MISSION SPOTLIGHT

Called to Ministry

Bishop Donald Cook II, PhD, ’21 MSCM always knew he would do some type of mission or evangelism work. His father, the late Bishop Donald Cook Sr., had founded Harvest Tabernacle Bible Church in Los Angeles in 1976 and the church was an integral part of the young Dr. Cook’s life.

After graduating from Morehouse College with a degree in business management, Dr. Cook answered the call to ministry and researched programs that would provide him with the skills needed to run a successful church. “There were MBA programs and Master of Divinity programs, but I needed something in between the two, so I prayed for guidance,” he says. That’s when Dr. Cook discovered the Master of Science in Church Management program (MSCM) at Villanova. “It was the answer to my prayers,” he says.

According to Dr. Cook, “Everything I was able to do in the Church Management program was impactful to my ministry.” He says one of the most meaningful elements of the program was that his professors emphasized that the assignments and class projects would not work unless he coupled it with his real-life experiences. “This allowed me to connect the dots with what was happening in my own ministry,” he says.

When his father was getting ready to retire, Dr. Cook began to discuss the possibility of repurposing the church property. After much prayer, Dr. Cook was inspired to re-develop the land for the betterment and growth of the ministry. He also wanted to maintain a presence in the area. “Everyone else sold and left, but I wanted to make sure we kept a footprint in the community,” says Dr. Cook. Using the skills and tools he learned in the MSCM program, Dr. Cook was able to obtain buy-in from the community and move forward. “Villanova gave me the tools, the space, and the teaching—with facts and data—to make sound decisions,” he says.

“We are doing what the Bible has instructed us to do. Jesus asks: ‘When I was hungry, did you feed me? When I didn’t have a place to stay, did you house me? When I needed help, were you there for me?’” Dr. Cook says. He acknowledges that the work is not always easy but draws on his deep faith and conviction in the mission. “We know that we are following in the footsteps that God has instructed us to do,” Dr. Cook says. “At the end of the day, God will equip us to do His work. And that’s exactly what I believe He has done, through the Villanova program. He has equipped me to be better prepared to do His work.”

The church building was recently razed, and plans are underway to build a five-story, 75-unit affordable housing complex. The property will include a grocery store and community gathering space. We have the spiritual aspect and now we are taking care of the business of the kingdom of God. And we know that what we are doing will benefit the surrounding community in the long run.” –Bishop Donald Cook II

VSB Makes Research a Central Part of Undergraduate Honors and Graduate Fellows Programs

Research and academia have gone together for centuries. Academia has been the traditional route for those wishing a career in research. Over the years, practices have evolved to help ensure research studies abide by certain standards—for example, peer reviews and the scientific method— to help ensure research methods are accurate and fair and the results are reliable and valid. However, academia faces increasing competition from industry and other sources just as computerization and “big data” make research that much more exciting, interesting and vitally needed. With valuable data sets either closely held in private hands or readily available to any armchair sleuth, accurate and credible research and a means to evaluate the validity of research results becomes increasingly important.

“Research is central to the mission of Villanova University and VSB. Research has been prioritized as a key pillar in both the University and the VSB strategic plans,” says Dean Joyce E. A. Russell, PhD. “We are also committed to engaging both undergraduate and master’s-level students in this process.”

Not only has research been integrated into the student experience, but these student-faculty collaborations have benefitted both students and faculty, including publications in leading journals, book series, teaching cases and more. Participating in these research projects has also led to internships, full-time positions and graduate study opportunities.

“We continue to foster research collaboration in the graduate student fellows program,” says Associate Dean of Research and Global Business Engagement Jonathan Doh, PhD. “And since 2018, we have made this commitment an integral part of our undergraduate Honors curriculum.”

Incorporating a research component into the undergraduate Honors program was part of a redesign of the program proposed by Associate Dean Doh together with Associate Dean Melinda German, with input from Honors Faculty Director Beth Vallen, PhD, and formalized as the Business Scholars Seminar. It is required of all first-year Honors students, and it is designed to expose the students to key theoretical concepts and empirical findings that support the main business disciplines. Each week, a faculty member from one of these disciplines—Accounting, Analytics, Economics, Finance, Real Estate, Management, Marketing, Information Systems and International Business—shares their perspective on core research findings on an aspect of that discipline.

These faculty members’ own research are often key contributions. Each student will then complete a comprehensive literature review in one of these areas, supervised by a faculty member. Completing the course qualifies students to serve as a VSB research associate in later semesters. So far, nearly 60 students have served as research associates, gaining first-hand research experience working with Villanova and other faculty. The Business Scholar Seminar and undergraduate research associate program provides our students with the opportunity to learn about and engage in the process of knowledge creation through research. Exposure to ideas and paradigms from seminal and in-progress research encourages deep learning and critical thinking on topics students will learn about in the classroom, as well as those that are emerging from the business discipline.”

–Beth Vallen, PhD Honors Faculty Director

Caroline Huang and Michael Curran

Ray Taylor and Mivena Panteqi

Xiaoxiao Li and Diogo Martins

Select current faculty-student research projects

Financial Barriers to Female Entrepreneurship

Jessica Mok ’24 VSB Esha Baxi ’24 VSB

ADVISER Thomas Griffin, PhD, Assistant Professor, Finance & Real Estate

Private Sector Influence on Monetary Policy

Nicholas Felix ’20 CLAS, ’22 MSF Caroline Huang ’22 VS Karen Jusczak ’21 VS Patrick LaBella ’21 CLAS

ADVISERS Michael Curran, PhD, The Diana and Thomas Klein ’84 Associate Professor, Economics The Rev. Craig McMahon, OAS, PhD

Cost of Research and Education Activities in US Colleges: Complementarity, Scalability and Heterogeneous Efficiency

Diogo Martins ’22 VSB

ADVISER Xiaoxiao Li, PhD, The Megan ’07 and Matthew ’06 Baldwin Associate Professor, Economics, in collaboration with the Santa Fe Institute Are Thinner Instagram Influencers More Effective? Body Positivity and the Changing Views of Consumers

Mivena Panteqi ’21 MBA

ADVISER Charles R. Taylor, PhD, John A. Murphy Professor of Marketing

50 Years of Sports Teams in Work Groups and Team Research: A Review and Synthesis

Addison Drone ’22 VSB

ADVISER Narda Quigley, PhD, Mahoney Family Endowed Professorship in Business, Professor of Management, in collaboration with California State University at Sacramento Cross-Listed Companies and SEC Reporting Frequency

Yongim “Abbie” Cho ’23 VSB

ADVISER Lucy Chen, PhD, John M. Cooney Endowed Professor in Accounting