Well, I recently returned from a 9 day trip to China and am excited about the possibilities there.  I’ve been there numerous times before, but this time was one of the more productive trips because of the multiple opportunities that can truly distinguish the School of Business from others.

My first stop was in Xiamen (aka “the Charleston of China” since it is located on the water, with similar weather, and heavy in tourism), where we already have a close relationship with Xiamen University.  In fact, last year we recruited four MBA students, two MS in Accounting students, and two undergraduates from there.  This time I made a presentation to the entire School and interviewed 7 students for our MBA program (in Charleston), tentatively beginning this fall.  I also interviewed several other prospective MBA students who would begin their graduate studies the following fall (2013).  I am excited about Xiamen University because there are also opportunities across campus.  My math and science colleagues are planning a trip there this summer to discuss potential collaboration with their School.

The second stop was to Xiangyang, which is located in the center of China.  The city is interested in teaming with the School of Business and building a campus there at no cost to South Carolina.  (There is only one other U.S. university that has a physical campus in China, and that’s Duke University.)  I met with the mayor, vice mayor of education, and other provincial leaders to discuss the possibilities.  They like our high quality education and what we have to offer and will let us know whether we can move to the next step.  (That would be to discuss the responsibilities from both parties.  At this point, I would need to have further discussions with our Provost and President.)  If we end up moving forward with this initiative, it will be revenue-generating and totally self-supporting.  I honestly believe that it could transform our business school (and potentially campus), since it would give us a strong presence in the middle of the world’s largest nation.

The third stop was in Hong Kong.  There I met with the owner, as well as vice president of China Education Group.  (When I worked at UNC Charlotte, I developed revenue generating programs with CEG.)  We discussed an additional graduate program that would appeal to executives interested in furthering their education.  Without going into details, this program is in high demand in Asia and we’d be the first to offer it in Hong Kong.  It, too, would be revenue generating and totally self supporting.  Stay tuned for more details.

One of the things that I’m really excited about is our alumni engagement, particularly with a new group that has formed in Atlanta.  Our alumni are our offspring, so it’s a pleasure to see how they are reaching out to support their alma mater.

Today, I’m happy to announce that the School of Business has established the Charleston School of Business Club (CSBC), an exclusive group aligned specifically with the business school and our mission – in Atlanta.

On Thursday evening, I attended the CSBC’s inaugural event at the Buckhead Club in Atlanta where nearly 80 attendees, most of whom were business alumni, gathered because of a common interest: to network and build professional education opportunities with ties to the School of Business.

The greater Atlanta area has the highest concentration of business alumni, outside of the Charleston region. The CSBC is open to all College of Charleston alumni, parents and friends who have a vested interest in the School of Business.

I’m very proud of the leadership team in Atlanta who are moving the Club forward with their professional experience in diverse industries.  Their energy and commitment is contagious and I’m confident in the Club’s long term success.

The key to long-term success is giving real value back to the members through first-rate professional networking, outreach, education and speakers.  Like Chris White ‘95, co-president of the CSBC and senior director at Cushman & Wakefield, said, “We want the ‘Wow factor’ associated with this professional development Club.”  To Chris’ point, we recognize that there are so many competing factors for people’s time that we have to deliver meaningful, valuable opportunities for professional growth.

I am committed to ensuring the Club’s success through my time and resources.  Our alumni are an extension of the brand of the School of Business and we need you to connect – or reconnect – with us.

Thanks to everyone who attended Thursday’s event.  It is a good reflection of things to come from this group…and the School of Business as a whole.

Adjunct faculty are by definition part-time employees. While they may be considered as part-time, their impact on our students is certainly long-term and enduring.  Our adjuncts are selfless business “all-stars” who teach courses in their areas of expertise. They provide a strong practitioner perspective that our students embrace.  The School of Business is fortunate to have 29 of them.  Here’s a description of a few of them:

• Tommy Baker, President and CEO of Baker Motor Company, School of Business Entrepreneur-in-residence and serves on our Board of Governors, co-teaches “Seminar in Entrepreneurship”
• David Morgan, President and CEO of Litton Entertainment, also serves on our Board of Governors, teaches “Business of Television”
• Leonard Hutchinson, president of the Charleston area Wells Fargo Bank, teaches “Intermediate Finance”
• David Holscher, general manager of the North Charleston Coliseum, Performing Arts Center, Charleston Areas Convention Center, teaches an Events Management course
• Garth Cook, director of leadership development and training for the Boeing South Carolina site, teaches “Management and Organizational Behavior”
• Everett Wilcox, partner of Alston & Bird, teaches “Negotiation”
• James Davis, assistant dean for finance for the South Carolina College of Pharmacy, teaches a series of “Public Purchasing” courses.
• Richard Bilas, former president of the California Public Utilities Commission, teaches “Environmental Economics”
• Cynthia Grosso, founder of the Charleston School of Protocol and Etiquette, teaches “Business Etiquette”
• Arthur Richek, financial executive with more than 30 years of general and financial managerial experience, teaches “Introduction to Financial Management”
• James Kindley, founder of UNBLOCKS, a consultative/teaching firm specializing in providing companies with assistance in improving their new product development programs, teaches several strategic planning courses
• Skip Martin, attorney at law, teaches several courses, including “Franchising & Contracts in the Hospitality and Tourism Management Industry”

Based on the conversations I’ve had with many of our adjunct faculty, they seem to get as much out of the classroom experience as the students do.  They tell me that they enjoy interacting with young minds and playing a part in their future.  On behalf of the entire College of Charleston, and especially the School of Business, I can’t tell these “volunteers” how much we appreciate their taking the time to share their expertise with our students.

In the School of Business, we strive to offer many more courses than our faculty can handle. Our core faculty of 62 tenured/tenured-track professors offer a variety of courses. But there is another group of faculty that teach courses who are usually working other full-time jobs at an executive level. Some of them are considered “adjunct faculty”, others are referred to as “entrepreneurs-in-residence” or “executives-in-residence”.

Some of you may have read a recent article in The Post and Courier (02/06/12) about one of our graduates, Jeff Lucas, and his new video social networking site called Fipeo (short for Finding People).  The site evolved out of his desire to bridge gaps between people and make more cross-cultural connections possible.  According to the article, It will help people with a purpose, like learning a new language, moving to a new location, meeting people with the same hobby, etc. to record a video message of what they’re looking for and upload it on Fipeo.com.  Jeff’s got partners and investors around him, but has a long way to go before the company’s up and running and in the black, but he seems to be on his way to greatness.

As a School of Business, we will continue to inspire minds to be creative and able to develop sensible business plans.  It seems with Jeff, mission accomplished.  He was a business administration major, with a concentration in Real Estate and Entrepreneurship.  When he wasn’t in class, he was often either in a foreign country or participating in our Schottland Scholars program.  This program gave him the chance to learn through experiential education (company visits, mentors, guest lectures).

To enhance our commitment to entrepreneurship training, I am delighted to mention that we recently unveiled our new Center for Entrepreneurship, under the leadership of Dr. David Desplaces, assistant professor of entrepreneurship. I felt before we re-opened the Center, we needed an experienced director to make it distinctive and excellent.  David is that person.

He launched the University of Hartford’s Institute for Entrepreneurship and Economic Development and has been involved with his family’s oil business, becoming director of both management service and holding companies specialized in oil services and outsourcing in the Middle East. He also served as the Middle East affairs trade mission specialist for the SC Department of Commerce. If that’s not enough, he is the faculty advisor of the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) and is the co-founder of Possibilities without Borders, a non-profit organization, which offers international service learning projects by providing participating students, faculty, community members, and other partner organizations the necessary resources to achieve each project’s goals.

I am confident that our entrepreneurship and other programs that promote innovation will have a huge impact on the business world.  We need to continue producing graduates like Jeff Lucas, which we have done (consider Justin McLain, CEO of Endeavor Telecom; Jessica Gibadlo, CEO of Harry Barker; Trey Harvin, CEO of dotMobi; Sara Hays, CEO of YuDu Guru, just to name a few), and will continue to do for years to come.

As Dean of the School of Business on a campus proudly grounded on liberal arts and sciences, it is interesting to see how much business permeates our campus leadership. First, consider President George Benson. He’s a former business dean at the University of Georgia and Rutgers University. He serves on several corporate business boards and always takes a strategic, business approach to setting and implementing the vision of our campus. Second, Provost  and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs George Hynd. He, too, takes a business approach to running the academic side of our campus. He has a strong background in psychology, which comes in handy when coordinating the operations of five Schools.  Third, Greg Padgett is the chair of our Board of Trustees and he serves on the School of Business Board of Governors. Greg is Chief Financial Officer of Fennell Holdings. His business experience is vital to managing our campus leadership.  (Many of our Board of Trustees members are current business men and women.)

Fourth, George Watt is Executive Vice President of Institutional Development and has a lengthy corporate background (with over twenty years with First Union Corporation and IBM).  Fifth, Steve Osborne, our Executive Vice President of Business Affairs has almost thirty years of  experience with the SC Budget and Control Board and currently serves as our Chief Financial Officer.

Heck, even Coach Bobby Cremins is a graduate of USC’s business school. (We hope Bobby has a quick recovery and continues to lead the Cougars on the basketball court.)  When you add all 47 of our School of Business Board of Governors, it is evident that business is an integral part of our campus.

Those of you who know me would say that I am adamant about globalization being a key ingredient in our School of Business. My mantra, “We can’t be a business school unless we’re a global business school” is something I truly believe to appropriately prepare our students for the real world of business.

A few days ago I served on a visitation team of academicians that evaluated specific programs for SKEMA’s licensure application in North Carolina. (This is part of my service responsibilities to my profession.)  SKEMA is the School of Knowledge Economy and Management, based in Nice, France. It was established in 2009 by the merger of two French institutions: Lille School of Management (established in 1892) and CERAM Business School (established in 1963). It is a private, not-for-profit entity.  Its mission is “To train and educate students to be ‘Global Knowledge Economy Talents’ prepared to face the challenges of the Knowledge Economy”.  Its vision is “to be the global business school developing future leaders able to manage in the knowledge economy”.

I am extremely impressed by SKEMA.  It has six campuses (3 in France, 1 in the US–NC State University as a partner on the Centennial Campus in Raleigh, 1 in China and 1 in Morocco) where they educate students in each market and share students at each campus.  SKEMA is already accredited by highly-respected EQUIS (based in Europe), and is working on accreditation by AACSB (based in US) and AMBA (based in the UK).  They intend to be one of a few business schools that obtain the “triple crown” of accreditation within three years.  An amazing accomplishment if they can pull it off.

Why am I telling you all this?  Because SKEMA’s global market plan is exactly what we–the College of Charleston–need to do.  We should aggressively expand to markets abroad and open the windows of our campus wider to foreign students and faculty.   It is common to hear how important it is to educate South Carolinians first and foremost.  I wholeheartedly agree.  But the only way to appropriately educate SC students is to expose them to the real world.  In business that means major markets and their people throughout the world.

So how do we do this?  First, use the name “University of Charleston, SC” as our name in foreign markets since the term “College” connotes a third-tier institution in most locations abroad.  (I am not advocating that we abandon the College of Charleston name in the U.S.)  Second, allow qualified foreign students to study at CofC at a reasonable cost.  (Many universities offer scholarships or tuition abatements to exceptional students–regardless of where they come from.  We should do the same.)  Realize that foreign students will enhance–not impede–the classroom experience for all students since new cultures will be introduced in open discussions.  Third, make foreign students feel welcomed on our campus.  Since we have no dedicated dormitories for them, no foreign languages on our institutional website, and few scholarships available to them, they can hardly feel like they are embraced on our campus.

Fourth, our institution should reward faculty who integrate global topics into their curriculum. They should also reward faculty who take CofC students abroad, host cohorts of foreign students on our campus, and conduct international research.  By globalizing our campus, foreign students will feel more welcomed.  Fifth, every student on our campus should be required to learn about foreign cultures.  It seems to me that we are not sensitive enough to other walks of life.  It’s about time we talk about the benefits of people who are different rather than make them feel like there’s not a place for them on our campus.  Lastly, our campus needs to dramatically update all technology to allow foreign students, professors and practitioners to virtually enter our classrooms without hardship.

Since our campus strategic plan (aptly titled “Gateways to Greatness”) calls for globalization throughout our campus, we are certainly heading in the right direction.  However, we need to aggressively make the world our stage and show everyone that we welcome non-South Carolinians to our campus.

It’s not easy being a student in higher education. There’s a lot of stress associated with maintaining good grades to remain in good academic standing. But grades are simply an end rather than a mean. That is, what is really important is learning course content. Theoretically the more a student learns, the higher his/her grade will be. So the student’s focus should be on what he/she learns rather than what grade he/she gets out of a course.

However, there are other ways to learn, and sometimes more important than what is learned in a classroom. A “mentor” is an experienced individual who provides advice and guidance to another individual. In my world, mentors are typically experienced businesspeople who “take a student under his/her wing” and share his/her wisdom with the student.  This role is extremely important to young students who are trying to figure out what they professionally want to do for the next 30-40 years.

The School of Business presently has 1,500 students.  There is a huge need for student mentors.  If you feel that you have something to give to students, especially guidance through a caring relationship, then send Holland Williams (williamsha2@cofc.edu), director of professional development, a message.  Most mentors enjoy the experience while making a life changing impact on a young mind.

Recently the University of Alabama defeated LSU to win the College football Bowl Championship Series.  As an alum of the Crimson Tide, I was happy with the final score (21-0).  So what makes a championship football team?  To me, it’s the same thing that makes an excellent business school.  First and foremost, you must have an excellent team to lead the way in their areas of expertise.  A portion of my first three years as the dean of the School of Business was spent putting together a great team of leaders to achieve a common goal (i.e., student excellence).  If we fast forward to today, our organizational chart is 80% different from what it was in March 2009.  We now have a cast of all-stars in positions that create excellence in each program.  Here’s a few of the integral pieces of our new leadership team:

• Rhonda Mack- Associate Dean of Graduate and Professional Programs; Director of MBA Program
• Jocelyn Evans- Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs
• Marcia Snyder- Assistant Dean of Student Learning
• Sandy Funk- Director of External Relations
• Colby Rankin- Director of Development
• Roger Daniels- Director of the MS in Accountancy Program
• All new department chairs
• Many new directors of Centers and Programs

Beyond our core faculty and staff, we also have the business community to draw from to add to our drive toward excellence.  I am particularly thankful for my advisory board, known on and off campus as our Board of Governors.  Led by Buddy Darby, CEO of Kiawah Development Partners, we have 47 incredible minds assisting us in student development, faculty development, fundraising, community relations, and public relations.  They are truly among Charleston’s best and brightest.

I have always believed that when you surround yourself with great people, great things will happen.  Our dream team consisting of faculty and staff, our board of governors and a supportive campus administration will impact many more generations of lives than any football national championship.  Our students are our future. We must make sure that we’re giving them our best…which we are doing.

The beginning of each year always gets me thinking about my past challenges and what’s in store for the future. It’s a similar feeling I get when my birthday approaches each October. Although I was born quite a bit earlier, the School of Business was birthed in 1986–which was 25 years ago. So here we are in the midst of our silver anniversary. It’s a time for both reflection and celebration.  Our initial celebration occurred during the fall 2011, when we unveiled the School of Business Wall of Honor and inducted Tommy & Victoria Baker, Guy & Betty Beatty and George & Dorie Spaulding in our inaugural class.  It was an event that thanked three great couples for their long-term impact on the business school.

Another festive event is coming up on January 14th when the College of Charleston Cougars host the Elon Phoenix in basketball.  The School of Business will hold a Birthday Bash celebration that night at TD Arena.  Tip off is at 7pm and all business alumni, students, parents and friends of the School of Business are invited to attend the celebration and watch the basketball game.  There will also be a pre-game tailgate party at 4:30 pm in the Beatty Center atrium (5 Liberty Street).  Please visit our 25th Anniversary Birthday Bash website for details and to purchase discount tickets.  I hope to see you there.  Let’s cheer the Cougars on to victory and share in the celebration of the School of Business.  We have a lot to cheer for….  We’ve graduated over 9,000 students, we have outstanding faculty, and we have amazing friends in the business community who are investing their time and resources in the business school.  I assure you that 2012 will be an exciting year for us all.

Happy New Year!