InReview 2020: Maverick Strong

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MAVERICK STRONG When the world changed, faculty rose to the challenge to support student success.

DEAN, COLLEGE OF BUSINESS Brenda Flannery

Welcome from the Dean Dear Friends, The coronavirus pandemic has tested us in ways we couldn’t have fathomed a few months ago. So much has changed about how all of us live, work and learn. The pandemic has also created hardship and suffering for many. I couldn’t be more grateful to stand with Maverick faculty, staff and students who showed extraordinary togetherness, resilience and creativity as we moved to remote learning to keep everyone safe in March 2020. The heaviest lift was by the University’s 750 faculty who modified more than 3,000 classes to online delivery formats in a matter of weeks.

College of Business faculty had already been leading the way in creating responsive and innovative programs like the newly launched 100 percent online Bachelor of Business Administration (MavBiz Online) degree.

The pandemic accelerated teaching and learning innovations across all business programs, as celebrated in our cover feature, “Amid Crisis, Innovation” (p. 12).

Highlighted throughout this issue are stories about faculty and mentors who change lives. Faculty who are passionate and compassionate.

Teachers who infuse real-world learning into their business classes. All types of mentors who daily create opportunities and possibilities for those launching and re-launching their lives and careers.

Amina Hindi accepting her Dean’s List Certificate.

The pandemic, as well as recent racial justice movements across the country, accelerate short- and long-term goals and highlight the need for access, equity and success for all students and communities. We know the months ahead will be challenging, but our determined focus remains on students—their aspirations and needs, their educational progress and their safety. With so many innovative and dedicated faculty and staff that you will read about in this issue of In Review, I am confident we will continue to transform the learning experience. I invite you to join us on that journey.

Stay well,

Brenda Flannery, Ph.D. Dean, College of Business Professor of Management

EXECUTIVE EDITOR Director of Marketing and Communications, College of Business Jen Cucurullo CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Senior Director of Integrated Marketing, Minnesota State University, Mankato Sara Frederick EDITOR, In Review Sarah Asp Olson GRAPHIC DESIGNER Vanessa Knewtson WRITER Sarah Asp Olson PHOTOGRAPHERS Jen Cucurullo Social Butterfly Pat Christman Steve Woit INTERNS Lauren Kaufman Maddi Oines Kayla Rogeberg PRINTER Corporate Graphics PROOFREADER Kathryn Clay ......................................................................

The mission of In Review is to inform and to connect the reader to the College of Business community. In Review welcomes story ideas supporting this mission.

In Review is copyrighted in its entirety.

This volume and all articles, images and photographs within may not be reproduced in any form without written permission from the editor. ......................................................................

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS 120 Morris Hall, Mankato, MN 56001 507.389.5420 | cob.mnsu.edu

An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity University.

This document is available in alternative format to individuals with disabilities by calling the College of Business at 507-389-5420 (V), 800-627-3529 or 711 (MRS/TTY).

2 / C OLLEGE OF BUSIN ES S I N R E V I E W

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS

Leadership Team

VISION To be the clear business school choice for real-world learning

The College of Business Leadership Team includes 13 high-impact professionals who put students first.

————

Brenda Flannery Dean of the College of Business

12

COVER FEATURE:

Amid Crisis, Innovation In a world turned up-side-down by a pandemic the College of Business faculty continue to innovate, collaborate and pursue excellence in and out of the (virtual) classroom.

22

My Favorite Prof.

26 32 34 40

Four alumni share memories of professors who made a difference.

Dean’s Letter ..............................................................2 Leadership Team......................................................5 Congrats Grads..........................................................6 Maverick Made ..........................................................8 Alumni Connection .................................................11 Behind the Tech.........................................................18 MAcc on the Rise......................................................19

VALUES Student centered, innovative and professional always pursued in a spirit of inclusion, collaboration and collegiality

and Professor of Management Ranae Hiniker Administrative Assistant to the Dean Marilyn Fox Master of Business Administration (MBA) Director, AACSB Director and Professor of Management Byron Pike Master of Accounting (MAcc) Director and Associate Professor of Accounting Samantha Campa Talent Programs Specialist Bryan Hoffman Director of Technology Ann Kuzma Marketing & International Business Department Chair and Professor of Marketing Jen Cucurullo Director of Marketing and Communications Dustin Sedars Director of Development Oksana Kim Accounting and Business Law Department Chair and Professor of Accounting Joseph Reising Finance Department Chair and Professor of Finance Kathleen Dale Management Department Chair, Assurance of Learning (AOL) Assessment Coordinator and Professor of Management Linda Meidl Student Relations Coordinator

A New Kind of Telepresence..............................20

The Award Goes To...

These faculty members are so good at creating high-impact experiences for students, we gave them an award for it!

Meet Professor Chandu Valluri.........................25 Faculty Leader: Claudia Pragman..................31

Joseph Reising

Meet the Comms Team.........................................37

Teaching Forward

Agribusiness on the Rise......................................38

Meet College of Business alumni who have excelled in academic careers.

Research Briefs .........................................................42

Brenda Flannery

Students Sound Off.................................................44

Ready for the Real World The new Stangler Internship Initiative provides comprehensive internship training and development to both students and employers.

A Totally New Challenge The College’s annual entrepreneurship competition went virtual this year—and it may have been the best one yet.

Dustin Sedars

Byron Pike

The Big Picture ..........................................................46

Kathleen Dale

Ann Kuzma Ranae Hiniker

ON THE COVER Professor of Management, Angela Titi Amayah

Samantha Campa

Gillian Anye, Accounting

Linda Meidl

Graduation Year: 2020

Ali Bryniarski, Marketing Graduation Year: Spring 2021

Oksana Kim

Mason Vlannderen, Business Management Graduation Year: Fall 2020

Yasir Wedatalla, International Business Graduation Year: 2023

4 / C OLLEGE OF BUSIN ES S I N R E V I E W

Jen Cucurullo Marilyn Fox

Bryan Hoffman

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CONGRATS GRADS

MANAGEMENT This spring, 332 students graduated from the College of Business. From Finance to Marketing to International Business, undergraduate and graduate students finished the year strong despite unprecedented challenges. We are so proud of our graduates and invite you to celebrate them with us. Check out this extraordinary group of students, each with a bright future ahead.

ACCOUNTING Dulanji Anjalee Karunarathna Franklin Sammah Gillian Anye Grant Krall Jack Schwartzhoff Jadie Johnson James Swenson Jessica Ault Johanes Rantetana Juwon Lee Kallie Majeski

Karin Miyata Katherine Cronk Kelsi Zyvoloski Kevin Krieger Khalid Aharrouch Lance Miller Leah Serbus Long Lam Luke Mikiska Luke Ranum Madison Beaupre Maria Klimisch

Marina Olson Marisa Martinez Matthew Osberg Matthew Sarff Melanie Yang Michael Bealke Michael Carriveau Michael Wagner Mitchell Mathews Mohamed Konate Nathan Reynolds Noah Hallbeck

Olatoun Shokunbi Oscar Alvarez Raissa Toure Riley Brenden Ryan Heilig Rylie Parman Samuel Mueller Sionseme Ouattara Tanner Reinhardt Terri Harris Thomas Mantor Zeynep Akyol

Callie Burrichter Cassidy Sargent Chase Werwinski Chrystian Kulow Cierra Stommen Collin VanDussen Daniel King Darren Anderson Devin McGlynn Dillon Dale Edwin Hookenson Evan Gadtke Faith Teah Galo Ange N’Guessan Hanqing Shi

Hunter Even Jack Waletich Jacob Johanson Jacob Teske James Geehan Jarol Santillan Galindo John Cole Jon Bundy Kanyon Fellers Kapche Fotso Kari Pingel Kathryn Sauer Kaylee Hudspeth Kimberly Gleason Kirstin Klitzke

Logan Welch Luke Turnquist Lukuman Salawu Madeline Smisek Mandjidath Mouhammed Marc Michaelis Maria Estrada Orendain Mariah Proehl Matthew Raming Michelle Lother Mitchell Muller Nathan Boenish Pa Houa Her Rebecca Maus Riley Fazio

Ryan Johnson Samatar Dini Serifatu Salawu Shuo Sun Spencer Davies Stecy Quenum Stephanie Warning Sydney Thompson Thomas Haberlack Thomas Landreville Tracy Kabunda Trevor Stencel Tyler Seeba Zachary Johnston Zoya Pesnani

FINANCE Aaron Wurm Abigail Nelsen Adam DeZeeuw Alexander Henderson Alyssa Janicke Amanallah Zemzemi Annika France Anthony Martagon Anthony Wronski Austin Host Averee Johnson Ble Arnaud Kouadio Bradley Reiling Brock Johnson Caitlyn Jones

BUSINESS ANALYTICS CERTIFICATE

Ibukun Adebayo

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS Abdullah Ali Allie Dooher

Elizabeth Landwehr Fadumo Mohamed

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Janelle Meyer Maureen Taylor

Michael Pronschinske

Cameron Giese Carly Mason Chase Richter Chester Whalley Clayton Dahly Clayton Edwards Cody Becker Connor Mackey Dakota Teske Dillon Boyens-Luke Edgar Masuki Elie Gnassou Emily Braaten Emily Maher Emma Lucchesi Emma Marquardt Ethan McCoy Gavin Schmidt Ghulam Mohammad

Jacob Anderson Jared Spooner Jenna Nelson Jessica Abbott Joel Lange Joseph Kiner Joseph Ochoa-Umana Joshua Schoeneman Joshua Williams Justin Goodfellow Kalie Winter Katlyn Swarts Kayla Farland Khaled Souleymane Kipperly Keesling Kyle Buttweiler Kyle Wernstrom Lexandra Schoper Logan Saltou

Luke Kolars Luke Romness Mackenzie Carr Madison Simerlein Maria LaMere Matthew Lien Maxwell Thrune Megan Maassen Michaelina Nawrocki Morgan Ward Nathaniel Hanna Nicholas Rivera Olyad Basha Paige Blomberg Rachel Williamson RaeAnn Dose Reed Seifert Reshma Rajbahak Ryan Eustice

Sambridi Pradhan Samuel Hovick Scott Anderson Shamsudeen Adediji Stephen Thomas Stone Anderson Tacy Jones Taya Sexton Taylor Kemper Taylor Redmond Thanowa Lual Thomas Keating Trevor Howard Wyatt Schmitz William Camden

Joshua Mazur Juliana Schwan Kaitlin Ameluxen Kalli McIntosh Kalli Steinberg Kallie Miller Kayla Rogeberg Kaylene Kruse Kenneth White Kenny Ree Koron Young Leo Zachman Lindsey Kuntz Madeline Oines Madison House Margaret Knier Marley McDonald

Melanie Stensland Morgan Baldry Nathan Norman Nicholas Gavin Nicholas Meyer Nicholas Raichle Nicole Remus Nikita Jwarchan Noah Fineran Paige Larrabee Peter Crema Peter Kroll Rachel Schumacher Randy Wikman Rebecca Wenisch Samantha Olsen Sarah Janckila

Shauna Vandendriessche Sidra Schmidt Stephanie Holicky Sydney Oetken Taylor Gulenchyn Taylor Lindaman Thor Johnson Trevor Berreau Trevor Taylor William Ambrose Yanan Li

MARKETING Abigail Hallstrom Adam Bachmeier Adam Smith Amber Johnson Andrew Carlson Brandon Alden Brandon Cotter Brandon Loch Brendan Simmonds Brooke Dorn Brooke Larson Bryan Hare Brycen Moore Carolyn Van Horsen Cher Vang Cody VanDenEinde Cole Kremers

Courtney Lankenau Dylan Everett Emilio Estrada Emmalee Sundet Gohi Gildas Dabe Grant Hornig Hunter Loutzenhiser Hunter Shellum Jacob Bakuwel Jacob Nystrom Jacob Shiek Jaden Jurgenson James Henry Jared Willemsen Jessica Lagerquist Jimmy Insixiengmay Joshua Budin

MASTER OF ACCOUNTING Abdullah Siddique Abigail Meyer Edward Conley

Jacob Delesha Nathan Lee Parker Erickson

Samantha Tramp Shannon Veeraboina Zachary Benzkofer

TAXATION CERTIFICATE

Samuel Larson

MASTER OF BUSINESS Andrew David Bill Francis Christopher Fox David Wentzel

Diego Villalpando de la Garza E Joshua Bobowski Mallory Sackey

Matthew Netland Michael Mulvihill Zhiyu Qiao

#MavGrad2020 #MavBizGrad

Abigail Rickels Adam Bobka Alexander Hoehn Alina Ramjali Alyssa Quist Anou Philavanh Ashley Horejsi Brooke Scouton Carl Anderson Casey Lynch Collin Lindquist Dalton Droegemueller

Abigail Wenstrom Adam Younge Alex White Allison Menke Alyson Proulx Amanda Gullaksen Amira Samaha Annabelle Raske Benjamin Warner Blong Yang Bradley Schintz Brady Kennelly Brandon Bailey Brandon Blom Brandon Martin Brennen Mogensen Brianna Weatherly Bryce Thompson Caelin Laakkonen

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Earth and air. The seemingly disparate elements have characterized Ron Vetter’s life and work. Vetter was born into a stone family. The grandson of Paul Vetter Sr., who founded Vetter Stone with his four sons in 1954, Ron wasn’t about to follow in his family’s footsteps. He wanted to forge his own path. He wanted to fly.

Vetter entered Minnesota State Mankato in 1983 and enrolled in the Aviation program—at that time housed within the College of Business. “I really wanted to be an airline pilot, that was my goal,” he says. He also added a business management major “just kind of as a backup.”

Vetter’s experience up in the air—and the career opportunities his double degree led to after graduation in 1987—perfectly prepared him to return to Mankato and continue to build the family business. He’s been president and CEO for 20 years and continues to expand and shape Vetter Stone’s reach with an eye toward excellence, community involvement and high-touch customer services.

Looking back at the city and school that built him, Vetter is grateful for a solid education, good mentorship and opportunities to pursue his passion.

Talk about real-world learning. As a junior Aviation and Management double major, Vetter became the director of stations for Mankato airport’s essential service partner, Bemidji Airlines. “I hired and sometimes fired the station managers, did all the training, including at the Minneapolis facility, when I was in my junior year.”

The tiny operation didn’t do any marketing, so Vetter— still an undergraduate—jumped in and took over as director of marketing.

“I was working 40 to 50 hours a week. I’d get out there at five in the morning, do the runway checks, get the first flight out at 7 a.m., go to class, come back, do the noon flight, go back to afternoon classes and then come back for like a 7 p.m. flight.”

John Roberts was in charge of the aviation program when Vetter joined in 1983. “He was just very hands on about getting us internships and really guiding us as that program was forming.”

As an Aviation major, Vetter spent most of his time as an undergrad hanging around the airport with his cohort, even after hours. Off campus, one of their favorite haunts was the Cambria Bar and Grill “where they have those huge hamburgers.”

Growing up in Mankato gave Vetter a good foundation and set “a really good expectation of giving back.” As the immediate past chair of Greater Mankato Growth, he has been continually impressed by how area organizations—including Minnesota State Mankato— have a vested interest in and take responsibility for the greater good of the community.

Vetter recalls a culture within the College of Business where professors worked hard to ensure students had jobs after graduation. “I saw professors working closely with outside companies to make sure that their students had a place to go. And I was really impressed with that.”

WATCH | LISTEN | READ Vetter has an eclectic taste in media. He enjoys watching and listening across many genres. Here are some of his current favorites.

Watch: Medici, Mad Men, Schitt’s Creek

Listen:

Read:

and Tiger King Podcasts featuring Joe Rogan or Sean Hyson, lots of Prince Sapiens, A Brief History of Humankind, anything by John Grisham

Photo by Pat Christman

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MAVERICKS ON DECK About two years ago, Ben Kaus ’06' became the first non-family member to hold an officer position in Vetter Stone’s 64-year history when he was named chief operating officer.

ALUMNI CONNECTION

Kaus and his brother Nick, who is the plant superintendent at Vetter Stone, represent a handful of College of Business graduates playing a major role in Vetter Stone’s future.

From private residences to massive national

museums, you can see Vetter Stone in buildings around the world. Here are just a few: Minneapolis Target Field FBI Headquarters

Tokyo, Japan Roppongi Hills

Washington D.C.

The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian

New York City

Hippodrome, Avenue of the Americas Central Park Condominiums

Denver, Colorado

Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse

“We’ve got great talent in this community,” says president and CEO, Ron Vetter.

“It’s really fun to get to the point where we’re getting outside leadership and future leadership that will not have my last name attached to it. It brings us to a different level and allows us to become something that we probably couldn’t if we were just strictly familycontrolled at all the top levels.”

Ben Kaus graduated from Minnesota State Mankato with a degree in institutional finance and started working at Vetter Stone in 2014. For him, rising through the ranks as a non-Vetter comes with a big sense of responsibility.

“It felt like they completely trusted me to look out for the business and make sure it continues to be what it has been [throughout its] legacy,” he says. “It hits home. They are trusting you to run their family business.”

Kaus has been impressed with the positive, team-oriented culture Vetter has built during his tenure as president and CEO. In his executive role, Kaus is working toward continued growth and value for employees. For him, connecting with a local business after graduation has paid off—and it turns out the feeling is mutual.

“I think it’s really spectacular to have two of our top leaders that came out of the business program under Dr. Flannery,” says Vetter. “The type of decision-making processes that they use is really astounding, and it’s absolutely game changing for us. They’re highly developed people with a really good set of skills.”

Siksika, Alberta, Canada Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park

Lincoln, Nebraska Cornhusker Bank

Moscow, Russia U.S. Embassy

Alabama

Bessemer Public Library University of Alabama, College of Engineering

Pittsburg, California

East Contra Costa Courthouse

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It’s really fun to get to the point where we’re getting outside leadership and future leadership that will not have my last name attached to it.

—Ron Vetter

National Diversity Case Competition Students Shams Adediji, Dhaval Bhakta, Marilyn Allen and Michelle Dolezal joined Ron Vetter in his home for a meal and conversation.

TOGETHER AT THE TABLE College of Business alum Ron Vetter cooks up a way to connect community leaders and college students.

Ron Vetter ’87 grew up with a strong sense of community responsibility. His dad ran the family business, Mankato-based Vetter Stone, and both his parents were deeply involved in volunteerism and service.

students, all members of the University’s National Diversity Case Competition team. He welcomed the students, along with Flannery and professors Oksana Kim and Wade Davis, to his home and cooked up a meal of steak, vegetarian lasagna, duchess potatoes, asparagus and gelato for dessert. Then he let the conversation flow.

“They did a lot of things to give back to the community,” says Vetter, who took over as president and CEO of Vetter Stone in 2000.

“That was the model that I learned from. The expectation was that “Our topics varied. It was a really eclectic conversation,” he says. if you were going to complain about something then you better be “We talked about books, different companies in town…[and] doing something to solve the problem—or quit complaining.” we had a lot of conversations around diversity.”

Vetter has lived out those early lessons by seeing what needs to be done and figuring out how to do it. As most recent past president of Greater Mankato Growth and a business owner, Vetter has spent a lot of time recently thinking about the talent shortage in the region. Last February, he launched a pilot program through Greater Mankato Growth, designed to address the shortage through community building among business leaders and University students.

“It’s so good for our students to get to know the community for professional and personal reasons. It is so good for the community to come to know our students for possible internships and jobs but also because our students have great insights on business as well as the world we live in,” says Flannery. “A lot of our evening conversation was about diversity, which was what Ron and I hoped for, especially with this group of students and faculty who had just returned from the National Diversity Case Competition.”

“You look at the University and it’s pretty contained,” he says. “I thought it would be a good thing to try to get six to eight students and put them with somebody in the community, whether it’s a businessperson or a nonprofit person, and bring them to dinner at your home or in your office … and talk about the community.”

Vetter is looking forward to his next dinner and is hopeful that this program will become a source of ongoing conversations and relationships between students and business leaders throughout the region—the ultimate goal being relationships.

Vetter, an avid home cook, pitched the concept to College of Business Dean, Brenda Flannery, who enthusiastically agreed to help test the concept with a small group of College of Business

“[We want] to make students feel like they’re connected with the community and give them a reason to stay here,” he says. “And even if they don’t stay here … if we can hook them up with somebody who’s going to let them fulfill their life dream, let’s be part of that.”

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, s i s i r C d i Am ion t a v o Inn

In her 2020 virtual commencement address, College of Business graduate Maggie Knier reminded us that it’s not what you do that matters most, but how you do it.

Looking back over a semester in which students and faculty were forced into a new way of learning, teaching and being, it’s clear the College of Business faculty met the challenge head on. It’s not what they did—moving classes online, holding virtual office hours or learning a new language of online learning—it’s how they did it: with excellence, collegiality and student-centered focus.

“It’s incredibly inspiring and encouraging to see how everybody is really stepping up,” noted College of Business Dean Brenda Flannery just after spring break as institutions around the world were facing campus closures due to COVID-19. “It shows that when we really have to, we can do amazing things in a very short amount of time.”

Now months later, as we reflect on an extraordinary semester, the faculty within the College of Business have shown that in unprecedented circumstances, necessity really is the mother of innovation.

What follows is a series of snapshots, examples of innovation within the College of Business in the time of COVID-19.

Coming Together for Success It’s an old adage, but there’s truth at the core: in times of crisis people pull together.

During this global pandemic, we’ve seen it happen time and again in big ways and small. From the health care professionals on the front lines to each individual looking for ways to help even as their own life has been turned upside down. It’s no different within the College of Business.

“Without question, this experience will bring to the forefront the importance of the College working as a team where everyone innovates while appreciating others’ amazing contributions,” says Management professor Marilyn Fox.

During a semester unlike any other, in the midst of challenges and uncertainty, College of Business faculty found ways to shine through innovation, collaboration and the continued pursuit of excellence.

All Heads on Zoom

Before official orders came down, when there were just rumblings that the campus would be closed for the remainder of the spring semester, Flannery set up optional weekly Zoom calls to rally the College and work together on solutions.

“I was thrilled at the number of faculty and staff who attended our weekly all College of Business Zoom calls,” says Flannery. “They attended to hear updates, see their colleagues and provide support to each other.”

The weekly Zooms became a lifeline for faculty as they relied on each other’s expertise to map out and plan courses and make sure students felt connected even at a distance.

“I have never communicated with the College as much as I am now,” says Flannery. “People write afterward that they look forward to meetings every week. They feel more connected to colleagues because we’re all going through something hard together.”

In the final Zoom meeting of the semester, which again boasted near perfect attendance from the faculty, Flannery read aloud a quote from author and educator Parker Palmer: “Good teachers possess a capacity for connectedness. They’re able to weave a complex web of connections among themselves, their subjects and their students so that students can learn to weave a world for themselves.”

Angela Titi Amayah, Professor of Management 12 / C OLLEGE OF BUSIN ES S I N R E V I E W

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Teachable Teachers The College of Business is filled with a wide array of expertise. One area where the College is particularly strong is in online teaching. Faculty members like Kathy Richie and Claudia Pragman hold certificates in online education and have even designed and implemented full degree programs online. Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship director Yvonne Cariveau is an early internet innovator and pioneer with a deep understanding of how to effectively engage students online.

Having these faculty—and many others—on the team became a boon for the whole College. Faculty with less online experience were no less dedicated to maintaining excellence but were unfamiliar with the platform.

“You have these faculty who are reaching out and helping other faculty to transition their courses remotely,” says Flannery. “Without having faculty willingness to do that, none of this happens. They’re all individuals, so they’re all pursuing it for their own classes. But they’re also doing it collectively, reaching out to help each other.”

The collaboration didn’t stop once teaching began. As faculty members discovered what worked well for them, they freely shared with their colleagues across the College.

Keeping Connections Accounting professor Byron Pike already taught some sections online. But as he launched his face-to-face courses on a new platform, he started to hear from his students that the asynchronous delivery wasn’t ideal.

“A couple students [said] they missed the stories I told in class to set up concepts and the interactions with me,” he says.

Pike pivoted to recording lectures and embedding quizzes within the videos to ensure student engagement. Then, he used Zoom to gather the class and discuss the most meaningful elements of the material. It’s been so successful he plans to tweak how he presents his existing online courses going forward.

“Through this synchronous interaction, I can continue to develop and grow relationships with my students, help them develop their communication skills and prepare them for the business world that is going to rely heavily on videoconferencing going forward,” he says. “At the same time, this medium also makes it easier for me to invite guest speakers to the class to discuss their area of expertise.”

Other faculty members are following in his footsteps, embedding quizzes into asynchronous content and finding synchronous methods that work best for their students.

Back to Basics

Accounting professor Steven Johnson isn’t necessarily a fan of change for change’s sake.

But “there's something to be said about forced innovation,” he says. “Before this crisis, I would have been extremely hesitant to teach certain classes online; however, being forced to do so has allowed me to incorporate new tools and methods into online instruction that have so far been quite successful.”

What I appreciated the most about the College of Business faculty during this challenging semester was how much empathy they showed to us. The faculty always asked for feedback to make sure that students felt confident during this semester.

—Michelle Dolezal, Marketing major

One of Johnson’s most successful tools has been figuring out how to effectively teach using a whiteboard during virtual lectures. Many faculty members like to write out problems as they engage with students, which is more complicated in a Zoom classroom.

Johnson figured out a way that worked well for him and his students and wanted to share it with his colleagues.

“I've been asked quite a few times how I'm able to use a whiteboard in my class videos and Zoom meetings,” Johnson wrote to his colleagues in an e-mail in early May. “So, I thought I'd put together a quick instructional video in case it was useful to anyone.”

In the video he walks through how he uses a combination of the Notability app, screen mirroring software and a stylus to turn his iPad into a virtual whiteboard. It may not be the most techie, he acknowledges, but it’s something to which students have responded well.

Claudia Pragman, Professor of Management 14 / C OLLEGE OF BUSIN ES S I N R E V I E W

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Still Student-Focused

Looking Toward the Future

While the College of Business faculty made the sudden transition to online education, many were quick to point out that this semester has been about far more than moving courses to a new platform.

Looking back over this last semester, it’s impressive to see what the faculty within the College of Business accomplished in a short amount of time and under incredible pressure. And while spring 2020 is in the past, “the pandemic presents a future of unknown unknowns,” says Flannery.

“The students’ well-being and success is more important than ever,” says Fox. “In times of crisis there are other concerns competing for attention.”

Supporting students through a crisis looks different than guiding them through a typical semester. Many faculty sent more reminders, provided more examples and became more responsive to student suggestions and needs.

“Having good teachers is critical to prepare students to be successful in work and life. This is more important when all students are remote and dispersed,” says Fox. “It is important to be fluid and flexible in times of crisis.”

Old-School Connections

In addition to recording lectures and providing Zoom office hours, Accounting professor Sean Fingland went a little bit old school in order to keep students engaged: He sent out a daily email newsletter.

“When I’m in the classroom, the first five minutes of class I usually have some sort of announcement or something that’s not specific to the course content,” he says. “I found myself really frustrated by the fact I was sending out emails as things came up and I felt I was just inundating the students.”

Fingland decided to send out a daily email newsletter to keep students informed and engaged in his course. He also often threw in a joke or personal anecdote to lighten the mood. Students liked having the daily touchpoint with their professor, and it helped keep them on track throughout the semester.

What will carry on are the lessons learned in a time of crisis: the importance of the College working as a team, sharing innovative teaching methods and relying on each other’s expertise.

“In many ways this is making us think more deeply about how we approach the design of our courses,” says Flannery. “I see us becoming ambidextrous around teaching excellence, which means we can do both face-to-face really well and we can do online really well. I think what this will show us is that we can do both.”

As Flannery signed off that final College of Business faculty Zoom call before graduation, she put a button on a semester filled with unexpected challenges and perhaps equally unexpected successes: “It was really hard at times, but you all rose to the occasion,” she told her faculty.

“I’m grateful and proud. Thank you for great work. Be well, be healthy and we will be in touch soon.”

Living the Pivot

If a business school is a training ground for the world graduates will enter, students in the College of Business’ signature program got a valuable lesson in how to pivot.

Many College of Business students look forward to participating in the United Prairie Bank Integrated Business Experience (IBE). The semester-long program allows them to develop and launch an actual business, obtain a loan, market and sell a product and donate profits to charity. It’s real-world, boots-on-the-ground education at its finest.

This spring's class of IBE participants were divided into three companies—each with a line of products to sell. In years past, IBE companies relied on on-campus locations for sales. Now, not only did they need to create online retail platforms, they needed to figure out how to ship products, retool their marketing plans and work as a team from their own homes.

“We’ve been really proud of them,” says IBE Chair Kristin Scott. “Even before coming back to the regular classes on March 30, they had been talking to each other and had determined how they were going to sell. They kept the companies going even when they didn’t have formal classes, and they really did a great job of figuring things out themselves on how they were going to adapt and how they were going to get their products shipped and sold.”

The IBE is designed to allow students to take full control of the process, and Scott was impressed that all of the companies were able to pivot with very little handholding from faculty. Scott and colleague Shane Bowyer did make sure they were well-equipped by setting up Zoom sessions on marketing best practices with College of Business Marketing Director Jen Cucurullo and how to sell online with alum Wes Otto.

At the close of the semester all three IBE companies repaid their loans and made a profit.

A New Platform for Big Ideas As the director for the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Yvonne Cariveau connects student entrepreneurs to community business leaders and vice versa. In addition to her on-campus role, Cariveau is an entrepreneur in her own right. Her company, Internet Connections, launched in 1993 before most of us knew what the internet was. So when word came down that the CIE’s signature Big Ideas Challenge could not take place as planned, Cariveau didn’t skip a beat. She and her CIE team pulled off the largest Big Ideas Challenge in the program’s history. (Read more about this year’s Big Ideas Challenge on page 40.)

“Others might have said there’s no way I can do this virtually, but Yvonne didn’t even flinch,” says Flannery.

“Even before the announcement she said, ‘I have Big Ideas under control; I know how to take it virtually.’”

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Good teachers are good teachers regardless of platform. The platform change may require some adaptation but does not fundamentally change what good teaching encompasses.

—Joe Reising, professor of Finance

Led by Minnesota State Mankato professor (and alumnus) Byron Pike, and bolstered by a group of top-notch graduate assistants, the College of Business’ Master of Accounting program is making a name for itself within the College and beyond.

How the College of Business moved online – FAST. The College of Business has a history of being a campus leader in technologically-enhanced education—from the College’s laptop initiative in 2000, recent Master of Accounting delivered via telepresence, this fall’s launch of the all-online Bachelor of Business Administration degree (BBA) and a whole lot of innovation in between. So, when the order came down that campus would be closed for face-to-face learning and all classes would need to transition online, the College of Business was in pretty good shape to make it happen. Of course, that doesn’t mean it was easy.

Since its launch in the fall of 2013, Minnesota State Mankato’s Master of Accounting program (MAcc) has nearly quadrupled its enrollment.

Professor of Accounting Byron Pike isn’t surprised by the program’s rapid growth among College of Business undergraduates, who can complete a bachelor’s degree and the MAcc in five years on campus. What did come as a surprise was the demand among students from other four-year accounting programs and from working professionals looking for a mid-career move into accounting.

What’s made the MAcc such a hit both in the College of Business and beyond? To start, it’s flexible, affordable and fast.

We asked College of Business Director of IT, Bryan Hoffman, how he and his team transitioned to the online learning environment amid COVID-19.

When the decision came down to not return to campus after spring break, what was your first move?

We were poised pretty well in the College of Business and were fortunate that we had the tools—hardware and software—in place. Our plan was to get our staff at home and functioning so they could work remotely. Part two was to work with the faculty. We had quite a few classes that have already been fully online. But then we had the opposite spectrum too, where faculty were quite used to just the traditional face-to-face classroom. We had a lot of experts already who have been teaching distance education and were more than willing to come out and help these other faculty who were maybe questioning, how do I do this?

What advice did you offer faculty to help with their at-home tech setups? My first advice was to purchase an external web camera to use with their laptop. That drastically improves video quality. Next was sound quality. The mic built into their laptop does function well, but in most cases will pick up noises that the faculty would prefer to filter out. I encouraged faulty that investing in a quality headset that has a built-in mic can help enrich the experience for the users on the other end of the video call. These simple additions helped create a better environment and were easy to enhance the quality of the online experience.

Now that the semester has ended, how are you thinking about the future? As we move from the reactive stage into the proactive stage of planning for our online environments, video will play an important role. From doing a live video stream to recording video segments for a course, the high-quality video and audio elements will need to be joined with surroundings that have the proper lighting and backdrops. The software that the faculty and students use in their courses will also need to be evaluated. We are partnering with the faculty to help them find the best software for their course structure: For a lecture course, Zoom has great features and tools that can be easily used and is simple to navigate.

For a highly engaged, collaborative course, Microsoft Teams is a more robust tool. We are in the exploratory stage, finding the balance of the best software that will help enhance the student experience but not impede the ability of the faculty to instruct their course.

Starting in early March, the College of Business took a tiered approach to the at-home transition:

KEEP WORKING

KEEP TEACHING

KEEP LEARNING

Moved 60-plus faculty & staff home to work

Moved 120 classes online

Moved 3,094 learners online

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“The program can be completed in one year at one’s own pace. Students can start the program at any time (fall, spring or summer),” says Pike. “The program offers 20 credits of elective courses, whereby students can tailor their MAcc degree toward future professional goals.”

The program is also filled with the necessary rigor to set graduates apart in a crowded field.

MAcc Stat APPROXIMATELY 75% OF ALL MACC STUDENTS PASS ALL FOUR SECTIONS OF THE CPA EXAM ON THEIR FIRST ATTEMPT— WELL ABOVE THE NATIONAL AVERAGE, WHICH IS TYPICALLY AROUND 45%.

“The MAcc program enhances students’ technical understanding of all areas of accounting, develops soft skills that are necessary to succeed in an ever-changing environment and provides them with the background for greater advancement throughout their entire professional career,” says Pike.

MAcc Student Success A big part of what has made the College of Business’ MAcc program a success is dedicated students like Nathan Lee ’19, a graduate assistant in the Accounting department.

What made MAcc a good fit for you?

I wanted to learn something that is practical and applicable to my life after graduation. I did not just want to take random classes to fulfill the 150 credits required [to take the CPA exam], I desired to use my time effectively and efficiently. The MAcc program has prepared me to be a better writer, communicator, critical thinker and professional through numerous courses and professional events.

As a GA, you teach and tutor undergraduate accounting students. What is rewarding about the peer support you offer to students?

Everybody must have gotten some help on the way to their success. My parents and friends have been there for me when I needed them. That is the role of a supplemental instructor and graduate assistant.

Students come to my office, thinking that they are unable to solve accounting problems. They are tired and discouraged. I tell them that they can do it and they should not give up. We spend sometimes hours to solve one or two problems. The best part of my job is to see students find joy in solving problems that they never thought they could. I have had multiple students who were non-accounting majors who decided to pursue accounting because they now understand the concepts better. This is the reason. We are here to assist students to be successful. We cannot replace professors, but we can provide extra help for students to be better and better.

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A New Kind of Telepresence Morris Hall 210 became the testing ground for a new, innovative telepresence system.

Pictured above: classroom technology specialist Jerry Anderson sketched out his idea for a totally new kind of telepresence—then, he and fellow CTS Damon Whitcomb made it happen.

The College of Business has been using telepresence spaces for more than five years to connect with students at the University’s Edina location.

“We embraced the technology early on because we knew there was demand in the metro for our master’s program. However, most of these individuals are not able to drive down here to complete the program,” says Byron Pike, associate professor of Accounting and MAcc director.

Professors who want to teach in a telepresence setting use an out-of-the-box system from telecom companies like Cisco. The connections work alright, but “that system is not necessarily set up for teaching,” says Pike. “It’s set up more for video conferences or meetings.”

Pike and other faculty members found themselves constrained by the technology. Instead of having freedom to work out problems on a whiteboard, move around the classroom or break students into work groups, everything had to be pre-scripted and confined to a chair.

“You had to change many parts of your delivery method,” he says.

“I think most of the faculty probably would say it was an okay way to teach, but it was not the ideal way to teach.”

Rethinking the Resource While faculty members in the College of Business were trying to adjust their teaching styles to meet the needs of their distance learning classes, across campus a team within IT Solutions was beginning to design a new set up.

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Assistant CIO for academic technology, Matt Clay started by meeting with Pike and other faculty members to better understand how they used telepresence rooms and the limitations of the current system. One thing he heard was that the current technology was hindering the natural way teachers teach and students learn. Their goal was to create a space where technology got out of the way and allowed the classroom to flow organically.

They chose Morris Hall 210 (MH210) as the testing ground.

Instead of multiple video streaming devices—or codecs—the team used one device that normally controls a video wall with multiple screens to combine four full HD images into one 4K image that only needed a single codec on the receiving end. Anderson sourced standard equipment that was already supported in other areas to ensure ITS could maintain and replace components relatively inexpensively.

The biggest hurdles to clear were the video conferencing mechanism itself and the cost of the system as a whole.

It seemed like it should work, but that didn’t keep Anderson from holding his breath when the first test call went through from Edina to MH210.

“The cost was a big challenge because we couldn’t afford to build or maintain the older Cisco rooms,” says Clay. The new system also had to be easy to use and able to communicate seamlessly with other telepresence systems like Cisco and Zoom.

To the Drawing Board Clay tasked classroom technology specialist Jerry Anderson with making it work. Anderson started by looking at what wasn’t working with the old system.

“In layman’s terms [the old teleconference] rooms are like having four video conferences going all at the same time, one for each of the three big screens and one for presenter,” says Anderson.

Anderson sketched out a plan for a new system on a rolling whiteboard and presented it to the team. What he came up with was an innovative solution that no one to their knowledge had tried before—and one the team wasn’t even sure would work in practice.

The Right Tools for Teaching and Learning MH210 opened in January 2020. Pike’s Master of Accounting course, External Auditing and Other Attest Services, was the first to pilot the space.

“Being able to walk around and have a natural class environment is fantastic,” says Pike. “Teaching this semester has been radically different than what I’ve had in the past.”

Right now, MH210 is the only classroom wired with the new telepresence system. But the room has been so successful for students and teachers, the hope is to convert all of the old rooms in the near future.

“I had set up a test bed over in the office and tried some things just with one or two monitors hooked up, but we didn’t know what this was going be like until we first dialed in from the Cities,” he “Ten years ago, we were one of the first universities that did a recalls. “That day we first made the call, it looked awesome.” telepresence immersive experience in the classroom for students using a product no one else was using,” says vice president and Now a year in, the system continues to look and be awesome.

CIO Mark Johnson. “Now fast forward and we’re still one of the leaders in the space. I think of it as telepresence 2.0—taking the Users interact with six large screens in the front of the classroom best of what we’ve learned, applying what works and improving that can work together or independently to project images from on what didn’t.” the whiteboard or the full classroom. Cameras sense movement and speech and can even follow along as a professor moves throughout the room.

The picture is clear and the user interface is simple. MH210 can communicate with any other telepresence space and—perhaps most notably—the system costs about one-third of the old telepresence spaces to install and maintain. In short, the team’s innovative system ticked every box.

MH210 was used until campus closed in March 2020. The lessons learned while designing an innovative room like MH210 were key in helping IT Solutions prepare and design the new FlexSync enabled rooms that will serve students and faculty in the fall.

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MY FAVORITE PROF Paul’s Favorite Prof: Chan Lee

Paul Bennett is a financial advisor who runs his own business. He has offices in Eden Prairie and Roseville, serves 200 households and manages more than $125 million in assets. As an undergraduate at Minnesota State Mankato, Bennett looked to his Finance professor, the late Chan Lee for mentorship and career guidance.

MY FAVORITE PROF From offering good advice to giving students the push they need to succeed, good professors really do make a difference.

“Professor Lee was instrumental in getting me involved with the Twin Cities Chapter of the Financial Planning Association,” says Bennett. “Lee also organized a Financial Planning Club on campus that I joined and became an active member, serving as president of the club in my senior year at Mankato.”

Paul Bennett ’98 Finance

“I attribute [Lee] directly to my current position. I went down the path of being an independent financial advisor rather than going more corporate.”

In March 2020, in response to the spread of the Novel coronavirus, Minnesota State Mankato, along with institutions around the world, halted face-to-face learning and shifted classes online. It was an unprecedented move in extraordinary times. In the midst of uncertainty, many students from elementary to college looked to teachers for reassurance and guidance. And teachers stepped up.

If this worldwide pandemic has taught us anything, it’s the power and necessity of great educators. The dedicated team of professors and instructors within the College of Business are no exception.

In the spirit of celebrating teachers who make a difference, we asked a few COB alumni to share how their favorite professors left unforgettable marks on their lives and careers.

Lee reached outside the classroom and openly shared his professional connections with students. It was through those connections that Bennett learned how to network and where he made invaluable contacts that directly led to a successful career as an independent financial professional.

Omni’s Favorite Prof: Howard Miller

Omni Kiecker is pretty happy with the way things have turned out. She is married to her college sweetheart, who she met as an undergraduate at Minnesota State Mankato.

She is a mom to three kids and a solo attorney who spends every day helping others and doing what she loves. Back in 2002 though, Kiecker wasn’t so sure. Like many college seniors, she was uncertain about the right path to take. She consulted Professor Emeritus of Management Howard Miller for some advice.

“He took the time to listen to me, mentor and encourage,” she says. “He encouraged me to try for more if that is what I wanted.”

Omni Kiecker, Esq. ’02 Business Management— Human Resources; minor in Business Administration

Kiecker had been toying with the idea of taking the LSAT and applying to law school, but it all seemed so overwhelming. It would have been easier to just skip the test and hide out in her dorm room. After all, she already had a job offer lined up in banking.

But then, there was the nagging question of “what if?”

“Dr. Miller [told me], ‘this is a test, but it’s not pass or fail. You signed up, [so] take it and see how it goes,’” says Kiecker.

It was the push Kiecker needed. She took the test and wasn’t surprised when Miller followed up afterward. It was just the kind of professor he was. Later, he offered a letter of recommendation as Kiecker applied (and got in) to [Mitchell] Hamline School of Law. What if Miller hadn’t taken such an interest in his student’s life outside of the classroom?

What if he hadn’t listened so intently and encouraged Kiecker to go after her dream, even if she was feeling unsure? For Kiecker, it would mean a totally different life than the one she’s living and loving now.

“Had I not taken the LSAT that day, I would have accepted a job offer to be a banker in North Dakota,” she says. “I would have moved away from my husband who I was dating at that time. I would not have pursued a career in law. I’m really glad he motived me to be brave and not to be afraid to take chances.”

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MY FAVORITE PROF Lori’s Favorite Prof: Robert Zelin

Lori Grand entered college as a 30-year-old non-traditional student. Grand was the oldest in a family that didn’t really encourage college as the next logical step. When she finally decided to pursue an accounting degree at Minnesota State Mankato, she was determined to give it her all. One of her first courses was cost accounting with Professor Emeritus Robert Zelin.

“He took the subject matter and made it come to life,” she says. “He was personable and interested in whether we learned. He was super smart and creative in how he taught.”

All these years later, Grand still remembers Zelin’s LEGO demonstrations. Each student came to class with a LEGO set that made an airplane and a helicopter. He used the toys throughout his accounting courses to demonstrate efficiency, cost and dollar value.

Lori Grand ’99 Accounting and Business

“[As] a non-traditional student, he was invested in me,” Grand says. “We were similar ages, he understood that I had kids and other things [going on], but really he mentored me and was interested in my progress even after I didn’t have him for classes.”

Today, Grand is an accountant for a newspaper group. Before that she worked for a decade in one of Minnesota’s largest health care systems. She continues to apply lessons she learned from Zelin as she navigates complex systems and problems.

“I was very interested in knowing what all the costs were. I was actively interested,” she says. “[Zelin] taught me to be more inquisitive.”

Jason’s Favorite Prof: Abo-El-Yazeed Habib

Shortly after Jason Schilling passed his CPA exam, he was on campus for an alumni banquet. Schilling had purchased a tie to present to one of his favorite accounting professors, Abo-El-Yazeed Habib. But at the event, instead of presenting Habib with a new tie as planned, Schilling took off the one he was wearing and gave it to his professor.

“He thought that was the best thing ever,” Schilling recalls.

For Habib’s students, it’s become something of a ritual to gift ties to the notoriously difficult professor after they pass the CPA exam. For students like Schilling, it’s a way to say thank you to a professor who demands excellence and gets results.

Jason Schilling ’08 Accounting

“He was very tough,” says Schilling. “He never ‘required’ anyone to do homework but in class he’d call on you and expect you to know the material and explain yourself. It would be like a fear tactic. He would be disappointed any time the class didn't perform up to their potential on exams and would share with the class this disappointment. That’s how you’re going to become better is by working with people who expect the most out of you.”

MEET

PROFESSOR CHANDU VALLURI The College of Business’ new assistant professor of Marketing practices what he teaches.

Chandu Valluri joined the Marketing department at Minnesota State Mankato in 2019. He teaches professional selling and marketing communications.

The Indian-born Canadian brings an international flavor to the classroom—and to his other job as cofounder of an Indian-inspired food company called Infuzn Foods LLC. One of the motivating factors that led to the launch of the company was Valluri’s desire to be able to teach better.

“I didn’t want to be teaching out of a textbook. I wanted to teach from experience, and I felt being on the entrepreneurial journey would give me a lot of experience that I could potentially impart to students as they worked through their career trajectory,” he says.

Valluri heads up sales and marketing for Infuzn, which focuses on ready-to-eat meals as well as innovating new and exciting Indian-inspired food products for grocery stores and co-ops.

The Pine Island, Minnesota-based company launched in 2016 and has been growing steadily. Today, Infuzn also offers a fresh meal delivery service, Infuzn2Go, that prepares and delivers homestyle meals to more than 16 communities in and around Rochester, Minnesota. The company also does corporate catering for area organizations.

ways to do more with less. In a perfect world you have everything available, but very seldom does that happen. [You have to] constantly think about reinventing yourself. Knowing when and why to pivot … and constantly looking at ways in which you can develop [new] skills.”

In early April, Infuzn had a chance to make a positive pivot.

The company launched a successful GoFundMe campaign to provide 1,000 pounds of ready-to-eat meals to people in need throughout the Rochester area, surrounding communities and Mankato during the COVID-19 shutdowns. In May, Infuzn partnered with Campus Cupboard to feed students in need.

A Culture of Sales One of Valluri’s areas of expertise is the world of sales. In fact, one of the reasons he was hired on at Minnesota State Mankato was to reinvigorate the once-strong sales culture led by the late John Kuzma, former professor of Marketing and International Business and director of the Center for Sales Excellence.

“One of the reasons we were so excited to hire Chandu was his focus in marketing analytics, including customer relationship and sales analytics,” says Dean Brenda Flannery. “Chandu is a ‘modern’ sales scholar who understands that the future of sales includes technology and analytics without cutting short the focus on customer delight and relationships.”

During the fall semester of 2019, Valluri, along with student Dhaval Bhakta, helped launch a student sales organization designed to introduce students to sales management and professional selling. Members have been meeting with regional companies and diving deep into sales opportunities in the area.

While some of the in-person tours have been on hold for the spring semester, Valluri is hopeful the necessary seeds have been sown to grow a robust culture of sales on campus.

Valluri, who commutes to Mankato from his home in Rochester, where he lives with his wife and two young children, has been able to bring his entrepreneurial experiences into the “That could mean the growth of the sales club [and/or] the classroom. Many of those lessons translate well to our current growth of a sales curriculum,” he says. “I’d love to see our business climate. students compete in more sales competitions in the years to follow, and I’d like to enable our students to have exposure to “Every business operates under constraint,” he says. “As an various sales organizations.” entrepreneur and an individual you have to look at innovative

It’s a lesson Schilling has carried into his own career as a CPA manager at the Twin Cities firm, Cummings, Keegan and Co. “Accounting is a pretty technical field, and his way of teaching concepts I still use today.

It just translates really well to the professional world.”

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A N D T H E AWA R D G O E S T O

KRISTIN SCOTT,

MARKETING

OVERALL HIGH-IMPACT LEADER Nominating Chair: Ann Kuzma

AND THE AWARD

GOES TO...

Welcome to the first College of Business high-impact learning awards. Chairs across the college nominated faculty members who excel in creating and facilitating high-impact experiences for their students. The results are in, and the award goes to…

Associate professor of Marketing Kristin Scott joined the College of Business in 2009, fresh out of her Ph.D. program at Oklahoma State University. “She is, in my opinion, the best kind of educator,” says Marketing Chair Ann Kuzma. “Her courses are active, teambased and incorporate real-world learning experiences which we know are critical to successful business education programs.”

It’s hard to find a high-impact experience Scott hasn’t been involved in—from advising the Marketing Club during her first year on faculty to acting as faculty chair for the College’s flagship high-impact program, the United Prairie Bank Integrated Business Experience. Amid her accomplishments, there’s a common thread:

Scott connects students with the community…

“One of the first courses that she taught in our program was Promotional Strategy, now referred to as Integrated Marketing Communications,” says Kuzma. “She went out into the community and located a small business that was willing to open its doors to our students. Groups of six students each worked together to develop promotional strategies for the business, which they then presented to the client. Students learned team-building skills as well as developing an understanding of what is involved in working with an actual business. She has continued to refine this teaching experience and recruits a new client every time she teaches this course.

Students consistently identify this course as one of the most valuable in our program.”

…and with the world.

Scott has led the Fair-Trade Study Tour to Belize since first developing and obtaining funding for it in 2013. While in Belize her students get a crash course in international business practices and fair-trade operations. For many, it can be life changing.

KRISTIN WOULD BE MOST LIKELY TO GRACE THE COVER OF GREEN LIVING MAGAZINE BECAUSE SHE HAS A STRONG RESEARCH INTEREST IN SUSTAINABILITY.

BY SA R A H ASP OL S ON

Kristin has stated that the thread that runs through her research and scholarly activity is the desire to help consumers live better lives. I believe that a similar thread runs through her teaching and commitment to her students.

—Ann Kuzma

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A N D T H E AWA R D G O E S T O

KATHY RICHIE,

MANAGEMENT

LEON CHEN,

FINANCE

BEST LEADER BY EXAMPLE

BEST USE OF SIMULATION & REAL-WORLD DATA

Nominating Chair: Kathy Dale

Nominating Chair: Joe Reising

“A good Management professor helps students develop their interpersonal and leadership skills. One way they do this is to lead by example in their willingness to take on leadership roles within the department, college, university or community,” says Management Chair Kathy Dale. “Kathy Richie has been a true leader within the department of Management.”

Richie leads in learning online…

Richie, an assistant professor of Management, earned her Ph.D. online and comes to the college with a wealth of industry experience. She did much of the heavy lifting for MavBiz Online, the new all-online Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree completion program. The program opens the College of Business’ doors to a whole new audience of working adult learners not currently served by traditional programs.

…and in the classroom.

Richie is also the best kind of leader for her face-to-face students. “She expects integrity in student work and demands quality,” says Dale. “Kathy seems to practice what I call the three Fs of teaching: she is friendly, firm and fair with students.”

Through simulations, reflection journaling and innovative instruction, Richie leads students through complex material, ensuring they engage and understand whether online or face-to-face.

OUT OF ALL THE PEOPLE IN THE MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT, KATHY HAS THE BEST LAUGH. KATHY WOULD BE MOST LIKELY TO GRACE THE COVER OF TECH WORLD MAGAZINE IN AN ARTICLE ABOUT PUTTING AN ENTIRE DEGREE PROGRAM ONLINE.

With her broad level of industry and educational experience, Kathy is able to teach a variety of courses within Management. Aside from teaching, her strong work ethic has carried her through the many challenges of starting a unique, new program. Kathy is tenacious.

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A good Finance professor offers clear explanations on difficult concepts, keeps updated on industry and academic developments, engages students in the classroom and treats all students with fairness and respect. This describes Leon Chen to a T. The professor of Finance joined the College of Business in 2010 and teaches courses in corporate finance and insurance.

“He is an active researcher and publishes in very strong academic journals,” says Finance Chair Joe Reising. “He then brings his insights from that research and his understanding of the financial markets to the classroom. He believes in active engagement with students. One of his research projects focused on an interactive game designed to boost student learning of a challenging concept.”

Chen makes meaningful connections with students…

Chen engages students in real-world scenarios through real-world data and games that simulate venture capital and insurance markets. Students have fun while learning and often laugh and talk about the results with Chen and each other during class.

…even when they’re not together.

As the entire University transitioned online in spring 2020, Chen has been committed to staying connected to his students through Zoom meetings and email office hours.

IN HIGH SCHOOL, I BET YOU ANYTHING LEON SAT AT THE STUDY TABLE (WHICH, IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT, REALLY IS THE COOL TABLE).

LEON IS MOST LIKELY TO GRACE THE COVER OF PARENTS MAGAZINE BECAUSE HE RECENTLY WELCOMED HIS SECOND CHILD.

Teaching excellence engages students with the material and motivates active learning to deepen their understanding of the material.

It opens doors to new ideas and lays the foundation for critical thinking.

—Joe Reising

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A N D T H E AWA R D G O E S T O

FACULTY LEADER:

SEAN FINGLAND,

ACCOUNTING

OUTSTANDING REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCE Nominating Chair: Steven Johnson Seasoned accountant, curler, Canadian. There are a lot of ways to describe assistant professor of Accounting Sean Fingland. Among his colleagues in the Accounting department, outstanding educator tops the list.

“Sean is an excellent faculty member for so many reasons,” says Accounting Chair Steven Johnson.

“He is student-centered, which shows consistently in his student evaluations and comments to the chair. He is supportive of other faculty, willing to help in whatever way he can. He is always a positive, helpful and an influential role model in the department.”

Fingland understands the real world…

As an accountant with decades of professional experience in the corporate world, Fingland is able to seamlessly integrate real-world learning into his online and face-to-face courses. He shines in his ability to simplify complex concepts and help students understand how to apply them to real-world situations.

…and knows how to use it in the classroom.

“Sean embraces technology and uses it often in both his face-to-face and online classes,” says Johnson. “In addition, he takes great interest in student learning opportunities and in making sure that he does everything in his power to prepare students for future academic studies and their careers.”

SEAN IS MOST LIKELY IN THE ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT TO BE THE SKIPPER ON AN OLYMPIC CURLING TEAM.

CLAUDIA PRAGMAN For the past 28 years, Management professor Claudia Pragman’s goal has been to use the best tools available to explain quantitative materials effectively. And while her philosophy remains the same, the tools at her disposal have changed dramatically.

“When I first started teaching, we did not have any hybrid or online options,” she says. “You prepared the lesson from the point of view of trying to be as clear as possible and practicing those skills.”

In the mid-2000s, as recording technologies improved and student access to online tools increased, Pragman was there on the forefront. She recalls going into an empty classroom and recording lectures in front of a ceiling-mounted camera.

She would also use the document camera to record as she hand wrote problems. She’d post these tutorials online for students to reference throughout the semester.

“I found out that recording things where the students could watch them online and pause them if they needed to or rewatch it if they were stuck on something was really kind of an advantage for what I was trying to do,” Pragman says.

one of the developers of the new MavBiz Online program and teaches both MBA and undergraduate operations management classes entirely online. And she’s always willing to share her knowledge with colleagues.

“Dr. Pragman was one of the first faculty to achieve Quality Matters certification,” says Brenda Flannery, Dean of the College of Business. “She is an early (and extremely competent) adopter of online learning pedagogies and technology tools. In many ways she’s been a scout for us—seeing, testing and evaluating the future of online.

We have leaned on her to provide faculty training on online teaching for the whole College.”

This spring, Pragman was able to use her tech-savvy skills to guide the College through the transition to online learning during COVID-19.

Pragman continues to operate on the cutting edge of online pedagogy within the College of Business. She was

WE ASKED PRAGMAN TO GIVE US A WINDOW INTO WHO SHE IS IN AND OUTSIDE OF THE COLLEGE OF BUSINESS. HERE’S WHAT SHE SAID. If I wasn’t a teacher, I would be working at a grocery store. I’m a foodie and the produce section and cooking is one of my hobbies.

SEAN WOULD BE MOST LIKELY TO GRACE THE COVER OF CURLING ACCOUNTANTS MAGAZINE BECAUSE, WELL, THERE JUST AREN’T MANY OTHERS WHO COULD.

Sean has been proactive in his approach to student engagement and has done an excellent job in communicating expectations during this time of uncertainty, but also in being compassionate and understanding when students need it most.

—Steven Johnson

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My favorite spot on campus is near the union fountain in the fall. There is a burning bush, a huge shrub and the fall colors are awesome.

My most embarrassing teaching moment. This happened within the last few years. I teach an MBA night class and I usually have a cup of coffee or some water. I chose to bring a carbonated lemon water. I was getting ready to start class, and we were talking. I decided to take the cap off the bottle. I ended up having a fountain that hosed me and the floor. It got the desk and everything.

I’m proud of my students when they get it and when they do well— when they have that aha moment. Especially if they’ve struggled with something.

One thing that people might not know about me is I’m a serious home cook. I’ve also gotten into cookie baking recently.

I’m staying sane while quarantined by going for walks in the neighborhood and learning to shop for groceries online.

Open my fridge and you’ll always find butter, Manchego cheese, produce and V8 juice.

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TEACHING FORWARD

It took Michael Martin about three months into his first teaching job at the University of Wisconsin—Eau Claire to abandon all thought of a career in city management and pursue academia full time.

“I was just finishing my master’s at Minnesota State Mankato, and I got a call out of the blue to see if I wanted to fill in at the last minute [for] an instructor who left them eight days before the semester was to begin,” Martin recalls. “Since I had yet to land a job as an assistant city manager, it seemed like a great adventure.”

It was a bit of good luck that led Martin to the academic life, but it’s passion that has kept him there for 48 years. Over the course of his career in higher education, Martin has worked as a professor and administrator at colleges and universities all over the country. He is currently president of Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers.

What makes Martin’s rise through the academic ranks all the more remarkable? He’s a firstgeneration college student.

Two College of Business alumni reflect on careers in higher ed and what they learned about teaching and leadership during their years at Minnesota State Mankato.

Teaching takes passion and dedication. It takes perseverance and creativity. But first and foremost, it takes that one (or more) teacher to light a spark and pass the torch to the next generation. College of Business alumni and career academics Shane Corwin and Michael Martin reflect on the teachers who shaped their lives and careers—and how they continue to pay forward a passion for education.

Some teachers are born, others are made. For Shane Corwin, it’s a little bit of both.

“My path to academia was definitely not a straight one. Instead, a series of seemingly unrelated decisions and events led me to a career that is a great fit for me,” says Corwin.

“When I finally decided to pursue a Ph.D., one of my best friends from high school said ‘I always knew you’d be a teacher.’ I guess he saw it before I did.”

It may not have been a straight path to the classroom, but it was one lined with mentors who encouraged Corwin to find his passion and pursue it. As an undergraduate, Corwin left South Dakota State University where he was studying engineering and transferred to Minnesota State Mankato to pursue finance.

He eventually entered the MBA program, where he got his first taste of teaching.

Shane Corwin ’90, MBA ’92 Professor of Finance and Faculty Director, Notre Dame Institute for Global Investing HARRY PUSHED ME REALLY HARD IN CLASS AND EVENTUALLY BECAME MY MASTER’S THESIS ADVISOR. HE WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT INFLUENCE IN MY DECISION TO PURSUE A PH.D. —SHANE CORWIN

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“The management department asked me to teach an introductory business concepts course to freshmen. This was a new experience for me and something I found both very challenging and very rewarding,” Corwin says.

At the same time, Corwin was working as a research assistant for the Vice President of University Operations. The combination of teaching and research gave him a window into what it might be like to work as a professor.

All he needed was a bit of a push from trusted faculty members.

“In the end, it was the encouragement of two particular professors that had the most significant impact on my career path,” he recalls. “The first was Professor Brendan Coleman, who taught me business communications as an undergraduate and again as an MBA student. Professor Coleman was the first person to suggest to me that I should consider a career in academics. The second is Professor Harry Thiewes. Harry pushed me really hard in class and eventually became my master’s thesis advisor. He was the most important influence in my decision to pursue a Ph.D and encouraged me to apply to Ohio State, where I eventually earned my doctorate. Harry’s mentoring and friendship have had a lasting impact on me.”

Corwin didn’t enter college thinking he’d become a life-long academic, but “it has been the perfect career for me,” he says. “Success in this field requires you to excel in both teaching and research, and I love both.”

Martin was raised in small-town Crosby, Minnesota by a mining family. He grew up with great respect for hard-working people, no matter their level of education. While his work ethic was intact when he got to Minnesota State Mankato, he felt a bit out of his element at first.

Michael Martin ’69, MBA ’71 President, Florida Gulf Coast University

“I didn’t have what many people have—that initial comfort with being a college student,” he says. “A number of faculty members … kind of took some responsibility for helping me navigate and ultimately succeed at Mankato. I’m not sure I would have made it without their help. They had a profound impact on helping me envision what a college education was and what it could be to me.”

One faculty member in particular, Arnie Wells, encouraged Martin to stick it out when things got rough. He eventually became a mentor for a young Martin as he stepped behind the lectern in his early teaching career.

I REGULARLY STOP AND REFLECT BACK ON HOW FORTUNATE I WAS TO CROSS PATHS WITH SOME GREAT FACULTY MEMBERS WHO HELPED ME SUCCEED AND IN TURN BECAME MODELS AND MENTORS TO ME. —MICHAEL MARTIN

“[He] was the perfect example of what I thought a great faculty member ought to be,” says Martin. “When I finally got the chance to be one myself, not only did I appreciate [Wells and others] helping me get there, but they became the role models I was trying to emulate.”

At this point, Martin has spent more years in a university setting than out of it, but he’s never forgotten what it feels like to enter college feeling like a fish out of water and how support and care from faculty can make or break the experience. To this day, Martin attends firstgeneration student rallies at FGCU, proudly sporting his first-gen shirt.

“I regularly stop and reflect back on how fortunate I was to cross paths with some great faculty members who helped me succeed and in turn became models and mentors to me,” he says. “At FGCU we have a very high proportion of first-generation students. I want them to know you can become the president of a university even if no one in your family had ever gone to college.”

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Internships at Home With stay-at-home orders put in place beginning in March 2020, companies are figuring out how to move forward. In some cases internships have been transitioned online, while others have been cancelled or postponed. We asked Samantha Campa how staying at home has affected interns and what the College of Business is doing to help.

What has COVID-19 meant for the Stangler Internship Initiative? Because the Stangler Initiative’s training modules are all online, the COVID-19 situation has not impacted the training delivery. In fact, this is a great time for students to complete the online modules and build their professional skills remotely. We are pleased that students are still taking advantage of the online trainings.

How have quarantines and closures impacted internships in general? The College has been working with each student on a case-by-case basis to ensure they can earn the credits they registered for even if their internship hours were cut short. Some companies have been suspending summer internships and others are planning virtual internships. Our office and the University’s Career Development Center are offering services virtually to help students find and apply for internships even through the pandemic.

READY FOR THE

What can students continue to do to ensure future success? We recommend that students try to stay positive and not give up. Companies are still hiring, so students should keep applying for opportunities, though they may need to broaden their search to companies, fields and geographic areas they hadn’t considered before. They should also look for ways to develop their skills outside of internships, whether through the Stangler Internship Initiative, graduate programs, LinkedIn Learning courses or even part-time jobs. And as always, they should ask us—and their network—for help when they need it.

REAL WORLD The new Stangler Internship Initiative provides comprehensive internship training and development to both students and employers.

LinkedIn recently released its 2019 Global Talent Trends survey.

The survey, based on feedback from more than 5,000 talent professionals, outlines four trends transforming workplaces worldwide. Which trend topped the list? Soft skills.

A full 92 percent of talent professionals say soft skills like adaptability, time management and collaboration matter more than hard skills when it comes to successful hiring.

Often, though, soft skills are learned over time and through trial and error on the job—something brand new business graduates may lack.

The College of Business recently launched the Stangler Internship Initiative, a program designed to equip students with many of these vital soft skills before sending them off to their first professional internships.

“Our students’ coursework does a great job preparing them for the work they will be doing in accounting, finance, human resources, marketing, management, international business and 34 / C OLLEGE OF BUSIN ES S I N R E V I E W

more,” says Samantha Campa, Stangler Internship Initiative designer and director. “However, some skills that end up being essential for their professional success just aren’t taught in the curriculum. These skills include using your network to find internship opportunities, writing a professional email or wearing the right thing on a casual Friday.”

Student Modules Campa’s expertise as an experiential education specialist is on full display throughout the Stangler Internship Initiative training modules for students. The fully online training is interactive and intentionally designed to mirror professional development tools students may someday see in the workplace.

Students work their way through six modules covering oral communication, problem solving, written communication, Microsoft Excel, office etiquette and interpersonal skills. Each section also includes an introduction video by a regional employer offering real-life context for the clearly outlined learning objectives.

By the end of the training, students know how to address a company email, how to actively and respectfully participate in meetings, what constitutes appropriate small talk and so much more.

“I have woven experiential tenets into the online training, so what students get is not just a passive training but an interactive and reflective opportunity to build their knowledge and put it into practice right away,” says Campa.

Employer Workshops The best internships are, of course, a two-way street. Students gain real-world experience and build professional networks while employers receive high-quality short-term work and access to a talent pipeline.

While student modules prepare new interns for workplace success, the Stangler employer workshops and consultations equip employers to offer attractive and meaningful internship experiences with a high return on investment. So far, attendee evaluations have been overwhelmingly positive.

“Employers especially value the information and template handouts on recruiting and onboarding interns,” says Campa. “We have had attendees take what they learned at our workshop back to their company, shape an internship position and then work with us to recruit students for that position, which is very rewarding.”

The Stangler Internship Initiative was made possible through a generous donation by Curt ’68 and Julie Stangler.

“This equation only works when both students and employers are prepared, and that is why we decided to focus on both parties,” says Campa.

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INTERN GOLD

OUR INTERNS SHINE ON CAMPUS AND OFF.

CONNOR WURM ’22

RAISSA TOURE ’20

MAJOR: ACCOUNTING COMPANY: EIDE BAILLY TITLE: TAX INTERN

MAJOR: ACCOUNTING AND CORPORATE FINANCE COMPANY: ATWOOD PROPERTY MANAGEMENT TITLE: ACCOUNTING INTERN

What does this internship mean to you?

This internship means a lot to me because it shows that if you put your mind to something, you can make it happen.

What is one thing you learned in this internship that you will carry into your next professional experience?

Just be yourself! Don’t worry about what other people are doing, and don’t be too critical of yourself.

What are your career goals after graduation?

To get my CPA and to work for a CPA firm.

LEXANDRA SCHOPER ’20 MAJOR: BUSINESS MANAGEMENT AND HR MANAGEMENT COMPANY: CRYSTAL VALLEY TITLE: HUMAN RESOURCES INTERN

What does this internship mean to you?

I am overjoyed with this internship opportunity. Crystal Valley is a great company and has even better employees. I will have the opportunity to work alongside and learn from a highly skilled and motivated HR team.

Where did you find your internship?

Last spring, I took a course called Agribusiness in the Modern Economy and ended up loving it. This course opened my eyes to how many opportunities there are within the Ag industry.

Following this course, I reached out to Crystal Valley asking about internship opportunities.

What are your career goals after graduation?

I would love to find a recruiting position or a position within HR. I am open to any opportunities that arise. My ultimate goal is to find a position that I am truly passionate about and a company I can help grow and be successful.

Communication Major, Marketing Minor “Being a part of the Communications team for the COB gave me an amazing real-world experience upon graduation. My major was Communication Studies with a minor in Marketing, and this team was the perfect place to practice what I was learning in the classroom.

I gained confidence talking in front of others, writing professional emails and being an overall professional. Without this opportunity and the chance to get real-world experience, I would not feel as prepared and confident in entering the workforce as I do now.”

MEET THE

COMMS TEAM

MADDI OINES ’20 What does this internship mean to you?

Getting an internship is a good way of getting real-world work experience. It helps you build a network, and it is also a good way of making money during the summer.

What is one thing you learned in this internship that you will carry into your next professional experience?

I learned a lot, but I will say that one of the most important things was critical thinking. To not only answer the question but also try to answer why the question was asked.

What are your career goals after graduation?

To complete my master’s degree in Accounting and to take the CPA exam.

JOE KINER ’20 MAJOR: CORPORATE FINANCE AND BUSINESS MANAGEMENT COMPANY: SMITH’S MEDICAL TITLE: FINANCE INTERN

What does this internship mean to you?

Having an internship was very important to me because I wanted to be able to apply my knowledge learned in school to the real world. It was also important to me because I know that companies want to see that you have experience in your field before they hire you for a full-time job.

What is one thing you learned in this internship that you will carry into your next professional experience?

Always ask questions. The fastest and most efficient way to learn something is from somebody who already knows about the topic.

I could spend hours trying to figure something out on my own or I could ask somebody and have my question answered in 15 minutes.

What are your career goals after graduation?

I plan to continue my education by obtaining my master’s degree.

My career goal is to work for a well-respected company and further my knowledge in the finance field.

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LAUREN KAUFMAN ’20

Marketing Major “Working as a part of the College of Business Communications team helped me grow in all aspects related to my marketing degree. The lessons, knowledge and real-world experiences I gained throughout my role are invaluable and will continue to help me as I embark on future careers. As a marketing and social media assistant, I got to take a hands-on approach with real-time marketing projects. The fact that our work was not just classroom related but was actually live and in the real business world pushed me to learn quickly and build skills not taught in the curriculum. Jen was an outstanding leader, teacher, mentor and boss throughout my experience with the COB, and thanks to her guidance, I feel prepared to enter the workforce.”

KAYLA ROGEBERG ’20 Marketing Major “The experience I had working with the Communications team for the College of Business was far beyond anything I could have learned in the classroom. Whether we were working on marketing campaigns or executing events, I learned how to juggle strict deadlines, successfully work in a team and grow in confidence throughout my experience.

While the classroom provides a foundation of knowledge, this position takes that knowledge and applies it to real-world scenarios. My time working at the College of Business has been nothing short of amazing, and I hope to take the skills this experience has taught me and use them going forth in my career.”

From left: Lauren Kaufman, Jen Cucurullo, Maddie Oines and Kayla Rogeberg

The College of Business Communication department is made up of a single staff member, director Jen Cucurullo. But she doesn’t do it alone. For the past 2 years, students Lauren Kaufman, Kayla Rogeberg and Maddi Oines have been the powerhouse intern trio behind social media campaigns, events, videos and student-facing communication.

“This team is essential to the success of all things marketing and communication in the College of Business,” says Cucurullo. “They are getting hands on experience and it’s exciting to see them grow in their positions and use the skills that they learn in classes. For me, they are an inspiration. Their ideas are fresh and trendy, and the energy that they bring to the job is captivating and contagious.”

All three comms team members graduated last May. On behalf of the College of Business and the In Review staff, we’d like to offer a huge thank you and extend best wishes as they venture into their next chapters.

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Henze Ag Innovator: Nick Tanguay Nick Tanguay, a junior economics major, discovered the Henze Ag Innovators Leadership Development program at a job and internship fair on campus last fall. He was there looking for a part-time job when he walked over to Shane Bowyer’s booth.

AGRIBUSINESS ON THE RISE

“I had never seen an opportunity like that through campus,” he says. “I applied to it right away—it was a no-brainer.”

Tanguay’s brother works in the agribusiness sector, so he was familiar with some of the opportunities available in the region. His two semesters—one in person and one virtual—have given him a broader foundation and understanding of what’s out there.

The program also gave him a leg up when applying for an internship.

Minnesota State Mankato and the College of Business continue to focus on ag.

On March 24, to kick off National Ag week, a group of Minnesota Agribusiness leaders led by GreenSeam released Minnesota’s first State of Ag report. The report draws on five regional focus groups wherein agribusiness leaders talked about what is going well and what needs improvement within the sector.

Overall, the response was positive and “members of southern Greater Minnesota business communities remain optimistic about their prospective vitality,” says Sam Ziegler, GreenSeam director.

One of the biggest takeaways, though, was a current and anticipated talent shortage across sectors.

“When you look at it, 87 percent of the respondents were concerned,” says Shane Bowyer, assistant professor of Management and director of the AgriBusiness & Food Innovation Program. “There’s concern about how we keep attracting [students] and how we keep them here … to fill those open positions.”

To answer the concern, Bowyer has been hard at work connecting students with careers in agribusiness through a number of programs and initiatives within the College of Business.

The Daryl and Karyl Henze Student Ag Innovators Program Last fall, the College of Business launched the Henze Ag Innovators Leadership Development Program, made possible by a donation from Daryl ’65 and Karyl Henze. The goal was to attract a diverse group of students with an interest in agribusiness.

Fifteen students were accepted into the program this year. They came from the College of Business as well as from programs outside the College, like engineering, data science and economics.

“I had applied to the internship at Land ‘O Lakes, and the recruiter had gotten back to me pretty fast and I was excited about it,” he says.

Throughout the fall semester students were able to take part in hands-on experiences as planned. They toured Cargill and Land O’Lakes and participated in conferences sponsored

by AgriGrowth and GreenSeam. While tours and in-person meetings were halted in the spring due to coronavirus, students continued to explore careers in ag virtually and were able to wrap up the year with a Zoom call with the Henzes.

Before his phone interview, the Henze Ag students arrived at Land ‘O Lakes for a visit—and guess who was their tour guide?

“It just happened to be the person who emailed was also the person showing us the tour,” says Tanguay.

“It was a perfect opportunity to meet the person who was going to be interviewing me.”

Building Connections Around Ag For the past two years, Bowyer has been participating in the Minnesota Agriculture and Rural Leadership (MARL) program.

Through MARL, he’s digging deep into the ag sector and bringing that knowledge back to students.

Tanguay got the job and will start his all-virtual internship in supply chain management this summer.

Overall, he’s glad for the opportunities the Henze Ag Innovators Leadership Development program provided him. His favorite part, though, has to be the people.

The MARL group, mostly made up of farmers and ag leaders, has traveled once per month around the state, spent one week in Washington, D.C., and at the end of February 2020, traveled to Cambodia and Taiwan to better understand international agribusiness practices.

“The students in the Henze Ag program were [all different] majors and there’s a lot of diversity,” he says. “You get to bounce ideas off of them about future opportunities and you get to learn more about different people.”

“It’s been an incredible experience to learn from people in the industry and then connect our students,” he says.

In fact, Bowyer used the MARL group as a template for the Henze Ag Innovators Leadership Development program, where students took monthly field trips to network with leaders in the sector. He’s also leveraged his MARL connections to bring students to agricultural conferences and make introductions.

Another highlight for Tanguay was meeting the Henzes. Toward the end of the spring semester, the group hopped on a Zoom call with the program’s benefactors and got to hear the Henzes’ passion for student success and share their own successes.

“It’s helped develop the network and get the word out about what Minnesota State Mankato is doing around agriculture.”

“It was really awesome to meet the people who made the entire program possible,” says Tanguay.

“We told them all the opportunities that came about [because of] the program and you could tell they were happy.”

From top: Shane Bowyer with students at the Agrigrowth Summit 2019, students at Land-O-Lakes, students at Prouty Project in Eden Prairie and students at Cargill.

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A TOTALLY

NEW CHALLENGE This year’s Big Ideas Challenge took place entirely online, with great success.

On April 14, the College of Business’ annual Big Ideas Challenge drew a crowd of more than 200 participants and audience members—the biggest in its six-year history. But instead of packing into Ostrander Auditorium as in years past, Big Ideas 2020 took place over a live Zoom meeting.

It was a challenge to be sure, but one all the entrepreneurs, mentors, judges and production team were willing to take on. Yvonne Cariveau, director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, led a team that included the University’s Accessibility Resources department, which took care of live captioning and sign language interpreting.

“When we asked [our mentors, judges and finalists] if they were up for going online with Big Ideas this year, they were resilient and up for anything—true entrepreneurs,” says Cariveau.

At 2 p.m., the Zoom room went live, and emcee Emmanuel Adeyemi welcomed the crowd.

“Hello, everyone. How’s everyone doing today? We’re going to have a great time!”

Adeyemi went around the horn and introduced each of the six teams, who had a second or two to wave and say hello to judges and spectators. He also had some instructions for the audience.

“We can’t see everyone; we cannot hear you. But if you click on the raise hand icon, we’ll know you’re showing support for the finalists today and that you’re cheering them on.”

Adeyemi also introduced the judges, including Craig and Pat Lloyd, sponsors and cofounders of the event who were able to attend live from their home in Florida.

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Once the Challenge was underway, in many ways it felt a lot like Big Ideas of the past, but there were some necessary changes to the process.

For starters, the judges had already selected a winner by the time the competition went live. Instead of deliberating on the spot, judges reviewed the finalists’ business plans and video presentations and virtually interviewed each team in the weeks leading up to the event. The only prize still up for grabs was the audience favorite—voted on through a live poll during the event.

Another notable change: instead of preparing a live presentation, finalists created videos, some with the help of Minnesota State Mankato alum and Social Butterfly founder, Brandon Poliszuk, that showcased their products.

Students Pivot and Shine This year’s group of finalists featured a company devoted to ridding your lakeshore of unwanted weeds, a product to scratch your dog when you’re away, a lawncare company, a new product to help individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, and a shopping platform featuring products from Africa. The ag, food and beverage category had just one finalist: Downed Duck, a remote-controlled hunting aid used to retrieve ducks off the water.

After the event, each finalist team broke out into Zoom rooms where audience members could log on and ask questions or just celebrate each participant’s success.

Winner Logan Sendle, joined by his mentor Sarah Richards from Jones Metal, admitted he was hesitant at first about taking his pitch online.

“I’m an in-person kind of guy, so I was nervous about doing this,” he says. “It’s been a learning curve.”

“You did a great job with it,” Richards interjected. “Your passion came through.”

In Times Like These In business and in life, change is constant. That’s never been more evident than during this unprecedented time in our history.

“In times like this, we need innovative thinkers,” Cariveau told the virtual audience gathered to support and cheer on (via the hand raise button) this year’s Big Ideas Challenge finalists.

“This current situation has highlighted that it’s not the space that makes the community; it’s all of us staying connected.”

As for second place: “The judges were so happy with the next two finalists that they decided to award two second place prizes—a first in the six-year history of Big Ideas Challenge,” says Cariveau.

Second Place winners were Hearing Glasses and Csizmadia Lawn Care, who each received $2,500. The agriculture, food and beverage division prize, $3,000 sponsored by All American Foods went to Jared Klingenberg of Downed Duck.

This article originally appeared in Minnesota State Mankato's TODAY magazine.

Maggie Knier has for the past several years run a small business, 2True Headbands, from her Mankato home near campus making unique, long-lasting headbands and selling them online. The Minnesota State Mankato graduate actually won the school’s annual entrepreneur award, the Big Ideas Challenge, in 2019.

Shortly after the coronavirus pandemic hit and the use of face masks became widespread, Knier heard of healthcare workers wearing headbands similar to hers but with buttons attached to prevent face mask straps from chafing ears. And she heard more were in demand.

It was like ‘Hey, I can make that,’” she said. “I already have hundreds of headbands made. I have a bunch of buttons…” and a new product was born to her line of production.

“The button is on the headband right where the ear is, so you loop the elastic of the band over the button and then it’s attached to the button instead of the ears,” Knier said.

After all six videos followed by a few words from Cariveau and Dean Brenda Flannery, the winners were announced: Logan Sendle, with his business LakeShore Potential won First Place for $5,000. Sendle also took home the People’s Choice for an additional $2,000.

MAGGIE MAKES MASKS

This current situation has highlighted that it’s not the space that makes the community; it’s all of us staying connected.

By Joe Tougas Knier, who walked away with the 2019 Big Ideas Challenge grand prize, has taken her 2TrueHeadbands business to the next level making face masks and redesigning her signature headbands to relieve pressure on the ears of mask-wearers. Knier graduated in 2020 and gave the College of Business' student commencement address—virtually, of course.

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RESEARCH AWARD RECIPIENTS ANNOUNCED The College of Business Research Committee is pleased to announce the 2020-21 Research Award recipients.

Dr. Leon Chen

Dr. Oksana Kim

Project title: Making Financing and Investing Decisions with Asymmetric Information—A Classroom Simulation Game

Project title: Auditors’ Response to Economic Sanctions: The Case of Russia

Department of Finance

One key teaching area of an introductory or intermediate undergraduate finance course is on the concepts of debt and equity and the valuation problems based on their risk and return characteristics. This paper first introduces a classroom-based simulation game that can help students reinforce these concepts through an interactive experience. The second purpose of the paper is to use the game as an experimental tool to shed light on the corporate capital structure decision with asymmetric information. In corporate finance, the problem of firm capital structure is still intensely debated. It starts with Modigliani and Miller (1958) capital structure irrelevance proposition under perfect market conditions. However, the market penalizes the issuance of equity if managers know more about the firm than other market participants, and thus equity issuance should be used as the last resort (pecking order theory). Since the empirical evidence is mixed and limited, the results of the simulation game can potentially offer additional insights.

Dr. Angela Titi Amayah Department of Management

Project title: The Role of Indigenous Knowledge in Indigenous Entrepreneurship

Indigenous knowledge is local knowledge aggregated by communities over generations, reflecting many years of experimentation and innovation in all aspects of life (Mehta, Alter, Semali, & Maretzki, 2013). Indigenous knowledge is local, particular to a place, and generated by people living in those places (Ellen & Harris, 2000). It is transmitted orally or through imitation and demonstration and is the consequence of practical engagement in everyday life where it is reinforced by experience, trial and error, and deliberate experiment. Indigenous entrepreneurship can be understood as the creation, management and development of new ventures by indigenous people for the benefit of indigenous people (Lindsay, 2005, p. 1). Indigenous entrepreneurs represent a significant proportion of the population in developing countries. Those indigenous entrepreneurs usually operate in the informal sector of the economy. Indigenous entrepreneurs generate innovations from resources that abound in their environment (Gupta et al., 2003). Data will be gathered from indigenous entrepreneurs through interviews to examine and better understand the role of indigenous knowledge, values, languages and institutions in indigenous entrepreneurship, innovation and enterprise development.

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Department of Accounting and Business Law

This study will extend the literature on the role of political risk in audit pricing by exploring the economic sanctions of 2014 imposed by the Western community on Russia. The sanctions predominantly targeted Russian companies with state ownership: the study predicts that post 2014, audit fees increased in the case of Russian stateowned companies, as those firms became riskier to auditors post sanctions. The Russian government responded to sanctions by encouraging Russian companies to terminate their audits conducted by firms with foreign capital and/or foreign partnerships, namely Big Four auditing firms. We hypothesize that Big Four auditing firms would adjust their fees by offering services at a discount in order to retain lucrative contracts with leading Russian companies and not to lose their market share. For centuries, economic and political sanctions have been used as a measure to discipline states that adopt policies violating international obligations and endangering core community values. While the intended goal of sanctions is to impose severe economic hardship in the target country, researchers have expressed doubts regarding the effectiveness of sanctions in bringing about anticipated political and economic responses in the target nation. The findings of our study will be timely, given that sanctions imposed on Russia are still in place and several additional waves of sanctions were added recently.

Dr. Shane Bowyer Department of Management

Project title: Agriculture Gigs: Motivations and Hurdles in the Current Economy

The gig economy has seemed to become more prevalent in the past decade because of advances with technology and the use of social media to promote services. However, gigs, which are often referred to as side-hustles or off-farm income in the agriculture realm, have been around the farm for many decades. Yet, research concerning the sidehustles of farmers is limited, and agricultural reports have mostly focused on the dollar amount of off-farm income without getting into specifics of what farmers are doing.

This research explores in more detail the types of entrepreneurial activities, motivations and barriers. The goal of the research is to provide insight into the history of farmer side-hustles and possibly identify barriers which could be addressed to help them be more successful.

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STUDENTS SOUND OFF

The clear business school choice for real-world learning

WHAT MAKES A GREAT TEACHER?

ACADEMIC PROGRAMS

REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCES

When you enroll in Minnesota State Mankato’s College of Business, you open the door to an abundance of possible career paths—including some you may not even know about. You will gain experience in all of our focus areas through the shared business curriculum, which integrates pieces of each major.

The College of Business at Minnesota State Mankato is committed to creating opportunities for its students to develop their own big ideas and to use real-world thinking to make those ideas possible. Our curriculum is designed to include hands-on application of the most forward thinking content whenever possible. We’ve also created student organizations, activities and events to enhance your educational experience.

Accounting

Kaylee Hudspeth and Tyler Piotter attend the 2019 Scholarship Awards Luncheon

• Master of Accounting (MAcc) • Graduate Certificate in Taxation • Bachelor of Science in Accounting • Minor in Accounting

Student Organizations

• More than 15 to choose from

United Prairie Bank Integrated Business Experience

Analytics

• Certificate in Business Analytics

“Being a great teacher means being passionate about what you’re teaching. I think the best teachers are the ones who try to link real-world experiences to what they are teaching because that helps students get a better understanding of what’s being taught.”

—Connor W., Accounting

“To me what elevates teachers to greatness is their passion, action and destination. Passion is conveyed through fostering strong student teacher relationships. Action—or delivery method—is then developed through understanding how students learn best and catering to their individual needs.

The destination is the result: students accepting knowledge and readily practicing what they have learned.”

—Manav Mendonça, Business Management and Marketing

“A great teacher to me is someone with emotional intelligence.

During the National Diversity Case Competition, our mentor Professor Oksana Kim demonstrated this. The competition was stressful and all around exciting, and by the end of the competition we all felt a little bummed but for the most part grateful. Oksana recognized how we felt and comforted us [she said], ‘you did everything you could and put in all the work, there was nothing that could’ve possibly made the presentation better.’”

—Michelle Dolzel, Marketing

44 / C OLLEGE OF BUSIN ES S I N R E V I E W

“Great teaching to me means being able to explain and define what you are teaching in a manner that the student can understand. The teachers I have learned from the most listen to students and hear them. They are able to answer questions thoroughly and truly want the student to excel and learn in their classes. I was fortunate to have some very great professors to learn from at Minnesota State Mankato!”

—Kalli Steinberg, Marketing “Sean Fingland changed what a good teacher meant to me during my time at Minnesota State Mankato. I believe a good teacher is someone who teaches their students about the real world and shows how their class applies to actual scenarios that happen at jobs I could one day work in. A good teacher is someone who cares about their students and understands that not everyone learns at the same pace, and also someone who will go out of their way to make students feel at home for 75-plus minutes. Sean's enthusiasm for class and accounting made me excited to show up to ACCT 210 every day.”

—Kaylee Hudspeth, Finance

“I loved how professors were always open to feedback and change their teaching methods based on students’ learning styles. I remember my management class where the professor took a midway survey and changed the class format.”

—Dhaval Bhakta, Marketing

Big Ideas Challenge

Bachelor of Business Administration – MavBiz Online

VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance)

• Fully Online Degree Completion Program

Business Administration

• Master of Business Administration (MBA) • Minor in Business Administration • Minor in Business Law

Diversity Case Competition

Entrepreneurship & Innovation

• Minor in Entrepreneurship & Innovation • Minor in Agribusiness & Food Innovation • Bachelor of Science in Finance • Certificate in Business Analytics • Certificate in Financial Planning • Minor in Financial Planning • Minor in Actuarial Science (housed in Math Dept.)

Stangler Internship Initiative Wall Street Journal Program Meet the Firms Event Executive Lecture Series

• Bachelor of Science in International Business • Minor in International Business • Bachelor of Science in Management • Minor in Human Resources • Emphasis in Human Resources • Emphasis in Business Management • Minor in Entrepreneurship & Innovation

Marketing

• Bachelor of Science in Marketing • Minor in Marketing

Richard and Mary Schmitz Food Entrepreneur Lecture Series Daryl and Karyl Henze Student Ag Innovators Leadership Program

Finance

Management

• New York Study Tour • Belize Fair Trade Study Abroad • The European Experience

Maverick Student Investment Fund

Business Law

International Business

Study Abroad and Away Opportunities

Global Entrepreneurship Week Women Entrepreneurship Week COB Learning Communities Student Engagement Fair MBA Executive Seminar (for MBA students) Networking and Mock-Interview events

LEARN MORE AT COB.MNSU.EDU

MI N N E SOTA STAT E U NIVERSIT Y, M ANKATO / 45

THE BIG PICTURE ONE INEVITABLE DAY One day it will all go back to normal Whatever that may be The boisterous chatter and music in restaurants The face-to-face deliberation from teacher to student The shelves in stores will be filled to the horizon with impulse buying at a halt My legs twitch with anticipation at the thought of having one more hoorah with the people that make my life so endearing But this is all worth it to keep me and you safe In precarious time we’re all in this together Whether this lasts for the next few weeks or years assure yourself that this is only temporary All it takes is for that one inevitable day.

—Excerpt from One Inevitable Day, a poem by College of Business Accounting student, Kevin Perez, submitted to Minnesota State Mankato’s COVID-19 Community History Project.

46 / C OLLEGE OF BUSIN ES S I N R E V I E W

MI N N E SOTA STAT E U NIVERSIT Y, M ANKATO / 47

NON-PROFIT ORGN. U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

PERMIT NO. 202 MANKATO, MN 56001

120 Morris Hall Mankato, MN 56001

More than 50 College of Business faculty—including emeriti—currently extend their support to students through financial gifts to the University.

Steve Wilcox ’83 has spent most of his adult life connected to Minnesota State University, Mankato. The Finance professor started as a student in 1969. After a few stops and starts throughout the 70s, he graduated with a degree in finance. Wilcox returned to the College of Business as a fixed term instructor shortly after he graduated with an MBA from Indiana University. He went on to earn a Ph.D from the University of Nebraska and officially joined the College of Business faculty in 1991.

“I owe a lot to the University it’s hard to focus on just one thing,” he says. “The support I’ve received here as a student and graduate and now as an employee, it’s incredible. I feel blessed to be a part of the school.”

Wilcox and his wife, Kathie—who has been on staff at Minnesota State Mankato since 1989—have blessed the University and the College of Business with their faithful employment and generous support. The couple has contributed to a number of areas on campus, including University Printing Scholarships, the Maverick Athletics Fund, the Finance Department, College of Business Scholarships and the Blue Line Club for hockey. Steve and Kathie were inducted into the Purple and Gold Society in 2016. They are also part of the Legacy Society, which recognizes those with planned gifts to the University.

After 30 years teaching—and all the ways he and Kathie have given back— what Steve relishes most is the opportunity to work with students and to pay forward the advice, mentorship and guidance he received from his professors all those years ago.

Dustin Sedars, Director of Development 507.389.2578 | dustin.sedars@mnsu.edu Giving link engage.mnsu.edu/cobinreview Steve and Kathie Wilcox at the 2019 Distinguished Alumni event where Steve received the Harold J. Fitterer Service Award.

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