The Culverhouse College of Commerce Executive Magazine - Spring 2005 Edition

Spring/Summer 2005

MEETING THE CHALLENGE OF RECRUITING TOP-QUALITY FACULTY:

Ruxandra Prodan, left, of Romania, and Xuejuan Su, of China, stroll across the Quad. Recruiting internationally is one way the Culverhouse College of Commerce is meeting the recruiting challenge.

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the Souths best business school

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Message From The Dean

Spring/Summer 2005 cba.ua.edu 3

TableofContents

Recruiting business school faculty is a time-consuming and expensive proposition these days. A declining pool of doctorates, intense com-petition for star faculty members, and more empha-sis on rankings are some of the reasons.

THE EXECUTIVE

Spring/Summer 2005VOLUME 10 ISSUE 1

Published twice annually in the spring and fall for alumni and friends

of The University of Alabamas Culverhouse College of Commerce

and Business Administration.

Dean: J. Barry Mason

Editor: William R. (Bill) Gerdes

Designers: David Jones, Laura Lineberry

Contributing Writers: Niko Corley, Jessica Davis,

Bill Gerdes

Contributing Photographers: Laura Shill, Niko Corley,

Rickey Yanaura

Office of Development, Alumni, and Corporate Relations:

Charlie Adair, Diane Harrison, Nidia Spence, Susan Newman, April Thornton, Pam Junkin

Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration

Box 870223Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0223

Comments, suggestions, questions:205/348-8318 [email protected]

The University of Alabama is an equal-opportunity

educational institution/employer. MC7039

CoverStory

10A Strategy for

Diversity

Q&A with Carver

18

From the Capstone to Kabul

24

12

4 Deans Message

5 Culverhouse News

6 Faculty NewsFaculty members appointed to editorial, consulting positions.

Professors Edward Mansfield and Michael Adams win Best Contributed Paper for third time.

Professor Robert M. Morgan recognized for research.

8 Student NewsBusiness honors students mentor children in West Alabama Boys and Girls Club.

Bama basketball has strong ties to Culverhouse.

9 College NewsSarbanes-Oxley may cause distress for some companies, but one UA professor sees a silver lining: transparency.

26 Alumni Notes

4 Culverhouse College of Commerce

DeansMessage

Another spring is fast upon us, another graduat-ing class, and yes, another key inflection point in the history of the Culverhouse College of Commerce. Changing accreditation standards, a new strategic plan for the University, a new capital campaign, and a new set of strategic initiatives: All are coming together to give us a new set of opportunities and challenges.

We continue to strengthen the value of a business degree from the Culverhouse College of Commerce. Our Business Honors Program is stronger than ever, and fresh-men entering school next fall must have grade point aver-ages of at least 2.5 in their discipline-specific majors to enter their junior year. Our Capstone Business Academy, the on-campus program for rising high school seniors, is attracting high school students of unbelievable academic quality.

In keeping with the technological times, we will offer a general business degree online this fall, as well as a mas-ter of science degree in operations management.

We are in the process of making several key appoint-ments to named positions in the College that will increase the strength of our faculty, already one of the strongest in the nation.

We are in the silent phase of our capital and endow-ment campaign, where your strong and unwavering sup-port will become even more important in enabling us to maintain our national excellence in teaching and research.

Our M.B.A. program, which has recruited the stron-gest class in its long history, has been reorganized to strengthen and bring increased synergy to our graduate programs.

As you know, the University has increased emphasis on enrollment, with a goal of 28,000 students, and we can expect a corresponding increase in business school students. Managing enrollment will be a continuing challenge as we determine ways to accommodate growth while maintaining our culture of excellence.

The reality is that we are increasingly operating under a private financial model, as we find new ways to raise funds. State support is likely to continue to decrease and financial self-sufficiency will be the key to continued excellence.

The future is challenging, yes, but we have a gifted faculty, a dedicated staff, an excellent infrastructure, and the ultimate resource, a generous and concerned group of alumni and friends. I welcome your thoughts and encour-age you to stop by when you are on campus.

Respectfully,

J. Barry Mason, Dean and Russell Professor of Business Administration

Respectfully,

J. Barry Mason, Dean



Message From The DeanCulverhouseNews

The M.B.A. program in the Manderson Graduate School of Business and M.B.A. student Stephen Hart were fea-tured prominently in an article in the Washington Business Journal in January. The article examined the national trend of increased numbers of graduate school students taking more for-eign languages to prepare for careers in a global economy. Hart is studying Japanese as he works on his M.B.A. degree.

* * *

Research by Professor Walter Enders and Associate Professor Gary Hoover into plagiarism in scholarly publications was referred to in an article on the subject published in a special report in the December 17 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education. The two researchers found that only 47 percent of respondents said they would be likely to contact a plagiarists chair or dean.

* * *

Dean J. Barry Mason was quoted in the Montgomery Advertiser on the importance of the day after Thanksgiving, often known as Black Friday because it has traditionally been the day when retailers accounts moved into the black and they began to show a profit for the year. Dean Mason said its a day that sets the tone for the rest of the shopping year.

* * *

Robert Brooks, SouthTrust Professor of Financial Management, spoke to the Huntsville Times about the privatization of Social Security and the possibility that Social Security contributions should be shifted to capital markets. The nice thing about the markets is, more capital is allocated to people who make the best use of their resources, Brooks said. I dont think youll find very many people putting their entire nest egg in stocks. But somebody 25 years old, I dont think hes convinced at all (Social Security) will be there.

Brooks also was quoted in Business Finance magazine in an arti-cle on minimizing risks with derivatives. Transactions should be asset- and liability-management-driven, not based on a view of the future, Brooks said.

Culverhouse College of Commerce in the News

Susan Carvers appointment as assistant dean responsible for graduate programs in the Manderson Graduate School of Business was published in several media outlets, including the Birmingham Business Journal and the Tuscaloosa News.

* * *

Rob Morgan, professor of marketing, was quoted in an article in the Tuscaloosa News about the KmartSears merger. But it still wont put them up there with Wal-Mart and Target,Morgan said.

* * *

K. Michele Kacmar, Durr-Fillauer Chair of Business Ethics, was featured prominently in an article about business ethics in the Tuscaloosa Business Inks November issue titled Doing the Right Thing.

* * *

The Capstone Business Academy, an on-campus program for rising high school seniors interested in business, was featured in the November 6 football program in the Crimson Tides game against Mississippi State.

Message From The DeanFacultyNews

Ellinger wins La Londe Award


Appointments

Associate Professor Kim Sydow Campbell was appointed facul-ty consultant for health literacy by the American Public Health Association.

Professor George Franke is the recipient of the 2004 Exceptional Reviewer Award from the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, a publication of the American Marketing Association. He was previously recognized as an outstanding reviewer by the journal in 2000.

Brandy Zito Frost, academic advisor/coordinator in Student Services, has been named membership chair for the National Academic Advising Association for 20042006. The member-ship committee recommends policies, procedures, and strategies for enhancing the membership in NACADA both numerically and qualitatively to ensure a growing and vital membership organization.

Associate Professor Charles Kacmar, of the Department of Information Systems, Statistics, and Management Science, is an associate editor for the Journal of Database Management and the British Society Journal of Digital Information.

Professor K. Michele Kacmar was awarded the Distinguished Educator Award from the Southwest Academy of Management. She also received the Best Conference Paper in the Human Resources Track at the Southern Management Meetings.

Professor Paul Pecorino was appointed to the editorial board of the journal Public Choice.

Professor Charles Sox was appointed associate editor of Management Science and to the editorial board of Manufacturing & Service Operations Management.

Annette Watters, project manager for the Center for Business and Economic Research and manager of the Alabama State Data Center, was elected to the national State Data Center Steering Committee, an advisory board to the Census Bureau. She will serve for three years.

Mansfield, Adams win Best Contributed Paper for third time

Professor Edward Mansfield and Associate Professor Michael Adams won the award for Best Contributed Paper in the Statistical Education Section of the Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) in Toronto. Joint Statistical Meetings is an international event sponsored by several professional organiza-tions, including the American Statistical Association, the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, the International Biometrics Society, and the Statistical Society of Canada. This is the third year the two have received the Best Contributed Paper award. The awards in 1991 and 1993 included Professor Michael Conerly as a co-author; Professor Brian Gray was a co-author of the 1993 paper. Mansfield was also honored in 1989 as a sole winner, making him the only person honored four times. The award will be presented at the JSM 2005 in Minneapolis next August.

Campbell

Franke

C. Kacmar

Pecorino

Watters

Mansfield Adams



FacultyNews

Morgan recognized for research

Robert M. Morgan, professor of mar-keting and J. Reese Phifer Faculty Fellow, has again been recognized for excellence in research publishing. His arti-cle, The Comparative Advantage Theory of Competition, has been selected to receive the Sheth Foundation/Journal of Marketing Award of the American Marketing Association. He will receive the award at the 2005 Winter Marketing Educators Conference in San Antonio.

The Sheth Foundation estab-lished the Sheth Foundation/Journal of Marketing Award in 2001, under the umbrella of the American Marketing Association Foundation. The award, given annually

at the Winter AMA Marketing Educators Conference, honors the best article pub-lished in the Journal of Marketing that has made long-term contributions to the field of marketing. It is named in recognition of the donations of the Sheth Foundation to the AMA Foundation and the out-standing career contributions to the field of marketing of Jagdish N. Sheth, Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing at Emory University.

An article is eligible for consideration to receive the Sheth Foundation/Journal of Marketing Award in the sixth through 10th years after its publication in the Journal of Marketing. The judges are members of the editorial board of the Journal of Marketing. Criteria for the award include the quality of the articles contribution to theory and practice, originality, technical competence in the execution of the research, and impact on the field of marketing.

Morgan also is co-author of an article that is now the most frequently cited article of all the articles published in busi-ness and economic journals monitored by Thomson ISI (Institute for Scientific Information).

For many years, Thomson ISI has provided services and products that allow researchers access to research materials and the ability to be up to date on the most recent developments in their fields. The international company monitors 187 business and economic journals and offers service to more than seven million researchers.

Morgan

College names scholarship, Womens Initiative coordinator

Chrishan N. Emonina has been named coordinator of the Culverhouse College of Commerce scholarship program and the schools Womens Initiative Program. In her role as scholarship coordinator, she will be responsible for awarding all general undergraduate business school scholarships.

Having Chrishan on board will help make sure that all of our scholarships are being awarded in a timely fashion to qualified and deserving students, said

Nidia Spence, director of the Commerce Executives Society and coordinator of the Colleges endowment.

Emoninas responsi-bilities with the Womens Initiative Program will be to recruit successful business-women to act as mentors for female business school students, to identify and interview female business students who are interested

in having mentors, to coordinate programs and events that bring successful busi-nesswomen to campus, and to arrange professional development seminars.

Dr. Diane Johnson, associate professor of management and faculty advisor for the Womens Initiative, said Emonina will play a key role in ensuring that female graduates of the business school are well prepared for entering the workplace.

More than half of our business school students today are women, Johnson said. They will benefit greatly by hearing the real-life experiences of todays pro-fessional business women and by interacting with women who have successfully met the unique challenges faced by women in todays workplace.

Emonina earned a bachelors degree in mass communication from Jackson State University in 1999 and is enrolled in the master of arts in higher education administration program at UA.

Her business experience includes public relations, events planning, and cus-tomer operations. She also served as program coordinator at The University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she recruited participants for clinical trials and planned and implemented community outreach programs.

Every two months, ISI publishes a list of the articles that have been the most frequently referenced in other articles for the past decade, and Morgans tops the list. The article, The Relationship Commitment and Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing, appeared in the July 1994 issue of the Journal of Marketing and was co-authored by Dr. Shelby Hunt of Texas Tech University.

StudentNews


Tide basketball team has strong ties to business school

If at some time during the basketball sea-son it appeared that a few of the players were discussing business management tech-niques, they might have been: Two of the players are enrolled in the business school, and one has already graduated.

Forward Chuck Davis is a junior majoring in management, and forward Lucky Williams is a senior majoring in management.

Senior guard Earnest Shelton (above with Dean Mason) made big news in December when he graduated with a degree in management while leading the Southeastern Conference in scoring. Shelton graduated in three and a half years and started classes toward a second degree in January.

Shelton is one of three current players on the Tide roster who will graduate this season. In May his fellow seniors Williams and Jason Reese will graduate. Starting for-ward Davis, who will graduate within three years as he is only a junior eligibility-wise, will return next fall for his senior playing season and take classes toward a second degree.

Sheltons graduation extended coach Mark Gottfrieds perfect streakhes now graduated 15 of 15 of his senior players in the last four and a half years. Several of those graduates, including 2002 SEC Player of the Year Erwin Dudley and past starters Kenny Walker, Terrance Meade, Jeremy Hays, Antoine Pettway, Tarik London, and Travis Stinnett, were Academic All-SEC players as well. Gottfried, a 1987 Alabama graduate (with a communications degree), started all three seasons he played for the Crimson Tide and was an Academic All-SEC player himself.

Business honors group mentors children in West Alabama Boys and Girls Club

By Niko Corley

Under the leadership of junior Tanya Szymberski, an accounting major from Birmingham, members of the Culverhouse College of Commerce Business Honors Program are volunteer-ing as mentors for children in the West Alabama Boys and Girls Club.

In working with the Boys and Girls Club in Tuscaloosa, Szymberski is build-ing support for and recruiting students help in volunteering for the centers after-school mentoring effort. The ideato pair volunteers with the centers children and help them with their home-workserves a dual purpose, because the volunteers also serve as role models.

With most of the centers children between ages 6 and 10, college-age stu-dents fit the mentor criteria well. Tim Morton, senior club director, has been with the club 19 years and says col-lege students are old enough to be of assistance but young enough to make a strong connection with the children.

The generation gap isnt as wide with college kids, Morton said, especially with help doing homework, since it is fresher on their minds.

According to Szymberski, the more help she can recruit, the better. While the club has volunteers from several University of Alabama organizations on a regular basis, including various fraterni-ties and sororities and members of the Crimson Tide football team, its still tough meeting the demands of 60 to 100 children every day after school.

The facility is so run down, and there are too many kids and often not enough volunteers, Szymberski said.

Students volunteering at the center lend a hand in a number of activities, including assisting with homework, tutoring, teaching leadership skills, games, drug and alcohol awareness, and gang and violence prevention. Morton says that while the kids benefit immense-ly from the students volunteering, the volunteers themselves seem to get a great deal out of the experience.

They always walk out of here with a smile on their face, Morton said. He said the experience gives the college students a view of a lifestyle far different from their own.

Sometimes, it lends them a little perspective into the kids lives; its only a mile away from the institution, but it is a whole other world, Morton said.

The Business Honors Program that Szymberski joined in the fall of 2004 is identical in its criteria for membership to the University Honors College. But unlike the larger University-wide pro-gram, students are not admitted until their junior year of school. Once admit-ted, over the next two years students take part in academic assistance and research projects for organizations across the state, earning 1.5 credit hours each semester for their work. These projects are typically structured to last a semester, allowing students in the program flexibility and providing a variety of work experiences while in college.

David Heggem, director of the Colleges student services center, says the small size of the Business Honors Programaround 30 students per classis necessary because these students are the best and the brightest in the College. He feels groups like Szymberskis showcase the quality of Business Honors Program students.

They have shown outstanding initia-tive, and are laying the groundwork for a long-term project, Heggem said.

Niko Corley is a senior majoring in journalism.



CollegeNews

Saved by scrutiny

While Sarbanes-Oxley may cause distress for some companies, one UA professor sees the transparency it fosters as beneficial

By Niko Corley

With the congressional approval of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002, SEC-registered companies were forced to comply with revamped stipulations on accounting practices, especially those regarding inter-nal controls.

The change has been met with both protest and open arms by executives and stockholders alike, as some companies, especially small businesses and the largest multinational corporations, have found it difficult to fulfill their legal obligation to comply with the act. A recent survey of corporate financial executives by Oversight Systems, a continuous moni-toring company founded on the Georgia Tech campus, discovered that 64 percent of businesses found compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley somewhere between dif-ficult and very difficult.

Disastrous business failures at Enron, Andersen, and WorldCom are the rea-sons F. Todd DeZoort, associate profes-sor of accounting and an accounting

advisory board fellow at The University of Alabama and a member of Oversight Systems board of advisors, credits for the creation and approval of Sarbanes-Oxley. Despite its rapid creation, which some critics label hasty, DeZoort believes the act is a solid piece of legislation that is essential to improving corporate gov-ernance and reducing the likelihood of such catastrophes in the future.

DeZoort said the most costly area of compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley is Section 404, which calls for the assess-ment of internal controls by a corpo-rations management and by external auditors. Internal controls, or security measures that can range from the com-panys tone at the top to password protection on individual computers, are evaluated by each group. Assessments are then made on their effectiveness.

DeZoort stresses the importance of internal controls in preventing account-ing mistakes and protecting against fraud. Companies such as Enron and WorldCom, he says, had serious internal control weaknesses that made it easier for executives to fiddle with their numbers.

Companies that provide continu-ous monitoring of company finances are beginning to emerge as a result of Sarbanes-Oxley. Continuous monitor-

ing keeps watch on a corporations daily activities in real time, the goal being to alert the corporation to small issues that arise so they can be corrected before they become problems.

Before continuous monitoring, cor-porations ran evaluations much less fre-quently. The continuous monitoring of internal controls by a third party such as Oversight Systems should, DeZoort says, make things run more efficiently.

Also included in the survey by Oversight Systems were corporations predictions for how regular monitoring of internal controls for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance would take place. Twenty-three percent said they would do so continuously, while 38 percent said quar-terly. Daily, weekly, and monthly were also included in the survey as frequency measurements for how often corpora-tions expected to check their internal controls, with respondents reporting 7, 10, and 22 percent, respectively.

DeZoort says that because Sarbanes-Oxley was passed late in 2002, internal control reports are just beginning to come in. However, he notes, Some audi-tors say they expect 30 percent of com-panies to receive adverse opinions.

DeZoort believes compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley, though it might be ardu-ous and costly at present, in the long term will be worth the extra financial burden.

Public reaction to the act has been good overall and we see evidence that investor confidence has risen, DeZoort said. Good companies, or those with nothing to hide, shouldnt mind more accountability or transparency.


CBER study looks at Mobile Mardi Gras economic impact

A study by the Center for Business and Economic Research at the Culverhouse College of Commerce has determined that 2003 Mardi Gras festivities in Mobile yielded $227 million in direct spending in Mobile and Baldwin counties, or about 6.6 per cent of the states $6.7 billion tourism industry impact in 2003.

Sam Addy, lead researcher for the study, said other Mardi Gras functions outside of Mobile in surrounding areas were not included. Direct spending is determined using a multiplier that factors in goods produced, employment, services rendered, and, among other things, the effects of direct spending on tax revenue.

The study said the holidays economic impact on Mobile and Baldwin counties was $408 million. Mardi Gras had a $445.3 million impact on the state economy, nearly 92 percent of which stayed in Mobile and Baldwin counties, Addy said.

DeZoort



CollegeNews


A strategy for diversity

Diversity richens the marketing Ph.D. programand the teaching profession

By Jessica Davis

When Mandy Ortiz decided to pur-sue her Ph.D. in marketing after years of corporate work, including two years with Procter & Gamble and her cur-rent position as marketing manager for Latin America with PepsiCos Tropicana, The University of Alabama was not on her list.

When I decided to seek my Ph.D., I went through and made a list of schools I was interested in attending ... Alabama was not on that list, Ortiz said. But after she met Sharon Beatty, professor of marketing and marketing doctoral coordinator for the Culverhouse College of Commerce, at the 2003 Ph.D. Project conference, The University of Alabama became an option.

The Ph.D. Project is an information clearinghouse for underrepresented minorities interested in pursuing busi-ness Ph.D.s to become business school professors. Its mission is to increase the diversity of business school faculty by attracting African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans to business doctoral programs, and provid-ing a network of peer support throughout those programs. The program is becom-ing even more important because of the dwindling pool of business school profes-sors.

Ortiz, who earned her masters degree at the University of Texas at Austin, was introduced to Beatty by Lenita Davis, assistant professor of marketing, who also took part in the Ph.D. Project.

When Lenita introduced me to Dr. Beatty, I had an instant connection and fit with her that I had not experienced with any of the other recruiters, said Ortiz. She was open, friendly, informa-tive, and she gave me good, constructive advice on how to go about deciding on a school. Soon, Ortiz was convinced she needed to visit UA.

The beautiful campus and the wel-

coming college town were attractive to Ortiz, but she said it was the Universitys faculty that sold her on Culverhouse. The people here are phenomenal, Ortiz said. Other schools were just about the hard numbers, whereas here it was more about the fit in addition to the hard numbers. There was a lot of caring by the faculty here that I just didnt see at other places.

After her visit, Ortiz returned home knowing that The University of Alabama was the place for her. I canceled all my other campus visits to work on the appli-cation process for Alabama, she said. I just knew ... it was a great fit with the faculty that I met.

Ortizs story is exactly what Beatty and Diane Johnson, associate profes-sor of management and management doctoral coordinator, hope will happen when they attend the Ph.D. Project con-ference and meet students from all over the world. We try to break down a ste-reotype at the conference, said Beatty. We want to show the students what The University of Alabama has to offer. Johnson added, Its fun to excite people about Alabama, but we do have to make an effort to convince them that we are as good as the big-name schools.

Beatty and Johnsons recruiting efforts focus on Alabamas being a strong research institution. The ability to con-duct research and publish is a key factor

in whether the top academic schools consider Ph.D. students for teaching jobs, Johnson said. Thus, it is very important to highlight Alabamas successful track record of placement when marketing the school to potential applicants. For example, in the last three to four years, the students graduating with Ph.D.s in management accepted teaching positions at Georgia Tech, University of Dayton, Ohio University, and Tulane University, among others. Placement is also impor-tant for increasing the visibility of The University of Alabamas Ph.D. programs. If a professor is an Alabama graduate, then he or she pushes his or her stu-dents to think about going there, Beatty noted.

But the reason for attending recruit-ing events such as the Ph.D. Project, said Johnson, is to recruit the most dynamic and competitive students. The push at the University is to have the highest- quality students, said Beatty. The better they are coming in, the better they do placing and teaching. The Ph.D. Project offers schools the opportunity to meet students who have been prescreened

If minority students never see

minority teachers in the classroom,

then they dont think the classroom

is the place for them.



CollegeNews

through a fairly rigorous application pro-cess. All candidates in the Ph.D. Project have to meet certain criteria, Johnson said, describing Ph.D. Project candidates as dynamic, well informed, and well pre-pared. Many have high GMAT scoresfrom 670 upand most have excellent business backgrounds. The Ph.D. Project also provides the candidates a realistic preview of the Ph.D. student life and life after graduation. The benefit of getting a Ph.D. Project student is that they have a clear understanding of what to expect and what they have to do to be success-ful, said Johnson, and they usually have the motivation and drive to do it. And, she added, They come to school with no illusions.

In addition, the Ph.D. Project offers University of Alabama recruiters access to minority students they might not other-wise have the ability to reach. Any Ph.D. program benefits from diversity, said Johnson. Diversity adds to the richness of the program.

When I have a minority student teaching, other minority students see them as role models, Beatty said. If minority students never see minority teachers in the classroom, then they dont think the classroom is the place for them.

Ortiz, who is Puerto Rican and grew up in Brooklyn, New York, agrees that having minority teachers sets an impor-tant example in the classroom. When

I was teaching at a community college before I decided to go back to school, I would have students come up to me in disbelief that I was able to come from Brooklyn and do so well, she said. I was a role model for them.

At last years Ph.D. Project confer-ence, The University of Alabama set up a booth and had approximately 60 indi-viduals talk to recruiters and complete information cards. Johnson currently has three interviews with Ph.D. Project candi-dates lined up for next year. In this years marketing Ph.D. class, two of the five students are from the Ph.D. Project. We are very diverse in age and experience,

said Ortiz. In fact, we have two students who are Hispanic, one who is African American, and one Chinese. In the mar-keting and management Ph.D. programs combined, five of the 25 students are minorities.

But the recruiting efforts dont stop with the Ph.D. Project. On November 12, the Manderson Graduate School of Business held its first open house to provide information on all graduate programs.

It was a great way for students to gather information, said Johnson. We hope to have it on an annual basis. Other important recruiting tools are indi-vidual department websites, a very good graduate school website, and the ability to e-mail brochures to potential appli-cants. The electronic brochures provide an instant marketing tool; in years past, it would have taken days for a student to receive a printed piece.

The recruitment efforts at the University are focused on seeking out students instead of waiting to see which students choose to seek out the University, said Johnson. When we bring in dynamic, competitive students, we increase the visibility and the quality of our Ph.D. programs.

Jessica Davis is a J.D./M.B.A. student.


How Culverhouse meets the challenge of

recruiting top-quality faculty

A business school is only as good as

its faculty, and while the Culverhouse

College of Commerce faculty is among the

best in the nation, recruiting new faculty

members is becoming increasingly competitive, not to

mention stressful, for recruits and recruiters alike. In

fact, in some circles, the increasing shortage of qualified

doctoral faculty is seen as a major crisis.

By Bill Gerdes,Senior Communications

Specialist

It certainly is a challenge, said J. Barry Mason, dean of the Culver-house College of Commerce. We spend a lot of time and resources finding quali-fied faculty members who are excellent classroom teachers but who also produce high-level research and scholarly work. The pool of qualified faculty from which we can choose is growing smaller and the competition for them is becoming increasingly more intense.

A report published in 2002 by the Doctoral Faculty Commission (DFC), a committee of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the agency that accredits busi-ness schools, warned that the shortage of business Ph.D.s could reach crisis levels if the trend is not turned around.

Unless decisive action is taken to reverse declines in business doctoral education, academic business schools, universities, and society will be faced with inevitable erosion in the quality of business education and research, the report said.

The report, Sustaining Scholarship in Business Schools said that in the United States, business doctorates declined from 1,327 in 199495 to 1,071 in 19992000more than 19 percent. The percentage of doctorates produced by AACSB-accredited institutions also has decreased, to 84 percent in 19992000 from 92 percent a decade earlier.

Today, the number of doctorates produced by accredited schools is at its lowest level since 1987, reads the report. Although there are some examples of new programs and marginal increases in enrollment in various parts of the world, local demand has outstripped supply in virtually all countries.

Oddly enough, one reason for the shortage, according to some observers, is a good economy. When the economy

is good, more money can be earned in the business world than from teaching. Another reason is the effort required to earn a Ph.D. in business. It takes several years, and many people never finish the degree.

All of which means that recruiting business school faculty is becoming an even more time-consuming and expen-sive propositionso much so that a cou-ple of years ago the Culverhouse College

of Commerce established the Faculty Enhancement Foundation specifically to find ways to raise money to supplement faculty salaries.

That supplement is in addition to the approximately $85,000 the average assistant professor in the business school earns annually for nine months of teach-ing. Add benefits, office equipment, graduate assistants, and travel expenses for conferences, and the investment in a faculty member adds up.

The salary issue has become even more pressing because the market for top talent in business, law, and medicine has become increasingly competitive. In business, thats largely because of the aforementioned shortage of busi-ness doctorates. In addition, concern over a programs ranking is often said to account for much of the intense competi-tionand the resulting compensationfor star faculty members. Whatever the cause, business schools are shelling out big money and other perks to attract new hires.

There are the givenssalary pack-age, teaching load, and the location of the college. And there are the other considerationsthe feel of the academic community, and whether there is good chemistry between the prospect and the

department members, both long-range and short-term. And in many cases, can the candidates spouse find a job?

The competition is fierce, said Billy Helms, head of the Department of Economics, Finance, and Legal Studies. Our main problem in recruiting is the intense competition for top talent. When we identify the best candidates, they have also been identified as such by other schools. Our main selling point is that we have a research environment that will be supportive. Faculty are not generally bogged down in administra-tive tasks and a lot of committee work. They can spend their time on teaching and research. When you are competing against the best for the best, you really have to work at it and there is no margin for error. Helms should know; this year alone he has filled two economics posi-tions and a finance chair.

Here, in a nutshell, is our recruit-ing strategy, said Ron Dulek, head of the Department of Management and Marketing. We sell the program on the following strengths: strong graduate pro-grams at the masters and doctoral levels; undergraduate students who are respect-ful and enjoyable to teachand willing to learn; and a faculty culture in which the faculty respect one another both within the department and between the depart-ments.

We look for prospective faculty who are dedicated to becoming excellent in teaching and research, he continued. We judge both equally. We do not want someone only strong in one of the two categories. We also look for team play-erswe dont want someone who will lock himself or herself into a room and not interact and work with colleagues.

That approach was underscored by Ron Ingram, senior associate dean and the person responsible for the Colleges graduate programs. We look for bright, energetic people who fit into the kinds of programs we offer, Ingram said. We want faculty who have a genuine inter-est in teaching and research and who are likely to be successful in both. Our cur-rent faculty members are our best recruit-ers. We have a strong, supportive faculty who make it easy for new people to do well. One only has to look at how many

Unless decisive action is taken to reverse declines in business doctoral education, academic

business schools, universities, and

society will be faced with inevitable

erosion in the quality of business educa-

tion and research.

Xuejuan Su, left, a native of China, and Ruxandra Prodan, a native of Romania, are two new additions to the econom-ics faculty. The two assistant professors chose UA because of the business schools reputation and the teaching and research environment. Both embrace the Roll Tide culture.


CoverStory


faculty come to Alabama and never leave to see how attractive most people find this environment.

Mary Stone, director of the Culverhouse School of Accountancy, said the biggest selling points for the School of Accountancy are the energy and com-mitment of its faculty to quality teaching and academic inquiry, the potential of its undergraduate and graduate students, the deans support for the school and its mission, and the natural beauty of Alabama.

We look for faculty who are passion-ate about their teaching, effective and efficient researchers, and good faculty citizens, she said.

The newest faculty members have a variety of reasons for signing on at UA, but they also have some reasons in com-mon: an already excellent and supportive

faculty, a supportive administration, and Tuscaloosa.

For R. Glenn Richey Jr., assistant professor of marketing and supply chain management and a native of Mobile, choosing UA was a matter of coming home.

Alabama is my home and when I set out to get my Ph.D., I targeted UA from the start, said Richey, who joined the faculty two years ago. I wanted to come back and give to the university, city, and state that helped me generate success in the business world.

Also, I knew the quality of the College, said Richey, who earned a B.S. in marketing at UA in 1992. And I liked the fact that supply chain manage-ment is an area that senior leadership in the College is supporting as an area for growth and focus. Also, the facilities and

research support are unparalleled, and I wanted the opportu-nity to teach in a top-40 M.B.A. program. And I think the qual-ity of life is excellent here and Tuscaloosa is close to other major Southern cities.

Doug Cook, who holds the Ehney A. Camp Jr. Endowed Chair in Finance and Investments, came to the Capstone from the University of Mississippi. He points to the research support provided as one of the reasons he accepted the chair.

The Culverhouse College and the chair, thanks to the endowment from the Camp family, provide excellent research sup-port. My research is primarily empirical and, therefore, data-intensive. Supporting this function,

Culverhouse College faculty have access to the Wharton Research Data System and several accompanying databases, allowing for efficient and accurate data retrieval, Cook said.

The computer equipment and

support staff in-house, as well as the resources and support staff at the Bruno Library, are also very good. The economics, finance, and legal studies department is well run and the working environment is collegial. For example, I have received comments on a working paper and have provided remarks on several working papers. In addition, we have a good seminar series and funds are available for traveling to conferences or for acquiring journals.

For the most part, Cook said, the finance students are conscientious and have a good working knowledge of cur-rent issues. I appreciate being able to work at a major research university with-out the long commuting distances and congestion of urban living. Tuscaloosa is a nice place to live for my family. My wife and four kids are enjoying the amenities of the University and com-munity.

For K. Michele Kacmar, Durr-Fillauer Chair of Business Ethics and professor of management, the decision to leave Florida State University and move to Tuscaloosa was more difficult. She and her husband, Charles J. Kacmar, an associate professor in the Department of Information Systems, Statistics, and Management Science, arrived in Tuscaloosa last summer. Both earned undergraduate degrees and masters degrees at Illinois State University and

The newest faculty members have a variety of reasons for signing on at UA, but they

also have some reasons in common:

an already excellent and supportive

faculty, a supportive administration, and

Tuscaloosa.



their Ph.D.s at Texas A&M.Having been at FSU for 13 years,

deciding to leave was a difficult decision, especially since it involved two of us, Michele Kacmar said. But Culverhouse was very welcoming and accommodating of our dual career. That was very attractive for me.

Barry Mason is a visionary. He has a plan and knows how he plans to imple-ment it. This was very appealing to me. Barry believes in faculty and supports them in any way he can, she said. This makes being a faculty member here a pleasure.

Michele Kacmar also cited depart-ment head Ron Dulek as another reason she accepted the UA position.

As far as department chairs go, he is the best I have ever seen, she said. He understands his direct reports strengths and positions us so that we can excel. He thinks outside of the box and always has a way that he can make things happen. He is respectful of our time and supportive of our ideas. He is spectacular.

My fellow faculty also are wonder-ful. They are supportive of one another and took the time to make me feel welcome, she said. My donor also was a strong pull. The money he donated allows me to do things that I think will make an impact on the lives of the students I teach. Implanting them with a strong ethical background may help eliminate some of the major problems we have seen in the news over the last few years.

I also think that Tuscaloosa is a beautiful place to live. I really enjoyed the fall, with the change of leaves and the cool, brisk weather at Christmas. I will appreciate having all four seasons again.

From my perspective, said Charles Kacmar, I was attracted to the MIS department because of the industry and real-world projects focus. Within the framework of a traditional academic pro-gram in information systems, students experience almost all aspects of a real-world software development effort, from analysis and requirements gathering to

deployment and end-user training. There is heavy emphasis on defining business value and working closely throughout the project with company stakehold-ers to define and deliver a product, if appropriate, that exceeds expectations. This approach is in contrast to simply developing software and handing it off to companies, and leaving it to people in the company to figure out what to do with it and if the product is usable.

Charles Kacmar said he also appreciates the tremendous amount of information-sharing among projects, resulting in students learning from each other. For example, some projects focus on front-end issues and may never get to the point of developing software during the semester. The challenges faced by these teams are shared with other teams where requirements have been defined and the team is in a primarily develop-ment mode.

From a research perspective, I was attracted to the College because the MIS faculty are involved in a variety of leading-edge investigations of software deployment issues, he said.

Finally, I feel fortunate to be a con-tributor to a new Ph.D. program in MIS that is housed within a multidisciplinary unit within the College and crosses aca-demic boundaries, he said. It is excit-ing to see departments pull and work together to develop and offer students a program that has so much potential value to both their career and social growth and well-being.

Dr. Ruxandra Prodan, assistant pro-fessor of economics, came to UA from Bucharest, Romania, via the University of Houston, where she earned masters and doctoral degrees in economics.

As to the reasons I chose UA, it is actually quite simple: UA has a reputable business school, the economics depart-ment is very supportive to junior faculty and creates a good teaching and research environment, and my colleagues here are academically active and personally agree-able. What else can you ask for? I truly like it here, she said.

I also think that Tuscaloosa is a beautiful place to live. I really enjoyed the fall, with the change of

leaves and the cool, brisk weather at

Christmas. I will appreciate having

all four seasons again.


Distance education program in operations management to go online this fall

By Niko Corley

A new distance education program that leads to a master of science degree in operations management is scheduled to go online in the fall of 2005.

This distance education masters program is the first of its kind at the business school, said Charles Sox, chair of management science and manufac-turing management at the Culverhouse College of Commerce. Sox will direct the program.

The production and operations man-agement program prepares managers to meet the needs of an increasingly technology-based society, facilitating learning to deal with problems that develop in the workplace. These potential problems may arise in business, indus-trial, or government organizations and the operations management curriculum focuses on preparing students to deal effectively and efficiently with these and other situations.

In the past, only students attending regularly scheduled classes on campus could enroll in the operations manage-ment program, but the increasing use of technology was a major factor influ-encing the decision to start the online program.

Students enrolled in the program will complete, through Internet assignments and by viewing recorded lectures, the same curriculum as full-time, on- campus students. The program is simi-lar in structure to the highly successful EMBA program, which allows working professionals to secure M.B.A. degrees and will provide an opportunity for people already in the workforce to earn masters degrees in operations management.

Sox came to UA from Auburn University, where he taught similar video lecturebased distance education pro-grams in industrial engineering. He says student acceptance of and reaction to

the program were good. The students there liked the ability to

control the lecture and view the tapes on their own schedule, Sox said.

To complete what is normally a two-year program for full-time students, those taking advantage of the new dis-tance education program will spend, according to Sox, three to five years com-pleting the program. With 30 hours of instruction, full-time students can manage three or four courses a semester; part-time students will be able to take one or two, depending on how much time they can commit outside of their jobs.

Sox said he believes the growth of the automotive industry in the Southeast and Alabama will produce a number of opera-

CollegeNews

tions management positions in the near future, increasing demand for employees with graduate-level education in the field. He also stresses managements numerous applications in todays workplace, noting that students who didnt study manage-ment may nonetheless find themselves faced with management decisions.

Students trained in engineering or liberal arts can find themselves in man-agement positions, and this program gives them the opportunity to get specialized training without having to commit to a full-time program, Sox said.


The family of the late Fred Gordon Bostick Jr. of Red Bay, Alabama, has established the Fred and Martha Bostick Endowed Support Fund for Faculty Excellence at the Culverhouse College of Commerce.

Earnings from the Bostick familys $100,000 gift will be used to attract and retain outstanding faculty through supplementary salary support and other expenses for fac-ulty members, who will be called Fred and Martha Bostick Faculty Fellows.

We are deeply appreciative of the generosity of the Bostick family, said J. Barry Mason, dean of the College. Support such as this makes it possible for us to compete at the national level for the very best in faculty. Talented faculty members are the key to making sure our students receive an outstanding business education. Competition in this area is extremely strong, and the University and the state of Alabama are extremely fortunate to have supporters such as Fred Bostick and his family.

John Bostick, Fred Bosticks oldest son, said, My dad attended The University of Alabama, but he was drafted in World War II and was never able to return for his degreebut he was always a great Alabama supporter. We felt like this was a great way to memorialize him.

Fred Bostick, a lifelong resident of Red Bay, died November 21, 2001. He was a decorated World War II veteran, having served in the infantry in the Ninth Army in France, Belgium, and Germany and participated in the Battle of the Bulge. He was discharged in the spring of 1946 at the rank of master sergeant, and shortly after his discharge, he married his wife of 54 years, the former Martha Ree Bullen.

In 1947 he co-founded Sunshine Feed Mills, now Sunshine Mills, with his father-in-law, Omer J. Bullen. Sunshine Mills is one of the nations leading producers of pet foods and treats.

Bostick is survived by his wife; a daughter, Harriet, the wife of James Daniel; son John and his wife, Pam; son Alan and his wife, Margoth; a sister, Patsy Sparks, and her husband, Rev. Mike Sparks; and eight grandchildren. John is president of Sunshine Homes in Red Bay, and Alan is president of Sunshine Mills Inc., also in Red Bay. Harriet, John, Alan, and Bosticks granddaughter Jill are all UA graduates.

The Fred Bostick Endowed Fellowship Fund was established earlier by the Bostick family to promote the education of students pursuing courses of study leading to graduate degrees in commerce and business administration. Recipients are designated Bostick Scholars.

Red Bays Bostick family establishes support fund for faculty excellence



CollegeNews

Culverhouse represented in all 50 states

Graduates of the Culverhouse College of Commerce are now located in all 50 states and in a number of foreign countries.

Not surprisingly, Alabama (19,321) Georgia (2,873) and Florida (1,942) have the most UA business school graduates, but Texas (919), Mississippi (610), Tennessee (1,462), and North Carolina (526) also have good numbers.

Next come the Midwest, parts of New England and the Southwest. Alaska, you ask? Three. And Hawaii? There are 12.

There are 31,783 Culverhouse graduates who stay in touch and let us know where they are. If you are not one who stays in touch and would like to keep up to date with what is going on at YOUR business school, please send us an e-mail and new address to [email protected] and we will add you to our e-letter.

More than ever, young adults nationwide see a graduate degree as a prerequisite for a better job, and more and more graduate schools are looking to graduate students to provide the lifeblood of research. So it follows that no sector of higher education is more closely scrutinized than the graduate business school. In fact, many universities offer only a grad-uate business school. All of this means that graduate business schools are more intent than ever on gaining a competi-tive edge. Susan D. Carver was appointed assistant dean of The University of Alabamas Culverhouse College of Commerce last fall, with primary respon-sibility for the Manderson Graduate School of Businesshome to the Colleges graduate programs, includ-ing the master of business administra-tion, Executive M.B.A., and Executive Education programs. Her appointment was part of a reorganization of the grad-uate school of business. Carver earned her bachelor of sci-ence and M.B.A. degrees from UA and has extensive industry experience. She served in management roles in the insur-ance industry and, after completing her M.B.A., worked in the textile industry for Springs Industries, where she worked in strategic planning and mergers and acquisitions. Carver was also the director of e-commerce at Springs Industries before returning to UA. She is involved with the Rotary Club of Tuscaloosa, is presi-dent of the Tuscaloosa County Alumni Association, and has served on other boards including the Nashville Alumni Association, Cystic Fibrosis, and Young Leaders Council. She also has served on leadership teams at several churches. In a question and answer session with The Executive, Carver discussed her short- and long-term goals for the graduate program and some of the pressing issues of the day.

FeatureStory

What are some of your short-term objec-tivessay, within the next five years? We are very focused around offer-ing an attractive return on investment; offering a talented, younger student an enormous experience and the tools and skills to increase their market value; and instilling a tremendous work ethic. Certainly this is where we have devel-oped a reputation, so we will continue in these efforts and turn our focus out-ward for the short term. What I mean by that is that we will concentrate on enhancing the important connection between our students and the organiza-tions that hire M.B.A.s. We will focus intently on going out to where the customer is to ensure that we are telling our story, and most importantly, that we are providing students with exceptional skills who are prepared to make a differ-ence to any organizations bottom line.

What do you plan to do to address the diversity issue, both in terms of women and in terms of African Americans and Hispanics and other minorities? We are very proud of our efforts in this area, as we tend to track with or slightly above the national average in attracting minorities. We emphasize our mentoring relationships that we have with our faculty and the variety of stu-

dent organizations that offer an attrac-tive opportunity for those students. In addition, the Universitys efforts with the multicultural center will only serve to be attractive to our students. While certainly there is pressure nationwide, we are ultimately looking for the bright, younger students that we can help mold and offer a unique experi-ence, regardless of demographics.

How is the pool of prospective students changing and how do those changes impact the Manderson programs? The M.B.A. student is becoming younger and younger. At Manderson, for the past decade or so, we have inten-tionally targeted the younger student, so from this perspective it should keep us ahead of the curve. On the other side, we will have increased competition from other schools that will now be aggres-sively targeting our students. The other significant change is that there are 20 million 20-year-olds. These students are digital, visual, and virtual and have a dif-ferent expectation from the traditional student. This fits well with our strategy of connecting to industry and with our teamwork environment. It seems the students today desire more stimulation than just the traditional lecture. We must continue to stay ahead of our custom-ers in this regard, and our faculty do a tremendous job of being very effective in the classroom by bringing in guest speakers from the cases that they are working on. It is no longer acceptable to teach a class and go home. The demand has shifted to work with the students in their teams for many hours outside of the classroom.

New assistant dean addresses issues facing Manderson Graduate School of Business

18 Culverhouse College of Commerce18 Culverhouse College of Commerce

FeatureStory

One of the buzz-phrases in graduate edu-cation is return on investment (ROI). How does Manderson fare in that area? This is an area where we have truly been recognized for our efforts in producing a quality product. We are currently ranked by Forbes magazine as number nine in the nation on invest-ment recapturethe time it takes to recapture the earnings that you invest into the M.B.A. program. What most folks fail to recognize is that the national rankings put a lot of emphasis on start-ing salaries and do not adjust for region of the country and/or age of the student. Given that we typically place our gradu-ates primarily in the Southeast and given their age, this recognition from Forbes is quite remarkable. ROI is also a very key decision factor in choosing the program that students attend. There has been a lot of public-itysome would say negativeabout the value of the M.B.A. At Alabama, we are

thrilled that people are asking, Is it real-ly worth it to invest upwards of $50,000 in your M.B.A. education? We encour-age prospective students to ask that question. When they do, they will find a value-oriented solution if they choose The University of Alabamas Manderson Graduate School of Business.

We all know the value of work experi-ence in obtaining a graduate degree. Are you looking for prospective students with work experience or those right out of undergraduate school? We certainly look for both, although 60 percent of our students have about two years work experience. It is an

attractive environment when you can have meaningful dialogue and learn from your colleagues in the classroom. While the textbook can be effective, we all know that the sharing of experi-ences greatly enhances any educational experience.

The number of people earning masters degrees in business has climbed steadi-ly over the past decade. Do you see that continuing, and how will your students differentiate their degrees from all the others? Actually, the number of GMAT test takers is down nationwide, but we have seen an increase in the number of GMAT reports sent to our program from the prospective student. Bottom line: Students are going to differentiate them-selves with their leadership capabilities. Industry is looking for leaders who not only have functional skills, but who also have the ability to execute efficiently, solve complex problems, manage and motivate others, and handle difficult performance issues and the conflicts that accompany them.

Specialized masters degrees are becoming more popular. Where do you see that area going?The customer, in this case the hir-ing organization, is becoming more demanding of the kind of hire they seek. Bottom line, we need to listen to that customer and tailor the experiences of our students to meet those needs. No longer is the traditional academic set-ting effective. Our faculty have a num-ber of deep relationships with industry executives, and therefore they create opportunities for our students to have experience with live business prob-lems. The students with the degree with that kind of experience create a competi-tive edge for themselves. In the Executive M.B.A. arena, the corporate support has eroded to around 30 percent. At Manderson, we track at slightly above that average. This indi-cates that the companies in this region have been satisfied with their investment and the results they see from the manag-ers and executives they sponsor in our program.

Is tuition support, from the College and employers, an issue? This issue is becoming larger with every passing day. Although you hate to solve all of your problems by throw-ing money at students, the reality is that with our rise in the national rankings, we are now competing with schools that have multimillion-dollar endow-ments, and they are, in a sense, buying students. This is a tough environment when you are trying to attract the bright-est and best students and they are being offered full rides at other institutions. We need to be able to compete with this and the only way is to raise our endow-ment to a similar level. While we believe that we have something special to offer and dont wish to compete solely on dollars, at some point you have to rec-ognize the importance of attracting the right kind of student. It also feeds off of itself ... you get the most attractive student by offering them a scholarship, which can yield brighter students and better experiences, which in turn helps to attract better students in the future.

What is the single most-cited reason for enrolling in a graduate business program? We believe the three most important attributes are return on investment, an impressive and active alumni network, and a national reputation. We feel very confident about all three of those attri-butes. Our challenge is to tell our story to more folks outside of the state of Alabama and the Southeast. How many companies would be shocked to know that Procter & Gamble hires our stu-dents and often cites our students as the brightest and most successful hires they have rising in their organization? This is a company that also hires Harvard graduates. Our challenge is to reach more of those organizations and take our stu-dents to see them. We hear time and again about what a special work ethic a University of Alabama student demon-strates. We are better than we give our-selves credit and promotion for.

Spring/Summer 2005 cba.ua.edu 19Spring/Summer 2005 cba.ua.edu 19

FeatureStory

Culverhouse student/technician doesnt let his injuries slow him down

By Niko Corley

Brian Smith never takes the stairs. In the crowded lower level of Alston Hall, he maneuvers through the crowd of business school stu-dents awaiting the beginning of Professor Darryl Webbs class in business law. He presses the button and waits patiently for the doors to open. When they do, he silently boards the elevator.

Its not that Smith is lazy or too tired to walk the four flights of stairs to the top floor, where a plethora of computer problems await his attention; he sim-ply cant. Wheelchair-bound except for extremely short distances, Smith has no choice but to ride the elevator.

There are people that will ride it to go up just one floor. Ive seen people wait three or four or even five minutes for it ... it really gets me, because by the time the elevator gets to them they could have gone up and down the stairs twice, Smith said.

Ten years ago this past January, Smith, then a rambunctious 16-year-old high school sophomore, was in a car accident. He was thrown through the back window of a Volvo station wagon and landed, 50 feet away, on the back of his head in a church parking lot. He awoke after five and a half months in a coma.

Smith suffered a traumatic brain inju-ry; the landing he took on his head had shaken his brain around inside his skull, seriously affecting his concentration, communication, and motor skills. Unlike a stroke, in which only one hemisphere of the brain is affected, an individual suffering a traumatic brain injury experi-ences a loss of skills from many parts of the brain. The resulta general decline in cognitive abilitiesis irreparable.

But Smith maintains a positive out-look, occasionally cracking one-liners about his condition and shrugging off his limitations as a fact of life.

Im lucky I didnt break my neck, much less kill myself, so in that sense I was lucky, Smith said.

But dealing with his handicap hasnt always been easy. Smith awoke from his coma in June and returned to school in August. But because he had missed the spring semester of classes, he had fallen behind his classmates. For a month or so after he returned home, a teacher visited Smith once a week to instruct him and assess his progress and abilities. At the end of the month she told his parents she wasnt accomplishing much, as little time as she had for instruction, and that he was perfectly capable of returning to school full-time.

Smith says that when he returned to school, his injury allowed him to experi-ence something few people are able tofinding out who your real friends are. As difficult as it was for him to adjust to his wheelchair, he says other peoples adjust-ment to the handicap was just as hard.

When I went back to high school, that was pretty hard; the people I had known for the past eight or nine years, they wouldnt talk to me, they would kind of ignore me, Smith said. I was there, but you know, [I had] nobody to talk with.

Smith went into a state of isola-tion after that, attending class but sit-ting by himself and not talking much. Eventually, he began to associate with a small group of people who in turn intro-duced him to others, which helped pull him out of his shell. But his worst heart-break was yet to come.

Near the close of his senior year in 1997, Smith learned he was a credit and a half shy of the number needed to graduate. It was too late to make up the deficit, and Smith would be forced to endure another year of high school. Disappointed that he would have to watch his classmates receive their diplo-mas without him, Smith was able to con-vince the school board to allow him to sit in on the ceremony.

I was so upset ... these were my friends, whether they ignored me or not, and I had spent 10 years of my life with them, Smith said.

If that year was the lowest point of his high school career, the next year was the high-water mark. Despite the fact that

Student/computer technician Brian Smith, injured in a traffic accident 10 years ago and confined to a wheelchair, works out a computer glitch in an Alston Hall office.

Brians story


FeatureStory

his class had graduated the year before, Smith says the following years gradua-tion was more memorable.

When they called my name and I walked up the steps and then across the stage, as I grabbed the diploma I kind of held it over my head and the whole place started standing up and clapping, Smith said. I was amazed at how loud it was ... it was the highlight of my life.

While Smith was in the hospital recu-perating from his coma, a tutor working with his psychologist did math exercises with him on the computer to assess his cognitive skills and abilities. The com-puter and how it worked struck a chord with Smith.

It really started fascinating me, he said. When I got back home I wanted to start dabbling with it more.

By his own admission, Smith is no computer expert, but his abilities and knowledge landed him a job on the tech-nical services staff of the Culverhouse College of Commerce. The staff handles computer and electronics problems that arise in Bruno Library and Alston and Bidgood halls.

On a normal day, Smith wheels back and forth between the three business school buildings, attending classes and fixing all kinds of computer problems. But a normal day for Smith is anything but normal. Besides being stricken with ataxia, an involuntary movement of the muscles that can make even the simplest task difficult, Smith faces a number of transportation problems.

In addition to his wheelchair, Smith rides a red three-wheeled cart between on-campus destinations and his dorm, which gives him greater mobility and a higher level of independence.

I refer to it as my overgrown trike, Smith said.

Smith remembers the day he got his overgrown trike. He was riding the bus home from high school on a beautiful day, thinking about the days before the accident when he rode a bike without a care in the world. It hit him that he

would never again be able to do that, and told his father the same when he got home.

He told me about the three-wheeled bike and we went out and looked at them and decided to get one, Smith said. It lasted a pretty good while, six years. I just recently had to buy a new one.

While his parents constantly encour-age him, Smith says they are apprehen-sive about some of his adventuressuch as the Internet technology internship he recently finished in Washington, D.C.

I think that they realize that I would never get better just sitting over hereI need to push myself. Its like that old saying, no pain, no gain, and believe me, I have experienced some pain, Smith said.

Smiths doctors dont hold much hope that he will ever return to the life-style he enjoyed before the accident, and Smith says the lifespans of most who suffer traumatic brain injuries are sig-nificantly shortened. At the same time, however, his doctors say they have never

seen anyone suffer so severe an injury and come through it with the cognitive skills Smith possesses.

He has undergone a number of sur-geries, some more successful than others, to improve his condition and make his life more normal. Given his areas of interest and line of work, Smith would be the first to say that constantly evolv-ing medical technologies hold hope for people like himself.

On a string around his neck, Smith wears an ankh, a trinket his mother picked up on a trip to Egypt. When asked its significance, Smith smiled wryly.

It means long life, he said.It has been 10 years since his acci-

dent, and Smith remains thankful for even the smallest things and focuses on the positives in his life.

Im still here, Smith said, and accomplishing things, truthfully, I never thought I would have accomplished.


... I need to push myself. Its like that old saying, NO PAIN, NO GAIN, and believe me, I have experienced some pain

Spring/Summer 2005 cba.ua.edu 21Spring/Summer 2005 cba.ua.edu 21

CollegeNews

C&BA strengthening bonds with Hyundai

By Niko Corley

With a new plant near Montgomery under construc-tion, the Hyundai Motor Company joins other auto manufacturers heading for Alabama and the Southeast to build their cars, trucks, and sport-utility vehicles.

Hyundai Motor Co. recently unveiled its 2006 Sonata sedan, the first vehicle the com-pany will make in the United States. Production begins in May at the South Korean automakers plant in Montgomery. The $1.1 billion facility can produce more than 300,000 vehicles per year, Hyundai officals said.

The Culverhouse College of Commerce recently sent several faculty members and administrators to South Korea where Hyundai is located, to strengthen ties between UA and the auto manufacturer. The business school has active intern-ship and scholarship programs with Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, located in nearby Vance, Alabama, and Dr. Carl Ferguson, director of UAs Center for Business and Economic Research, would like to see the same kind of relationship devel-op with Hyundai.

Our long-term goal is to identify and implement a variety of programs and interaction that are mutually beneficial, Ferguson said.

Ideally, Ferguson said, a partnership between UA and Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama will develop along the same lines as the one the University has with Mercedes. Since 1995, UA and Mercedes have had a variety of internship programs in place spanning all majors in the College, includ-ing accounting, finance, management information systems, and operations management.

The Universitys most recent trip to Korea increased confi-dence that Hyundai and UA can work together to achieve their goals, Ferguson said.

They need good graduates, said Ferguson, and we need to foster internship and long-term employment opportunities.

FAMILIAR SIGHTS

Ornate lights grace the entrance to the Sloan Y. Bashinsky Computer Center, one of the three beautiful buildings that make up the Culverhouse College of Commerce complex, and the clock between Alston Hall and Bashinsky keeps students, faculty and staff aware of the time.


The University of Alabama continues to build upon

its tradition of excellence in teaching, research, and

service through generous, long-range gifts from private

donors. Please remember the Culverhouse College of

Commerce in your will, trust, or other estate plan.

For more information without obligation, call or write

Office of University Advancement

Box 870122

Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0122

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T heres no telling where a business degree will take you, and Dr. Mike Bell, who earned a general management degree in 1985 from the Culverhouse College of Commerce, will attest to that. Bell

recently returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan with the U.S. Armys Second Mobile Medical Training Team.

For 90 days, Bell, who served as team leader, and his team trained Afghan soldiers in combat medicine and trauma care. As a part of the Office of Military Cooperation for Afghanistan, Bells team is part of a larger effort to develop and sustain an Afghan government and military under central control, similar to the U.S. model.

Afghanistan has been at war almost continuously since the 1970s. As a satellite state of the former Soviet Union, it was equipped and trained with Soviet military and medical sup-plies until communist rule was overthrown. The expulsion of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan left a vacuum that was soon filled by civil war, as countless Afghan warlords grappled for power.

This continued until the 1990s, when the Taliban, an Islamic extremist group that was only recently driven from power, overran the warlords and took control. The result of over two decades of fighting is evident in nearly every corner

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of Afghanistan, Bell said. In the Talibans wake, a dire need to restructure the government and supply the countrys needs became apparent.

In general, medical training in the country has been in shambles for the past 1520 years, Bell said.

Bell says that since the Soviet Union pulled out of Afghanistan, medical training and the availability of medicine and modern medical care, not just to soldiers but also to ordi-nary citizens, have been in decline.

Especially since the Taliban took over, many medical prac-tices were not allowed since they went against the ultraconser-vative government, Bell said.

But with the Taliban ousted from Afghanistan, the United States and its allies hope to build a democratic government with a modern military capable of repelling future Taliban attempts at regaining power. Bell and his team were the second of their kind to enter the country and in three months had trained 85 Afghan soldiers in battlefield medicine.

Mobile medical training units are not the only groups train-ing Afghan soldiers in modern military practices. Throughout Afghanistan, there are training units for every task in the mili-tary, whose purpose is to prepare and instruct Afghan soldiers, who in turn will teach other soldiers how to fight the Taliban

From the Capstone to KabulBusiness school grad leads Army medical training team in Afghanistan By Niko Corley

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and other extremist groups. Bell says that despite a strong

work ethic and an eagerness to learn, Afghan soldiers faced a number of lan-guage-related barriers. Afghanistan is a country of extremely diverse ethnic groups, each with its own language or dialect, making the most basic text-book exercises in English grueling.

Classes were taught in the countrys two main languages, Pashtu and Dari, and everything had to be translated from English for the students. Present to assist the teachers in further trans-lation for non-Pashtu and non-Dari speakers were representatives from five of the countrys main ethnic groups. Many of the students were unable to read and write in their native lan-guages, making instruction even more difficult.

Thirty to 40 percent of the students were illiterate, and teaching [them] advanced subjects like medicine can be hard, Bell said.

Despite these setbacks, Bell feels the students learned a great deal about combat life-saving techniques, medical evacua-tion for wounded soldiers, and field preventive medicine. The demand for trained soldiers in the countrys volunteer army to fight the remaining Taliban forces and search for Islamic extremist leader Osama bin Laden is so high in Afghanistan that as soon as students complete instruction, they are usually sent into active service.

Bell had been deployed to Saudi Arabia and Iraq during Operation Desert Storm and believed he had a good idea what a tour in Afghanistan would be like. But the level of destruc-tion and the overwhelming poverty of the nation were like nothing he had seen before.

The conditions on the ground were worse than I had expected, Bell said. The level of poverty was much higher.

He attributes the devastation he saw in Afghanistan to the countrys violent history. Long before the Taliban or even the Soviet Union ran Afghanistan, powerful warlords commanding large armies fought for control. This went on for hundreds of years and eventually became part of the culture. In other predominantly Islamic countries, war had been nei-ther as frequent nor as extended as in Afghanistan, making that country poorer and poorer over time.

The amount of destruction was incredible; there are still minefields and unexploded bombs right off the sides of the road, Bell said.

Twenty-three percent of the nations 28 million people live below the pov-erty line, putting Afghanistan behind the more prosperous countries of the

world but ahead of other predominantly Islamic nations like Iran, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan. Bell says that regardless of the Afghan peoples level of poverty and their history of hard-ship, they remain dedicated to a free and democratic country.

I have a lot of admiration for the Afghani people, Bell said. In spite of the hardship and devastation, these are proud people.

After graduating from UA, Bell earned a B.S. in biology from Syracuse University and, in 1997, a doctor of medicine degree from Uniformed Services University.

Afghanistan is a long way from Bidgood Hall, however. Bell never thought he would wind up in a classroom across the world teaching CPR to soldiers who need two or three transla-tors to understand him.

When I was in business school, the idea of leading a medi-cal team in Afghanistan was the furthest thing from possible in my mind, Bell said.


Dr. Mike Bell, a Culverhouse graduate, spent 90 days in Afghanistan training Afghan soldiers in combat medicine and trauma care. In his letters home, Bell included photos of, clockwise from top left, Afghan soldiers in front of a tank, a cattle truck passing by the compound, Christmas dinner with the troops, and Bell with one of his Afghan counterparts.

AlumniNotes


2004Mark Roberts has been named the alumni chapter representative for the University of Alabama National Alumni Association.

Eric Rogers (M.B.A.) has taken a posi-tion with Eason, Graham, and Sandner Commercial Real Estate in the office leas-ing and brokerage division.

2003Andrew M. Austin recently joined Hardman, Guess, Frost & Cummings as a staff accountant in Birmingham.

Jerry Christopher Black has been pro-moted to branch manager of the Ted Lansing Corporation.

Mary Reid Fisher has received the Chairmans Club Award from New South Federal Bank.

Joe Fulmer has joined Re/MAX Partner in Columbus, Mississippi, as a Realtor specializing in land development.

Lindsey Jordan has recently accepted a position with The University of Alabama as an admissions counselor in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.

2002 Samuel Maxwell Brewster has recently accepted a position as export documenta-tion coordinator for Louis Dreyfus Export Atlanta, a subsidiary of the multinational corporation Louis Dreyfus, with head-quarters in Paris, France. Louis Dreyfus Export Atlanta is a commodity trading company with export sales worldwide.

Steven Lowery has been promoted to regional sales manager for Aarons Sales and Lease Ownership.

Anthony Lee Raycroft has joined Barfield Murphy Shank & Smith PC as staff accountant.

2001Jason Quinn of Northport has been pro-moted to rental sales representative with Penske. He and his wife, Heather (2001), had their first child, Jackson Samuel, last October.

Christopher James Steiskal has graduated magna cum laude from the University of Mississippi School of Law and is an asso-ciate at the law firm of Mitchell, McNutt & Sams, P.A., in the Tupelo, Mississippi, office.

Joseph G. Walker has passed the third level of the Certified Financial Analyst exam.

Qiming Wang (M.A.) has passed the third level of the Certified Financial Analyst exam.

2000Kandi Owens has been promoted to asso-ciate brand manager for Dial Bar Soap. She moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, two years ago to join the personal care divi-sion of The Dial Corporation. Louisa T. Williams (M.B.A. 2004) has accepted the position of development specialist at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. In this role, she is responsible for fundraising through individual charitable contributions and estate planning. The National Gallery of Art, located on the National Mall, houses one of the worlds finest collections of western European painting and sculpture, spanning the 13th century to the present, as well as American art from colonial to contemporary times.

1999Brian Funkhouser is employed as a Citation Market research analyst for Gantt Aviation in San Antonio, Texas.

Holly Irene Posey (M.A. management, 2001) has accepted the position of manag-er of human resources for James Monroe Bank in Arlington, Virginia.

1976 Rick Stephens has been named presi-dent of Pacific Casual LLC, a company special-izing in lawn and garden accessories in various prod-uct categories from Asia as well as from the United States. Stephens has held executive management positions with WinsLoew Furniture and BJI over his 18 years in the industry.

1998Brandon LaBresh has joined Pritchett-Moore Inc. in Tuscaloosa as an insurance agent.

Katherine Moak has been named cus-tomer satisfaction manager at High Cotton. Her duties include driving the scheduling of projects and jobs and moni-toring the overall satisfaction of High Cottons clients. She joined High Cotton in June 2004 with experience in manage-ment, publishing, and direct marketing. High Cotton employs more than 100 people in its 133,000-square-foot facility in Trussville, Alabama, processing more than 90 million pieces of mail annually.

1997Andrew Scott Brislin has accepted the position of loan originator at The Mortgage Source Inc. for the Eastern Shore/Mobile area.

Anne H. Lovette recently passed the third level of the Certified Financial Analyst exam.

Julia Leach Martin has been promoted to assistant corporate information risk officer in Regions Financial Corporations corporate information security depart-ment. She will be responsible for vendor management, security awareness training, and internal assessments related to the evaluation of how the companys busi-ness units and automated systems pro-tect customer information as mandated by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. She has been with Regions since 1998.

1996E. Bryan Finison Jr. (M.B.A.) of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is a partner in the regional accounting and consulting firm of Tidwell DeWitt LLC, with offices in Atlanta, Birmingham, and Tuscaloosa. He and his wife, Lee Carmichael Finison (1996), have two sons, Speed Keltner and Trey.

A. Ezell Webb has been promoted to assistant controller of The Drummond Company, headquartered in the Liberty Park Urban Center in Birmingham.

1995Kerry L. Foster completed his M.T.A. program last summer and has accepted a position as tax services supervisor with Jackson Thornton, a CPA firm located in Montgomery, Alabama.

Gary Johnson (M.A. 1997) has been pro-moted to regional marketing manager at Southern Accents, a division of Southern Progress. He joined Southern Progress in 1999 as business manager for Southern Accents and Coastal Living and in 2002 was promoted to special markets man-ager for Oxmoor House. In his new posi-tion he will manage sales and marketing efforts for the magazine in the 16-state southern region.

Paul C. Pinkerton h

Documents

The Culverhouse College of Commerce Executive Magazine - Spring 2005 Edition