’09 grads Sara Swanson and Nga Nguyen presented research at Sam Houston State conference under the direction of Dr. Tim Ewest and Dr. Julie Clarkson Kliegl (not pictured)

Nineteen Alumni Participate in Career Direction and Connection Panels
To accommodate the afternoon inauguration of President Darrel Colson on Oct. 16, Career Direction and Connection sessions were shortened slightly. Find out who the 19 alumni were on six different business alumni panels.

Many Thanks to Our Business Alumni
During the holidays, please remember your roots at Wartburg College in the Department of Business Administration and Economics. In an enrollment-driven institution, we are thankful that the number of majors and minors in the department is the largest in the college. College enrollment is flat at a time when growth is needed to cover all the things we want to do. Just as you are tightening your financial belts, the college has cut 401k contributions and suspended pay increases. We are scrutinizing expenses and whether sections of courses need to be offered. We are always looking for ways to cut costs including going “green” with digital communication. We are thankful we don’t expect 10% cuts that state schools are experiencing. 

Please forward this newsletter to a college friend who you suspect hasn’t shared their email with the college.  You are our eyes and ears.  Keep your contact information updated so that we know where you are and what you are doing.  Volunteer to return to the Career Directions and Connections alumni panel on Friday, Oct. 23, 2010. The opportunities are unlimited for the department to collaborate with alumni. Tell prospective students to visit our webpage and college. Consider starting a scholarship that would benefit the business students who follow in your footsteps. And share the feedback you think would help the department get even better. 

Many blessings to you in the remainder of 2009 and as we start the next decade. Think about how you want to impact Wartburg College in the next decade. It seems like only yesterday that we were worrying about Y2k. How can we work together to foresee Y2020 clearly?

Student tour the Hawkeye ethanol plant to learn more about sustainability.

Sustainability the Theme of ’09-10 Academic Year
Sustainability issues are everywhere including the Department of Business Administration and Economics at Wartburg College. The Oct. 6 Corporation Education Day was keynoted by Bill Leighty of the Leighty Foundation speaking on “Running the World on Renewables with God on Our Side?”  The panel of experts responding included:

Alumni interested in sustainability are invited to review the variety of informational resources available at: http://www.wartburg.edu/business/corp.html

Students will continue to research sustainability challenges through cases and discussion in classes. Two field trips are scheduled to tour the Hawkeye ethanol plant in Shell Rock and the “green” building recently opened by PFG Best near Cedar Falls. Alumni whose companies are engaged in sustainability projects are encouraged to contact Timothy.Ewest@wartburg.edu if they would be interested in contributing to cases for the sustainable management textbook that he is writing.

Blog Trails May ’09 China Trip
Nine students traveled to China this last May under the direction of Timothy Ewest. They spent more than 2.5 weeks staying on a university campus in Hangzhou to learn about the Chinese culture and enough language to be polite.  They completed their travel by visiting Shanghai and China’s capital, Beijing. Follow the trail of their fun on Ewest’s blog at:  http://ewestinchina.blogspot.com/

Students explained how the experience awakened them to the importance of China as an emerging world power. They also saw first-hand the challenges and rewards of cross-cultural relationships, including nightly basketball games. Finally, they raved at how much fun they had:  “China was like landing on a different planet.” All of the students who traveled to China desire to go back and hope they can find employment that involves additional travel into China.

Sabbaticals Get Faculty Out of the Trenches While Alumni Get In
Paul Magnall kicked off his Fall ’09 sabbatical with a service trip to Haiti. Faculty are supposed to get “out of the trenches” to stretch in their teaching, research, and service. Magnall has scheduled extensive service work in nonprofits in Illinois, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee and Massachusetts. He’s shown with ’94 grad Kevin Cummer literally digging trenches at a rural Haitian orphanage. Cummer is teaching one of the Principles of Accounting I sections in Magnall’s absence and continues as Senior Manager Product Finance at Cuna Mutual Insurance in Waverly. Cuna Mutual COO Reid Koenig ’75 is teaching an evening section of Principles of Insurance. 

During Winter/May 2010 Department Chair Kim Folkers plans to read and research in the areas of customer experience, service-dominant logic, and shopper marketing. Part of the research may involve connecting with department alumni in the marketing field. In addition, she will be exploring two certification programs — the Professional Certified Marketer and the Global Business Professional Certification. Finally, in mid-May she is scheduled to make her first return trip to southwestern France to the area where she was an undergraduate study-abroad student during the summer of 1980!

Social Entrepreneurship Program Off and Running:
The interdepartmental Social Entrepreneurship minor is off to a solid start. Students complete courses in four areas: leadership and creativity, managing organizations and non-profits, social or environmental issues, and entrepreneurship. They then do an internship with a social entrepreneurial venture in the Cedar Valley or Denver, Colo., area. They also design a social enterprise plan that can be a blueprint for a new for-profit or non-profit organization aimed at social or environmental impacts. According to program coordinator Dr. Scott Fullwiler, “Wartburg is a leader in the area of civic engagement and service. The Social Entrepreneurship minor leverages this expertise by providing students with the business expertise for designing and managing the organizations that can carry out these civic and service oriented goals.” Alumni interested in the program should contact Scott.Fullwiler@wartburg.edu.

Barnabas Uplift Example of Social Entrepreneurship
Department faculty, including Professor Susan Meyeraan, continue to assist with Barnabas Uplift: “A mission of encouragement” throughout Iowa. With the hiring of statewide coordinator  Pastor Vince Ramos, the focus has shifted to supporting operations with communications materials to spread the word about the organization’s efforts. Students in Meyeraan’s summer Business Communications course developed a unified image or brand through posters and flyers to promote the program. They also developed presentation materials to help the organization’s leaders raise funds for expanded operations during a challenged economy. Two students continue to work on web development for the program at www.barnabasuplift.org.

Blogs Battle Recession
Trying to figure out the best policies for getting out of the global recession? Get an inside look at how economists view these same issues at the Economic Perspectives from Kansas City blog at http://neweconomicperspectives.blogspot.com. Dr. Scott Fullwiler is a frequent guest blogger at the site.

Want to Keep Up With Our Senior Students?
Senior Seminar in Business students in Dr. Julie Clarkson Kliegl’s classes have completed Craig Johnson’s book on Ethics in the Workplace. Johnson discusses  how organizations can become stronger citizens in a global society. He challenges readers to think about the role organizations play in our local, national, and international communities. He discusses three approaches that offer principles and strategies for doing so: the stakeholder framework, the stewardship approach, and the sustainability standard. 

The majority of this fall’s students identify sustainability as their preferred approach. Our students clearly feel a strong attraction to creating economic and social value while preserving the natural environment.

Year Starts with the Loss of Three Former Department Faculty

More details are included at www.wartburg.edu/magazine/fall09.html