, Fink describes CEO as offering refuge, motivation, practical advice and valuable experience for anyone with an idea. “We find entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs find us,’’ he said. “We also motivate students to become entrepreneurs. Andy Hoeft didn’t think of himself as an entrepreneur until he came up with an idea.” Hoeft is the UW-Whitewater entrepreneurship senior who founded Date Check Pro, an innovative software system that manages product expiration dates. With investments of $443,000 and 28 clients, Hoeft won the 2012 Disruptive Student Innovator of the Year award at the national CEO conference. Also at that event, CEO freshman Haley Cymbalak won enthusiastic applause and an honorable mention in the elevator pitch competition for her idea of creating an online The Boyfriend Store offering products and advice “for the men who are clueless.” She was among six campus winners of CEO’s elevator pitch competition who headed to the national contest, the largest contingent from any school. Another UW-Whitewater

Last fall, CEO and Whitewater Student Government formed the Student Chamber of Commerce to promote student businesses on campus. With membership categories for alumni and local businesses, the chamber hopes to eventually use its revenue to make microloans to student entrepreneurs. “It’s never been done before in the state,” Fink said. “We’re looking at creating a great model.” William Dougan, who is a CEO adviser and Irvin L. Young Professor of Entrepreneurship, said students are gaining leadership skills that will serve them well whether they work for themselves or others. He often meets with alumni and executives who are impressed with entrepreneurial students and recognize the caliber of their leadership. “The degree of change in the economic environment requires corporate leaders to be entrepreneurial,” he said. “So it is a skill set that helps not only to start new independent ventures but also to start ventures within existing business organizations, as well as in government or nonprofit organizations.”

S urrounded

by opportunities

Business professional organizations provide students with experiences that are difficult to replicate in the classroom. They are the leaders, not the professors. They set the goals and the budgets. They succeed or fail, and they learn from the experiences. They make friends and find mentors. More than for other business schools, the pairing of these award-winning student organizations with classroom curriculum makes CoBE a rich environment for active learning and doing.

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Dan Fink, left, and Xander Lien sell raffle tickets to raise money for the Collegiate Entrepreneursâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Organization outside Perkins Stadium at the 2012 homecoming game.

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A l u mn i M entors

coaching business students by ANITA CLARK

photos by CRAIG SCHREINER

usiness students at UW-Whitewater are building unique partnerships with alumni mentors who offer them friendly advice and savvy career counsel.

Paired one-to-one with their protégés, the mentors may provide tips on everything from networking to negotiating a job offer. Students gain perspective and practical information from business people who have built successful careers since graduating from the College of Business and Economics.

Mentors guide their protégés along the path from classroom to career. Some mentors give reading assignments to broaden a student’s mindset; others may help a senior evaluate job offers. First-generation students may find mentors willing to recall their own first-generation experiences.

Benefits flow both ways: Mentors appreciate hearing a student-level view of today’s campus and gain insight about the perspectives and concerns of young people in today’s workplace.

Wittwer helped one excited student weigh a job offer as graduation approached. “I didn’t steer him one way or the other. I helped him think about what he wanted to do, what would be his next step,” Wittwer said. “There’s no right answer. It’s whatever is important to him or her.”

Mentors also say they welcome the opportunity to support the university that prepared them so well for their business lives. “It’s been extremely rewarding,’’ said mentor Dave Wittwer, a 1983 accounting graduate. “It almost allows me to relive it myself. There’s a certain excitement you see in someone. It gets you reconnected with the university and reconnected with the students.” Wittwer, who has mentored two students, is president and CEO at TDS Telecommunications Corp., headquartered in Madison. Mentor-protégé experiences vary as widely as the individuals involved. Nearly 100 business students have been matched with mentors for the 2012-13 school year. One mentor invited his student to a professional event in downtown Chicago, an eye-opening experience for a young

man from central Wisconsin who had never driven in a big city. One student who describes herself as stubborn set out to ignore her mentor’s advice – until she realized it was correct.

G etting

to know each other

Each mentor-protégé pair finds its own rhythm. “I needed to understand from a student’s perspective the kinds of things they wanted to talk about, along with what I thought was important for them to know,” said mentor Floyd Bellman, a 1980 finance graduate. Bellman is a retired partner and vice president of Harris Associates, an investment advisory firm based in Chicago. He is a board member of the UW-Whitewater Foundation and serves on the College of Business and Economics Advisory Board and the Finance and Business Law Advisory Board.

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Alumni mentor Lori Stortz, left, meets with business senior Alison Burns.

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He’s a mentor to Matthew Jump, a senior from Necedah majoring in finance with an emphasis on financial planning. They meet on campus once or twice a month and exchange email in between.

As a first-generation college student herself, Stortz was delighted to be invited to mentor another first-generation student.

Jump remembers his first meeting in fall 2011 with Bellman as a little bit intimidating. “But I knew it would benefit me, so that kind of calmed my nerves a little bit,” he said. At first, they talked about their hometowns and his classes. “He kind of pointed me toward financial planning based on how I talked to him and my personality – how I like to analyze,” Jump said.

Burns transferred to UW-Whitewater after earning a twoyear degree from UW-Fox Valley. She was unsure of her major, but chose human resources because it would benefit the small Pewaukee company where she works now. She and Stortz often meet in a restaurant near their homes to trade stories about their families, ask and answer questions and look ahead to Burns’ career.

Bellman drew up a mentoring agenda that begins with a resume review and continues through the job interview process, being a new employee and networking. He asked Jump to read “The Power of Full Engagement” by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, which argues that managing energy, not time, is the key to performance and personal renewal. Bellman also invited Jump to a dinner meeting of the Chartered Financial Analyst Society of Chicago; for Jump this experience was an introduction to business etiquette, professional contacts and the price of downtown parking.

“I’m really passionate about mentoring, especially young women,” said Stortz, who has benefited from mentorships throughout her own career.

You are never too busy to get good advice. – Alison Burns

Burns was happy to get to know her mentor but was afraid to step away from the work world she knew. She didn’t tell Stortz, but she planned after graduation to stay with the company where she felt comfortable. “I’m a stubborn girl and I knew exactly what I meant to do,” she said.

“It turned into a nice networking opportunity for Matt,” Bellman said. That dinner and another professional meeting, with the Chicago Society for Economic Affairs, came under the heading “social mechanics” on Bellman’s mentor agenda. At Bellman’s suggestion, Jump is writing a personal mission statement. “It’s basically trying to tie in what values businesses look for in employees to represent their company, such as integrity and honesty,” Jump said. “It also ties in with work ethic. Because if you don’t have any of those type of values, how can a business trust you to work for them?”

M entor ’ s

“Having a mentor is a way to at least ask questions of someone who had known what it is like,’’ Burns said. “I think people miss out on what a big step that is.”

advice finally heeded

Another mentor-protégé pair matches Lori Stortz, a 1984 accounting graduate, with Alison Burns, a senior from Oconomowoc who will graduate in May with a business degree in human resources management. Stortz is a CPA and managing partner of the Milwaukee office of McGladrey LLP, the large accounting, tax and consulting company. She is responsible for the Milwaukee market and client and talent strategy, as well as serving as an audit and lead client service partner.

But, she said, Stortz told her – in gentler words – that she needed to grow up, get a backbone and make decisions for herself. Stortz advised Burns to expand her work experience, seek a job in a larger company and plan to work with other human resources professionals. “Even when I’m being stubborn, I can mull things over,” Burns said. “She was right, completely dead-on right. She’s not going to guide me the wrong way.” When Burns received a job listing through Hawk Jobs, the campus career resource office, she realized it offered the international opportunities she dreamed of. She applied, got the job and will start this summer at Deloitte Tax LLP as an international human resources staff member in its Global Employment Services. “I was thrilled,’’ said Stortz, who spent the first 20 years of her career at Deloitte. “It shows you the connectivity of the world. You just never know.” She started as a staff auditor at Deloitte after graduating from UW-Whitewater and was a partner when she left in 2005, experience she can use to help Burns understand the company culture and what to expect on the job.

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Matthew Jump, right, a finance major from Necedah, visits with alumni mentor Floyd Bellman.

A lumni

mentors gain as much as students

Burns and Jump are grateful for the opportunity to have alumni mentors. “I’m a little bit more motivated, actually a lot more,” Jump said. “He holds me to higher expectations. I feel I have to work harder.” Burns would advise every student to find an alumni mentor. “You are never too busy to get good advice,’’ she said. Alumni find they gain as much as the students from the mentoring experience. They treasure the opportunity to have an impact on a student’s life and guide the enthusiasm and optimism of young professionals. “Clearly, it’s an opportunity to give back to the university, to the students,” Bellman said. He’s had an influential mentor of his own for decades, “a great man, a very ethical man,” who became like a father to him.

In addition to the intrinsic rewards of helping others and supporting her university, Stortz said, mentoring helps her understand how students and young professionals view the world. She supervises about 25 people in her office and leads McGladrey’s recruiting efforts at UW-Whitewater. As members of the advisory board for the College of Business and Economics, Bellman and Wittwer appreciate the insight they gain as mentors into the world of students and how the university prepares them for careers. Wittwer would like to see other alumni volunteer as mentors, especially more recent graduates with timely advice for today’s students. “I would certainly encourage people to do it. I think UWWhitewater is a great institution, and there are lots of ways to give back,’’ he said. Potential alumni mentors and interested students can find more information at uww.edu/alumni/mentor.

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The expectations are high, but they give you all the tools and resources and encouragement you need to be successful. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Jake Beres

Jake Beres, a graduate student in accounting, gained valuable experience and a full-time job offer from his internship at Deloitte in Milwaukee.

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B u s i ness Internsh i p s

gaining experience, skills and job offers by Anita Clark

photos by CRAIG SCHREINER

usiness students at UW-Whitewater are thriving in internships that help them add tangible real-world skills to their solid academic foundation.

That combination helps students make connections with future employers as they explore careers and meet professional colleagues. Students also offer timely assistance to employers, who get a performance preview of potential hires. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Getting experience is one of the most important things students can do,â&#x20AC;? said Frank Lanko, senior business career adviser in the College of Business and Economics. Students learn to hone their resumes, interview with confidence and highlight their skills as they prepare for internships that often determine the course of their future careers.

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Best known are the annual accounting internships. This semester, about 85 accounting students are working full time at about 35 companies during the busy tax and audit season. The students, most of them seniors, will return to campus with more than three months of experience, and many of them will have job offers in hand.

Lanko guides students through “the nuts and bolts’’ of searching for an internship or post-graduation job. In teaching and meeting one-to-one with students, he helps them recognize skills they’ve developed from work experience. Working in a restaurant or as a sales clerk, for example, may translate into customer service and problem-solving skills.

It’s the culmination of a process overseen by faculty member Bill Tatman, accounting internship director, who spends a long weekend at his kitchen table with a massive spreadsheet as he matches preferences of employers and students.

“I guarantee there is at least one useful skill, one transferable skill, you can pull out of any job,” Lanko tells students.

“This allows us, I believe, to place more students and really try to make this a win-win for everybody,” Tatman said. Accounting interns are placed not only at small, medium and large accounting firms, but also at such companies as Generac, CUNA Mutual and WPS Insurance and at the governmental Legislative Audit Bureau. Tatman admits feeling fatherly as he sends eager students into their first career assignments. They’ve been coached with practical tips and reminded that their performance reflects not only on themselves, but also on a proud legacy at UWWhitewater.

confidence

That confidence is evident in student Jake Beres, who’s working on his master’s in public accounting after graduating with his bachelor’s degree in May 2012. He plans to receive his MPA in May, pass his CPA exams this summer and begin his full-time job in September with Deloitte in Milwaukee. He was an audit intern last year with Deloitte, an experience that was intense but rewarding as he learned to handle a steep learning curve, demanding timelines and long work weeks. “You’re expected to know a lot, but yet you’re still brand new at doing something. You’re treated like a first-year, full-time employee but you’ve never had any experience in the field,’’ Beres said. “So the expectations are high, but they give you all the tools and resources and encouragement you need to be successful during your time there.” Beres can’t wait to get started on the career path launched when he was inspired by his accounting teacher Linda Amann in the College of Business and Economics. He took advantage of all the job-finding opportunities offered in the college: resume polishing, practice interviews, career fairs and socializing with accounting professionals through the campus chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, a national honors organization. “I had 10 interviews,’’ Beres said of his internship search. “When is there ever going to be a time when you’re able to have 10 interviews with potential employers? It’s such a great opportunity.”

It’s fine if students are unsure: Part of the purpose of an internship is to explore whether a career path, or an employer, is the right fit for the student. Lanko steers students to Hawk Jobs, the online postings offered by UW-Whitewater’s Career and Leadership Development office, and points out offcampus listings geared to specific professions or geographic areas. He reminds students to talk to faculty members in their department and to seize every opportunity – through student organizations, job fairs, volunteer work – to meet professionals in their field. He grills them in rehearsal interviews. “Anything we can do to try to help support them is what we’re here for,” Lanko said.

“They have a certain polish when they come back,’’ Tatman said. “They’ve grown much more confident. They’ve been out there. They’ve done it.”

G aining

He poses questions students need to be asking themselves: What kind of experience do I want to get out of this internship? What kind of career do I think I’d like?

His class, required for business students, focuses on core concepts of the job search. He encourages students to develop personal branding strategies that help tell their stories and highlight skills that match an employer’s needs. The final class session features a question-and-answer session with three or four employers who recruit at UW-Whitewater. Employers value the combination of academic preparation and work skills of UW-Whitewater’s business students. “Skills are the No. 1 thing employers look for, from the classroom and outside the classroom,’’ Lanko said. “Employers who are hiring on campus like the combination that our students present.” He reminds students to create a profile online at LinkedIn, as a way to begin networking and establish a professional presence. “Employers are using it to try to identify talent and research people who are applying for jobs in their company,” he said. Lanko also urges students to show up, in business attire with a good resume, at campus career fairs. Last fall’s Hawk Career Fair drew 117 companies, some hiring for the summer and some looking for full-time employees after graduation. The College of Business and Economics works hard to build good partnerships with employers, many of whom are alumni themselves and willing to help current students by offering internships and careers. “Our firms are phenomenal in supporting UW-Whitewater,” Tatman said. “They give us great feedback. They are honest, and that’s helped us continue to improve the program so it’s more beneficial to the students and the firms.”

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Leadersh i p Le c t u re

by ANITA CLARK

ichael O’Halleran found success in a career he loves, and he returns to UW-Whitewater to share his outlook on leadership with today’s students.

It’s a global vision that embraces the challenges of being a world citizen and doing business with a passion. As the inaugural speaker in the Leaders’ Ways and Wisdom lecture series, O’Halleran drew hundreds of students to Timmerman Auditorium early in the fall semester in the College of Business and Economics. He offered a decade-by-decade history lesson on the changing world of international business and advised students to see the world – starting right now. “Get away from the fear factor. Get on a plane and go someplace. It’s exciting. It’s wonderful,” he said. “There’s an incredible world outside Whitewater, Wisconsin. You can’t

photo by craig schreiner

imagine how exciting it’s going to be.” Little did he imagine the exciting business journey that awaited him when he arrived at UW-Whitewater in 1968 as a freshman from Chicago. He jokes now that he considered that an international trip. It was the beginning of a distinguished 40-year career in the insurance and reinsurance industry that began with his accounting and finance degree in 1972 from UW-Whitewater. O’Halleran is executive chairman and founder of Aon Benfield, the largest reinsurance brokerage and capital advisory firm in the world. He also serves as senior executive vice president of Aon Corporation, the leading global provider of risk management, insurance and reinsurance brokerage and human capital consulting. Aon Corporation, with about $11.7 billion in revenue, operates in more than 120 countries and 500 offices.

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This places O’Halleran in an elite and respected global community of executives in the reinsurance business, which protects insurers against catastrophic losses that could ruin their companies. It’s a business of international capital, with the largest reinsurance centers in the United States, Bermuda, London, Munich, and Zurich.

firm,” O’Halleran said. After graduation, a respected mentor suggested he consider the insurance world.

O’Halleran loves to travel and enjoys extending his business trips for vacations with his wife, Kay. Just before his Whitewater visit, he shared a round of golf in Ireland with his son, Connor, a junior at the University of Denver who was spending a semester in Prague. O’Halleran’s daughter, Meghan, a graduate of Boston College, works in reinsurance in Chicago, but not with her father’s company. O’Halleran is an enthusiastic civic philanthropist, a hard-core fan of Warhawk athletics and the Chicago Bears and the proud board chairman of Providence St. Mel School, an inner-city school in Chicago that sends every one of its graduates to college each year.

E xciting

opportunities for global leaders

“I believe it’s been one of the greatest rides I can ever think about,” he told the students. “You, too, can have that opportunity.”

‘T ake

it out to the world ’

A genial native of Chicago’s West Side, O’Halleran treasures the traditions and people of his communities and his businesses. He graduated from St. Mel High School when it was still operated by the Archdiocese of Chicago and is proud of its renaissance and success as a private school educating children from kindergarten through 12th grade. “I like to call it the original charter school,’’ he said. O’Halleran serves on the boards of World Business Chicago and CareFusion Corp. He is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago, The Commercial Club of Chicago and the World Presidents’ Organization, an international group of top business executive with a mission of developing leaders through education and exchange of ideas. He also serves on the boards of Dublin City University in Ireland and the Ireland Funds. He has received numerous civic awards, including the Ellis Island Award, the American Ireland Person of the Year and the American Ireland Chamber of Commerce Man of the Year award.

Students listened attentively, even as O’Halleran acknowledged he was describing events that occurred before they were born. They watched slides showing how the United States, once securely atop the list of world economic powers, slipped as China and India climbed. His point, he told the students, was to create awareness of what it takes to build a global company and to share with them his excitement about the opportunities to become global leaders. “You have to have vision, vision to know where you’re going,” he said. “You have to know how to execute, and you have to take risk with it.” He told UW-Whitewater students to remember two things: supply and demand, and people. He noted that his company’s assets are its people, not bricks and mortar, and said he likes to keep in touch with hiring even from his top executive’s suite.

His great-grandparents emigrated from Ireland. “I was born a (Chicago) west side Irishman. I have a deep love and affection for everything that is Irish,” O’Halleran said. In his campus lecture, O’Halleran reminded the students to be good listeners. International business people must understand and respect the culture of people in other countries, he said. O’Halleran can’t wait for the next generation of business students to enjoy the thrill he’s experienced as his companies expanded around the world. “The excitement, the ability to sit down across a desk in Paris, or Warsaw, or Tel Aviv, and now Beijing – boy, we’ve come a long way and we’re going to go a long way farther,’’ he said.

“When we hire, we look for this and this: hearts and mind. We want people who are passionate, who can communicate, who are hard-working, who love what they do,” O’Halleran said. “Smart is very important but not the only factor.”

He predicted UW-Whitewater students will be ready for the challenge to understand the global world in a different way.

Looking back to his own days at UW-Whitewater, O’Halleran remembers the accounting professor who inspired him and the biology teacher who widened his world view. He also remembers the wisdom of his father, a janitor who died three months before his graduation from UW-Whitewater. “He was smart beyond his education and he was also pretty

“The business itself I love, but I also love the people that I do business with, both within the company and outside the company,” O’Halleran said.

“What I feel about you is the same thing I felt when I left here in 1972. The spirit of the school is alive. The spirit of the school is about good values, a great culture. Take it out to the world,” O’Halleran said. “You’re going to walk out of here so well-equipped to do business anywhere, but I do hope it’s global.”

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The spirit of the school is alive. The spirit of the school is about good values, a great culture. Take it out to the world. – Michael O’Halleran

Michael O’Halleran, executive chairman and founder of Aon Benfield, advises students to prepare for global business careers.

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Melissa Vue conducted research through the McNair Scholars Program that helped her prepare for graduate school in the College of Business and Economics.

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u ndergrad u ate resear c h

bridge to jobs, grad school by Mark Crawford

photos by CRAIG SCHREINER

elissa Vue gained skills in writing, data analysis and networking when she conducted research as an undergraduate. She also realized she wanted to learn more, and is now working on her MBA in the College of Business and Economics.

“It helped me get to grad school,” she said of her undergraduate research project, which was titled “College and its Effect on Retirement Planning for Hmong College Students.” The work grew out of her curiosity and experiences as one of seven children born to Hmong immigrant parents who arrived in the United States in 1989. A management major, she built on skills introduced in the McNair Scholars Program, where she learned how to use a computer program for statistical analysis and how to write an annotated bibliography. She worked with two faculty members in the management department, Helena Addae and Steven Guo. Vue presented her research at the American Multicultural Student Leadership Conference in her senior year, where audience questions prompted new ideas for further study. She advises other students to take advantage of undergraduate research opportunities at UW-Whitewater. “It helps you as an individual to grow, to actually know what you’re interested in, because research can go any way. It can be any topic you want,” she said. “It’s an independent thing. You actually get a chance to research what you want, what you’ve always been interested in.” For another student, research helped prepare him for the demands of complex questions in a real-world business setting. Brandon Narveson, who graduated in May 2012, looks back at his involvement in undergraduate research as one of his best decisions. He worked for the Fiscal and Economic Research Center, conducting literature reviews, organizing and analyzing economic data, and building economic models to solve problems for local businesses and organizations. Now he is a leadership development associate at Charter Manufacturing in Mequon.

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“The extra knowledge I gained through my undergraduate research has been invaluable to me,” said Narveson. “It gave me a chance to get some ‘real-world’ experience before graduating and getting into the workforce. One of the biggest things I discovered is that I’m not always going to know what is the correct answer -- I’ll have to use several methods of analysis to arrive at the best choice, and then use logic and clear communication to present my case, defend my reasoning, and persuade others to agree.” Projects by Narveson and Vue are among many success stories from UW-Whitewater’s emphasis on undergraduate research. Students are busy looking into research questions through the McNair Scholars Program, at the business outreach centers and through the growing Undergraduate Research Program. The program supports student-centered, inquiry-driven research scholarship and creative activity. Students from nearly all departments participate in the program, which has become a national model for experiential learning, faculty-mentored research, and curriculum-based projects. “Our Undergraduate Research Program is one of the bestfunded and most active programs within the UW system, especially when the size of the institution is considered,” said Catherine Chan, director of the program and associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and Chemistry. “The breadth and depth of the research is evidenced by the variety and quality of the projects and number of disciplines in the program. We provide strong financial support for our undergraduate researchers and also get them involved in writing grants.”

E xpanding

Davis is currently working on a research project with student Sean Van Aacken, a senior international business major. His project involves administering surveys to business students in the U.S. and Spain for observations regarding effective teaching qualities. They will compare the results to see which qualities are considered the most important for teachers to possess.

T he

Undergraduate research is a high-impact practice and not a match for every student. Students who enter the program are recommended by their professors, who are impressed by their intense desire to find answers to questions that interest them. In carrying out their research they develop the skills they need to examine issues in an objective way. Opportunities also invariably arise for developing and expanding their intellectual curiosity, resourcefulness and critical thinking. “In business and economics, for example, these skills range from quantitative and statistical techniques, given the nature of our disciplines, to more qualitative skills,” said Yamin Ahmad, associate professor of economics and co-associate director of the Undergraduate Research Program. “For example, economics students doing undergraduate research define a problem that they wish to examine, collect and analyze data using econometrics, test hypotheses, infer implications, and communicate recommendations. These are impressive skill sets that are developed during undergraduate research.”

Lajuan Davis, associate professor in the Department of Information Technology and Business Education, believes undergraduate research is a win-win for both student and mentor. Students have the opportunity to sharpen their writing and oral communication skills by actually using the skills she teaches in her business communication course. They also learn basic research skills in the class they can use and expand upon in actual research situations. “Also, when working with undergraduates who have not been burdened with the laborious process of conducting university research, they often bring renewed energy, enthusiasm and ideas to the research arena,” she said.

“Sean will also be creating an online presence and social network focused on connecting business instructors from all over the world so these research results, as well as accomplishments and creative assignments, can be shared and accessed by business teachers everywhere,” she said.

the student experience

“Undergraduate research is also an important bridge between the classroom and applications in graduate school

or the workplace,” said Denise Ehlen, director of Research and Sponsored Programs at UW-Whitewater. “It is vitally important for a student’s professional development to have the opportunity to apply topics or techniques that are usually only discussed in a lecture format.”

joy of mentoring

David Welsch is an associate professor of economics in the College of Business and Economics and usually mentors two or three undergraduate research students every year. He invites top students from his rigorous econometrics class into the program; he identifies students who “are very engaged and seem to understand the big picture,” he said. One of these students is Corey Kennedy, who accepted Welsch’s invitation to analyze and compare the performance differences between for-profit and nonprofit charter schools, a topic for which there is little research. Kennedy became excited when he started looking at his first results. “There is fierce debate going on right now that for-profit schools underperform their non-profit counterparts,” said Kennedy. “There is little empirical data to back up this claim and my research shows there is no evidence to suggest that forprofit charter schools have lower student performance.” Kennedy is grateful for the opportunity to bring together many of the concepts he learned in economics and apply them to a real-world issue. “I think this will also give me a competitive advantage when looking for employment or

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Corey Kennedy, left, a senior from Oak Creek, conducts research with guidance from David Welsch, associate professor of economics.

applying to graduate school,” he said. Chan, a plant scientist, is also a mentor in the program. “I teach discipline-specific skills, but also model problemsolving strategies—how to ask questions, where to seek help, and how to evaluate the effectiveness of different potential solutions,” she says. “These are life skills that are important for being a productive and informed citizen, regardless of career. Scholarly work is also increasingly a team effort, so I always emphasize written and oral communication skills.” Being a mentor is one of most satisfying experiences of Chan’s career as a university professor. “I have been able to really nurture young minds and see young students develop into independent thinkers and problem solvers,” she said. “Together, my students and I are engaged in this collaborative process of learning and discovery and work as a team to contribute new knowledge to the field.”

A cademic

excellence in action

The Undergraduate Research Program provides a variety of opportunities for faculty, staff, and students to engage in research, ranging from apprenticeships for beginning students and mentors to intensive summer research fellowships. “Our program provides multiple opportunities for us to

develop our skills—as researchers and mentors— by providing financial support, access to expert mentors, and information on best practices,” said Ehlen. “Our program also serves more students and annually sends more students to the national conference than nearly any other program in the nation.” Undergraduate research has been identified as a highimpact practice that improves students’ grade point averages and graduation rates. Past participants have consistently rated UW-Whitewater’s program as one of the highlights of their college experience and many wish they started their involvement earlier in their college careers. “The Undergraduate Research Program is currently working to broaden participation in groups that are traditionally underactive and hope to bring this wonderful experience to as many students as possible,” said Chan. “We have also recently launched programs that are geared toward freshmen and sophomores, as well as students of opportunity.” Undergraduate research prepares students to become critical thinkers and possibly even scholars themselves. They also learn the life skills that will help them thrive in a professional environment. “Being undergraduate researchers, and having the opportunity to learn and demonstrate these skills, will increase their competitiveness as they seek employment and/or additional education opportunities in the future,” said Chan.

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Brandon Narveson made as many connections as he could while he was an undergraduate in the College of Business and Economics.

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S u c c ess S tor y

enjoyed every opportunity on campus by ANITA CLARK

randon Narveson tried everything from undergraduate research to leading a student organization when he was a student in the College of Business and Economics.

“I kind of jumped in with both feet,’’ he said, describing his arrival at UW-Whitewater as a quiet freshman from Oshkosh. “One thing led to another.” By the time he graduated in 2012, he had built a solid foundation connecting his major in finance and economics to his future in business. In addition to conducting research, he: • Led DECA, a student business organization that dramatically increased its membership, collected top state and national awards and hosted a successful regional conference on campus. • Worked as an intern for CUNA Mutual Group and developed a dashboard of metrics for a brokerage branch to plan resource allocation for future business growth. • Studied federal economic policy as part of the Fed Challenge team from UW-Whitewater that competed at the Federal Reserve in Chicago. • Consulted regularly with an alumni mentor, Dave Wittwer, president and CEO of TDS Telecommunications Corp., who gave him pointers on interviewing and how to highlight his skills.

photos by CRAIG SCHREINER

He also worked in the chancellor’s office and earned top grades that gave him a 3.96 grade point average at graduation. Looking back, Narveson appreciates the skills he developed as a student organization leader even though there were some days he felt like pulling out his hair. “Learning how to work with different people really helped me prepare for the real world,” he said. “It’s those people skills that I learned.” Narveson now works as a leadership development associate at Charter Manufacturing in Mequon, where he spends sixmonth rotations in the company’s four major departments. His campus experience prepared him well for job interviews that asked about, for example, working with a difficult person or overcoming a setback. “A lot of the questions they ask you in interviews are action-oriented. They’re looking for how you handle certain situations,” he said. “If you’ve never been exposed to them, how do you answer the question?” Narveson also treasures his academic experiences at UWWhitewater, where students benefit from small classes and good rapport with teachers. “I was really impressed by the faculty,’’ he said. “The teachers are there because they want to be there. They really care.”

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Studying abroad is â&#x20AC;&#x153;an experience that lasts a lifetimeâ&#x20AC;? for Sydney Nelson, an accounting senior from Milwaukee.

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S t u d y A broad

Exploring other cultures to understand their own by Christine Martell

photos by CRAIG SCHREINER

he days when young people planning business careers could expect to work with people who tended to speak, look and think like they do are gone.

In response to the rapid globalization of the world’s economy, UW-Whitewater in June introduced a bachelor’s degree in international business that requires a semester of studying abroad. Jan Olson, an assistant dean of the College of Business and Economics, said interest among business students in studying abroad has grown dramatically, with 28 business students studying abroad in the fall semester, compared to 13 during the 2007-08 school year. UW-Whitewater currently has business school exchange programs with 16 international schools, in England, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Australia, Japan and Mexico. And work is under way to establish more exchange programs. “Study abroad programs are life-changing experiences for our students,” Olson said. “They grow up. When they go on to enter their careers they’re aware of other cultures and they’re eager to meet people from around the world.” The oldest of UW-Whitewater’s exchange programs, in the Netherlands and Sweden, began in 1994. Lois Smith, associate dean of the College of Business and Economics and a professor of marketing, encourages all business students to study abroad. Some travel-study programs last just a couple of weeks while others last a semester, which

she considers particularly valuable for students. “They really get embedded in a culture. They eat the food, they meet the people, they learn a bit of the language,” she said. In the Netherlands, for instance, UW-Whitewater business students may attend the Arnhem Business School, which is especially suited to majors in marketing, general business, management and supply chain logistics. “The Dutch are tremendously good at supply chain management. You think about all their tulips, perishable items, that they’ve exported around the world for centuries,” Smith said. “They’re also the cheeseheads of Europe.” Exchanges work both ways: Fifty-five students attended UW-Whitewater in the fall semester under international exchange programs. Sydney Nelson, a senior accounting student from Milwaukee who wants to become the CFO of a Fortune 500 company and work abroad, already has a well-stamped passport. Her first study-abroad jaunt was to Ghana. “As an African-American, I wanted to jump start my international experience by going back to the motherland. I don’t know where my ancestors came from, which is hard to accept, but most slaves came from western Africa. We visited the slave castles on the coast of Ghana, the ‘door of no return,’ the last point of contact before many people were sent to the Americas,” she said.

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Brandon Price rides the London Eye, the giant Ferris wheel on the banks of the River Thames.

Among the things Nelson took from that trip is the understanding that stereotypes are destructive and misleading. “Some people think Africa’s all about people running around naked, and it’s not,” she said. “There are highly developed areas. I also realized that a lot of resources in Africa aren’t being tapped.” Nelson’s next international experience was an internship at a public relations firm in Mexico that showed her a style of doing business that’s quite different than that of the United States. “In Mexico they are more people-oriented and work collectively. In the U.S. people are more time- and task-oriented. In Latin America people want to get to know you and your family before they do business with you. You’ll be introduced by mutual friends, and it’s a trust network. In business meetings they kiss you on the cheek and give you a shoulder slap.” This spring Nelson will visit China for a travel study experience. As China continues its hurtle onto the world’s economic stage, UW-Whitewater has made the push to expose its students to its culture and business practices. Linda Yu, an associate professor of finance and business law, was among the faculty members who led a student group to

Brian Goetsch on the Great Wall of China northeast of Beijing.

China last spring. Among the students on that trip was finance major Brian Goetsch, from Sheboygan, who aspires to be an underwriter for an international insurance firm. “One thing I learned right away is that in China there’s no personal space,” he said. “They greet you inches away, which discombobulated me until I realized this was the norm. They greet you with open arms and treat you like family. And there’s an unwritten rule that when you visit people for business you’re expected to bring a gift. We brought T-shirts and pens and coffee cups. And I realized that Chinese college students put in twice as many hours in classes and studying as American students.” Brandon Price, an Appleton native who was on the same trip, noticed that Chinese business people put a great emphasis on “saving face” by resisting suggestions that they could benefit from changes in their practices. He observed Chinese factories operating at just 40 percent capacity. Safety standards were also much different. “We could walk right up to the people on the assembly lines and look over their shoulders,” Price said. The 10 MBA students and 10 undergraduate business majors on the trip visited Beijing, Shanghai and Xi’an.

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“Each city has its unique features that make the trip very exciting and dynamic,” Yu said. “The focus is to provide our students exposure to China’s culture, history and, in particular, its business practices and banking system.”

It extends learning beyond the classroom.

Faculty-led short-term travel study programs are very popular among business programs, and China is one of the most frequently visited countries, she said. “It extends learning beyond the classroom. We all read information about China from various news resources,” Yu said. “It might be possible to form biased opinions depending on the source. It’s like reading a resume without conducting an interview of a job candidate. Our students were able to meet and talk to people who live and conduct businesses in China, and then form their own opinions.” While the most intense focus for international studies is currently on China, some business students prefer to study in economically well-established countries. Among them is international business major Samantha McFarland. Her travel study trips have already included Ghana and Brazil, but she is contemplating the possibilities of working in supply management in Germany when she graduates. She is fluent in German, was an exchange student in a German village in high school and will study in Marburg this spring.

– Linda Yu

by companies. Price is starting an internship with KPMG, a global professional services firm, which will send him to study in Vietnam this spring.

“I want to learn more about how Germany has kept its strong economy and avoids overspending,” she said. McFarland also appreciates how Germans welcome international students.

The internship materialized because Price is active in Beta Alpha Psi, an upper-level accounting student organization. Many UWWhitewater business alumni attend its events and act as mentors to business students. When he was networking within the group, Price was introduced to a key player at KPMG. All the credits Price acquires will apply to UW-Whitewater and the company will pay his transportation and housing costs.

“The dark passages in German history have led to the Germans being looked down upon for being judgmental. They’re sensitive about that, and I found they are very cautious about how guests are treated. I was often asked if I was being treated nicely. And I was.”

Nelson will graduate without student debt, despite her busy study abroad schedule, because of scholarships, grants and help from her family. “But if I had to take out loans to do these trips, I would have,” she said. “You can always get back the money, but the experience lasts a lifetime.”

Despite the many advocates of business students studying abroad, many students have reservations. A primary concern is graduating on time. “But if they plan ahead, they should graduate on time,” Olson said.

And it’s experience that will impress prospective employers.

The quality of education and safety, especially in the minds of parents, are also issues. But before any school is accepted as an exchange partner with UW-Whitewater, its courses, safety, living arrangements and other aspects of student life are scrutinized. All schools in the existing exchange program have also been visited by staff members for inspection. Cost is another question. But when a foreign school has an exchange program with UW-Whitewater, the tuition is the same. So, for what it would cost to spend a semester on campus (plus air fare), Price lived and studied in a picturesque 17th century manor house in rural Scotland. Other students seek out foreign schools that are not part of the exchange programs, so costs and credit transfers are determined on a case-by-case basis. Scholarships and other forms of financial aid are available. Other options include international internships paid for

Ron Buchholz, director of Career and Leadership Development at UW-Whitewater, said that studying abroad is something that should be showcased by recent business graduates at job interviews and on resumes. “A lot of them just say they had a ‘fun trip’ or bury their study abroad experience at the bottom of their resume under hobbies and interests. But studying abroad is way more than that. It’s about self-efficacy, and that’s what employers are looking for.” Employers always tell him they are looking for people who can navigate through the world and negotiate challenges. “They want people who can get along in places where they don’t speak the language; but can still figure out how to buy food at grocery stores and use public transportation. It’s an experience that requires self-management and the ability to work cross-culturally. “Diversity is about a lot more than race,” he said. “It has to do with having a selfless attitude. Some students can’t be selfless. But people who are selfless do well outside their comfort zones.”

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New faculty member Shannon Cummins teaches an introductory sales class and coaches students in sales competitions.

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N E W F a c u l t y M ember

embracing teaching, sales coaching by Anita Clark

photos by CRAIG SCHREINER

t’s hard to believe Shannon Cummins is new to campus.

As an assistant professor of marketing in the College of Business and Economics, her first job after earning her Ph.D. last August, she has plunged into teaching, research and student coaching roles. She brings energy and enthusiasm to her work in the classroom and with student organizations. She’s an enthusiastic adviser to the awardwinning campus chapter of the American Marketing Association and serves as associate director of the Institute for Sales Excellence. Cummins seems to be perfectly at home at UW-Whitewater. She likes her hard-working students and the feeling is mutual. “Oh, my gosh, she’s wonderful; very, very knowledgeable and very enthusiastic,’’ said Dana Gilbertson, a senior from Barneveld. “Even when she’s lecturing she really does a great job.” Lecturing wasn’t part of the lesson plan in Cummins’ introductory sales class on a recent morning. Instead, about 26 students paired off into two-person teams, with each seller trying to persuade a buyer of the advantages of a customer relations management system. As students made their 10-minute pitches, Cummins roamed the room, leaning in close to listen and sometimes kneeling to concentrate on a sales conversation. She was in near-constant motion, returning to the whiteboard to write phrases such as “visual aids” and “rapport building” before listening in on more sales pitches.

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continue her research on the subject at UW-Whitewater. Her research interests also include sustainability in advertising, supplier networks, sales relationships and marketing performance-outcomes.

Marketing is interesting. You can talk about anything and it ends up being marketing.

She delights in the ways marketing touches so many different subjects. “Marketing is interesting. You can talk about anything and it ends up being marketing. It touches accounting, finance, economics,” she said. “It borrows to be practical, and it borrows to solve problems.”

– Shannon Cummins

She thinks it’s fun to study underlying theories of behavioral economics and market economics and apply them to practical issues.

When one round ended, she shared her observations. She recounted great tactics, reminded students that sellers need to practice active listening and coached them on remembering the principles they’d learned earlier. “Practice is everything, isn’t it?” she asked her students. They say she knows everyone’s name.

A cademic

star at

N ebraska

Cummins arrived in Whitewater after an impressive academic career at the University of Nebraska, where she was an academic star who collected awards such as the Presidential Graduate Fellowship, awarded for high scholastic achievement, personal accomplishment and innovative research. She won research and teaching honors as well as the Baker Award for Excellence in Service as the best “departmental citizen,’’ an honor bestowed by her fellow doctoral students as well as faculty and staff members. She started college as a scholarship freshman, undecided about a major, from a small family farm near Waco, Neb., population 230. Cummins loved learning. She decided to major in art history and criticism, then added economics and international studies. After graduation, she worked in health advocacy in Washington, D.C., then went to the Warsaw School of Economics in Poland on a Fulbright Scholarship. She studied pigs as the Polish economy was making the transition to an open market system. She returned to Nebraska, worked with a faculty member on marketing research and earned her MBA in agribusiness. She was headed toward a job when her department chairman surprised her by suggesting she get her doctorate. She likes the mixture of business topics that touch marketing and decided to try the doctoral program. Five years later, she wrote a dissertation exploring how ties between corporate executives of different companies affect business strategies and performance. “Almost nobody’s looked at board of director interlocks in marketing before,” said Cummins, who plans to

M arketing professors sell UW-W hitewater ’ s strengths At last summer’s professional AMA conference, she joined the crowd of new Ph.D.s looking for jobs and was interviewed by representatives of about 30 schools. Among them were Jimmy Peltier and Carol Scovotti, faculty members in UWWhitewater’s marketing department, who made a strong case for the College of Business and Economics. “They were the most aggressive pair I interviewed with,” Cummins said. “They were aggressive about their belief in their school, aggressive about selling me on UW-Whitewater’s sales curriculum and marketing education. It made an impression on me.” Good impressions continued after she arrived on campus, where she found students eager to learn and faculty members dedicated to teaching skills that prepare students for careers. Cummins also found dedicated alumni, including Dan Herlache of Federated Mutual Insurance, a 1977 graduate who works with her to coach UW-Whitewater students for the 2012-13 World Collegiate Sales Open. All 10 UW-Whitewater students made it through the first round, and seven were among the 60 finalists who advanced to the last round before the championship contest. She and her husband, Clay Stevens, a computer scientist and amateur actor, are exploring their new state on foot and by bicycle with Nellie, their dog. Cummins enjoys her hobby of painting landscapes as gifts for friends celebrating marriages, graduations, career achievements and other life milestones. She was gratified when a Canadian bride recognized the scenery from Banff, Alberta. Cummins loves working with students and marvels at how class discussions can veer in unexpected – but instructive – directions. “Being a professor can be, to some extent, a solitary job of research and reading,’’ she said. “I like the interaction. I’m amazed, too, how different every class is.”

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B u s i ness Centers

connecting students to opportunities by Mark Crawford

or more than three decades UW-Whitewater’s College of Business and Economics has provided valuable consulting services to local businesses and organizations. Faculty members and student interns run eight business centers that provide a wide range of expertise, including national and international economic research, sales and marketing strategies, small business development, tax assistance, and IT support.

“All our centers provide students with valuable realworld experience, interacting with clients, collecting information, analyzing data, and developing reports or finished products,” said Ronald “Bud” Gayhart, director of the UW-Whitewater Center for Innovation and Business Development. That includes the Wisconsin Innovation Service Center (WISC). “Training allows students to identify research resources that provide timely data from which informed decisions are made. Students are responsible for completing projects

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on time and meeting deadlines established for the client,” Gayhart said. “The work that we complete is very similar to work conducted by businesses. All WISC projects are bound by confidentiality standards, which reinforces honesty, integrity and ethics.” WISC has been in operation for 32 years, providing market research for a wide range of companies that are assessing new products or inventions through customer research, product feasibility studies, and distributor/supply chain analysis. This provides opportunities for students to conduct research in sometimes highly technical markets and draw valid conclusions from complex information. “WISC also helps students develop excellent writing skills through the creation of final reports for their clients,” said Gayhart. “Businesses covet good communication skills, with writing abilities near the top of the list. Our student interns conduct phone interviews to collect primary market data, enhancing their verbal communication skills and developing self-confidence.”

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Economics professor Russ Kashian, right, meets students over breakfast to review their work for clients at the Fiscal and Economic Research Center, one of the business outreach centers of the College of Business and Economics.

“The greatest skill I gained is the ability to communicate as a professional in a global business environment,” said Julius Hoffman, who worked at WISC from 2009 to 2011 as a product and market researcher and is now a field sales representative for Weimer Bearing and Transmission in Kaukauna. “I learned how to communicate effectively over the phone and email—what surprised me most is how transferable the experience can be to any career.”

D esigning

new models for specific

problems

The Fiscal and Economic Research Center (FERC) conducts research for clients that range from the Alliant Center in Madison to Wisconsin’s cranberry industry to the economic impacts of county fairs in Wisconsin. Students collect data, perform the analyses, and apply the results in practical ways that benefit the client and surrounding area. Recent topics have included land-use planning, public policy analysis, and geographic studies. “We use mathematical models to look at economic issues,” said Russ Kashian, an economics professor who directs the center, managing about 10 projects a year. “They learn how to construct models for specific problems, generate the data, and write reports.” It’s not just economics students working at FERC – Kashian has recruited geography students to help with geospatial analysis, and marketing and film students to work on appearance and presentation. “We are reaching over department walls to create cocurricular opportunities so we can learn from each other and create an even better product,” said Kashian. Students spend about 8 to 10 hours per week at FERC and in return get a real-life experience about how business operates. Their research can play a big role in improving social issues and quality of life. Kashian only accepts projects where FERC can also generate a worthwhile academic product, such as a peer-reviewed journal article that is copublished with the students. One of Kashian’s students is Jeremy Peterson, who is researching “food deserts” in rural Wisconsin – areas that lack successful supermarkets or farmers’ markets – as well as the methods and mindset for creating sustainable food distribution in these regions. “The information from this study could potentially benefit many communities throughout rural Wisconsin,” said Peterson, a senior. “This project has given me an opportunity to work with individuals who give me great insight for my potential career – these connections mean a great deal to me.”

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Matt Evanoff, a senior in finance and accounting, works for the Wisconsin Innovation Service Center conducting market research for clients.

I nformation T echnology S ervices As associate dean of the College of Business and Economics and director of the Wisconsin Center for Information Technology Services (Wi-CITS), John Chenoweth helps students get hands-on experience by providing IT support for real business clients, including website design and development, search engine optimization, and improved website security. “Students become more skilled at using content management systems,” said Chenoweth. “They also develop leadership skills. We expect our students to be self-directed and interact directly with the clients. Therefore they must learn how to manage their time, ask questions when needed, work towards deadlines, and communicate well. The experiences they get through the centers cannot be replicated in a typical classroom setting.” Katherine Travis, a senior who works at Wi-CITS designing websites for local organizations and small businesses, agrees. “In classes you only have to focus on the next assignment or exam,” she said. “The day-to-day work experience at Wi-CITS is giving me the experience of working toward a larger goal,

where I never stop learning along the way. Learning how to best meet these long-term goals has been invaluable to me.” Much of her work involves converting an existing website to a new Joomla site. Joomla is a content management system that provides structure and functions that make a site more dynamic, such as image galleries. She worked on a project for Canvas Jacks, an online seller of Carhartt clothing, by assembling the content and images needed for the website and making sure products were categorized and priced correctly. Travis has come to recognize how important soft skills are. “As IT becomes more integrated into the front end of businesses, we need to be able to clearly communicate technical concepts to non-technical users,” said Davis. “I’m always working on IT, but I’m also talking with clients to be certain I understand what they want, and then delivering that.” For example, last semester she worked on a project for NorthStar Consulting Group, which does economic consulting and research. She was involved from the first meeting with the client through regular consultations on website choices.

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