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Dr. Jay Young
Division of Business Chair |
Welcome back to the Ohio Dominican University campus for the first classes of the New Year. By now you will have noticed that our campus is changing – a new parking lot, a new residence hall well into construction, and a new student center about to break ground. While changes to our physical campus are easy to identify, other significant changes may be less evident but equally inspiring. For example, our LEAD programs are now under the leadership of Dean Bill Vensel who will be assuming the role of Dean of Adult Programs and Director of LEAD. Dean Vensel, previously Dean of Undergraduate Studies at ODU, is already working hard with others to further strengthen and enhance our evening adult programs.
In other happenings, our accounting majors are preparing to launch our annual Voluntary Income Tax Assistance ( VITA) Program, which last year prepared federal tax returns for over 130 qualified residents of Central Ohio. The ODU VITA Program is rapidly becoming a model program in Ohio. Delta Sigma Pi, our Professional Business Fraternity, initiated another large pledge class into membership. Also Kerri Mollard, Coordinator of our Public Relations Program, has announced that a new ODU chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) has been chartered.
Read on to learn more about the vibrant and rapidly developing environment that you are joining at ODU. Welcome aboard! Please feel free to write to me.
Delta Sigma Pi Hosts “Get Ahead Threads” Event
Delta Sigma Pi, in partnership with the Career Development Center, hosted “Get Ahead Threads,” a fashion show attended by approximately 200, that featured the latest attire for the professional business world. Student models showcased different articles of clothing that could be used for an interview or a casual day at the office. Two suits were raffled. A male and a female in attendance received a suit valued at $200 from our sponsor, Macy's.
Delta Sigma Pi initiated six new members into the fraternity this fall and will be recruiting again for the Spring Pledge Class. If you are interested in being part of one of the largest student organizations on campus while advancing your business and networking skills, please contact Delta Sigma Pi at deltasig@ohiodominican.edu or join us during our events at the beginning of the semester.
Division of Business Hosts Rotary Enterprise Academy
Dr. John Grant work with the Enterprise Academy students.
Once again this fall, the Division of Business hosted the Columbus Rotary’s Enterprise Academy. Each year, this unique course is offered to students in Columbus public schools who are interested in studying business. Classroom instruction on the basic principles of business such as economics, management, marketing and ethics, is offered on four consecutive evenings during the fall semester. After the two-hour classroom sessions, students have dinner and are given a presentation by a local business leader.
This spring, the same students will be divided into teams to complete field studies at local businesses. These businesses are recruited through the Rotary and change each year. The students make four visits and work on a project report. The report is then shared at a final meeting back on ODU’s campus in March. The student presentations are shared with the Rotary and Columbus Public School teachers who provide feedback. At the completion of the program, the students receive one elective college credit.
This year, 28 students from 12 Columbus public high schools have been meeting on campus with Dr. John Grant and several Rotarians to examine different aspects of business. In the accompanying picture, the students worked in teams to compete in a computerized business simulation.
Tau Pi Phi Builds Organization
The 15 active members of the Tau Pi Phi business honorary spent the fall semester building their new organization. They elected officers, constructed bylaws, and submitted a formal application for recognition to the University.
The elected officers for the 2007-2008 academic year are:
President: Ashley Miller
Vice President: Jacquie Crooke
Treasurer: Ryan Honkonen
Secretary: Jamie Mitchell
Members are now making final plans for participation in the annual Tau Pi Phi Case Competition that will be held on Capital University’s campus this April. Additionally, planning is underway in order to bring a business speaker to campus in March. The organization is also making arrangements for the induction of new members in March.
Accounting for Kids Day
Participants: Front Row - Joe Alvarez, Mary Taylor (State Auditor), Amanda Booth, Jeremiah Guappone, Christine Baldwin, Katie Smith. Back Row from left - Peter Margaritis, Matt Krystofik, Katie Evans, Kevin Mathias, Rachel Lutz, Bruce Smith, CPA, Heather Rumble and Sarah Fillippi.
Peter Margaritis, accounting faculty member at ODU, along with 10 ODU students, participated in Accounting for Kids® Day 2007 at the Indian Spring Elementary School in Clintonville. With support from Mary Taylor, Auditor of The State of Ohio, they conducted a simulated stock market game in three separate 5 th grade classrooms, where students bought stocks, earned dividends, traded stocks, and learned about the basics of investing. At the end of the game, there were smiles on all the faces in each of the classrooms. Accounting for Kids® Day is an annual statewide event presented by The Ohio Society of CPAs. Now in its seventh year, it involves over 1,200 Ohio Society volunteers and reaches over 10,000 students in 400 classrooms each November.
Business Capstone Course Adds Career Development Module
Gary Swisher, Director of the Career Development Center
Management faculty member Dr. Jay Young has partnered with Business First, Central Ohio’s weekly business magazine, and Director Gary Swisher in the ODU Career Development Center in order to bring several new career development modules to 16-week sections of BUS 498: Seminar in Organizational Strategy. In the fall, students participated in workshop sessions delivered by Swisher. The sessions focused on resume preparation, business interviewing etiquette, and informational interviewing. The students updated their resumes for a final review by Swisher and then acquired and conducted informational interviews with local business leaders.
Additionally, each student in the course participated in Business First’s Professional Development Program. This included a subscription to the newspaper, which was used throughout the course in support of the course material, and to acquaint students with local Central Ohio business activities, organizations, and opportunities. In the spring, Business First will host a networking career event that will bring together students from several Central Ohio universities with Central Ohio business representatives.
ODU Launches PRSSA Chapter
Back row (lto r):
Megan Purcell, Rob Coons, Kerri Mollard with baby Sarah, Lauren Wertz, Sara Minderler. Bottom row (l to r):
Sarah Miller, Erin Pope, Natalie Melchiorre, and Kristen Leffingwell.
At the end of fall semester, Ohio Dominican received word from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) National Board of Directors in New York that the University’s application for a Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) chapter charter had been approved. ODU joins Capital University, The Ohio State University, Ohio University, Ohio Northern University and Otterbein College as student chapters sponsored by Central Ohio PRSA.
There are 291 PRSSA chapters nationwide with more than 9,000 student members. ODU has 19 founding members and the roster promises to grow as more students learn about the benefits of membership.
The chapter’s founding members include Public Relations, Sport Management, Business Administration, Graphic Design, and Communication Studies majors as well as Public Relations, Marketing, and Communication Studies minors. The officers are President Lauren Wertz, Vice President Sara Minderler, Secretary Erin Pope, Treasurer Amanda Flannnery, Historian Kristen Leffingwell, and Co-Public Relations Officers Dwayne Henderson and Natalie Melchiorre. Their faculty advisor is Kerri Mollard and professional advisors are John Palmer and Kristin Mack Deuber.
The students have already begun to build relationships with students and faculty at other chapters and with Columbus-area professionals who serve as mentors. If you are willing to have a student shadow you for a day, to host an informational interview, or to offer a PR internship, please contact Kerri Mollard.
The PRSSA Mission is:
- To serve its members by enhancing their knowledge of public relations and providing access to professional development opportunities;
- To serve the public relations profession by helping to develop highly qualified, well-prepared professionals.
Alpha Sigma Lambda Invitations
Alpha Sigma Lambda December graduates.
The following December graduates have been invited to join Alpha Sigma Lambda, ODU’s academic honorary for evening adult LEAD students.
Timothy Bretthauer
Richard Comstock
Sandra Hite
Tiffany Jackson
Sinan Kutlu
Judith Lawson |
Shelley Lee
Andilina Leone
Kimberley McKibben
Amy Snow
Aaron Stratton |
Alpha Sigma Lambda's aim is to recognize the special achievements of adults who accomplish academic excellence while facing competing interests of home and work.
Alpha Sigma Lambda is dedicated to the advancement of scholarship and recognizes high scholastic achievement in an adult student's career. Through leadership born of effort, both scholastically and fraternally, Alpha Sigma Lambda inspires its candidates to give of their strengths to their fellow students and communities through their academic achievements. The ODU chapter advisor is Dr. Roxanne Beard.
Family Business Center of Central Ohio Partners with ODU
The annual Family Business Center Award Ceremony held at ODU.
Do you know that the Family Business Center (FBC) of Central Ohio is headquartered on Ohio Dominican’s campus? Located in the LasCasas House, the Family Business Center is a non-profit organization that provides educational opportunities and resources for owners, leaders and employees of Central Ohio family businesses. Additionally, the FBC partners with the Division of Business on several course offerings including one entitled, “Building, Operating, and Passing On a Family Business.”
Each November, the Family Business Center hosts its Annual Family Business Awards Program to recognize and honor the accomplishments of the year’s outstanding family businesses. In January, the Center launched a new program to 
assist those under 40 who work for their family’s business and who may one day be asked to lead the company. This new group, called the Next Generation Peer Group, will meet monthly in Ohio Dominican’s classroom space at Easton. They will discuss strategies, share experiences, improve leadership skills and seek advice from experienced family business consultants, as they begin to prepare personally and professionally for the transfer of leadership from one generation to the next. If you know a family business leader who could benefit from participating in this peer group, please contact Becky Blatt, Associate Director. Ohio Dominican University students, faculty and staff enjoy an open invitation to attend any of the educational programs offered monthly on campus by the Center. A list of upcoming topics and dates of events can be found on the Center’s website at www.familybusinesscenter.com.
Spring 2008 Volunteer Income Tax Assistance ( VITA) Program
2007 VITA Program Team (from left): Bob Osborne, Marilyn Hahn-Cook, Sarah Fillippi, Donna White, Ryan Hokonen, Joe Alvarez, Patrick Waldo, Jennifer Warren, Bobby Green. Not picture: John Eldridge, Ashley Godwin, Kevin Mathias and Leah Spicer.
ODU accounting students will be learning firsthand about the value of community service as they sharpen their tax preparation skills. In our spring 2008 Volunteer Income Tax Assistance ( VITA) program, students serve as certified IRS tax preparers. Under faculty supervision, students will prepare federal, state, local school and city income tax returns. This course provides the student with real world work experience and an opportunity to demonstrate social responsibility by fulfilling community service.
The VITA program offers basic income tax preparation assistance for individuals of low to moderate income, individuals with disabilities, and the elderly within the community. ODU accounting majors prepared 139 tax returns for the community during the tax season. The quality of the VITA program is measured by IRS inspections of the VITA sites, error rates on tax returns prepared, and client surveys. Last year’s effort was so successful that several area colleges and universities are using the program model.
he program is an extension of Ohio Dominican’s longstanding tradition of service to those in need in the surrounding community. The program has grown in popularity, as more and more community residents take advantage of the free service. For additional information on the VITA program, please contact Bob Osborne, Assistant Professor of Accounting, at 251-4261.
Congratulations to Dean Bill Vensel
Dr. Mary Todd, Vice President for Academic Affairs, recently announced the appointment of William A. Vensel as Dean of Adult Programs/Director of LEAD. Vensel joined the faculty of Ohio Dominican in 1970 as director of theatre, and over the years, has served the university in various capacities. For many years, he served as Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, and most recently, as Dean of the School of Undergraduate Studies.
Vensel is no stranger to the LEAD program. He has written several course modules in the area of Communication and Theatre, and has taught periodically in the program. Until the reorganization of ODU as a university and his appointment as dean of the Undergraduate School, he provided Academic Affairs oversight of the program.
“It is an honor and a great challenge for me to be asked to lead this great program,” Vensel said. “We have a strong curriculum, a committed staff, and a pool of adjunct faculty members dedicated to the growth and development of our ODU students. I look forward to working with them to provide the highest quality academic degree programming.”
Vensel’s appointment was effective in January 2008.
Faculty Focus: Dr. Lisa Miller
Meet Dr. Lisa Miller -- Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator of Sport Management in the Division of Business. She most recently served as an Assistant Professor of Sport Management at Ashland University and has many years of experience as a professional tennis instructor and consultant.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Wright State University; a master’s degree in Labor and Human Resources from The Ohio State University, and a Ph.D. in Sport and Exercise Management, also from OSU. Her specialty concentration was Sport Psychology and Counseling Psychology.
Dr. Miller is a member of numerous professional organizations including the Association of Applied Sport Psychology, the American Psychological Association, Beta Gamma Sigma Business Honor Society, the North American Society of Sport Management, and the Ohio Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance. She serves as the president of the Performance Excellence group within AASP and as editorial reviewer for the SMART Journal. Dr. Miller has been published in Future Focus, Strategies, Journal of Sport Management, and the Journal of Sport Management and Related Topics.
Her current research interests are in motivation for self-improvement and altruistic motivation in sport leadership. She has also developed partnerships with the Columbus Clippers baseball team and the Columbus Crew soccer team for student experiences. Dr. Miller created the Society of Sport Management at Ohio Dominican University and currently serves as the faculty advisor. She resides in Worthington and participates in various recreational sports.
Division of Business UPDATES
Members of Delta Sigma Pi Attend Better Business Bureau Integrity Awards Luncheon
In October, members of Delta Sigma Pi were guests of the Columbus Better Business Bureau at the Annual Integrity Awards Luncheon. This program recognizes for-profit and non-profit organizations that maintain a solid commitment to conduct their business practice in an ethical manner. Columbus Area college students were invited by the BBB for the presentation of these awards. Representing Ohio Dominican University were members of the Delta Sigma Pi professional business fraternity: President Christina Munoz, Robert Green, Chad Rybicki, Emily Balassone, William Alvarez, Andrew Wernicke, Kristen Yager, and Dr. John Grant, the chapter advisor.
