WCU College of Business Bi-Weekly Newsletter November 18, 2005

Highlights from Dean Leroy Kauffman

Fall has finally come to Cullowhee! Morning temps in the low 20’s and afternoon temps in the low 40’s makes for great fall weather.

The pace of life on campus is picking up these days for both faculty and students. The end of the semester is fast approaching and final projects and papers are rapidly taking form. Everyone anticipates getting those last midterm exams taken care of before Thanksgiving and then preparation for finals. Where has the time gone?

The Enrollment Management Team is working feverishly on next year fall enrollment. We are doing many things to improve our retention rate as well as bring in a larger freshman class. Those in our service areas will likely hear more about Western Carolina as we move into the heavy part of the freshman class recruiting season. We appreciate any and all the positive recommendations that you can offer to prospective students.

As you can tell we are playing around with the newsletter format a bit. Please feel free to provide us with feedback. What do you see that you like? Where can we adjust things to make this a better communication piece? We welcome your comments.

Celebrating student involvements and achievements

On November 16, 2005, Professor Ron Stillwell and Dr. Paul Jacques along with students in CIS 493 finished the second of three phases in the service learning project aimed at problem diagnosis and corrective action of computers used at Mountain Discovery Charter School in Bryson City, NC. To date over 82% of the defective computers have been restored to fully functional status and have been returned to the school.

Mike Smith is working with a group of three MBA students that are assisting Ted's Laundry in Sylva to establish a strategic direction, develop branding and resolve a number of operational issues as part of their participation in the MBA Graduate Student Competition sponsored by the Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC) of North Carolina.

On October 28, Todd Morse, General Manager of Chimney Rock Park, visited Steve Jarrell's quantitative methods class to discuss forecasting at the park as a prelude to students' forecasting projects.  He will return on Dec. 1 to discuss their project results and ideas.

A look at recent activities and accomplishments of the College of Business faculty

November 15th Mike Smith spoke at a combined meeting of the Asheville chapters of APICS and ISM about the topic of Global Supply Chain Management. His particular focus was a strategic perspective on Global SCM and the decision-making framework for international sourcing.

“Managing Supply Risk with Early Supplier Involvement: A Case Study and Research Propositions,” coauthored by Mike Smith and George A. Zsidisin appears in the Fall, 2005 issue of The Journal of Supply Chain Management.

Mike Smith’s quotation, “Perhaps we are beginning to see the frontiers of business practice where supply management is strategy,” appears on the cover of the November, 2005 Newsletter of the Ontario Institute of the Purchasing Management Association of Canada. His article, “The Evolving Strategic Role of Supply Management and its Implications for Economic Development” is published in the newsletter.

The Journal of Economic Surveys republished the 1989 article, "Meta-Regression Analysis: A Quantitative Method of Literature Surveys" by T. D. Stanley and Stephen Jarrell in its summer issue.  The editor of the journal opened the special issue with the following comment, "This article, by Stanley and Jarrell, has stood the test of time and remains a landmark in the exposition of MRA.  It is reprinted in this Special Issue as the lead article."  The special issue is also being published as a book in December.

Hollye Moss had two articles published recently. “An Examination of Quality Improvement Programs in Service Organizations,” in Palmetto Review, 8, 29-37, and, “The Service Industry and Improvement Programs,” (with J.W. Patterson) in Review of Business Research, 5, 4,  118-131. Hollye also presented a paper at the Association for International Business and Economics 2005 Conference in Las Vegas.

Vittal Anantatmula (with Kanungo S.) has received acceptance of the article, “Structuring the Underlying Relations among the Knowledge Management Outcomes” from Journal of Knowledge Management, to be published in 2006, volume 10, issue 4.

A summary of Paul Jacques’ article “Exploring Hakim's Preference Theory in The Field Of Entrepreneurship: A Test Of The Career Patterns Of Female Entrepreneurs" has been accepted for publication in the 2005 edition of Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research.

Bonnie Martin has been re-elected to a three year term on the North Carolina Tourism Education Foundation Board.  Bonnie also serves as the Secretary/Treasurer of the Board which is the foundation arm of the North Carolina Travel Industry Association, the statewide association representing the tourism industry of North Carolina.

Michael Thomas’ and John Adams’ article, “Adapting Project Management Processes to the Management of Special Events: An Exploratory Study” has been accepted for publication by the Academy of Strategic Management Journal.

Michael Thomas was inducted into Phi Beta Delta, the honor society for international scholars.

Involving our faculty and students in the real world

Jerry Kinard, a member of the Advisory Committee for the Hospitality Education Department of AB Tech, attended the annual meeting of the Committee on November 10, which included dinner prepared and served by culinary arts students and a tour of the new Hospitality building on the campus of AB Tech. Terry reports that they have a very nice facility.

On November 15th John Tench, Haywood County Area Executive and Vice President of HomeTrust Bank; and David Preston, Investment Representative for Edward Jones spoke to Jerry Kinard’s Human Resource Management class.

Mike Smith, along with Jay Reardon, President of Hickory Chair Company, and Deborah Porto, Industrial Extension Service of NC State, will present a Breakout Session at the North Carolina Conference for Excellence in Greensboro November 29-30.

On November 18, 2005, Drs. Steve Ha and Paul Jacques were invited speakers at the 2005 Children’s Conference hosted by Children First of Buncombe County in Asheville, NC. They presented a session entitled “A research-based presentation on the need for living wages and the adverse effects of low wages on health and society.” They were given the objective of bringing awareness of the issue of “living wages,” outcomes thereof, and proposed remedial action for county leaders to tackle with respect to improving conditions for children in Buncombe County, NC.

Vittal Anantatmula is invited as a guest speaker at Project Management Institute Keystone Chapter, 14 December 2005, Philadelphia, PA and will be talking about “Improving Project Performance through Leadership and Performance."

Michael Thomas and Russell Teasley represented the MPM program at the annual Professional Development Day sponsored by the Metrolina Chapter of the Project Management Institute.

Keeping in touch with our alums

Kevin Reynolds, a 1998 graduate with a BSBA in business management was recently promoted to Assistant District Rental Manager for Penske Truck Leasing in Greenville, SC.  He has been in sales for about 5 years and now has this opportunity to advance himself professionally and personally. Congratulations, Kevin!

Melanie Morris, one of the MPM December graduates and recipient of the Metrolina Chapter Scholarship, participated in the International Day of Project Management sponsored by the Project Management Institute by making a presentation about what the scholarship meant to her and the value of her MPM degree.

Holiday Celebration, Dec. 8 at Waynesville Country Club, 6:30 p.m.

Final exam week, December 10-16, 2005

Fall Semester Graduation, Saturday, December 17, 2:00 pm in Ramsey Center