PEGGY SHAW,
STAFF PROFILE
BIC DETECTIVE DEVOTED TO THE HUNT Peggy Shaw is full of surprises. As director of business information resources at the Jones School, she is also resourceful, determined and possibly tenacious when it comes to getting the job done. Just ask her. “I love the reference, it’s like a mystery,” she said. “You give me a problem and we go look for the answers. It’s just like being a detective.” Sort of. “I once worked for a private detective, but only lasted a month. It was too boring.” Her duties at the BIC range from developing the business collection in paper and electronic formats to acting as a reference contact to the students, faculty, Rice community and the public. “By the charter of Rice University, the school’s libraries are public and we have a fair number of people from the outside who need help.” She also oversees the day-to-day operations, supervises four research analysts, and teaches students the research process and how to use various resources.
DEFINING MOMENTS Born in New Orleans followed by three years in New York City, Peggy was raised in Houston and attended school in Bellaire. During high school she used to join friends at Fondren Library to do homework and research. It was her first introduction to Rice and its students. She loved it and promptly told her mother, “The kids at Rice don’t wear shoes.” And they didn’t, because it was the 1960s. An overachiever in college, Peggy graduated from Louisiana State University in six years with three majors: journalism, economics and political science. She also earned a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of North Texas. Before arriving at the Jones School 25 years ago, she had a variety of jobs (that were not detectivebased). Peggy worked at an accounting and consulting firm; taught high school history, government and economics; was a reporter in New Orleans; spent two years at KMPG as a librarian and a year and a half at the Houston Public Library; along with that month-long stake out for a private detective in Houston. A defining moment for the BIC director came before all the jobs and responsibilities, however. It happened one summer backpacking with a friend during college. “Within 24 hours of arriving in Europe, I managed to get put in a Dutch jail for my own protection,” Peggy said with a laugh. And that was only the beginning.
Over the next six weeks she also found herself locked in Dachau with a group from Texas A&M, taken off the train in Yugoslavia and held for two hours, and flat broke in Paris. “I went to a Paris marketplace and sold all my college T-shirts and went home with more money than when I came.” Peggy found resourcefulness that summer that she never lost. Something we at the Jones School are as grateful for as she is. If you’re looking, you can find Peggy at the BIC Monday through Thursday from 8:00 am to 9:30 pm, Friday from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm, Saturday from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm, and Sunday from noon to 9:30 pm. Maybe she’ll tell you about her European vacation. JJ Gilbert and Ruth Whitaker Business Information Center The BIC occupies beautiful quarters in McNair Hall. Since its inception in 1984, the BIC has functioned as a unique entity in Rice University’s library service, with Fondren Library and the Jones Graduate School of Business collaborating on its operation. The BIC serves as a business research library not only for the business school, but also for the greater Rice community and the general public. Currently 5,000 volumes in various formats, as well as a variety of electronic databases and services, are housed there.
Rice MBA Contacts: Dean: Bill Glick bill.glick@rice.edu • 713.348.5928
Assistant Dean for Degree Programs: Sean Ferguson sean.o.ferguson@rice.edu • 713.348.5260
Executive Director of Admissions: Melissa Blakeslee melissab@rice.edu • 713.348-.3197
Assistant to the Dean: April Velasquez april.velasquez@rice.edu • 713.348.4838
Associate Dean for Executive Education: Brent Smith smithb@rice.edu • 713.348.4323
Executive Director of MBA for Executives: Lina Y. Bell lybell@rice.edu • 713.348.4731
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs: Jeff Fleming jfleming@rice.edu • 713.348.4677
Assistant Dean for External Relations: Ben Renberg ben.renberg@rice.edu • 713.348.3982
Executive Director of Rice University Executive Education: Michael Grojean michael.grojean@rice.edu • 713.349.2812
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