Pay It Forward

A recent letter received from a second-year business student, who was awarded a scholarship by the School of Business, exemplifies how our scholarship donors provide crucial life-changing opportunities for some of our students.

The scholarship recipient has been raised by a single mom and the family, while blessed in many ways, has needed to be a shepherd of very modest financial resources. This scholarship gives some degree of certainty to the student and his mom that he can continue their joint dream for his graduation. Leaving school for a semester to garner tuition dollars will not be his destination in the fall—he will stay in school and thus greatly increase the likelihood of completing his degree. This experience occurs often at UAB, but never fails to bring me back to the reality of our very special core mission to create opportunity for students to seek their life- changing destinations, resulting from an excellent education and a supportive and caring faculty and staff.

Where do we garner these key scholarship dollars? It is provided by our alumni, many of whom contribute to the Dean’s Leadership Fund, the School’s annual gift fund. Donors also include past and present faculty, and friends who understand the need to “pay it forward” – to help provide assistance to the next generation. Each year, I am privileged to interact with many of our scholarship donors. Their most common reason for giving is simply caring —a desire to replicate the life-changing support they received decades ago when they were struggling to complete their education. UAB and the School of Business have a long legacy of being a place where enhanced professional and career destinations are started for students of very modest economic means. As we end the academic year, we will have many year-ending events where we honor next year’s scholarship recipients and their donors. It is so special to see joy and hope in the students. But, I always see greater joy and many tears in the eyes of the donors. The donors almost universally know of no greater joy than being able to pass on the opportunity for a new and better destination for our exceptional students.

Times are still very difficult for many UAB students. We need your help in this great destination-changing effort! I look forward to seeing a special joy in your eyes. Yes, I am with pride asking for your help. Please join me and my wife Phyllis as scholarship donors at UAB by making an investment in our students through the Dean’s Leadership Fund.

If you are a current donor or past scholarship recipient, I welcome any story that you may want to share to help others understand how important this effort is to future generations of UAB School of Business graduates.

Experienced Teacher-Scholars Continue to be Leaders in the School of Business

Dr. Tom Powers joined UAB in 1985, after receiving a Ph.D. in Marketing from Michigan State University. Prior to his doctoral studies, Tom was marketing manager with Ford Motor Company, holding progressive assignments in sales, product forecasting, and distribution. Thus, he brings both academic and real-world lessons to his classroom and to his scholarship. Early in his career at UAB Tom established a reputation, supported by 25 years of very positive testimony from students, as a caring, rigorous, and committed teacher—both at the undergraduate and graduate level.

Last week I had the pleasure of sitting with Tom when he received recognition for 25 years of exceptional service to UAB and the School of Business. Tom was especially excited, as he had just received notice from a respected peer-reviewed business journal that a part of his recent research portfolio was accepted for publication. I then learned that 25 years ago Tom had set a professional goal to have 100 peer-reviewed journal articles in the first 25 years as a professor. He had met the goal that day! Tom sees the need to be current in the technology, theory, and practice of marketing. His consistency of pursuing research year after year reflects both a genuine pride in his professional commitment to the profession and to his students---but also reflects his daily passion for discovery.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Powers for his exceptional career and for his consistency in scholarship over a sustained period of 25 years. But fear not. Tom is not retiring or slowing down. His passion for discovery and teaching is unquenched. He told me at the celebration of his 25 years of service that he loves this fine institution we call UAB, and he loves his work with fellow scholars and students. This gives us all pleasure, as we know he blesses us all with his exceptional professional demeanor and his vey contagious excitement for discovery.

An Exceptional Team of Faculty

In our continued recruitment for individual faculty members we are focused on the term “an exceptional faculty”---meaning an exceptional TEAM of faculty members that collectively meet the learning needs of our students and the mission of the School to be active players in the life changing research of UAB. Balance is a key goal in building an exceptional faculty. Balance is needed in their special fields of knowledge, skills relevant to teaching and research, and passions/commitments to service. We also seek to build a diverse faculty team which is representative of the students and communities we serve. The one consistency we seek is commitment to be fully engaged in a collegial community---i.e., we seek faculty members who understand our balanced and diverse mission and will work hard to contribute to multiple phases of our mission. We seek faculty who have a passion for both student learning and the pursuit of excellence in research. Both commitments are equally critical to the mission of UAB.

With regard to student learning we seek faculty who have a dynamic presence in the classroom and a strong commitment to see each and every student succeed. As you will see in the video, Faculty Receive an A+ from Fall Graduates, our faculty are recognized for providing excellent instruction along with compassionate consistent motivation. We unfailingly meet our students where they are and build their confidence as well as exceptional technical and critical thinking skills needed to succeed.

Preparing Our Students For The New "Normal"

Business graduates today are facing a whole new playing field where many past assumptions are being challenged. A new “normal” is evolving. How do we prepare our students with the skills needed to succeed in this rapidly changing environment?

The academy will debate the specificity of those needed skills---technical skills, critical thinking skills, communication skills, and interpersonal skills. Faculty members will exercise their appropriate academic freedom and their dedication to student learning in many diverse ways and with many diverse themes of needed skills. The breadth of diversification of faculty responses and perspectives concerning change will benefit our students as they will need to be broadly equipped for the challenges.

My role as dean will be to stimulate the discussion of changes needed (such as in curriculum and advising of our students)---by persuasion and dialogue I need to keep us all focused on being a business school that is open to diversity of opinions on how best to prepare our students for a new normal. Change is hard work and can generate material conflict. We must be open to that process of conflict and open to compromise –and open to fixing our mistakes. And change is never done—just when you think you have it right, the environment changes and we need to adjust.

We all have our perceptions (even some firm beliefs) on what is the answer. Our success, however, will be driven by many observations from your complex real experiences. I welcome and value posts regarding your insights and guidance on your perceptions of the new normal and the skills needed by our students.

UAB Brings Life Changing Research to the Marketplace of Healthcare

Two months ago, I met with a prominent UAB endowed professor and had the privilege to hear the story of his biotechnology research and its potential to have a significant impact on the treatment of a major life threatening disease. The issue on the table was the need to raise capital to fund the next stage of a start-up company that would be a part of conducting the critical “phase III” testing of his IP—and hopefully move to commercializing the IP. His company up to this point has been funded by friends and family.

As part of the commitment by the School of Business to expand our scholarship in the many fields of healthcare that connect to the research disciplines of the school, Drs. Molly Wasko, Eric Jack, and Karen Kennedy are joining me in this exciting project. Our goals are in three parts: facilitate raising the next level of seed capital, assist in designing a next-stage business plan, and directly participate in plan implementation (including the ultimate raising of significant investment capital). With regard to capital needs, the school (with university assistance) is in the process of conducting due diligence which may lead us to make a direct investment in this company---an investment that is admittedly high risk even if all due diligence is positive (given the historical probabilities of success associated with most phase III IP). However, we are making a commitment to true involvement by the school in the intense and high risk process of commercializing healthcare IP. Such involvement is one part of the strategic plan of the school, as we work to facilitate translation of IP to the marketplace and to help exceptional scholars create great companies here in Birmingham and in Alabama. I look forward to providing periodic updates, as we move forward on this exciting project.

Recruitment Continues for Exceptional Teacher Scholars

With the announcement of our continued recruitment for six new teacher-scholars, I am especially pleased to report that they will be joining excellent school-wide faculty members who continue to materially “raise their game”. We have fully met and exceeded the requirement for reaccreditation by AACSB that our faculty as a whole is 90% academically qualified or professionally qualified. In the coming months, I will post copies of the excellent published research by our many fine faculty members. As you will see, the scholarship of our faculty is a balanced blend of theoretical, practical, and educational research that is relevant to both the academy and to the professions we serve.

We are fortunate to be actively seeking additional teacher-scholars to join our outstanding team of faculty, as many peer universities, struggling with diminished funding, are inactive in recruiting. The entrepreneurial environment of UAB, matched with a material increase in school student enrollment (over 2,000 students in School of Business this fall) and the continuing support of alumni and friends, has created a financial profile that allows us to continue to grow by seeking additional exceptional scholars—while still maintaining a positive annual contribution to our investable reserves. Please know that the faculty and staff of the UAB School of Business have been exceptional stewards of our funding—as we have intensely focused our financial and business insight on very mission driven activities and investments.

Adding Value Through University Recruitment

Companies are now taking a very strategic look at university recruitment, with a growing focus on identifying and aligning with a few select “key schools”. Being designated as a “key school” enhances the level of attention the school will receive from a corporation and its leaders. This includes recruitment of full-time hires and interns, partnerships with faculty in their research and teaching efforts, and corporate philanthropy directed toward programs, faculty, and students.

I am pleased to report that one of the large distribution industry firms we recently visited designated us as their key school for hiring in the southeast. The School of Business and UAB clearly have an opportunity to add real value in the evolving hiring practices related to well educated business students, as major public and private corporations begin to move toward modest hiring and related intern/training programs.

Meeting with industry leaders is a key part of our increased focus on communicating with our alumni and external stakeholders. The School’s External Relations staff and I are meeting face-to-face with alumni and key employers around the country. They are telling us they can help facilitate potential recruitment opportunities for our students as their companies begin to consider recent graduate hiring. In continuing this outreach, I want to know how your company is dealing with the economic recovery---i.e. do you see signs within your organization of an improving outlook, is your organization hiring, are you bullish or bearish on the economy? Post your response here and I look forward to continuing the dialogue with you.