The Business of Water

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The glowing transparency of Timothy J. Hyland Hall reflects the mission of the College of Business and Economics to be accountable for the work it does in educating students at the University of WisconsinWhitewater. Photo by Gregg Theune.

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Contents

Whitewater magazine is published once per year and supported by the UW‑Whitewater Foundation and the Alumni Association.

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

6 Expanding water technology in southeastern Wisconsin

Managing Editor

Anita Clark Contributing Writers

Mark Crawford Rich Meeusen Matthew van Buren Art Director

Joy Yang ’98, ’06

cover

Photographers

Gregg Theune John Nienhuis

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Photo by Gregg Theune

Student entrepreneur Michael Fitzpatrick sells T-shirts through his Thirsty Clothing company.

Photo by Gregg Theune.

Why a water program? business 2 The of water

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16 Entrepreneurial spirit inspires students

Students embrace water

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Water in the classroom stay connected

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College of Business and Economics highlights

20 Alumni profiles

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UW-WHITEWATER

Watch for UW-Whitewater videos at www.uww.edu.

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College embraces the

business of water from analysis to action

by anita clark

elcome to the business of water at the University of WisconsinWhitewater.

The College of Business and Economics, led by Dean Christine Clements, is creating innovative strategies to address water issues with the power of business.

“Business, in partnership, has the capacity to provide to the world sustainable solutions to some of the future’s greatest challenges,” Clements said.

From classrooms to laboratories to energetic student organizations, water initiatives at UW-Whitewater promise to help build a water technology business hub in southeastern Wisconsin.

As one of the largest business schools in the region, the College of Business and Economics will play a major role in developing economic capacity in water business through research, partnerships and education.

“It’s really critical that we’re focused on providing the Wisconsin workforce with waterliterate graduates,” Clements said.

Campus initiatives include a new water business minor and an interdisciplinary faculty team with research interests in all facets of water. Busy students have formed the UWWhitewater Water Council, and another academic program allows undergraduates to combine science and business while focusing on water resources.

UW-Whitewater is the perfect place for a business of water program, Clements said, because it offers: • A strong focus on applied research.

• Excellent collaboration between business and science faculty members.

• A close relationship with the Milwaukee Water Council.

• Partnerships and supportive business development relationships with water entrepreneurs and early-stage water businesses.

Clements pondered the role of business in water issues as she attended World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden, and heard about extensive conversations among governments, scientists, organizations and engineers.

“But they weren’t making the kind of progress they wanted,” she said. “They realized that business had to be there at the table to move from analysis to action.”

UW-Whitewater intends to put business at the table as the region, state, country and world address issues of water availability, quality and cost.

“Business is a very optimistic discipline because it’s focused on identifying and developing opportunities,” Clements said. “As we’re confronting constraints and challenges, the optimism of business can generate solutions.”

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It’s really critical that we’re focused on providing the Wisconsin workforce with water-literate graduates.

– Christine Clements

Christine Clements, dean of the College of Business and Economics. Photo by Gregg Theune.

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Richard Meeusen ’76 is the chairman, president and CEO of Badger Meter Inc. and is co-chair of the Milwaukee Water Council. Badger Meter is a global manufacturer of flow measurement products and is the largest producer of water meters in North America. Badger Meter is headquartered in Milwaukee and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BMI. The Milwaukee Water Council is a nonprofit organization co-founded by Meeusen and focused on regional economic and talent development for the water industry, as well as the development of technological solutions to the world’s water problems.

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Why a water business program?

by Rich Meeusen photo by John Nienhuis

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our years ago, I was attending a meeting in Milwaukee at the headquarters of the A.O. Smith Company, the world’s largest manufacturer of water meters. After the meeting, A.O. Smith CEO Paul Jones gave me a tour of their research facilities and I was struck by the similarities of their work to my own operations at Badger Meter, just a few miles away. Badger Meter is the largest producer of water meters in North America.

Paul and I discussed the water industry in general and the large number of water technology companies located in the region. Out of that meeting an idea was born: the Milwaukee Water Council, a nonprofit organization that would bring together the region’s water technology companies and universities with a mission to foster economic, talent and technological developments around the water industry. Today, that idea has exploded into a major economic driving force for our region, transforming Milwaukee into the “Silicon Valley” of water technology.

Why was the Milwaukee region positioned for this amazing transformation? The area has seen decades of economic decline as heavy manufacturing industries relocated operations out of the state or even out of the country, abandoning what has been called the “Rust Belt” region. Southeastern Wisconsin was viewed by many to be an unlikely place to become the “Silicon Valley” of anything, much less water.

But these critics had overlooked the history of the region. The Milwaukee area was founded on “wet industries” – primarily because of its location on the shores of the Great Lakes, which contain over 20 percent of the world’s freshwater. At one time, the Milwaukee region was both the brewery capital and the tannery capital of America, two industries that require large amounts of freshwater. Today, the region has lost all of its tanneries and most of its breweries, but the small companies that developed around those wet industries have grown over the past century into the largest concentration of water technology companies in the world. The Milwaukee area has more than 120 water technology companies, including five of the 11 largest water technology companies in the world. This region produces most of the world’s water meters, heaters, filters, fixtures and pumps. Companies like Badger Meter, A.O. Smith, Siemens, Veolia, GE, Kohler, ITT and Pentair have major water technology operations in the Milwaukee area.

The Water Council not only brought these companies together to share best practices, but also reached out to area universities. The members of the Water Council wisely understood that a region cannot develop an economic cluster without talent, and that the best place for development of the needed talent is our universities. Area universities quickly developed programs around water science and engineering. Even the technical schools began offering associate degrees for flow-lab technicians.

But what about the business of water? Where do the water technology companies go to find marketing, accounting, finance, informa-

tion systems and supply chain graduates who understand the water industry? In the case of the Milwaukee Water Council, we went to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, one of the largest business schools in the region.

Whitewater already had in place an integrated science and business major with a water resources emphasis. We outlined our needs to Chancellor Dick Telfer and College of Business and Economics Dean Chris Clements. They understood our needs and quickly developed a vision and a path forward. Within a few short months, UW-Whitewater had outlined a course of study around the business of water.

The university now offers a water business minor. Business students who are interested in a career focused on the water industry would find this field of study both exciting and rewarding.

At the same time as UW-Whitewater was launching this new program, the Water Council began recruiting water technology companies to offer internships to the students. In the summer of 2010, more than 40 paid internships were offered by Water Council companies.

At Badger Meter, nine internships were offered, and four were filled

by UW-Whitewater students who were focused on business careers with water technology companies.

Perhaps the most exciting fact is that the water technology industry is a new growth industry. In the past, and still in many places today, water was undervalued. It seemed to be plentiful and cheap. Today, however, the world faces a major water shortage. One-fifth of the world’s population does not have reliable access to clean water. The United Nations estimates that more than 5 million people (mostly children) die each year from water-borne diseases. I have heard people say that water will be the oil of the 21st century, but I disagree.

There are substitutes for oil (wind, solar, nuclear, etc.) but there are no substitutes for water. It is the one substance without which we cannot live more than three days.

We believe that the solution to the world’s water problems can lie in both old and new technologies. For example, Third World farmers who today use flood irrigation could move to sprinkler irrigation, and farmers using sprinklers could move to the more efficient drip irrigation. Gray water systems, desalination, water-efficient appliances and improved monitoring systems could all help address water shortages.

We need engineers and scientists to study and develop these new technologies. However, in many cases the technologies already exist.

In those situations, we need entrepreneurs and savvy business people who can find new ways to market the products where needed, to finance the products and to address supply chain problems. In many ways, these business issues represent greater hurdles than the technological issues.

In short, we need our best and brightest business minds to focus on water. And that is exactly what the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater “Business of Water” is all about.

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Our water, our lives: Regional businesses turn to UW-Whitewater

by Mark Crawford photography by Gregg theune

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lmost all of us take the most precious resource on this planet for granted. Without it, life would simply end. As we continue to abuse and pollute our freshwater resources, the quality of life for many diminishes around the world. Currently the health of more than 1 billion people is at risk due to the lack of clean, available water.

We are also depleting these precious reserves at alarming rates. By 2020, the United States alone will consume an extra 16 trillion gallons of freshwater annually (about one fourth of the combined outflow from all the Great Lakes).

Eventually this increasingly fragile relationship with water will be recognized as one of survival. Governments, agencies, research institutes and municipalities will be forced to act. As awareness of this looming problem grows, and the urgency to find practical solutions intensifies, water will become one of the hottest economic-growth sectors in the coming decades. What’s more, experts from across the globe will turn to Milwaukee for answers to their most pressing water needs.

That’s right, Milwaukee.

With more than 120 water technology companies already in the area (including international leaders like A.O. Smith, Micro Detection Systems, and Siemens Water Technologies), innovative training and research at local universities, and funding and support from the active Milwaukee Water Council, Milwaukee is already the leading water technology research cluster in the United States.

“In the near term the business of water will offer unparalleled opportunities for new jobs, new companies and a new image for Milwaukee,” said Dean Amhaus ’83, executive director of the Milwaukee Water Council. “One of our greatest advantages is that we have expertise in all aspects of water – removing it, measuring it, cleaning it, using it, and putting it back into the ecosystem. Combine this with the research and education going on at our local universities and it is evident that nobody else in the United States is doing what we’re doing.”

“The Milwaukee Water Council has total support from the water companies in this area for all its activities,” said Rich Meeusen, chairman, president and CEO of Badger Meter in Milwaukee, the largest producer of water meters in North America. “All the members recognize how our firms, as well as the entire region, will benefit from the synergy that’s being

created as we position ourselves to be the ‘Silicon Valley’ of Water Technology. ”

Creating a specialized workforce This unique partnership has quickly transformed Milwaukee into one of the top water technology centers in the world. UWMilwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences conducts advanced aquatic technology research at its Great Lakes Water Institute, including remote sensing and underwater robotics. Marquette University’s new water law program specializes in water rights for public and private use, administrative law, intellectual property, environmental policy and philosophy, and land use planning.

And, perhaps most importantly, the University of WisconsinWhitewater has developed a comprehensive undergraduate water business minor in its College of Business and Economics.

“No other school in the country offers the kind of business/ water education program that is currently available at UWWhitewater,” Meeusen said. “This puts the university in a unique position to generate the highly skilled graduates that our growing water technology industry will need in the years to come.”

And that need is a pressing one.

“It’s relatively difficult to find good water-related professionals for our industry, especially environmental and civil engineers with a focus in water technologies,” said Anselmo Teixeria, senior vice president for Siemens Water Technologies, a subsidiary of Siemens AG with global headquarters for its municipal wastewater group in Waukesha.

Matt Krueger, director of recruitment for water technology and services for Greenman Alliance, a recruiting firm in Milwaukee, agrees. “Finding people in this area with the right skills and talents is definitely a challenge,” he said. “We’re excited about the efforts to create a pool of highly educated workers for the near future who will be pursuing water-related careers in science and engineering, accounting and administration, human resources, business development, information technology, supply chain management, sales, etc. As this specialized workforce grows, more water technology companies will choose to locate or expand in the Milwaukee area to take advantage of the local talent.”

Meeusen stresses it is critical for local water technology companies to understand the water industry beyond just the

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products that they are manufacturing. “As this industry grows, there will be more and more opportunities for our companies to find new markets and applications for their products and services,” he said. “This is where UW-Whitewater’s programs will be especially valuable by providing the highly trained personnel we’ll need to help identify these opportunities and guide our companies to growth and success.”

Students are also provided with an inside look at the water industry through internships offered by many local companies, which are beneficial in helping students identify favorable career paths and line up possible employment after graduation.

This stalwart commitment to water technology at all levels is already attracting global players to the Milwaukee region. For example, American Micro Detection Systems Inc., a Californiabased sensor technology manufacturer with headquarters in Livermore, recently opened a manufacturing and sales operation in Milwaukee to produce analytical equipment that utilizes nanotechnology to detect concentrations of contaminants at parts-per-billion levels, in real time.

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“We came to Milwaukee because we wanted to be part of the good work that the Milwaukee Water Council, its member companies, and universities are doing,” said Christopher Lynch, manager of business development for American Micro Detection Systems. “Although our main laboratory is still in California, we may expand our operations here as the local water technology industry continues to advance. Right now we are looking for highly qualified technical people for our sales department – again, no easy task, but we know Milwaukee will be one of the best places to hire new talent in the future.”

Five years from now The roles of UW-Whitewater, UW-Milwaukee and Marquette University are critical in the development of Milwaukee’s water technology cluster. By preparing a highly specialized, diversified workforce for the many skilled positions the industry needs, the stature of Milwaukee’s cluster will continue to grow and attract more water-related capital investment and research and development. One of the biggest draws for any company considering coming to the Milwaukee area will be the local abundance of top candidates for key water technology jobs.

“There is a high level of confidence among our member companies that we will be able to create a world-class water technology cluster in our own backyard,” said Amhaus. “They sense this opportunity and want to be actively involved. We’re also already seeing ancillary businesses establish themselves in Milwaukee to support the water companies and explore other markets.”

As water courses at regional universities continue to gain in popularity, the industry will be able to grow from within to fulfill its employment needs. Companies will not be forced to recruit top talent from the East or West coasts. The number of research projects will continue to rise, taking innovative ideas from university professors and commercializing them into groundbreaking solutions for critical water issues.

The Milwaukee Water Council continues to connect with other major cities and research bases around the world to develop global partners for important research and development initiatives. Council leaders are working hard to educate state and federal agencies, private industry, universities, foundations and venture capitalists on the merits of supporting their objectives, including building a qualified worker base for the new water jobs that will be created.

“Water graduates from UW-Whitewater and other schools will be a highly valuable resource for this region’s water technology companies,” said Meeusen. “I expect these young professionals to be the marketing, finance, and accounting talent that many of our companies will need to succeed in this growing industry.”

“We shall all benefit from the ‘water-educated’ workforce that will be graduating from our universities and technical colleges,” said Teixeria. “These skilled workers will be able to develop their own research and development and pilot studies here, so there will be no need to compete with Singapore or other international locations.

Ultimately we will all be part of a well-connected and cooperative scientific community that will certainly foster additional benefits in terms of supply basis, innovation, strategies, etc.”

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Robert Gruber

Pondering a blue footprint: teachers prepare thinkers for future of water

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aculty members of the College of Business and Economics are embarking on an exciting journey as they prepare to educate students in the business of water.

With its new water business minor, the college is seizing a unique opportunity to position itself and its graduates for a growing regional, national and international water marketplace.

“It’s clear that people in the industry understand that the greater Milwaukee area is swiftly becoming a water technology hub,’’ said Linda Reid, an associate professor of law at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, coordinator of campus sustainability efforts and a faculty leader in the development of college water initiatives.

“That’s where the jobs are.”

UW-Whitewater believes its program will be the first standalone undergraduate water business program in the United States.

As the region’s businesses and universities collaborate to build a strategic cluster of water expertise, UW-Whitewater is adopting

an innovative strategy to prepare its students.

“It is both a challenge and an opportunity,’’ said William Dougan, professor of entrepreneurship and management. “This university has been given an extraordinary role in Milwaukee’s collective effort to try to meet that challenge, to try to be a region where those challenges are met most successfully.”

Business students who choose the water business minor will build on a foundation in one of six respected business departments: accounting, economics, finance and business law, information technology and business education, management and marketing. Then they’ll tackle upper-level business and science courses to examine complex issues of water and sustainability.

“The idea is to graduate educated, capable employees who can either run their own businesses or help further these businesses that exist in southeast Wisconsin,” said Jeff Vanevenhoven, assistant professor of management.

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Students also are encouraged to look beyond Wisconsin to national and global perspectives on the planet’s most precious resource.

Their education at the UW-Whitewater may launch them into jobs with companies that pump, treat, filter and measure water. Led by the Milwaukee Water Council, southeastern Wisconsin intends to nurture its existing water technology businesses and attract more with an educated workforce.

That workforce and its visionary leadership will come, in part, from UW-Whitewater as business students graduate with analytic skills and a nuanced understanding of fastchanging water realities.

‘Tremendous opportunities’ in water Graduates also will be prepared for careers in public and private agencies that manage water resources, consulting companies that offer water management services, nonprofit agencies interested in water resources and new ventures in water products and services.

“From a management perspective, there are tremendous opportunities out there associated with water,’’ said James Bronson, associate professor of management and chair of the Management Department.

He sees vast possibilities, from fast-developing countries like China and India that can afford new water technology to U.S. communities struggling with aging underground water lines.

“Maybe some clever student will find a way of replacing the pipe that doesn’t involve tearing up every street in town,’’ he said.

Bronson teaches administrative policy, a capstone course for business majors that examines strategic management by looking at companies’ cost structures. In a case-based approach, students analyze companies such as Kohl’s and Wal-Mart, looking at, for example, the costs, benefits and payback periods of environmentally friendly policies.

“Anything that conserves energy is at some point conserving water,” Bronson said. “Sometimes it’s not a direct connection but it’s still conserving water.”

As professors prepare lectures, projects, exams and reading lists for water business courses, they are expanding their own knowledge as they build the college’s capacity for addressing the big questions about water.

How, for example, do you value something like clean water?

“Part of what we do is try to teach students how you put a value on these environmental amenities that don’t get priced well in markets,’’ said Jeff Heinrich, associate professor of economics and chair of the Economics Department.

“The important part of any analysis in economics is some means of quantifying things we want to analyze,” he said.

Linda Reid

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James Bronson

Strategic advantages, potential risks

Upstream and downstream

Students learn to look at things that are measured, such as property values in relation to nearby bodies of water and water quality.

They also learn that companies need to be concerned about their water footprint, the amount of freshwater they use, directly and indirectly.

Financial analysts are starting to ask about the potential risk to a company of water availability and quality, Heinrich said, and businesses need to be able to explain their position to stockholders and others because it affects their bottom line, in the future if not immediately.

A company unprepared on water issues will be at a strategic disadvantage to competitors who are prepared, Heinrich said.

His environmental economics course draws a range of students, from business majors to students interested primarily in the environment.

“Even if you don’t think about sustainability in strictly environmental terms, if your business isn’t around in 20 years, that is a sustainability issue,” Heinrich said.

“At the end of the day the best business people are the ones who are able to bring environmental value to the market, adjust to environmental challenges and extract that value from protecting the environment.”

Business students in Reid’s water law class will be learning more about policy concerns and the international context of water problems, she said. Students need to understand the issues of upstream and downstream in other countries, for example, and be aware of water conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians.

There’s a lot of development in law about the human right to water and privatization of water as a commodity, said Reid. Not all countries recognize the human right to water, she said, and businesses must be familiar with related issues of planning, budgeting and analyzing risk.

“Business has to be at the table as that right is defined,” she said.

Students earning the water business minor will be required to take key science courses, including chemistry, biology and geography or geology, and complete an independent study and an internship.

The goal is business graduates who are credible in their industry because their business expertise is enhanced by awareness of water issues and understanding of water science, Reid said.

“It’s that credibility and the ability to do their jobs,” she said.

“They need to understand the impacts of the science and law that works for that industry.”

UW-Whitewater will continue to offer its integrated science and business major with a water resources emphasis, which allows stu-

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dents to earn a degree from the College of Business and Economics or the College of Letters and Sciences. The new business minor is designed to allow specialization in a business discipline plus significant experience with water issues.

Reid plans partnerships and collaborations for students and faculty members through the Milwaukee Water Council with water companies in Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Europe. She hopes to make international internships available for business water students.

Accounting for sustainability Robert Gruber, an accounting professor, confesses that he’s getting swept up by the passion for water as he designs a new business course called Sustainability and Environmental Accounting to be offered this spring.

Water issues will account for about 20 percent of the class, which will also cover air and other natural resources under the hot-topic umbrella of sustainability.

“Until these things get reported, they’re not going to be taken seriously. That’s the accountant in me talking,” Gruber said.

Accountants gather information, particularly monetary and historical information expressed in dollars, that is reported to management for decision-making, Gruber said.

“You certainly can’t make decisions if you don’t have good information,’’ he said, and making “green decisions” requires information about costs, savings and benefits.

His accounting course will be one of the few like it in the United States, Gruber said. He consulted a colleague in the Netherlands as he compiled a bibliography that includes such titles as “When the Rivers Run Dry” by Fred Pearce and “Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power and Civilization” by Steven Solomon.

Gruber recognizes this may come as a shock to his traditional accounting students. He’ll be requiring more writing, more group projects, more reading of non-numbers books and more oral presentations.

“My students are going to flip,’’ he said. “Some will love it, some will hate it. It’s so different from any other accounting class they’ve ever had or will ever have.”

What would Gruber say to a potential employer about an accounting graduate with a water minor?

“Here’s a young man or young lady who, instead of just taking 150 credits, has purposely pursued a minor that was not required and voluntarily learned more. It shows initiative and foresight. This person can talk about world events, this person can write,” Gruber said.

Hands-on experience Business students will tackle real-world assignments this spring in a Blue and Green Marketing course by working with a business in the water industry on developing a strategic and tactical plan for growth.

This will benefit students by expanding their strategic thinking capabilities and benefit client businesses by helping them improve

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Jeff Heinrich

their economics, said Jimmy Peltier, a marketing professor at UWWhitewater.

Students are also doing water studies with Russell Kashian, assistant professor of economics, in the Fiscal and Economic Research Center at UW-Whitewater. They’re examining water usage habits of 20,000 households over 10 years in Muskego, South Milwaukee and Menomonee Falls.

“It is our hypothesis that the demand for water is not impacted by price,” said Kashian, interim director of the center. “If we’re correct, we’re going to survey people to determine what are the drivers of consumption.”

Their study may show that communities that need to reduce water consumption will have to appeal to the hearts and minds of their customers, he said.

“It’s a big admission for an economist, for me, to admit that the solutions to our problems are not market-driven,” Kashian said.

His co-author is Heinrich.

Faculty members see the College of Business and Economics offering a rich combination of academic expertise, practical experience and research inquiries as students plunge into the business of water.

“It’s an exciting time,’’ Gruber said. “It’s a chance to be cuttingedge.”

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Research, conservation and a “blue dashboard’’

Water projects thrive across campus

by Anita Clark

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ater initiatives are bubbling up across campus as the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and its business and community partners turn their attention to the world of water.

Projects include: The Interdisciplinary Water Expertise Team. About 20 faculty members with backgrounds in everything from environmental toxicology to peace studies to accounting meet regularly to find areas of potential collaboration on water issues.

They are developing strategic plans for research, exploring grant funding sources, compiling online materials for classes, proposing a water-related travel study course and creating a library of resources.

“We’re recognizing the interrelatedness of the disciplines on this issue,” said Linda Reid, associate professor of law.

Andrew Ciganek, an assistant professor of information technology and business education, is helping the team build a database and website to encourage collaboration and public outreach.

A ‘smart water’ system in Whitewater. With the city installing about 3,600 automated water meters that will track consumption down to the individual household level, university researchers and city officials plan to measure whether usage information affects water consumption.

“As a geographer and social scientist, I want to better understand what the new technology means once it enters society,’’ Eric Compas, an assistant professor of geography and geology, told the Milwaukee Water Council when it met at UW-Whitewater in November .

Residents will be surveyed about their conservation values and knowledge of water issues.

A ‘blue dashboard.’ A water information system will be created that provides detailed data to the Whitewater community about regional water use and water issues.

With data from the new automated meters, the system is intended to increase community awareness of water issues in the region and allow residents to monitor water use and water quality initiatives.

It’s an important step toward using technology to make utility data accessible to consumers, Ciganek said. He plans to use the water projects in the classroom to help students learn to create a database and generate reports.

When UW-Whitewater graduates seek jobs, “talking about projects like this that they’re involved in, real-world projects, will help them stand out,” Ciganek said.

New product assessment. At the Wisconsin Innovation Service Center, one of the outreach centers of the College of Business and Economics, inventors and small businesses get help analyzing market opportunities for new products.

Teams have assessed nearly 30 water-related ideas in the last four years, from plumbing products to firefighting apparatus to new filtering systems.

“It’s an amazing look at some of the creativity going on in the United States and beyond,’’ said Ronald “Bud” Gayhart, director of the Center for Innovation and Business Development.

Campus water conservation. Sustainability efforts across campus have included high-efficiency dishwashers, trayless dining to cut down on washing, efficient fixtures in the new Starin Hall and landscaping that uses native plants and other lowmaintenance choices to reduce watering.

UW-Whitewater also uses a pavement deicer called Thawrox that has “a huge impact” in reducing the amount of salt and sand that runs off into local waterways, said Wesley Enterline, campus sustainability coordinator.

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Meghan Jensen, a graduate student and president of the UW-Whitewater Water Council, wore water bottles and carried a sign to promote water awareness on campus.

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Students ‘go blue’ with active Water Council

by Anita Clark photo by Gregg theune

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nergetic students have declared they’re “going blue” as they formed the UW-Whitewater Water Council to raise awareness of water issues.

With career opportunities in mind and plenty of interest on campus, the students are collaborating with the Milwaukee Water Council on research, field trips, education efforts and public events.

“There’s so much opportunity with this. We just have to make sure we take advantage of it, that we get the attention of our fellow students and make them aware of the potential,’’ said Meghan Jensen, president of the student Water Council and a graduate student in marketing and management.

Wearing blue-painted faces and plastic water bottles, students celebrated International Campus Sustainability Day last fall by carrying signs outside the James R. Connor University Center.

They want to introduce global water issues while pointing out to their fellow students that UW-Whitewater offers numerous paths to involvement, including the new water business minor in the College of Business and Economics.

“Milwaukee is becoming this booming industry, this whole cluster of water businesses,’’ Jensen said. The student Water Council has a partnership with Pentair Inc., a member of the Milwaukee Water Council.

Water council membership is open to students from all colleges. An art student, for example, signed on to help design flyers and posters.

With the College of Business and Economics, the student Water Council organized a public symposium called “The Value of Water” on campus in late November. Speakers from businesses, government agencies and advocacy groups addressed the value of water from economic, ecological and anthropological perspectives.

The vice president of the student Water Council, Tony Gierczak, a senior entrepreneurship major, became interested in water issues when he spent last summer working at the Veolia Water North America wastewater treatment plant in Oak Creek.

“I saw a lot of problems, particularly with the flooding in Milwaukee,” Gierczak said. “It’s going to be an even bigger problem in the future if we have large wet weather events, as we call them. I want to see that problem solved.”

A childhood experience awakened him to environmental issues when he saw an IMAX movie about the impact of trash and litter. “I remember being shocked” Gierczak said. “I thought adults knew everything. How could they let this happen?”

Now he wants to be part of the environmental solutions.

“Water may not be something I do right away, but it’s definitely part of my long-term vision for things,’’ he said.

In other student water initiatives at UW-Whitewater: • Two learning communities, Conscious Capitalists and Double Helix, volunteered to clean up McKinley Beach on Lake Michigan in Milwaukee.

• The student chapter of the American Marketing Association chose “Marketing in a Blue-Green World’’ as the theme of its regional conference in October, which drew more than 400 people to campus.

• Students from a water law class planted 3,000 seedlings in a rain garden in Whitewater’s Tripp Lake Park and stenciled drain grates to remind people not to dump anything in storm sewers.

• Students in the American Marketing Association who won $10,000 worth of Kohler water-efficient fixtures donated them to the Innovation Center under construction in Whitewater University Technology Park.

• Members of the campus-wide Honors Program are reading “Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It” by Elizabeth Royte in preparation for a dinner discussion in March.

• Creative members of the Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization created a business called Liquidity H20 in which they sell “bottled water with a social twist.” The label features a socially responsible company that receives income from water sales.

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Start your own business?

Why not?

by Anita Clark photography by Gregg theune

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ntrepreneurship is a lively theme in the College of Business and Economics at the University of WisconsinWhitewater.

From a popular new entrepreneurship major to a vibrant student organization that attracts even non-business majors, the goal of creating businesses is thriving on campus and beyond.

Students are tossing around ideas like Frisbees, from the farfetched to the innovative to the tried-and-true. They’re pitching their ideas in classes, informal conversations and organized events like the elevator pitch competition and Warhawk business plan contest.

Enrepreneurial professionals regularly visit campus to share their stories – even their failures – with students eager to succeed.

Students find supportive listeners in their professors even as their classes teach them about the hard realities and legalities of launching and nurturing a successful business.

“Any student with the courage to approach a faculty member and say ‘I have an idea’ deserves to be taken seriously,” said Jeff Vanevenhoven, assistant professor of management and coordinator of the entrepreneurship program.

Entrepreneurial spirit reaches out from campus as well through the college’s business outreach centers, the soon-to-open Whitewater University Technology Park and a new recognition of academic entrepreneurship as a vital partnership in today’s universities. UW-Whitewater even has an entrepreneur in residence.

From academic ideas to new products “The university itself must become more entrepreneurial,’’ said William Dougan, Irvin L. Young Professor of Entrepreneurship and professor of management in the College of Business and Economics.

He expanded on the concept at the annual Ideas to Profits Conference sponsored by the Wisconsin Innovation Service Center at UW-Whitewater that drew business owners, inventors, manufacturers and entrepreneurs to explore the promise of academic entrepreneurship, technology transfer and capturing grant funds for entrepreneurial initiatives.

Universities are experiencing a sea change, from the traditional model of scholars generating intellectual ideas in narrow areas of expertise to faculty members working collaboratively across disciplines and beyond campus to generate ideas for new economic activity, Dougan said.

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Any student with the courage to approach a faculty member and say ‘I have an idea’ deserves to be taken seriously.

–Jeff Vanevenhoven

The Global Business Resource Center at UW-Whitewater, for example, is undertaking a project with a startup company, Blackthorne Capital Management, to research new methods of looking at financial data, particularly in the commodity and currency markets, said Choton Basu, director of the center and an associate professor of information technology and business education.

As part of the project, a Blackthorne partner who’s a UWWhitewater alumnus, Patrick Monaghan, is working on campus as an entrepreneur in residence.

“It’s great to actually have an industry person here,’’ Basu said.

“From a student perspective, this is dynamite because they get to work on the project and interact with industry people.”

The Global Business Resource Center takes on projects that involve research with a business application, a global dimension and an educational component. “We have the resources to help entrepreneurial startups, and if they meet us halfway, then it’s a win-win for everybody,” Basu said.

Pace of change requires entrepreneurs UW-Whitewater is working hard to educate and encourage student entrepreneurs because the pace of change in technology, marketing and other business disciplines requires a specialized curriculum and economic opportunities for students, Dougan said.

“Economics and global competition have necessitated that new venture planning is a more and more critical component of success in business,” he said.

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Henry Schwartz is president of the student Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization at UW-Whitewater and has created a business to sell solar-powered headphones.

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Students often conclude their idea is a bad one. That’s a success in terms of the class.

“What we’re teaching is the process of entrepreneurship. The process, the process, the process,” Vanevenhoven said. He wants students to learn to apply the tools to different ideas.

“Some of the highest grades go to people whose ideas are ultimately horrible,’’ he said. “It’s our job to work with them, to be critical, but in a way that’s constructive.”

One young entrepreneur liked criticism of his idea because it spurred him on. Tyler Sailsbery, who graduated in May 2010, won the Warhawk business plan contest on his second try. On his first try, his idea was rejected as unrealistic.

“Now it’s realistic and now it’s happening and that’s what’s exciting,” he said.

Sailsbery is running his business, NoMoreDorms.com, in downtown Whitewater and planning to expand to other college towns. His searchable website invites students to browse for offcampus housing; landlords pay to be listed.

“For me it’s about the challenge. I love the challenge,’’ he said.

Jeff Vanevenhoven

The College of Business and Economics became the only business school in Wisconsin outside of Madison and Milwaukee to offer an entrepreneurship major when the program was approved by the UW System Board of Regents.

It’s a program that insists students fulfill rigorous academic requirements while also granting them the freedom and support to try to build their fledgling businesses with the single-minded determination typical of entrepreneurs.

Some of the 35 to 40 business students majoring in entrepreneurship anticipate joining family businesses. Others “just have the fire in the belly for entrepreneurship and they want to do it,’’ Dougan said. Some envision starting a business eventually.

Other students foresee that even as employees of existing businesses, their understanding of how new ventures are created will be critical to their success.

Can entrepreneurship be taught?

Vanevenhoven teaches a capstone course for entrepreneurship majors that requires detailed work on a proposal’s financial, structural, legal, human resources and accounting issues.

William Dougan

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Professor’s passion lives on through endowment fund

We have the resources to help entrepreneurial startups, and if they meet us halfway, then it’s a win-win for everybody.

– Choton Basu

He appreciated the nitty-gritty of business courses.

One day in class, “we talked about incorporating, so that night I went and incorporated my business,’’ he said. But he also describes himself as “not a sit-down-in-the-classeducation type guy’’ who especially benefited from help of fellow students, professors and speakers.

Helping each other through Collegiate Entrepreneurs Fellow students cheer each other on in the Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization, the award-winning association that runs prestigious contests and invites professional entrepreneurs to campus to share insights. Guests at one meeting last fall focused on real-life failures and how to recover.

CEO President Henry Schwartz, a senior majoring in entrepreneurship and Spanish, is trying to launch his product, solar-powered headphones that he hopes will be a big hit with airport workers. He got his start as an entrepreneur running a skateboard shop as a teenager.

One of his business partners is a physics major, and CEO welcomes non-business majors, Schwartz said.

Alison Murphy, an advertising major and multimedia design minor, found herself swept into a meeting by the enthusiasm of her twin sister, Abbie Murphy, an entrepreneurship major in the College of Business and Economics.

“They just did the entrepreneur thing and inspired me,’’ Alison Murphy said. Now she’s the group’s chief of technology, her sister is chief of marketing and they’re both trying to think of “the perfect idea” to pursue.

“There’s an entire community of student entrepreneurs here at UW-Whitewater. Everyone is willing to share.

Everyone just wants to help everyone,’’ Abbie Murphy said.

Debra Malewicki had a passion for entrepreneurship.

Before she died of cancer in May 2010, she was an assistant professor of management in the College of Business and Economics at the University of WisconsinWhitewater.

She built a career on fostering innovation and helping students. She was instrumental in creating the Debra and Rob Malewicki entrepreneurship major at UW-Whitewater, working tirelessly with colleagues to build the curriculum and shepherd the proposal through approval by the UW System Board of Regents.

“She loved the students and she really tried to make a difference in the lives of her students,” said Rob Malewicki ’86, her husband of nearly 23 years.

That’s why he and her son and daughter decided to create the Debra S. Malewicki Endowment for Entrepreneurship at UWWhitewater.

It establishes a permanent fund that gives grants to help student entrepreneurs with expenses in the early phase of their businesses. It also makes discretionary awards to students to support the entrepreneurship program.

“The endowment has been set up to let advisers invest in their entrepreneurial students in whatever way makes sense at the time,” Rob Malewicki said.

His wife wasn’t interested in putting her name on the fund.

“That was more my tribute to her. She was not big on tooting her own horn, but I want to toot it for her,” he said.

Deb Malewicki taught as long as she could, encouraging her students to spread their wings in search of innovative business ideas and entrepreneurial success. Her endowment is intended to nurture students in the same way.

“It’s something that I know Deb would feel really good about.

I know she does. I’m sure. I just know it,’’ Rob Malewicki said.

For more information on the Debra S. Malewicki Endowment for Entrepreneurship, or to donate to it, contact Eric Leaf, senior director of development at UW-Whitewater, at 262-472-3182 or leafe@uww.edu.

His mailing address is Office of University Development, Hyer Hall, Room 302, UW-Whitewater, 800 W. Main St., Whitewater, WI 53190.

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c l a ss not es

p r o f il e s

Johns

Larry Johns ’74

retirement can wait when nascar calls

Larry Johns went from the small city of Horicon to the fast-paced world of NASCAR racing with an accounting degree from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Johns said he didn’t excel in high school, focusing on fun rather than classes. His first experience developing negotiation skills was trying to persuade his parents to support his college aspirations, and they eventually agreed to pay for his education at UW-Whitewater (“the school of choice”) if he made the dean’s list.

“Somewhere I was convincing enough,” he said. “I was able to strike a bargain with them.”

Johns graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1974, after making the dean’s list all four years and receiving a scholarship for academic excellence. He and his wife, Sandy, married in 1976. Now they have two sons – also UW-Whitewater alumni – and two grandsons.

After he graduated, Johns went to work for the Arthur Young accounting firm along with several former classmates. He said having familiar faces around gave the feeling of “safety in numbers.”

“That made the transition from college life into full-employment professional life a little easier,” he said. “UW-Whitewater was always

held in high regard with the Big Eight accounting firms.”

Johns went in and out of public accounting in Wisconsin for decades, eventually leaving Ernst and Young after having worked his way up to partner. He said he entered the world of racing “quite by accident” after he moved to North Carolina in 2004. His wife saw a job listing that caught her attention – a NASCAR team was looking for a chief financial officer. He said he thought he would enjoy it, and he could “ease my way toward retirement” in the new job.

After the first race team he joined lost its primary sponsor, he made contact with a new team: Michael Waltrip Racing, where he currently works as CFO. Johns said he and Sandy now spend a lot of time trackside, traveling to races in their motor home and mixing business with pleasure.

“We’re right there with all of the drivers, the stars of NASCAR,” he said. “We get to see everything from the inside out.”

Now Johns helps oversee a company with a budget in excess of $70 million and with 230 employees.

“Our performance on the track continues to improve. We’re profitable,” he said. “I’m having fun in racing and failing miserably in retirement.”

– Matthew van Buren

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business career and romance bloom in moscow

Erik Mahlke ’79

Erik Mahlke was an accounting student at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater when he took a two-week study trip to the Soviet Union.

He never guessed he’d return to the country years later as part of an international business career that has also taken him to Saudi Arabia and China. Nor did he suspect he’d marry a Moscow woman.

For a man who hates to move, he’s surprised himself by enjoying the challenges and variety of working in different cultures.

“I learned I like to work in emerging markets,” he said. “When you make a suggestion or a change, you see the results of your action very quickly.”

His first job after graduation was with an internal audit subsidiary of Norwest Audit Services in Minneapolis, now part of Wells Fargo. He found the job offered a broad perspective on everything the institution did.

“Successful auditors transcend looking at specific rules and regs and look at the whole business,” Mahlke said.

His career took him to Citigroup as audit director in various U.S. cities and in the United Kingdom, Germany and Saudi Arabia. From 1998 to 2008, he directed administrative, operations and technology functions for the Chinese, Russian, Kazakh and Ukrainian franchises.

In 2009, Mahlke became chief operating officer of Barclays Bank Russia in Moscow, where he managed 1,100 people.

Wherever he landed, Mahlke said he worked with people who want to be respected, challenged and given opportunities to succeed.

“Especially in the global marketplace, it comes down to respecting people, respecting culture,” he said.

Working in Moscow in 1999, he attended a Fourth of July picnic sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce and met a woman named Olga. She brought an English dictionary to their first dinner date and married him in 2001.

They’re now living in Davenport, Iowa, with their son, Danny, 4, while Mahlke looks for his next business opportunity.

Mahlke

Looking back, he believes UW-Whitewater prepared him well for a business career that took unexpected turns. He returns to campus occasionally as a cabinet member for the Global Business Resource Center.

advancement is more of a zigzag than a straight vertical climb, he said, and students need broad experiences.

Mahlke advises today’s students to get a well-rounded background because they’ll need to be adaptable and flexible. Today’s path to

“Volunteer to do different things,” he said. “Keep your eyes open.

Look for different experiences.”

– Anita Clark

class notes

1967

Tom Osman serves as controller for J. H. Findorff

Randy Malueg received the Service Above Self

Award from the Marshfield Rotary Club for his service to his community.

1975

and Son, a construction company with offices in Madison and Milwaukee.

1977

James Dobrinska of New Berlin was named an

Linda Kurth was inducted into the 2010 Hall of

Fame at Phoenix College, where she retired after more than 20 years of teaching business communication, business English, word processing and computer classes and working in curriculum design.

1980

Suzanne Littlefield has been appointed a U.S. administrative law judge assigned to the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review of the Social Security Administration.

1982

outstanding volunteer by the Northwestern Mutual Foundation for his service to the Badger Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired.

Kevin Rafferty was named director of commercial sales for Cherry Electrical Products, Pleasant Prairie.

1979

1983

Wayne Breitbarth has published “The Power For-

mula for LinkedIn Success,” a guide to the professional networking site.

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Mike Kuglitsch was elected to a two-year term

in the Wisconsin Assembly as the representative from the 84th District.

c l a ss not es

p r o f il e s

Mary Konrad Albrecht ’81

matching dreams at milwaukee art museum

Mary Albrecht wasn’t planning on a career in philanthropy when she graduated from the College of Business and Economics in 1981.

She loved her experience on campus at the University of WisconsinWhitewater, and keeps in touch with friends from those days.

“It was clear that this was like a family,’’ she said.

Two weeks after graduation, she married her college sweetheart, Jeff Albrecht ’80, who was nicknamed Alby when he played baseball and basketball for the Warhawks.

She was looking for a job as an office administrator when a placement agency referred her to the Greater Milwaukee Foundation. She spent 18 years at the fast-growing community charitable foundation, where she moved into donor relations. She was introduced to the world of nonprofit philanthropy and generous community supporters.

Now she’s senior director of development at the Milwaukee Art Museum, where she and her staff of 12 raise 58 percent of the museum’s $12 million annual budget.

“Philanthropy is about relationships,’’ she said. “It’s about taking your donor’s dream and matching it with the mission of your institution.”

It’s an exciting time for the Milwaukee Art Museum, the popular lakefront landmark known worldwide for its stunning Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion. Atop the glass-enclosed Windhover Hall, a moveable sunscreen called the Burke Brise Soleil awes visitors as its 217-foot wingspan unfolds twice a day.

Housing art worth $600 million, the museum will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Quadracci Pavilion in 2011 and its own 125th anniversary in 2013.

“We’re going to have some fun in the next couple of years,” Albrecht said. Celebration plans include an exhibit interpreting Frank Lloyd Wright’s seven-decade career and a touring display of Chinese art treasures from the Forbidden City in Beijing.

With more than 18,000 members and 300,000 yearly visitors, the Milwaukee Art Museum attracts supporters who are passionate about its value. Albrecht treasures their friendship and their vision.

“They really believe in what they’re giving to,’’ she said.

She and her husband, who works for Financial Institution Lending Options in West Milwaukee, live in the town of Waukesha. They have a daughter, Jackie, 22, a student at UW-Waukesha who plans to transfer to UW-Whitewater, and a son, Jacob, 10, a fourth-grader at St. Mary’s

Albrecht

School in Waukesha.

Albrecht loves the career she found by accident.

“It really is all about relationships,’’ she said. “Our job as fundraisers is a sales job, only you don’t get commission. You get the satisfaction.”

– Anita Clark

class notes

1984

1987

as head of voluntary marketplace strategy for distribution.

consumer marketing for the Milwaukee Brewers, overseeing marketing, ticket sales and services, and suite sales.

Dave Cirulis has joined Lincoln Financial Group

1985

Michael Pierron has joined Brass-Craft Manufac-

turing Co. of Novi, Mich., as national sales manager for special markets.

1986

Collin Suttie has been appointed president of

Berkley Medical Excess Underwriters, based in St. Louis.

Jim Bathey has been named vice president of

Jeff Johnson has been named president and

CEO and vice chairman of the board of directors of the First National Bank of River Falls.

1988

Chris Forslund has joined the business develop-

ment team of Smet Construction in De Pere.

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1989

Jo Ann Hall has been named executive dean of economic and workforce development at Moraine Park Technical College, Fond du Lac. Lisa Holaus Rammelt was named Ambassador of

the Year by the Yuma County (Arizona) Chamber of Commerce for her service.

1990

Rich Hewitt has been named commercial sales

director for Protection One, an electronic security company.

Thomas Bushkie ’02

marketing grad serves up rainforest cola

Tom Bushkie has turned an optimistic attitude, good networking instincts and persistence into what may be America’s next big beverage trend.

Bushkie grew up in Horicon, becoming active in student government and attending Badgers Boys State when he was in high school.

“The leadership part of me came out,” he said.

“That just transferred into college.”

Bushkie said he chose the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater over UW-Madison in part because of family tradition.

“My father went there, and my two older brothers went there,” he said. “They loved it, and I followed suit.”

Bushkie said he became interested in fitness after he enrolled at UW-Whitewater, and he read extensively about nutrition. He majored in marketing, figuring the skills he acquired would apply to just about anything he chose to pursue in the future. He said his teachers’ emphasis on group work was especially helpful, as it taught students to manage their time efficiently, establish relationships and work with differing personalities and styles.

He decided he had to differentiate himself Bushkie while he was still in school and thought College Pro Painters would be a good way to do it. He set records in his Green Bay franchise territory, eventually doing a quartermillion dollars worth of business in one summer.

After he graduated in 2002, Bushkie combined his entrepreneurial spirit with his real interests: nutrition and fitness. He started a company called Better Body Solutions and created a “wellness system” including nutritional supplements he mainly marketed as a corporate wellness program. However, business started to drop off around 2007 when the recession hit.

Bushkie said his next inspiration came from a TV special about the negative effects of diet sodas. He soon started working with a Brazilian manufacturer via Skype on a new kind of cola, using natural ingredients like acai berries and stevia sweetener. He chose cola because it is the

“biggest category in the world” and, with the help of a connection he made while he was bartending in Milwaukee, he got distributors, investors and a new manufacturer on board and made Rainforest Cola a reality.

“It comes down to relationships,” he said.

Bushkie now runs his company from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Rainforest Cola is going into distribution in a handful of states, including New York, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky.

“There were many sleepless nights,” he said. “We think we’ve got it. It’s going to be up to the consumer now.”

– Matthew van Buren

class notes

1993

athlete, in football, basketball and track, and was named male athlete of the year in 1994.

designation as a certified financial planner.

2001

Chad Karl of Janesville has earned professional

1994

Mike Weber has been named senior vice presi-

Mark Fenton completed his Ph.D. at Indiana State University and has been promoted to an associate professor of business at UW-Stout.

1999

dent of business banking for Wisconsin Community Bank.

2004

Christopher Rechlicz has been named a share-

holder in the law firm Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren.

Emily Buckingham has been named client events manager at Epic, a healthcare software company in Verona.

Martin Vosburg was named to the Mukwonago

Ryan Hauber, a certified fraud examiner, has be-

High School Hall of Fame. He was a three-sport

come a partner in Honkamp Krueger & Co., an ac-

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counting firm based in Dubuque, Iowa.

2005

Nick Staehler has been named the assistant general manager for ticket sales and operations for the Madison Mallards, the collegiate summer baseball team in Madison.

John Stellmacher has been named director of business services for the Waupun Area School District.

Chris Washebek has been promoted to area re-

search analyst for Macy’s corporate office in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Business and Economics highlights University wins $5.9 million ‘state of ingenuity’ grant

Provost Bev Kopper holds the Ann Lydecker Educational Diversity Award that was won by the Summer Business Institute, a program of the College of Business and Economics that helps freshmen make the transition from high school to college.

Summer Business Institute wins prestigious diversity award

A popular summer program that helps students of color make the transition from high school to college at UW-Whitewater won the prestigious Ann Lydecker Educational Diversity Award.

The award went to the Summer Business Institute, a program of the College of Business and Economics that invites freshmen interested in a business major to spend a week on campus.

They meet older students, faculty members and advisers, learn about potential careers and register for fall classes.

Right Management, a subsidiary of Manpower Inc. in Milwaukee, helps fund the Summer Business Institute. Students tour Manpower headquarters in Milwaukee, where many UWWhitewater alumni participate in the day’s events.

“We’re honored and proud for the university and our students,” said Freda Briscoe, director of Minority Business and Teacher Preparation Programs. With students from the program, she attended a ceremony at the state Capitol in October where Provost Bev Kopper accepted the award.

The Lydecker Award is given by the State Council on Affirmative Action. The Summer Business Institute won two other awards in 2010, a Closing the Achievement Gap grant through the UW System and a Board of Regents Diversity Award.

Student entrepreneurs sweep national awards

The Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization at UW-Whitewater collected five first-place awards in national competition against about 170 other colleges and universities.

A student also placed among the top six contestants for his 90-second elevator pitch presentation.

“We have a wonderful group of gifted UWWhitewater students who go above and beyond

to create great things,’’ said Mike Fitzpatrick, a junior business management major and chief public relations officer for CEO. The UW-Whitewater chapter, which sent 23 students to the national conference in Chicago in November, was honored for the best business plan, best chapter plan, best exhibit and best website.

The best adviser award went to William Dougan, a professor of entrepreneurship and management and adviser to the UW-Whitewater CEO chapter.

Princeton Review finds a ‘best business school’ at UW-Whitewater

For the fifth year in a row, the College of Business and Economics at UW-Whitewater was included in the “best business schools’’ list by the Princeton Review.

A well-regarded reputation and flexible programming earned the ranking from the review, an education services company based in Framingham, Mass. More than 19,000 students enrolled in MBA programs nationwide participated in the rankings. Only 300 schools made the list.

Students at UW-Whitewater praised the flexibility of its MBA program, which allows students to take traditional classroom-based courses or online courses.

“Students are equally positive about their excellent professors, who they believe to be some of the most highly sought-after in the nation,” said Princeton Review in its profile of UW-Whitewater.

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Business outreach centers in the College of Business and Economics played a key role as UW-Whitewater won a $5.9 million federal grant to administer a regional economic assistance program.

The grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration is intended to foster regional collaboration and provide comprehensive entrepreneurial support to businesses in six counties in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois.

Parts of the region suffered catastrophic flood damage in the summer of 2008, which aggravated widespread economic hardship caused by the decline of the auto industry.

The Global Business Resource Center, Small Business Development Center and the Wisconsin Innovation Service Center will be involved in efforts to help the region’s businesses reposition themselves to compete in the global economy.

The grant is intended to help create jobs by supporting a network of services to accelerate innovation and entrepreneurship, especially in green technologies and global commerce. It’s also aimed at providing job training in high-skill industries.

Marketing teams reach world semi-finals of tough Google contest

Two student teams from UW-Whitewater who created successful online marketing campaigns were named semifinalists in a worldwide contest sponsored by Google.

Both Warhawk teams reached the Final 15 judging round in rigorous competition that drew more than 3,000 students from 70 countries.

“This is highly sophisticated; I don’t think there’s any comparable grading of any student effort,’’ said Marilyn Lavin, a professor of marketing in the College of Business and Economics who supervised the teams.

She said the contest is a great learning experience for students because it involves real money, real business clients and campaigns that run in real time.

“They get almost instant feedback about what’s working and what’s not,” she said. “This is very different from other projects.”

Students in the Google Online Marketing Challenge work with a small or medium-size business to set up an AdWords account and design an effective online marketing campaign.

AdWords is what is known as pay-per-click advertising. When potential customers click on the ad, they’re taken to the website of the business sponsoring the ad.

Attracting a lot of clicks isn’t necessarily the goal because the clickers might not be good potential customers. Ads need to be tied to keywords that the customer is likely to use and the websites need to offer products and services that the customer is likely to want.

American Marketing Association on campus wins yearlong contest

For the second year in a row and the sixth time in a decade, the student American Marketing Association at UW-Whitewater was declared the Collegiate International Chapter of the Year.

“It’s pretty exciting,” said Dana Aschaker, chapter president, after the award was given during the 32nd annual International Collegiate Conference in New Orleans last spring.

Aschaker, a marketing major from Horicon, said UW-Whitewater students feared they couldn’t win the top honor two years in a row because “no other school has done it before.’’

UW-Whitewater competed against schools of all sizes. Key rivals included the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Arizona, University of Illinois and Florida International University.

The contest is a yearlong competition, with judges looking at a chapter’s record in terms of professional development, fundraising, community service, communications, membership and chapter operations.

UW-Whitewater AMA students submitted a 22-page annual report titled “Marketing in a Sea of Change: The New Normal” that detailed its extensive activities.

‘Crown jewel’ of Hyland Hall wins honors for design, construction

Honors poured in to recognize the architectural and construction excellence of Timothy J. Hyland Hall, the beautiful new home of the College of Business and Economics that opened in 2009.

Miron Construction Co., the general contractor, was honored for excellence in construction by the Wisconsin Division of State Facilities, which cited the Neenah-based company’s impressive recycling rate, clean safety record and timely completion.

Hyland also was named a best real estate project

by The Business Journal of Milwaukee and a top project by Wisconsin Builder magazine and The Daily Reporter.

The Business Journal cited Hyland’s sustainability, architectural design and accessibility in naming it one of two best projects in education.

Hailing Hyland Hall as a “crown jewel,’’ The Daily Reporter, which covers construction news in Wisconsin, noted its light-filled four-story atrium and state-of-the-art facilities.

Kahler Slater of Milwaukee was the architect for Hyland Hall, a $41 million building of 188,960 square feet.

Online MBA cited for high quality, reasonable cost

Analysts show Walworth County Fair boosts community

An economic analysis by researchers in the College of Business and Economics concluded that the Walworth County Fair pumps more than $6.3 million into the local economy from funds invested to put the fair together and revenue generated at the fair itself.

The analysis offers community leaders insight into what kind of people attend the fair, how much fairgoers spend at the event and why they come year after year.

“The county fair is a very, very valuable thing for the community,” said UW-Whitewater economics professor Russ Kashian, who leads UWWhitewater’s Fiscal and Economic Research Center.

“If you didn’t go to the Walworth County Fair, you would find something else to do.”

And when people find other things to do, the professor explained, the county misses out on the opportunity to have millions of dollars pumped into the local economy.

Northwestern Mutual backs technology programs at UW-Whitewater

Technology programs at UW-Whitewater are getting a boost with a $78,000 commitment from the Northwestern Mutual Foundation in Milwaukee.

“This is significant for both our information technology infrastructure and management computer systems program,” said John Chenoweth, chair of UW-Whitewater’s Information Technology Hyland Hall

and Business Education Department. “This allows our outstanding students to be recognized for their hard work.”

Supporting two to four $3,500 scholarships per year over the next five years, the funds will be used to recognize the academic achievement of information technology students. Scholarship recipients are also given an opportunity to enter a mentorship program with professionals from Northwestern Mutual.

A portion of the $78,000 will also help fund the CyberGirlz technology camp, a weeklong program to help girls develop an interest in technology. The camp is offered free of charge and relies on sponsorships to continue.

“Enrollment in technology programs has been dropping for several years, along with the percentage of women in the field, yet the demand for skilled IT employees will only continue to grow,” said Tim Schaefer, Northwestern Mutual chief information officer.

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The award-winning online MBA program in the College of Business and Economics has collected another honor by being named a “best buy” by GetEducated.com, a consumer information website.

UW-Whitewater offers “a high-quality distance MBA to a national audience at cost rates well below the national average,’’ according to GetEducated.com.

Independent reviewers evaluated 133 online programs offering master’s degrees in business administration from 69 schools accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.

UW-Whitewater ranked 14th in affordability among programs that charge the same tuition for state residents and nonresidents and 34th overall among business schools with AACSB accreditation.

Christine Clements, dean of the College of Business and Economics at UW-Whitewater, said the university’s main objective is to offer a very high-quality AACSB-accredited MBA program with maximum flexibility at an affordable cost.

“It’s rewarding to receive this recognition and to know that we are successful at a national level in this regard,” she said.

UW-Whitewater’s online MBA program, which has been offered since 1998, offers students flexibility and superior value. Students may complete coursework entirely online, or they may combine online and traditional courses.

UW-Whitewater’s online program also was ranked a “best buy” in 2006 and 2008 by GetEducated.com, which releases its ratings every two years. The UW-Whitewater online MBA also has been recognized for excellence by European CEO magazine, Corporate Report Wisconsin and G.I. Jobs magazine.

Whitewater magazine University of Wisconsin-Whitewater 800 West Main Street Whitewater, WI 53190

Attention Parents

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