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COB Connection
The Newsletter of the College of Business |
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Dean's Corner
On October 21st, the annual Business Advisory Council meeting was held at the Figge Art Museum. In addition to an appearance from President Joan Lescinski, CSJ, PhD, who shared her thoughts with the BAC, the College for Professional Studies provided an overview of relevant offerings, and the Student Advisory Council reviewed its achievements over the past year. Kim Matteson, SAU career counselor, unveiled an exciting e-Mentoring program the university is launching in January 2009. Utilizing technology to cope with busy schedules of both working professionals and students, SAU will pilot a program with at least 10 professionals and 10 students to engage in an electronic mentoring relationship in an attempt to transfer valuable knowledge from working professionals to our students. We anticipate a successful experiment and hope to expand it in the future. –John Byrne |
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Master of Organizational Leadership Moves to the College of Business The Master of Organizational Leadership (MOL) program at St. Ambrose is an interdisciplinary graduate program of study designed to develop skills and nurture abilities for effective leadership. Effective leadership is essential to the success of any endeavor in both the public and private sectors. Businesses, government agencies, elected offices, charitable organizations, and churches, to name a few, need valuable leaders who can identify, promote, and accomplish organizational goals and objectives. In this context, MOL students will become more aware of their own strengths, attitudes, and behaviors, and the effects they have on others as leaders. On behalf of the MOL program we look forward to many years of collaboration with COB faculty and staff. –Ron Wastyn, MOL Director |
Jack Canfield: Author of Chicken Soup for the Soul Visits Campus
The focus of Canfield’s presentation revolved around another of his books, “The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be.” Canfield has had his share of success – his “Chicken Soup” franchise alone has sold over 100 million copies worldwide. During the year-long process of setting up the appearance, Olsen and others involved found themselves turning to Canfield’s principles. “Once you realize that one of the worst things that can happen is that someone will tell you ‘no,’ it’s very empowering,” Olsen said. “You can call and ask about anything because the fear is taken away. We applied a lot of his principles when we were going about this.” “Going about this” involved the development of skills many of these College of Business students will use long after they receive their diplomas. Members of the Student Advisory Council did the legwork in securing sponsors for the event, designing marketing materials, and getting the support of campus administration. “I thought it was really cool; they basically took the place of an event planner,” said John Byrne, the Dean of the College of Business. “Most of the tickets sold were because of them.” Corporate sponsorships helped subsidize the cost of tickets for students – another goal met in planning this event. The Student Advisory Council also was able to raise around $6,000 towards student scholarships. Nearly 800 tickets were purchased for the event. “I was really pleased,” Byrne said. “I felt like he captured the audience quite well, they were entertained and inspired. His message really resonated with people; it’s both practical and tangible.” The Student Advisory Council hopes to make this an annual event. They already have a short list of candidates for next year, and even got some ideas from Canfield himself. “I was on top of the world yesterday. I thought it was an amazing experience,” Olsen said. “I hope the audience took that away from it what we did.” |
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Faculty
Spotlight: Dr. Dan Ebener Ebener enjoys teaching in the MOL program because he is a lifelong learner in the field of leadership and management. He says that he believes it is important for faculty to practice what they teach. He is thankful to the Diocese for the opportunities to practice leadership for over 20 years, thankful to the DBA program for deepening his understanding about organizational life and leadership, and thankful to his students and colleagues at St. Ambrose for creating the learning laboratory where the integration of theory and practice can be discerned. Ebener has been working on publishing lessons learned from his dissertation since he finished his DBA at St. Ambrose in 2007. Working with Dr. David O'Connell, Ebener has been writing a series of articles on parish life and servant leadership for publication. The two of them have articles pending with two scholarly journals as this is being written. Ebener also wrote eight articles for The Catholic Messenger in Spring 2008 and has an article appearing this fall in CHURCH magazine. In addition, Ebener has received a contract to write a book with Paulist Press. Slated for publication in Fall 2009, the working title of the book is "Servant Leadership: How it works in a Parish." The book is a total re-write of the dissertation, written to appeal to pastors and other parish leaders interested in church management and leadership issues. |
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Alumni Ryan Weber Named McGladrey and Pullen’s Employee of the Year Weber is also involved with organizations such as the Iowa Society of CPA’s Family and Workplace Issues Committee (former board chair); Health Care Financial Management Association; treasurer of the Quad City Animal Welfare Center’s board of directors; 2008 Quad City Chamber Federation Community Leadership Academy; and employee campaign coordinator in Davenport for McGladrey’s United Way campaign. Professsor Lew Marx said about Weber: “Ryan was always a pleasure to have in class. I remember him as a cheerful student who had a ready smile. I do not remember him ever having a word of complaint; he just did the work. And over the last few years, he has devoted time to SAU’s present accounting students by giving numerous presentations on campus.” |
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News & Notes Theresa Day ‘94 MBA, is a visiting professor and Defense Information Systems Agency Chair at National Defense University in Ft. McNair, DC. Chuck Day ‘95 MBA and Theresa live in Woodbridge, VA. Lisa (Calvert) Smock ‘05 has been promoted to Technical Program Advisor for Mid-American Energy in Muscatine, Iowa. Joe Olenowski ‘74 recently retired from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service after 34 years of service as a supervisory accountant. Matt Tranowski ‘06 is currently working at The Northern Trust Co. in Chicago, Ill., as a Securities Technician. James David Siebert ‘08 DBA has been appointed Chair of the Business Division at Iowa Wesleyan College in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. Marriages Linda Dolphin, ‘95, ‘98 MBA, and Brian Mosher, Bettendorf, Iowa Miranda Harrison, ‘02 MBA, and Austin Kerns ‘02 MAcc, Kauai, HI Paul Thompson ‘02 and Breann Malik ‘05 MAcc, Davenport, Iowa Kristine Hand ‘03, ‘06 MOL, and Matthew Volesky, Colfax, Iowa Chris Green ‘04, ‘07 MBA, and Kimberly Osmun, Grand Mound, Iowa Angela Kirby (Schnorrenberg) ‘04 MBA, and Greg Quinn, Ocho Rios, Jamaica Carrie Schnauber ‘04, ‘05 MAcc, and Greg Lupton ‘05, Davenport, Iowa Melissa Homco ‘05, ‘07 MSITM, and Stewart Yates, Davenport, Iowa Lindsay Miller ‘05 and Rick Schaefer ‘05, ‘06 MAcc, Davenport, Iowa Alicia Jackson ‘06 MOL, and Jon Stoffers, Davenport, Iowa Births David Buss ‘04 and Sarah (Walker) Buss ‘05 welcomed their son, Andrew Walker Buss, on June 16, 2008. |
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Visit the St. Ambrose University Website for more information about courses offered, degrees, events, and staff. And also check out the College of Business Website for more information about the college, or contact Dr. John Byrne, Dean of the College of Business, at 563/333-6406. College Dean:
Dr. John Byrne - 563/333-6406 |
In a time when financial and economic uncertainty is highlighted by the media, the College of Business has much to be thankful for this past year. As I reflect on our blessings, the following thoughts come to mind:
“I was reading the book ‘The Secret’ and I wanted to bring a speaker to campus of that magnitude,” said Pat Olsen, a member of the Student Advisory Council who was instrumental in setting up the presentation. “Jack Canfield is one of the authors in there, so I picked up the phone and called his office. I was a big believer that we need to bring more speakers to campus, especially success speakers.” 
Dan R. Ebener was teaching adjunct for St. Ambrose University (since 1993) and practicing leadership and management in his career at the Diocese of Davenport (since 1986) when he decided to accept a full-time teaching position in the Master of Organizational Leadership program in 2006. Dan continues to work part-time for the Diocese, doing leadership training and strategic planning, as he teaches full-time for MOL. 
Ryan Weber ‘98, an audit director for McGladrey and Pullen, was named the firm’s Employee of the Year and presented with a $10,000 award at a company meeting in Davenport on August 21. Weber provided a smooth transition to one of Central Plains’ largest health care clients when his colleague and mentor needed assistance due to a health issue. Copyright
2009St. Ambrose University 518 W. Locust Street Davenport IA 52803 563/333-6000Contact SAU