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Steps to Success The Trulaske College of Business builds opportunities for students and alumni to thrive. Earn a Stack of Degrees 68 It’s About Access 70 Get Your Hands Dirty 74 The Future of Work 78
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COLLEGE OF BUSINESS NEWS
Globetrotter Audrey Walsworth poses in front of Angkor Wat, a temple in Cambodia. She and her husband, Don, support Trulaske study abroad programs in more developing countries.
Audrey Walsworth is not your typical world traveler. Since graduating from Mizzou, Walsworth, BJ ’56, has visited 327 countries and territories around the world. Although she has hit the touristy landmarks in Paris and London, she believes she’s gotten much more out of straying farther from traditional tourist traps. “I wanted to see a world that was different from mine,” she says. “I wanted to go someplace where the culture was different and where I felt tourism would change things.” That’s why Walsworth and her husband, former University of Missouri Curator Don Walsworth, BS Ed ’57, have endowed programs for Trulaske College of Business students who want to study abroad and are willing to break out of their comfort zones and expose themselves to more developing countries like Ethiopia or Papua New Guinea. “For students, I think it opens up the scope of their thinking,” she says. “You see people who are immensely happy and have next to nothing compared to what we have. And in some places, you see people living under the threat of hunger or the tyranny of a dictator. There are places you have to be more careful — but the whole world is dangerous. In the end, it’s a learning experience that will serve you well.”
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FACEBOOK SCREENING CAN BE RISKY BUSINESS
These days, it’s common for an employer to scour job candidates’ social media before hiring. But John Arnold, Trulaske assistant professor of management, and his colleagues wanted to know if that screening actually predicted job performance. His work, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, looked both at what sort of information was on job seekers’ Facebook pages and whether it influenced recruiters. For starters, Arnold found that a person’s online photos and posts are not indicative of future success. What’s more, by delving into those private lives, companies might be taking a risk. “There’s a lot of personal information — age, religion, marital status and ethnicity — that recruiters wouldn’t be allowed to ask about during a selection process,” Arnold says. “It tells a cautionary tale because it could put organizations in a legally tenuous situation, and all evidence suggests that it’s not a valid practice.”
P R E V I O US PAG E : S C OT T S C H A E F E R ; WA LS WO RT H : C O U RT E SY AU D R E Y WA LS WO RT H
Broadening the Idea of Studying Abroad
ANALYTICS PROGRAM PREPS ACCOUNTANCY FOR BIG DATA
In 2017, Mizzou was one of nine schools nationwide selected to join the KPMG Master of Accounting with Data and Analytics (MADA) Program, an initiative that prepares accounting students for the world of big data. The program sponsors selected students by providing full tuition, KPMG internships and job offers upon graduation. But even as the initiative concludes its third and final year, faculty at the Trulaske College of Business feel this is only the beginning of an exciting new direction for analytics curricula. “The KPGM program has been an accelera-
S H U T T E R S TO C K ; S TA M P : M I C H A E L C A L I
BLAZING A PATH FOR NEURODIVERSE ENTREPRENEURS
The Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation is Trulaske’s promoter of entrepreneurial knowledge, specifically for students who might not automatically consider the prospect of owning their own business. One area of focus is neurodiverse students, such as those with ADHD, autism spectrum disorder and dyslexia. Center Director Annette Kendall believes not only that entrepreneurship is an option for these students but that their conditions might also make them well suited to it. That’s why the center is tailoring programming and research to make college graduation more accessible to these students. “People with ADHD are hyperactive. They move fast. Some people with dyslexia are better at visualizing the big picture. Students on the autism spectrum, who are socially detached, are less likely to be influenced by dominant ideas,” Kendall says. “These students have gone through life like they have a checklist of deficits. But in the context of entrepreneurship, they are strengths.”
tor,” says Vairam Arunachalam, director of the School of Accountancy. “We already had a great foundation. Now we have a stronger curriculum in place and can offer it beyond the MADA program.” This includes certification in accounting data analytics not only for graduate students but also for working professionals who want to enroll part time. “It’s going to be a gamechanger,” Arunachalam says. “It’s absolutely critical to our success and that of our graduates. With this knowledge, they will be better prepared for the accounting jobs of the future.”
IT PAYS TO BE KIND
For Bailey Stamp, kindness is its own reward. So, when the member of Trulaske’s Heartland Scholars Academy helped fellow students grieve for a member who died unexpectedly, she wasn’t hoping for anything in return. That altruistic spirit was all the more reason Stamp was the first recipient of the business school’s Roth Kindness Scholarship. “My hope is that if students can learn the importance of kindness before they head out into the world, they’ll be more successful,” says Leslie Guyor, BS BA ’90, whose gift founded what she hopes will be an annual scholarship. “And the world will become a friendlier, happier place.” Stamp was happy to receive the $1,000 award, and she intends to pay it forward. “It’s not hard to be kind,” Stamp says. “It doesn’t cost you anything. And people notice when you’re doing kind things.” FALL 2021 67
FEATURE
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NEW DEGREES
Stackable Certificates Build Specialized Degrees
B O O K S : S H U T T E R S TO C K , B L A K E D I N S D A L E ; C H R I S T I A N : B I L L G R E E N B L AT T
Trulaske changes the way students, especially alumni, can learn business and earn degrees. Cameron Christian is on track to be among the first class of MU students to earn a Master of Science in business (MSB) from the Trulaske College of Business. Along the way, she’ll also pick up two stackable certificates — recognized credentials that position students to leap straight from graduate school into their business careers. Introduced in fall 2020, the MSB and the college’s stackable certificates program change the way students learn business and earn degrees. “Students can customize a degree to their particular career interests in significant ways,” says Chris Robert, associate dean for graduate studies and research. “And, because we have gone mostly online, graduate students can propel their career with one-of-a-kind certifications without having to leave their work or home behind to come to Columbia.” This fresh approach was designed with an eye on the needs of Trulaske alumni — recent graduates, such as Christian, and others who already have a foothold in their careers. “It’s answering the call of alumni wanting to continue investing in their education, and it also answers the call of employers who are searching for potential hires with specific knowledge or experience,” says Ryan Murray, director of graduate studies. Christian has been enjoying the flexibility of online classes while working part time and progressing toward her degree. She typically works day shifts at a Columbia coffee shop and studies in the evenings. Whether online or in person, the core of the Trulaske graduate curriculum remains the same. All MSB students take 12 hours of the basics, such as finance, accounting, marketing and management. Candidates also earn two certificates — at least one from the College of Business, with an option to choose an additional credential from a partnering academic unit. Those include the College of Engineering, School of Law, School of Medicine, the Truman School of Public Affairs and others. For her two required certificates, Christian chose Global Supply Chain Management and Marketing Analytics. She is also learning several programming languages. Not only is she digging
The Crosby MBA — Reimagined and Reconfigured
Cameron Christian is earning certificates in marketing analytics and global supply chain management while pursuing a Master of Science in business.
deeper into subjects that fascinate her, but she is also building a stronger resume. “These niche areas will, I hope, make me stand out from other job applicants,” she says. Earning a certificate means completing four to five courses in a particular area. The list of possibilities is extensive and expected to continue growing. From marketing analytics to financial management and from dispute resolution to higher education administration, the combinations lead to interdisciplinary knowledge and professionally recognized certification. For students who don’t choose the MSB, stackable certificates can be a stand-alone option. Students can go for one, two or more certificates, stacking them together, creating the building blocks of their business careers. “If someone wants to come to MU just to earn a certificate in financial management, that’s fine,” Robert says. “But once that certificate is in hand, we hope that student would say, ‘Maybe I should take another certificate along with the core courses, and stay for the whole MSB.’ ” M
After a yearlong pause, the Crosby MBA relaunched in fall 2021 as a primarily online program. The reconfigured curriculum has been streamlined from 57 credit hours down to 45, which students can complete in one-anda-half to two years. Students can earn the degree “from the comfort of home and without breaking their stride in a job or career,” says Chris Robert, associate dean for graduate studies and research. In addition to core coursework on professional skills and competencies — such as communication, leadership and consulting — Crosby students will earn at least one stackable certificate in a specialized area of interest. (See story at left to learn about stackable certificates.) FALL 2021 69
FEATURE
Walking through downtown Columbia, from left, Jean Whitley, Abel Ambessie and Maurice Glass discuss how the Vasey Academy helped launch their academic and business careers.
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SAM O’KEEFE
Asking Better Questions
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For the past decade, the Trulaske College of Business has sent a steady stream of graduates to work in New York City. Dean Ajay Vinzé wanted to know: What were those firms looking for? “They said it’s thought diversity,” he recalls. “Students from the Midwest have a different perspective. They bring robustness to their work ethic, and they ask questions that set them apart — that causes these high-performing firms to get even better.” With an inaugural director of inclusion, diversity and equity, Erika Aaron, who started at Trulaske in May 2021 (See sidebar at right), the college is doubling down on its efforts to cultivate diversity. Vinzé takes an “end-to-end” view: “How can you provide the right exposure, experience and value-add so they can become the most engaging set of students that we get to the other side? I want to make sure we’re creating pathways into Mizzou and Trulaske through programs like Heartland Scholars Academy and Vasey Academy and setting up our students for success. When they come to campus, we’re giving them experiences like Camp Trulaske, Trulaske Excellence at Mizzou and others that make a big university feel manageable and integrate them into the academic environment. Then, at the back end, we have an outstanding career services unit to facilitate placement.” Meet a pair of students whose transformational experiences flow through Trulaske diversity programs.
ROB HILL
Getting a Jump-start
Abel Ambessie knows he likes soccer, the drums and Ethiopian food — but as a freshman, he wasn’t sure which track in the College of Business he wanted to pursue. He started in marketing, but it didn’t feel like the right fit. Then he met Jean Whitley, BS Acc, M Acc ’17. Whitley, an assurance senior in the financial services office at EY in Kansas City, Missouri, is Ambessie’s corporate mentor through the Vasey Academy at Trulaske. Established in 1997 by Roger Vasey, BS BA ’58, and his wife, Sandy, the academy includes a one-credit course that provides talented students from underrepresented groups mentoring experiences, networking opportunities designed to jump-start their entry into the business world and a community to belong to. Once a week, Ambessie and Whitley would hop on a Zoom call, and the younger could ask the wiser about classes, career paths and leadership lessons. A graduate of the academy and a member of its advisory board, Whitley was eager to answer “some of those burning questions” that he had when he was a freshman. Then Ambessie connected with his student mentor, Maurice Glass, a master’s student in the accounting program and a Vasey Academy graduate from O’Fallon, Illinois. The president of the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) at MU, Glass invited Ambessie to the group’s next meeting. “Even if you are not interested in doing accounting, I said, we have a group of Black students that is really a good community to have in the College of Business,” Glass recalls. For Glass, the Vasey Academy was the first time he was in a small class with people who not
only looked like him but could also relate to him. “Vasey is important because it provides you with a group of people that you can count on,” Glass says. The Vasey experience provides participants with a $1,000 scholarship, seminars focused on current business trends, and opportunities to participate in corporate trips to Kansas City, St. Louis and Chicago. Although the Vasey Academy is currently a semester-long program, Director Mary Beth Marrs, BS IE ’87, MBA ’95, PhD ’99, says she hopes the relationships with corporate mentors continue: “I ask these people not to just mentor them; I say I want you to make a four-year investment in your mentees. I want you to open doors, make them aware of opportunities for internships or summits at your organization. These companies are getting great diverse talent — and they’re getting access to that talent at a very young age.” For Ambessie, now a sophomore accounting major and a member of NABA, participating in Vasey was an investment in himself: “My senior year of high school, I just had so many questions about college. I didn’t know what to expect. I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do or how I was going to get initiative. I was really questioning everything. Through Vasey, I got all those questions answered. I figured out what I wanted to do. I took my first step. I’m in the right place. I feel like I couldn’t have gotten that anywhere other than Vasey.”
When Work Meets Luck
Jesus Oropeza says he just got lucky, but hard work has a lot to do with it. Growing up in Brookfield, Missouri, Oropeza’s childhood wasn’t always a happy one. He was bul-
Trulaske Hires Diversity Champion
The Trulaske College of Business has been committed to diversity efforts for decades. Now, the college has hired an inaugural director of inclusion, diversity and equity to lead the charge. Erika Aaron, an experienced diversity champion with a master’s degree in business administration, stepped into the role in May 2021. Previously a faculty recruitment specialist with MU’s Division of Inclusion, Diversity and Equity, Aaron has been key in developing initiatives that establish and grow inclusive hiring pipelines and that attract diverse candidates through outreach efforts. At Trulaske, Aaron will expand her scope to include all college constituents. She will create programs that promote diversity and equity; provide training to faculty, staff and students; and bring best practices in inclusive excellence to ensure the college is a leader on and off campus. FALL 2021 71
lied, sometimes violently. His mom worked hard at a factory and still struggled to make ends meet. After their house burned down, they were homeless for a time. Oropeza had no intention of going to college. “I jokingly applied,” he says. “I thought there’s no way I’m getting in. So I said, you know, what’s the worst that can happen?” He was making ramen noodles when his mom came in with the mail and handed him a large envelope from the University of Missouri. After opening the acceptance letter, Oropeza was confused — and then scared. How was he going to pay for school? A few weeks later, he got an email: Do you want a free laptop, a free suit and study abroad scholarships? “I thought it was a scam,” he recalls. “Turns out it was very real.” Oropeza had been selected for the inaugural class of Trulaske’s Heartland Scholars Academy, which was established in 2018 with a donation from Sue, BS BA ’75, MBA ’77, and Irl Engelhardt. The academy annually gives 10 first-generation freshmen from rural Missouri and southern Il-
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linois support to succeed in the business world through a variety of activities over four years. “The amount of luck was obscenely high,” Oropeza says. Oropeza showed up to move-in day by himself — his mom had to work — and was greeted by a sea of families. “I’m like, alright, none of these people are like me. This is weird. I’m going to drop out,” he recalls. “But I had $13,000 in loans looking at my name.” The first time Oropeza felt like he belonged at Mizzou was in the Heartland Scholars Academy seminar class, whose purpose is to inspire confidence and overcome imposter syndrome. “A lot of times first-gen kids think: ‘I don’t fit in. I don’t have the network and experiences other students have,’ ” says Marrs, who also directs the Heartland program. “This leads to a lack of confidence in their ability to be successful at a place like Mizzou.” So, Marrs brings in successful alumni who were also first-generation students from small Missouri towns. She hosts etiquette dinners, mock interviews and study halls. They do case studies and go on corporate trips to Kansas City, St. Louis and Chicago.
OROPEZA: MICHAEL CALI
Jesus Oropeza stands in the Walsworth Publishing plant in Marceline, Missouri. Oropeza says he wouldn’t have the opportunities he’s had, including internships at Walsworth, without the Heartland Scholars Academy.
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DONORS: SARA BETH TURNER
IT’S ABOUT ACCESS
In October 2018, only nine weeks into his freshman year, Oropeza was on stage at a Davenport Society banquet telling the givingsociety members that he’d found community in the Heartland Scholars Academy; that without it, he would be lost; that he has hope. After a speech at a similar event for MU’s Jefferson Club in Naples, Florida, he was approached by Don Walsworth, BS Ed ’57, CEO of Walsworth Publishing Co., in Marceline, Missouri. Walsworth offered him a job, and, for the next two summers, Oropeza interned at the company, first in operations, then management. Now a senior finance major, Oropeza has interned as a business analyst at Fidelity Investments; found a mentor in Nathaniel Laroche, a VP at Stifel Financial Corp.; and is preparing to sit for the chartered financial analyst exam. “This genuinely changed my life,” he says. “I know people, I’ve seen things that I probably wouldn’t have experienced throughout my entire life. If you try hard enough and get lucky enough, just about anything is possible.” M
In any endeavor, finding the right support system is often the difference between success and failure. That’s why Pinney Allen; her husband, Charles “Buddy” Miller; and her brother, MU Adjunct Professor of Finance W.D Allen, funded the Allen Access Program, a $5 million umbrella initiative to serve under-resourced and underrepresented students in the Trulaske College of Business. The program’s goal is to build a community of peers who share experiences and backgrounds, while providing the resources they need to succeed. This initiative includes scholarship support, but it was designed to be more comprehensive. “It’s not just about scholarships,” Miller says. “Sometimes it’s buying a laptop, having the right suit for a job interview or just knowing what is available. Everybody should have a chance.” The college has pledged to raise an additional $12 million over the next 10 years to build this program, which already includes a $375,000 gift from W.D Allen Ernst & Young LLP. Part of the funding will go toward outreach in rural Missouri and hard-to-reach areas of St. Louis and Kansas City, where students may grow up not realizing that certain opportunities exist. “A lot of these kids may not have thought of college as an option at all,” Pinney Allen says. “They certainly haven’t considered the state’s flagship university as a possibility.” The Allens and Miller know that, for some students, attending college improves the chances for lifelong success. “These are qualified students who are at a point where they might go down one path or another,” says W.D Allen, BS BA ’90, PhD ’06, for whom the program is named. “If we can do anything to encourage them down the path that leads to a better life, that would be beneficial to everyone.” FALL 2021 73
MICHAEL CALI
HANDS-ON LEARNING
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Immersive Education During an era of virtual learning, the Trulaske College of Business never stopped creating opportunities for students to get hands-on experience. In 2020, students who would normally work on professional projects with operational businesses in partnership with MU Extension and the MU Office of Service-Learning continued to do so — via Zoom. A student group of mid-Missouri investors kept investing in startup companies, only most pitches were virtual. Student interns swapped terminals in the Inside Sales Lab for home offices while still supporting the work of partner companies. And School of Accountancy Adjunct Teaching Professor Stacy Wright continued using the college’s relationship with Kaldi’s Coffee to create assignments in her course. “We’re able to audit the contract that the college set up with Kaldi’s and come up with components to check into. Then I can use what the students are seeing to make sure Kaldi’s is complying,” says Wright, who also directs Trulaske’s finance and administration efforts. “It’s not just in a book or a madeup case. The students are having an impact — and they’re really excited about that.” Here’s a look at five ways Trulaske continued to deliver experiential learning to students across the college this past year.
Cornell’s Cafe
When Tricia Zimmer Ferguson, BS BA ’03, was a student at Mizzou, she helped start a program called P.L.A.N. — Planning, Learning and Networking — to pair students with mentors at local businesses. “We wanted more real-life experience in addition to all the great instruction we were receiving from the faculty and advisers,” she recalls. Today, the co-owner of Kaldi’s Coffee with her husband, Josh Ferguson, BS ’03, is leading another experiential learning initiative at the college. In fall 2019, Kaldi’s opened a coffee shop inside Cornell Hall that serves specialty coffee, tea and house-made bakery items to the campus community. It also functions as a classroom where students get an intimate view of the company’s opOlivia Finley, BS BA ’21, stands in Kaldi’s Coffee on the second floor of Cornell Hall. Prior to COVID, Finley and her classmates investigated how Kaldi’s policies and procedures affect employees’ behavior in an organizational behavior course. “It’s really motivating to do even more in-depth work when you know that their management team is actually going to look at our work and maybe even implement some of the ideas,” she says. FALL 2021 75
HANDS-ON LEARNING
Through the Inside Sales Lab, Andrew Berger makes sales for Agilis System, a company out of St. Louis that makes GPS tracking devices for vehicles, fleets and assets.
Socially Distanced Selling
Andrew Berger puts on a headset, sits down at his desk — mere inches from his bed — and dials up a trucking company. As an inside sales intern for Agilis System, a GPS software company out of St. Louis, Berger wants to know if the owner is happy with the GPS he’s deployed in his fleet of 15 trucks. Even before COVID moved everything online, inside sales, as opposed to the traditional role of the traveling outside sales representative, was the fastest-growing segment of the profession. And over the past 10 years, Trulaske’s Center for Sales and Customer Development has built a reputation as a training ground for future sales leaders. In 2018, Trulaske launched an Inside Sales Lab initiative. Each semester, 18 students intern at five or more companies where they earn credit while getting paid to assist with the sales process or even close sales themselves. Before the pandemic, several students worked simultaneously in the lab, which features nine terminals on the third floor of Cornell Hall. Now,
“When you’re working with a real company, you know all the lessons that you’re taking from this are applicable to your future. It builds a better experience to explain to future employers and gives me more of an edge going into the workforce.”
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students take turns being in the lab, based on a daily schedule. “In the first week, I got to meet with the VP of sales, district managers, account executives and customer service representatives. I was doing live role-plays with their sales team,” Berger says. “A large piece of it is collaboration and receiving constructive criticism and just getting better. It’s more of an experience that you critically think about and learn from rather than just a part-time job.”
A New Generation of Angel Investors
Not many 21-year-olds have sat across the table from the founders of a company while the CEO tries to impress them. But Carson Lujin and the 19 other students who manage the Allen Angel Capital Education (AACE) venture fund have had that powerful position. Through a hands-on course, students get the opportunity to learn angel and venture capital investment strategies by investing in highgrowth startup companies. They cultivate deal flow, conduct due diligence, structure and negotiate investment contracts, monitor portfolio holdings, and invest capital to ultimately drive financial returns for the fund. “We’re really operating like a real-life venture capital firm,” says Lujin, who is pursuing a master’s degree in accountancy and a bachelor’s in economics. Since its inception in 2010, the AACE venture fund has invested in 12 companies, including Elemental Enzymes, a biotech company
SAM O’KEEFE
erations, including global supply chain, human resources management and accounting. For example, in Wright’s internal auditing course, student Sabrina Ollis conducted a compliance audit. Part of the contract requires Kaldi’s to work with diverse suppliers, so Ollis worked with a team to set up an audit program that would verify whether at least 51% of the coffee company’s suppliers identify with a marginalized group. “It’s really rare — at least in my experience — to get tangible experience looking at real contracts,” says the accountancy master’s student. “When you’re working with a real company, you know all the lessons that you’re taking from this are applicable to your future. It builds a better experience to explain to future employers and gives me more of an edge going into the workforce.”
founded by Mizzou alumni Brian, MS ’08, and Katie Thompson, BS ’04, PhD ’11. The initial $30,000 the fund invested had increased to $250,000 when the group partially exited the business in 2018. Students leverage these experiences to land highly competitive jobs at J.P. Morgan, Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, Boston Consulting Group and others. “People are pretty amazed by the opportunity,” Lujin says. “Even Ivy League students sometimes aren’t exposed to experiences such as this.”
MICHAEL CALI
An Edge Over the Competition
In rural Bollinger County, Missouri, 4 out of 5 residents don’t have broadband — aka high-speed internet access that city dwellers take for granted when they order groceries, attend school or work from home. In response, the University of Missouri System Broadband Initiative launched a pilot plan to bring affordable and accessible broadband internet to rural parts of the state. But the county needed help developing strategies to educate the public on why internet access should be a utility, not a luxury. So, this past semester, a group of students in the Trulaske Edge program worked with Bollinger County to develop these strategies. They researched customer segments, developed targeted marketing proposals and presented recommendations. “This class pushed me out of my comfort zone,” says Sidnee Brumagin, a senior business administration transfer student from Moberly Area Community College. “I’m not a marketing major, so I had to step out on my own and learn some of those methods. And we’re learning how to handle working with clients like we would in the workforce.” That’s the goal of the Trulaske Edge program — four business administration
courses plus workshops where students develop professional competencies and build skills beyond the classroom. Participation in the program is required for graduation. Since students started working with businesses on professional projects in fall 2019, they have completed more than 222 projects in about 25 Missouri counties in partnership with MU Extension and the MU Office of Service-Learning. Lauren Brengarth, BJ ’03, MA ’04, PhD ’11, an assistant teaching professor in the Trulaske Edge program, says it’s responsible for an increase in student placement, with job rates exceeding 90% after graduation.
The Lab of the Future
In the new emerging-technologies lab in Cornell Hall, which opens this fall semester, business students aren’t simply learning from professors. They’re collaborating with students and teachers across campus to co-create the future. Powered by 5G+ technology from industry partner AT&T, the lab offers students opportunities to explore new ways to make safer transportation, remote health care, precision agriculture and digitized logistics a reality. And those are just a few examples. This fall, the lab will host six interdisciplinary courses, each discovering solutions that can change how the world does business. “Our cross-disciplinary teams can take on real-world problems and provide real suggestions,” says Trulaske Dean Ajay Vinzé. Read more about the lab and his vision for business education on Page 78. M
Left: Managing Director of the studentrun venture fund Allen Angel Capital Education Program, Carson Lujin learns investment strategies by investing in real startup companies. Above: Through the Trulaske Edge program, Sidnee Brumagin worked on a student team developing strategies Missouri’s Bollinger County could use to educate residents on the benefits of broadband internet.
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THE NEXT JOB
THE FUTURE OF WORK IS HERE In the past year, remote teams and virtual meetings have taken center stage as businesses discover better ways to work. But before COVID spread globally, the expectations of and requirements for the workforce already had begun to shift. The digital transformation has arrived, and although some jobs will be lost and many others will be created, almost all jobs will change. And Trulaske College of Business Dean Ajay Vinzé has a vision for how to prepare students for jobs that don’t even exist yet.
SHUT TERSTOCK
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hen Ajay Vinzé started his tenure as dean at the Trulaske College of Business in January 2017, he immediately opened conversations with university leaders, industry partners and alumni about trends that are reshaping higher education: Determinants of future success will be interdisciplinary collaboration, technology and a focus on lifelong learning. Although the world of business expects a holistic approach to decision-making and problem-solving, higher education is delivered in a highly structured, siloed fashion. So, Vinzé put out a call: “He just reached out across the silos and said, ‘Hey, anybody who wants to work together — let’s do this thing,” recalls Jim Flink, associate professor of strategic communication in the School of Journalism. “That may not sound novel, but it is. What it’s done is it’s made a really rich learning environment.” To continue shaping a new educational landscape, Vinzé initiated the MU Institute for Experiential Education, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in spring 2018. Faculty from engineering, journalism, health care, education, arts and science, and business started creating interdisciplinary courses. “In the real world, you have engineers working with business folks working with the design team, with the communication and marketing team — so they all come together,” says Bimal Balakrishnan, associate professor and chair of the architectural studies department. “The vision is to develop this new knowledge worker who has a unique set of skills and abilities.” To scale up and promote a campuswide change, the university needed a big project and an outside partner. As luck would have it, AT&T was looking to collaborate with universities to define the future of 5G-enabled devices and applications. The fifth-generation mobile network, or 5G, is faster, more reliable and provides more network capacity than previous generations. In spring 2020, 19 MU students participated in Connectivity and 5G, an immersive course with instructors from business, engineering, journalism and architectural studies using in-depth research and access to AT&T resources and representatives. Divided into four teams — health care, sports, campus
safety and higher education — the students developed viable industrial applications for this new technology. The health care team, for example, proposed using mobile platforms, video and artificial intelligence technology that would provide both patients and care providers with rapid, real-time feedDean Ajay Vinzé back as well as improve existing remote-care technologies. “It exposed them to new ideas, new ways of thinking, new ways to problem-solve outside their discipline,” Flink says. In summer 2021, AT&T installed a 5G+-millimeter-wave transmission tower in Cornell Hall, which helped spawn an innovation lab. Although housed in the business school, the lab is a university asset that features augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality technology, allowing students and faculty to experiment with simulations, big data translation, visual tracking, holographs and a variety of other potential 5G applications. In fall 2021, six interdisciplinary courses centered around the lab’s technology are scheduled to launch, with students and their professors exploring several potential projects. These include creating kiosks around campus that use immersive technologies to reduce anxiety and improve mental health, exploring innovative telemedicine applications for remote surgeries, and using augmented reality to create immersive journalism. “Suddenly our students are seeing that boundaries don’t exist,” Balakrishnan says. And Vinzé is pushing the boundaries on what a college curriculum looks like. Instead of just three-credit-hour courses, he envisions commercialization bootcamps, design and product development workshops, student pitch competitions, incubators for student-led businesses and cross-disciplinary teams tackling real-world problems. “We’ve been stuck in the same mode forever,” he says. “There could be aspects of the experience that are two credits and others that are five. Some are executed in three weeks; others take 15 weeks. That is how higher education should be delivered. What makes this happen is technology. So, yes, the innovation lab is what we are developing. But the goal is not the lab. The goal is using it to change the trajectory of higher education.” M FALL 2021 79
HELPING HAND
Emergency Fund Lifts Struggling Students COVID-19’s casualties go far beyond those who become ill. The economic shake-up affected numerous Trulaske students, and some needed a helping hand during a difficult time. A new fund founded last year during the pandemic has become a permanent service at the college.
By the Numbers Student Emergency Fund
The Problems
During the pandemic, Trulaske students faced a range of financial challenges for which they needed emergency assistance. These included unforeseen medical expenses, hospitalizations and surgeries; car repairs for commuting to work; loss of job or reduced work hours due to COVID; parents losing jobs or hours due to COVID; and upgraded Wi-Fi needed for online learning.
The Relief
Fall 2020 semester 29 students applied for emergency funds 23 received an award $88,658 in emergency aid provided
stresses students were coping with. Some had lost their jobs or could no longer rely on family support. Others faced unexpected medical bills, car repairs or school expenses. So far, the fund has paid out $128,278, helping 33 students overcome financial obstacles and continue their education. Unlike scholarships and other long-term financial aid, this fund responds to short-term problems. Even after the pandemic subsides, it will remain in place. “We now have a fund we can tap into to help students through personal financial crises,” says Jeremy Diener, executive director for advancement at the college. The Walker Foundation matches gifts to the fund at 50%. Diener hopes to see this effort grow through a Mizzou Give Direct entry (mizzougivedirect.missouri.edu).
80 MIZZOUMAGAZINE TRULASKE COLLEGE OF BUSINESS
Summer 2021 semester 1 student applied 1 received an award $5,000 provided
Total to date:
$128,278
provided to 33 students
SHUT TERSTOCK , BLAKE DINSDALE
Last spring, a Trulaske professor noticed a student Zooming into online classes every week from a parked car. Reaching out to see what was going on, he learned the student had lost his housing and had been couch surfing at friends’ apartments. Because of a new fund at the college, the professor could offer something more than sympathy — the student could apply for emergency financial help. “When we realized that a large group of Trulaske students was having financial difficulty and having a hard time staying in their academic programs, we partnered with the Walker Foundation to establish the Trulaske College of Business Student Emergency Fund,” says Gay Albright, the college’s associate dean of undergraduate programs. As word spread, applications started coming in, revealing the serious financial
Spring 2021 semester 16 students applied 9 received an award $34,620 provided
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