DEPA RTMEN T O F MA N AGEMEN T
Spring 2018
NEW SLET T E R
A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR Dear alumni and friends of the Department of Mangement, It is a pleasure to once again share with you news about the department. We have so many great activities going on and we are proud of the accomplishments of our faculty, staff, and students. I am now in my fifth year as department chair and have found these years to be very rewarding as we continue to increase in enrollments, programs, and faculty research excellence. Our concentrations in management continue to grow. This spring, 409 students are majoring in organization and innovation management, 152 students are majoring in supply chain management, and 105 students are majoring in human resource management. Students also are enrolling in our certificate programs, involving three courses. Certificates allow students to add an area of expertise that enhances the knowledge gained in their concentration. The Entrepreneurship Certificate, (103 students enrolled) is designed for students in the College of Business and along with other majors across campus continues to be very popular. This certificate allows us to support our aspiring undergraduate entrepreneurs, as they learn about starting a new venture, sustainability and new venture development, creativity and innovation, and business plan development. We also offer certificates in supply chain, leadership, and human resource management. These incredible programs in management prepare our students for their entry into jobs and careers. In Fall 2018, we are introducing a Minor in Entrepreneurship. This minor will be more lengthy and intensive than the Entrepreneurship Certificate. It will be available to a select group of entrepreneurial students across campus who seek greater understanding and preparation for starting their own business or for becoming intrapreneurs (innovators in an existing organization). Based on our strategic planning process, several important initiatives are underway to enhance relations between our department and the business community. We launched the HR Edge Network in Fall 2017, featuring senior HR executives, to meet with
our faculty and students twice yearly on campus and twice yearly in virtual meetings. Our first two meetings have been fantastic, highlighting our faculty research, undergraduate HR program, and our amazing students. Our department has corporate boards, in supply chain and entrepreneurship, to collaborate on projects beneficial to students. Another important initiative is to create more scholarships for our students and support for faculty research. We continue to expand on activities that help us to meet our goal of enhancing the educational environment for our students. We have an article on our Meet the Founders initiative in this newsletter, led by Professor Lumina Albert. Please read and learn more about this amazing opportunity for our students! I am very proud of the accomplishments of our faculty and staff. Be sure to read the interview for Samantha Conroy, assistant professor in HR who describes her teaching and research activities. Rob Mitchell, associate professor in Entrepreneurship, who joined us in the fall is also interviewed. Rob teaches entrepreneurship courses, and is helping us to build our programs and increase our visibility through his research. We also have a new Director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship, Scott Shrake, who comes to us from Arizona State University. He is working with the business community and with the faculty to enhance department and college efforts to provide growth opportunities for CSU entrepreneurial students. We’ll share more about Scott’s activities in the next newsletter. In supply chain, our students are involved in some great programs. We have an article on two case competitions, led by faculty members Paul Vanderspek and Zac Rogers. Another faculty, Bill Shuster, supervises our practicum for the supply chain forum, and there is an article highlighting the work of our students at Ball Corporation. As always, we are proud to feature one of our alums, Emily Kincaid, in this newsletter. We have an article written by Tianna Zachariah, an HR student who attended a presentation at CSU by Julie Weber, Vice President of People at Southwest Airlines (hosted by our student SHRM club). Finally, Madison Wittman, an undergraduate student who helped write several articles for this newsletter, requests alumni feedback and advice in her article titled “Personal Statement – Transitions.” Let her know if you have some thoughts on your own transition from student to working graduate of CSU. We love to hear from you!
SHRM GUEST SPEAKER: JULIE WEBER
VP OF PEOPLE | SOUTHWEST AIRLINES By Tiana Zachariah, Human Resource Management, ’18
Our CSU Society for Human Resource Management chapter was honored to have Julie Weber, vice president of people at Southwest Airlines, as a guest speaker. She discussed what attracted her to a career in human resources, shared stories, and offered advice. Weber has worked in HR for more than 20 years and been with three companies. She has been in her current role at Southwest for more than five years. Weber earned her undergraduate degree in psychology and her master’s in counseling. Like many HR professionals, she just fell into an HR position. After two months in her first role, Weber knew she had found her passion. “I knew I needed to be in a position where I was around people and felt like I was helping. That was the fun thing about recruiting, I felt like I was making a difference in somebody else’s life. I was connecting them with a job, and I got a lot of fulfillment out of being able to help someone like that,” said Weber. She is very passionate about people and loves to connect her background in psychology to her role in business. Psychology has helped her career because she has the unique ability to understand how complicated people really are. Human Resources is the business of people, and Weber’s educational background has enabled her to be able to apply the rules, policies, and other HR regulations to actual people, who are complex and dynamic. Having this perspective has made her a better HR professional. Weber’s HR career really took off when she volunteered to do things that were not necessarily part of her job. She saw a need and did what she could to address it. This approach created more and more opportunities for her. As students, we are taught to always be on the lookout for ways to advance our own careers, but Weber showed us that when we go beyond our stated responsibilities, even more doors will open. Weber also shared that she was not necessarily qualified for the jobs she was hired to do. This did not matter. Simply knowing and recognizing that you might not be qualified encourages you to ask
questions, read books, and educate yourself so that one day you will be qualified. Weber is an interesting and encouraging speaker. Her advice and kind words inspired everyone in the audience. She wrapped up the event by saying that the best way to succeed at work is “to just show up.” There are people who are counting on you. As students, people, and future HR professionals, we need to take this to heart. We all want to succeed. The first and best way to do that is to show up. Weber is the epitome of the HR professional we all strive to become. Some advice Weber offered for students: • There is not going to be a wrong job because any job you take is going to be a learning opportunity for you. • Personal fulfillment in a job is more important than getting the right job, the right title, or even the right pay. • Learning how not to react immediately to what people are telling you is a valuable listening skill. • You can hear about a company’s culture, but until you feel it for yourself, you will never really know what it is like. • Find a company that has core values that align with your own personal values. • Personal accountability can be a source of power. • In an interview, be prepared and be yourself. If you are nervous, be nervous. Own it. • You do not want to fail. Potential employers do not want you to fail. You do not want to get a job that you are not qualified to do; so, do not force it. • It is okay when you do not get the job. It is not a statement about you. You are not less than. It was not the right fit, and it is good that this was determined because something better is on the way. • Be genuine and transparent, always.
SAM CONROY | RESEARCH UPDATE By Madison Wittman, Organization and Innovation Management, ’18 Samantha Conroy, assistant professor in the Department of Management, gained national attention in 2016 for her contributions to the “Exhausted But Unable to Disconnect” research study. Conroy and her co-authors examined the effects of “off-hours” emailing (before or after regular working hours) on employee well-being and revealed that it has the power to negatively affect employee emotions. The study resonated with continually “plugged-in” professionals, and Conroy’s research in the human resource field continues to emphasize the importance of the employee. “Overall, my focus is on individual employee sustainability and wellbeing,” Conroy said. More specifically, Conroy views her research in three areas: how compensation and pay affect turnover rates, how employee well-being relates to employee identity and emotion, and how taking work home effects employee well-being. According to Conroy, her experiences working in corporate firms, as well as the research foundation she built in her Ph.D. program, guides her research interests today. “I’ve done a lot of research in organizational compensation strategies, so continuing to build on that foundation in my post-doctorate career made sense,” Conroy said. Additionally, her prior corporate positions provided perspective on the potential inefficiencies of HR systems. Conroy’s current research in compensation strategy examines pay variability and its effects on turnover rates. “In certain jobs, for example in the trucking industry, you see a lot of fluctuations in pay, so how does that affect employee turnover?” Conroy posed. Conroy also has research under review that explores the “afterhours expectation” of email and its effects on marital satisfaction. While the findings are still preliminary, the research suggests that when a person is expected to be available during non-work hours, there are negative impacts on marital satisfaction as well as spouse satisfaction. She also works to fit her, as well as others’, research findings into the two courses she teaches, Introduction to Human Resources, and Total Rewards and Performance Management. In her Introduction to Human Resources course, Conroy lectures sections
on pay, but more generally, works to instill an interest in firms’ Human Resource departments and their relation to the employee. Additionally, her Total Rewards and Performance Management course “is entirely based on pay, so I’m able to integrate new findings in a practitioner oriented, applied world,” Conroy said. In the classroom, Conroy uses simulations and corporate partnerships to apply coursework to real-world scenarios. In the Introduction to Human Resources course, for example, students run a simulation and are responsible for designing an entire human resources system. Broken into recruiting, selection, training, and compensation teams, the groups “have the opportunity to see how each piece of human resources is connected,” Conroy said. In bringing HR professionals from Lockheed Martin, as well as past students, in to “coach” her current students, Conroy gives her classes a well-rounded perspective on HR systems. Similarly, in her Total Rewards and Performance Management course, Conroy collaborates with outside firms to better exemplify the design systems of real companies. Moving forward, Conroy’s future research interests include “thinking about the design and communication of pay structures and how they can be improved through communication with the employee,” Conroy said. “Companies spend a lot of money on compensation programs, and they are wasting their money if they aren’t effective,” Conroy said. As a result, ineffective programs fail to incentivize employees in the way they intend to, and these inadequacies open the door for Conroy’s research to improve paysystem effectiveness. Ultimately, Conroy hopes that her research efforts will provide insight for her students and “inform ways for business to form their policies and practices.” “I care a lot about the whole person as a worker. They are more than just an employee,” Conroy said. “Establishing sustainable policies is better for the firm and more sustainable for the employees – it allows them to have more full lives.” For more information on the “Exhausted But Unable to Disconnect” study, click here.
MEET THE FOUNDER SPEAKERS SERIES OFFERS INSIGHTS ON SUCCESS Motivation. Life lessons. Insights on entrepreneurship. These are the cornerstones of our Meet the Founder speaker series. THE INCEPTION It began in 2012. The parents of one of Professor Lumina Albert’s students mentioned that they were good friends with Curt Richardson, the founder of OtterBox. She made a comment that it would be great to have Richardson speak to her class sometime. The parents talked to him about it, and soon he was there — offering a lecture full of insights on the value of family, prioritizing values over money, and ultimately his path and approach to business success. “He talked about his 30-year, overnight success story,” says Albert. “It was amazing how the students connected to him. They were truly honored that someone so accomplished had come to talk to them, and he encouraged them to follow their dreams.” With his appearance, other successful business people became interested in a visit to the College of Business as well. Among them: Dick Monfort, owner of the Colorado Rockies; Scott McCarthy, a cofounder of Hot Corner Concepts (which operates a number of Fort Collins restaurants including Big Al’s and Austin’s American Grill); and Troy McWhinney of McWhinney Real Estate Development.
BEYOND THE CLASSROOM “Ultimately, it became a series of entrepreneurs, talking about their passions and dreams,” explains Albert. “And at some point, I asked the founders if they would be willing to host our students at their businesses, so they could see the locations and get a tour. Again, Curt Richardson was on board right away. He hosted the students, showed them around OtterBox, and let them go down the famous slide that’s inside the office. And recently, students visited Coors Field as well, to talk with Mr. Monfort. That was amazing… he taught us about baseball, the Rockies, and his path to leadership.” Today, while some students have the opportunity to visit founders at their own locations, many others still have the chance to hear them speak on campus. Albert’s course is primarily geared toward undergrads, but she opens the class up to anyone from the College of Business whenever a founder visits. The lectures are hosted at the Bohemian Auditorium, which seats 100 students in the main space, plus another one hundred in an overflow area with live streaming. In addition, the speaking founders also participate actively with small groups, answering diverse questions about business and life experiences that have had an impact on them — and ultimately spending several hours with students. As the founder series grew in size and impact, Albert sought the insights of three leading professors with expertise in entrepreneurship and leadership. Professors Dawn DeTienne, Tom Dean, and Associate Professor Troy Mumford have joined Albert and formed a team to help host the “Meet the Founder” events as an official College of Business initiative.
LESSONS IN LIFE AND BUSINESS “When Curt Richardson talks about his love for his family as his highest priority, I think students see that they need not compromise their relationships to be successful,” Albert says. “Likewise, when Dick Monfort talks about generosity, they know he’s been a great example of that because he and his family have given so much of their time and talents to CSU alone.” Right now, Albert says she has a network of about 25 business founders in her initiative. Richardson, Monfort, McCarthy, and McWhinney are all scheduled again for the 2018 academic year. For now, because the College of Business is dedicated to entrepreneurship, the series is focused on highlighting entrepreneurs, CEOs, and business founders, but Albert is open to expanding the scope sometime in the future.
In the meantime, her hope is that students will continue to gain not only valuable resources and insights to propel them on their own path to success, but also connections for future internships and careers. “When students interact with these founders, they learn about the work cultures these entrepreneurs have promoted within their organizations,” she notes. “And when they learn about these cultures, students start thinking about the culture that they would want to work in. They are also challenged to explore their own aspirations, and the types of things they want to do – whether they want to build their own business or lead an existing business.”
WANT TO HELP? The Department of Management and our students are extremely grateful for the commitment of time and resources that each of the contributors to our Founders of Organizations Speaker Series has made throughout the years, and we are excited to see what they will bring to the table this coming semester. If you are interested in sharing your own experience in business with our students, please contact Lumina Albert at (970) 491-1182. We would love to have you here!
BALL CORPORATION PRACTICUM As part of CSU’s Supply Chain Forum, many students get the opportunity to work onsite in a practicum setting, gaining real-world experience in their field. Since 2009, Ball Corporation has been one partner that has graciously opened its corporate offices to our students for these invaluable learning opportunities. Professor Bill Shuster, who coordinates with companies to help design student projects, has been heading the program for the last six years. “During the practicum,” Shuster notes, “students participate in solving real problems for our partner companies. Usually, these are projects that are considered important but not critical.” Recently, for instance, practicum students working at Ball Corporation put efforts into saving money through enhanced inventory management. While the details are confidential, we can
say that while there, CSU students spent a semester researching and exploring ways to improve the company’s materials acquirement process. In fact, Shuster says that through analyzing inventory turn and methods for removal of obsolete parts, among other things, the students found ways to save millions of dollars. Kyle Breckenfelder was part of the group, and was responsible for the data analysis. Much of his work revolved around using tools in Excel to find and calculate the savings. “It’s amazing how large and complex these corporations can be,” he says, adding “yet their systems are not as advanced as you’d expect. They’re having to take on massive systems changes that are affecting the company across the board — and that change management is a big issue internally.”
WIN-WIN-WIN The practicum, says Shuster, allows “students, companies, and CSU to gain exceptional value. Students are learning, companies are finding real solutions to challenges, and the College of Business continues to build upon its reputation for graduating exceptional employees.” Throughout the practicum period, Shuster meets with students once a week for an update on their work. The rest of the time is project time, allowing them to transfer their supply chain knowledge into direct practice. They learn how to manage ambiguous projects, and how to create deliverables for an employer. As Breckenfelder says, “From an academic and soft skill perspective, you really learn your strengths and weaknesses. Team skills are highly important, and being attached to an
applicable project that really matters, shows what a team can really accomplish. It’s much more than three people would produce for a hypothetical classroom scenario.” Shuster is always excited by practicum students’ final presentations. Breckenfelder and his colleagues, for instance, didn’t offer a “typical student presentation,” as Shuster says. Instead, they talked about the project like there was more to be done. That forward-thinking, integrated approach benefits students in many ways. Beyond learning all the ins-and-outs of day-to-day work, students get a taste for what they like and don’t like. Sometimes, students end up changing their field of study – but that’s a success, too, according to Shuster, because it helps ensure that they wind up in roles that best suit their interests and personality.
ALUMNI PROFILE EMILY KINCAID: FROM RECEPTIONIST TO ENTREPRENEUR When Emily Kincaid took a job as a receptionist for an oil field service company during her high school years, she never dreamed what it would turn into. But, a few years later, after completing a double major in economics and business management, her former employer reached out to her for a new role. The company didn’t have a marketing department, and wanted to start one. Kincaid would be in charge. She jumped at the opportunity — and when the business was ultimately sold, she stayed on to manage the brand transition. “I spent a year on the rebranding efforts,” she says. “I rebranded multiple companies that had been acquired and traveled all over North America. Everything had to be re-done: websites, all marketing materials, brand messaging, and so on.” The new ownership continued the company’s growth strategy, ultimately reaching a value of $1.3 billion, with Kincaid overseeing the marketing for half the corporation. “Once the rebranding process was over, though, we were in maintenance mode,” she notes. She needed a new challenge — so, “At that point, I asked to be moved into sales.”
GENERATING NEW BUSINESS Kincaid has never considered herself a great salesperson, per se. However, she says having the knowledge she needed is what made her successful. She spent a lot of time learning every detail of the business, from water distribution and the logistics of well-completion operations, to detailed water law. Her sharp understanding helped her build credibility in the industry when
talking with customers and internal team members. Soon, Kincaid was a sales manager, heading up a region comprising Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, parts of North Dakota, and California. She was personally responsible for about $5 million in revenue, and worked to save her commissions for the future.
BECOMING HER OWN BOSS With many accomplishments already under her belt in the first several years of her career, Kincaid turned to her entrepreneurial background for her next challenge. Her dad has his own history of business ownership, and Kincaid wanted to follow his example. “I always wanted to own my own business,” she says. Her husband was supportive, and encouraged her in her choice to leave her tenure and solid career to chase her dream. She began with a solid strategy. She worked on developing a business plan and the steps necessary to implement it. She quit her job and worked for her dad while she and her husband founded Elevate Energy Services to manage and sell water to oil companies. Finally, when her old employer announced in June 2017 that they were going to be acquired once again, Kincaid’s old customers began calling her, saying they wanted to work with her, rather than continuing forward with new owners. “So I pulled the trigger,” Kincaid says, “and started working full time for Elevate.” She found a great partner who understood the operations Elevate needed to move forward, and brought him on. The company specializes in water sourcing, water transfer and water management for completion operations. Kincaid says, “We started our first major job in September, and
by mid-October, we had 20 employees, and $1.1 million in assets and receivables.” In fact, she has already turned business away, too, in an effort to make sure that Elevate’s growth is sustainable. “I don’t want to take on investors,” she says. “My partner and I don’t want to give away equity in the business.” They do go to great lengths to treat their employees well. Elevate Energy Services is the only company of its kind to offer profit sharing, and Kincaid works to treat everyone like family. “We want to make an investment in them,” she says, and this is proving a successful model. “I’ve had guys
call me already, saying they’ve heard it’s a great place to work, and asking if we have a spot for them.”
THOUGHTS ON THE INDUSTRY For Kincaid, working in the oil and gas industry has been a personally and professionally satisfying choice. “I enjoy the community,” she says. “The people are salt of the earth. They work hard, and are genuine, honest people. A lot of them have been and will be here their whole lives.” She also says that with greater education, the public at large would likely not find the
work so controversial. “Colorado sets the standard in oil field practices,” she notes. “There is so much environmental and personal safety. And until we stop using and needing oil, there has to be a happy medium.” In addition, she says there are more women entering the field — and Kincaid feels there is room for more people of all types. “Oil and gas is not something that college students get as excited about as much as they used to. But there are a lot of opportunities they’re missing out on,” she says. “The industry is really good, and it takes a lot of smart people working together to get the job done.”
CASE COMPETITIONS OFFER LEARNING AND CONNECTING This past fall, the College of Business sent two student groups to out-ofstate case competitions. These opportunities were made possible thanks to the generous support of our Supply Chain Management Forum. We are grateful for the financial contributions of these partners, and know that no matter the outcome, each student came away with valuable insights into their fields of study — and much more. SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT CASE COMPETITION Professor Zac Rogers recently headed up a student trip to his alma mater, Arizona State University, for the 2017 Supply Chain Management Association National Case Competition. “My only real regret is that we couldn’t take two teams,” he says. “We had ten very strong applicants for the competition, but could only take four to the competition.” The team members included Jens Aaron, Doug Gaillard, Alyssa Mota, and Josh Tomlinson. The competition, sponsored by Oracle, and as such, the students competed to provide potential solutions for a real-world problem the company has been working on. While Rogers could not disclose the exact nature of the issue for privacy reasons, he says, “It was a logistics problem having to do with optimizing some network functions. Our students had a really interesting, well-reasoned solution.” In fact, of 11 teams from across the country, CSU College of Business landed in 2nd place, winning $2,000 to share among the students on the team. “I feel our strengths were in creativity and accounting fluency,” says Rogers.
The competitors arrived on a Wednesday, spent the following day touring G.E. Healthcare, Shamrock Foods (where they gained insights on cold-storage processes), and C.H. Robinson. They then received their case on Friday. “They had 24 hours from the time they received the case, to the time they had to present,” Rogers notes. “So they stayed up all night – with no help from me – and presented at 9:30 in the morning. We won our first match, against three other teams. Then the presentations were refined and presented again at 1:00 p.m.” Judges represented Oracle, Abbot, G.E., and other big-name corporations. Students had opportunities to network with these top-industry players, and came away with great connections. They also received plenty of great feedback, “including notes that said, ‘When can I hire you?’” according to Rogers. “In the end, I feel we represented the CSU very well. This team was a product of the entire College of Business, and leveraged every single piece of the department.”
GENERAL MOTORS WAYNE STATE CASE COMPETITION Professor Paul Vanderspek led a group to the prestigious General Motors Wayne State Case Competition, held in downtown Detroit, Michigan as part of that city’s ongoing revitalization and recruitment efforts. With GM and its suppliers as the primary sponsors of the competition, students representing universities from around the world were asked to help solve a real-world problem for the company. Vanderspek says the key issue had to do with a production strategy for electric vehicles, and specifically, determining which countries would be best suited for production of the necessary batteries. Students had to account for timelines and
numerous other constraints, including the cost of building new facilities overseas, manufacturing and transportation expenses, and specific risks associated with each country option provided to them. The CSU College of Business team competed against Western Michigan, Miami of Ohio, and Taiwan University in the first round — and only Western Michigan advanced to the finals. In the end, Sao Paolo University from Brazil came out on top. “That was exciting for them,” says Professor Vanderspek. “It was a team of all women, and it was their first time coming to this competition, so everyone was happy for them.” Other teams represented Canada, Poland, China, and Taiwan. He notes that the College of Business team placed second in its pool, among a highly competitive group, and he was proud of their overall performance, even though they did not walk away as winners. “It’s
always a pleasure to see how they bring their education from various business courses, and craft a solution. They never fail to inspire me and reinforce what a good job we are doing here as a college. From an overall business skills standpoint, our students stand out with things like their ability to integrate corporate strategy with human resource strategy and finance into a supply chain solution.” Students also were able to spend time networking with the international students, interviewing with GM and other high-level automotive industry executives, and touring an assembly plant. “When you walk into an auto assembly plant, it’s definitely the big leagues of supply chain management,” says Vanderspek. “That exposure is great — particularly given that this is an industry we don’t otherwise have much access to in our region of the country. So we’re thankful to those who sponsor us financially, to make these trips possible.”
Faculty Profile
PROFESSOR ROB MITCHELL Prior to joining Colorado State University, Rob Mitchell taught at both the Ivey School of Business in London, Canada, and the University of Oklahoma, in Norman, Oklahoma. He earned his Ph.D. in Entrepreneurship and Strategy at Indiana University. He and his family love to ski in Colorado, and they had driven through Fort Collins multiple times on the way to their family cabin in Utah. When the opportunity came to move here along with their four kids, they were happy to take it. “I knew several people who had come to work here,” he says, “and they told me that CSU was a great place to be. I am delighted to be here.” Mitchell joined the College of Business faculty himself in Fall 2017, teaching Creativity, Innovation, and Value Creation; the EMBA Capstone; and Social and Sustainable Venturing. “I enjoy the diverse range of students here,” he says. “There are a variety of backgrounds and experiences, from first-generation college students, to people who grew up on a farm. There is a great breadth of perspectives in each classroom.” Mitchell is particularly interested in leveraging entrepreneurship and value creation to solve problems. “I lived in eastern Europe for a while, working as a missionary for my church for two years,” he says. “Everyone there was well-educated—many had engineering degrees—and were very capable and qualified. But they didn’t understand how value was created. So I became really interested in the notion of value creation during my time there.”
MAKING IDEAS ACTIONABLE His undergraduate work was in history, political science, and psychology, which he says offered great insights on how to think critically. His combined studies and experiences led him to believe that entrepreneurship and value creation provided potential pathways for addressing large issues such as poverty. From his perspective, these approaches felt like concrete ways to act on seemingly intractable problems. In his teaching, Mitchell works to enable students to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and a capability to think innovatively. “Asking questions, observing the world around you, really trying to experiment with new things, and not taking the world around you as a given all the time,” are critical qualities to develop, he notes.
A WILLINGNESS TO FAIL To that end, one topic that he studies in his research is the fear of failure, which he says is more multidimensional than many people think. “There’s always failure,” he says. “You’re either trying things and they don’t work out, or you’re failing by missing opportunities and simply not trying enough things. If you recognize that missing an opportunity is its own form of failure, that can be liberating. You start to think you might as well try something out.” When fear is gone, then life is all about engaging with the world. And Mitchell is excited to bring his expertise to the table, to help students think about fresh ways to do it.
COATS FOR KIDS By Madison Wittman, Organization and Innovation Management, ’18 The College of Business has been supporting the Poudre R-1 School District in Fort Collins through their Coats for Kids program for more than a decade. “We have faculty and staff in the college that have big hearts and recognize the need to help ‘our’ kids,” Margaret Parks, administrative assistant in the Department of Management, said. Parks has been organizing the program annually to bring winter coats to those kids that otherwise would not have one. When Parks saw a giving tree with requests for scarves and other cold-weather clothes, she felt it was important to somehow help keep children warm through Colorado winters, ultimately implementing the Coats for Kids program. Since its first year, the program has grown to include other departments within the College of Business looking to lend a helping hand. Each year, Parks receives information regarding the number of coats the district needs from the coordinator of School Counselors for the Poudre School District. Once the coats have been collected, they are passed on to the district’s Head Counselor, given to individual school counselors, and ultimately handed out to the kids who need them. In its first year, Coats for Kids brought dozens of jackets to Poudre School District kids. The program has since continued to grow in an effort to fight the ever-present need for local children to have warm clothes during Colorado winters. In 2016, 176 coats were collected and distributed to local schools. This season, the district had nearly 200 need requests for winter coats. As the Coats for Kids program came to a close at CSU, Parks made a final push, collecting a record 190 coats for the Poudre School District. “The reward is personal. I know in my heart that I have been a pest, bugging faculty and staff to contribute to a cause that is important to me, and those people have responded in a huge way. The reward is knowing that we did something to help,” Parks said.
PERSONAL STATEMENT | TRANSITIONS
Madison Wittman Dear Alumni, How many times have you been faced with a decision that directly impacts the direction of your future? Once? Twice? Maybe you find yourself facing one now. And chances are, you faced one as you went through your senior year in the College of Business. As happy as I am to have made it to my final semester, the weight of impending change is heavy. Whether you are two or ten years postgrad, I can assure you that the transition from student to full-time employee has not gotten any less intimidating. I’m sure it is easy to look back and think, “What was I so worried about?” but when you’re balancing classes, a job, and a job search, the “It will all work out,” advice you too frequently receive is only so comforting. With that being said, I am respectfully calling on each of you. As students, we look up to our alumni. You have been where we are, made the transition, and have become the success stories of the College of Business. So, if you could go back and give your 21-year-old self some life advice, what would it be? I look forward to receiving your feedback and making my transition to join you as a CSU alum. Sincerely, Madison mwittman@rams.colostate.edu
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