Annual Report 2020

FALL 2020

Emma Tucker’s career goals lead to unique research project

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School of Business WALLA WALLA UNIVERSITY

School of Business UPDATES Message from the dean

Patience Taruwinga, dean of the School of Business

The 2019–20 school year will be remembered for many reasons that are so obvious. The challenges started with a ransomware attack at the end of fall quarter, and then the COVID-19 pandemic upended our status quo. As a result, winter quarter concluded with online final exams, and faculty spent spring break redesigning spring-quarter classes to accommodate remote learning. I continue to be amazed by the sense of community that runs deep in the psyche of our department and the university as a whole. As the dean, I saw the remarkable power of community and how it helped our students succeed.

The feeling of belonging is in itself healing as we navigate these unprecedented times. “The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members,” Coretta Scott King wrote. This year the importance of WWU’s core themes was amplified. We are a community of faith and discovery committed to excellence in thought, generosity in service, beauty in expression, and faith in God. I am grateful for how we have responded to these challenges and confident we will continue to overcome. Delivering the quality education that distinguishes WWU remains our first priority. I am extremely proud of our rich tradition of providing practical, experience-based business education.

Our business programs prepare students to become leaders with the moral depth and intellectual intensity necessary to meet the challenges of this time of critical transition in society.

Our students face new challenges in finding internships and jobs because of the pandemic. Some internships and job opportunities melted away under the pandemic “heat.” I solicit the help of our WWU community to boost the prospects of these students.

Let us know if you have opportunities for internships or employment that might benefit our students. We need this community now more than ever before.

With gratitude for our WWU community, Patience Taruwinga 2

LaunchU event adapts to pandemic with virtual final competition Brother-sister duo Joel and Janette Wagness partnered with fellow student Audrey Turner on the winning LaunchU project idea for a resource platform for student missionaries.

At the end of spring quarter 2020 the School of Business moved the final competition of the annual LaunchU event to a virtual platform because of the coronavirus pandemic.

LaunchU is an event sponsored by CoLab INC., an organization that encourages students to collaborate with peers and professors at their university to develop a business plan and compete in a pitch competition for the opportunity to win startup funding and mentorship. Students from a variety of disciplines spend the school year working in teams to develop their ideas and business models, which they then present during spring quarter in a campuswide final competition.

During the LaunchU final competition event, each team of students presents their pitch to a panel of judges. The winning teams receive a cash award, business mentoring, and the invitation to pitch their ideas again at the annual national Moxie Event in California where they compete against student teams from other colleges

and universities for the chance to receive more funding for their business idea.

“One of our original goals for LaunchU was to facilitate cross-discipline participation,” said Linda Felipez, professor of technology. “This type of collaboration between students and faculty from across the campus provides an opportunity to better understand one another, thereby enhancing communication and strengthening relationships across the disciplines.”

Cash prizes for winning teams are to be used as startup funds for the projects and products pitched. Students are given the opportunity to register and create their dream companies.

“In this fast-paced, globally connected world, it is important to have an entrepreneurial spirit,” said Patience Taruwinga, associate professor of business.

“With it, our students will succeed in life. This event is about encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit in all of our students.”

Winning LaunchU teams and projects Thrival Guide (First place/$5,000) Online training and resource platform for student missionaries to help them thrive during their service experience Joel Wagness, June 2020 graduate, major in business administration • Janette Wagness, senior graphic design major • Audrey Turner, senior elementary education major After95 (Second place tie/$2,500) Sharing stories through film, photography, and music to inspire and connect people Sarah Cabral, senior business major • Andrew Boyd, junior business major

Sticker Chip (Second place tie/$2,500) GPS tracker the size of a small sticker that can be placed on any item Stephanie Case, sophomore mechanical engineering major • Jennifer Rau, junior business major My-Gration (Third place/$2,000) Creating a user-friendly interface to transfer files and programs between computers Samuel Hernandez, sophomore computer science major • Alejandro Paczka, senior product design major

School of Business meets challenges of distance learning during pandemic

Enactus projects support local community

The 2019-20 academic year brought unique challenges on the Walla Walla University campus. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, winter quarter ended with students going home early and taking finals online.

During spring break, faculty worked to adapt their spring-quarter classes for distance learning with barely a week to accomplish the task.

“In three decades of teaching, I had never taught online before and had intentionally avoided social media and videoconferencing, so the learning curve was formidable,” said Bruce Toews, professor of business. “I choose to conduct my classes synchronously via

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advantages, professors in the School of Business noticed that synchronous online classes were received better by most students than asynchronous classes. The online format inspired faculty and students to find innovative models of learning.

Regarding these innovations, Patience Taruwinga, dean of the School of Business and associate professor of business, said, “We had some teacher’s assistants that helped to tutor some struggling students. Some students did not have good internet connection or good computers, but the IT department was very helpful; they sent a couple of computers to students who needed them. The faculty met

Students are the best part of every day, and I can’t wait to catch up with them!

Microsoft Teams, which means that students attended virtually during scheduled class periods.”

This technology enabled Toews and other faculty to share a computer screen, display a markerboard, show web pages and videos, invite student questions, and in most ways simulate a live classroom setting. Lectures were recorded for the students who live in distant time zones.

Classes were presented synchronously or asynchronously. While both formats have

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every two weeks to discuss what was working and what was not working well and to help support each other.”

Faculty and students coped well with the challenges of the coronavirus and distance learning, but nearly all are looking forward to the eventual reopening of campus. “We look forward to serving students and making sure that they have an enjoyable and successful year,” said Taruwinga. “Students are the best part of every day, and I can’t wait to catch up with them!”

The WWU chapter of Enactus had a busy year during 2019–20 with projects that included a salsa garden and a recycling plan. They will soon start a community garden in partnership with the city of College Place.

Enactus is an international organization that fosters the use of entrepreneurial concepts and ideas to improve the well-being of individuals and communities worldwide. The WWU chapter has been active since 2018.

“Enactus provides an engaged learning experience for students to develop vital professional skills and transfer conceptual knowledge into practical application through entrepreneurial empowerment projects focusing on improving the livelihoods of others in an economically, environmentally, and socially responsible way,” said George Perez, Enactus advisor and assistant professor of business.

Enactus provides opportunities for entrepreneurship and fosters leadership growth. Student officers lead a variety of group projects throughout the year and create a succession plan for the following year’s leadership team to ensure that consecutive teams know the goals and objectives of various projects and understand the methods used to continue momentum into the next academic year.

“My goal is to provide the structural support that Enactus needs to be a sustainable organization on campus,” said Joshua Beaudoin, junior business administration major and 2020–21 Enactus president. “I want Enactus to be a thriving organization that is able to help people and better the community for decades to come.

Everything I do will revolve around that.”

Students interested in joining Enactus can learn more at wallawallaenactus.com.

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Career goals lead to unusual business project Senior business major Emma Tucker has plans to be a physical therapist one day and is finding interesting ways to blend her business classes and her career goals in the healthcare field.

During spring quarter 2020, Tucker and her fellow students in Consumer Behavior class were assigned a group project to conduct research in order to better understand consumer behavior in the context of a specific market or industry. Tucker’s group focused on the experience of physical therapy clients by conducting quantitative and qualitative surveys on various social media platforms, including Instagram, Reddit, Facebook, and Quora.

“We first released a qualitative survey that examined the key factors when selecting a physical therapy clinic, which features made those chosen clinics stand out, and which attributes patients valued most in their physical therapy experience,” said Tucker.

Emma Tucker is studying business as she prepares for graduate work in physical therapy.

The group then used the information gathered in that first survey to release a comprehensive quantitative survey.

Tucker acknowledges that while they gained interesting and helpful knowledge, the group was not able to gain an understanding of physical therapy clientele as a whole. “It is important to note that our data are not reflective of the entire physical therapy patient population, as our research was conducted online and primarily through social media, which limits the number and demographic scope of people who would respond to our surveys,” she said.

The student group was able to draw some interesting conclusions, including about what physical therapy clients indicate are the most important factors to them when selecting a physical therapy clinic. “The most important factors included friendliness of staff (64.3%) and insur4

ance network compatibility (64.3%), closely followed by comfort/trust with the physical therapist (61.9%), and location (59.5%),” said Tucker.

Online scheduling options, office décor, appointment wait times, and amenities were not considered to be very important to those surveyed, and 42% considered affordable cost to be an important factor when choosing a physical therapy clinic.

When it came to why people sought out a physical therapy clinic, the top three results were injury (51.2%), chronic pain (22%), and post-surgery (12.2%). “While this is to be expected based on the nature of the work,” said Tucker, “it can be helpful to understand which patient segments physical therapy providers will be primarily marketing to.

“When I decided that I wanted to pursue physical therapy, I selected a degree that would provide a comprehensive and diverse educational experience and that would prepare me for the professional world, whether or not that will end with a career in physical therapy,” she said. “I also wanted the knowledge and experience that I’ll need to run my own physical therapy clinic someday, as that is my current career goal.

An understanding of consumer behavior in the field of physical therapy will likely be quite advantageous, particularly in opening and running my own clinic.”

Tucker explained that this project required technological, communication, and interpersonal skills, all of which are things that will be useful to her as a physical therapist. “More than anything, this project helped me develop an appreciation for the value of consumer research and the understanding of consumer behavior for any field of business,” she said. “Ultimately, the goal of business is to create value for the consumer. My goal as a physical therapist will be to provide service that maximizes value for my patients.”

Business simulation course provides realistic challenges The Strategic Management class taught by George Perez, assistant professor of business, provides challenging and meaningful experiences and instruction for students through running a simulated business.

Students in the class use knowledge gained from previous business classes to analyze the competitive position of a simulated business, develop business strategies, and design interdependent organizational systems to implement those strategies.

The class, which is offered winter and spring quarters, is the capstone experience for students completing a degree in business administration.

The goal of the class is to “place students into a very realistic international business setting where they start up and run a company for 11/2,” said Perez. “Students gain tremendous management experience by making real business decisions. Time is compressed to speed up the business cycle. Then students are immersed in the management of a new business.”

Students work in groups of three or four to form an entrepreneurial firm that will compete in a business war game. During six to eight weeks, they take a fledgling business through the natural stages of business growth, including emergence, development, and maturity. Along the way, they learn to develop and refine their strategies and tactics, including balancing the interplay between marketing, distribution, manufacturing, human resources, finance, accounting, and

team management. Students manage business operations through several decision cycles and must repeatedly analyze situations, plan strategies to address issues and concerns, and execute those strategies.

George Perez, assistant professor of business, seeks to provide students with skill-building experiences in realistic business settings.

Students use a simulation program called Marketplace Simulations, which was developed specifically for university business courses and executive business programs. The program allows students to build an entrepreneurial firm, experiment with strategies, and compete with other students in a virtual business world.

During spring quarter 2020, a few variations had to be made to the class to adjust for COVID-19, mostly pertaining to student presentations, which were made to a real group of investors and a board of directors. These presentations were presented virtually instead of in person.

At the end of the class, students shared a variety of viewpoints.

Comments included: “I learned specifically that leadership and communication can be difficult”; “The simulation truly showed me the importance of understanding market research in order to sidestep and take advantage of your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses”; and “One of the most interesting discoveries I made during the simulation was how important working in teams is for a business.”

“Good organization and time management are important to making a good grade in this course,” said Perez. “The workout helps students build skills that will help them succeed in their business career.”

Students made online presentations to investors and a board of directors.

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WWU offers four new certificate programs Walla Walla University is offering four new certificate options for degree-seeking and non-degreeseeking students. Certificates are available in: • Bookkeeping—Covers the use of QuickBooks, processing payroll, understanding internal controls, and preparing reports for small business owners and tax accountants.

• Business analytics—Covers analytics using Microsoft Excel and Access, business statistics, business forecasting, and predictive analytics.

• Professional writing—Develops writing skills across industries, such as writing for public relations, social media, and advertising, including feature, screen, and technical writing.

• Social media and digital marketing— Covers how to use social media professionally and how to conduct digital marketing campaigns.

These certificates provide options for students pursuing one major to expand their skillset with classes from another discipline. They also provide opportunities for members of the community to enhance their knowledge in specific areas and complete an academic program that certifies their level of knowledge and competence.

Most certificate programs can be completed in one year and require a comprehensive final exam. Visit wallawalla.edu/business for more information about bookkeeping and business analytics and wallawalla.edu/comm-lang for more about writing and social media.

Business seniors achieve highest MFT score to date Seniors in the Walla Walla University School of Business scored at the 99th percentile on the 2019–20 Major Field Test (MFT) in business.

This is the highest percentile WWU students have achieved in the 29 years the university has been administering the assessment test and continues a trend since 2013 of WWU seniors scoring above the 90th percentile.

“We believe these stellar results reflect the quality of our students and our program,” said Patience Taruwinga, dean of the School of

Business and associate professor of business.

For the 2019–20 testing cycle, 120,781 business seniors at 523 other business schools across the nation took the Major Field Test in business. The test measures how well students know the core business subjects of accounting, economics, finance, management, statistics, marketing, law, information systems, and international issues.

The five-year average percentile for WWU seniors is 94.

Help launch a career!

List your job posting or internship at wallawalla.edu/employer-relations.

Questions? Contact Darel Harwell at darel.harwell@wallawalla.edu or (509) 527-2089.

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Colloquium series connects students and business leaders During the 2019–20 academic year, business students enjoyed guest lectures by notable business, community, and thought leaders. These presentations help students connect with professionals and learn about issues and ideas in the marketplace.

Kickoff Colloquium School of Business welcome and updates Internship Panel Discussion Student interns shared their experiences Career and Graduate School Fair Learning about opportunities available at a variety of organizations and schools Oren Williams ’99 Business owner and entrepreneur Erin Wiggins-Sleeth ’98 M.S., CPA Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers Denzil McNeilus Chair and CEO of Sterling State Bank, Minnesota Randall Unterseher ’79, M.B.A. Vice president of Better Fresh Technology LLC Todd Fletcher ’89 Vice president of operations–west, Life Care Centers of America Ask Your Professor Anything A chance to learn about business professors Shark Tank/LaunchU Semifinal Pitch Teams pitch business ideas as a runoff for the final competition in April Shark Tank/LaunchU Final Competition The final battle of entrepreneurial ideas Peter Walker, Ph.D. (canceled due to COVID-19) Vice president of architecture at Visa Terry Moreland (canceled due to COVID-19) Real estate developer and businessman Business Faculty/Student Awards Colloquium (canceled due to COVID-19)

Thompson’s leadership focuses on service and sustainability

Brooke Thompson mentored elementary school students as part of the Friends of Children program.

Improving the well-being of others has taken a prominent role for Brooke Thompson, senior business major (preoccupational therapy). While she was serving as a student missionary prior to her junior year at WWU, Thompson had already decided she wanted to continue helping those around her in some way when she returned to campus. She also knew she wanted to provide service opportunities for her fellow students.

With those goals in mind she applied and was hired as Global Service director for the Associated Students of Walla Walla University (ASWWU) for 2019–20. In that position she worked to multiply ASWWU efforts by partnering with the WWU Center for Humanitarian Engagement (CHE) on a variety of projects for local nonprofit organizations in the Walla Walla Valley.

“The CHE is a really cool department on campus that enthusiastically gets students involved in service. I think that is such an important mission. I wanted to be able to get a variety of students with a variety of interests and skill sets and passions involved in service, and working alongside the CHE made that possible,” said Thompson. “David Lopez, CHE director, was so excited about getting me connected with local nonprofits and made our dreams on Global Service a reality.”

Thompson focused on starting projects that

could be sustained through yearly ASWWU leadership changes. “Creating sustainable relationships is placing value in those individuals, and that is what service is all about. It is hard to continue that with Global Service as there is so much turnover every year, but working alongside the CHE has made that possible. CHE creates relationships with the community and maintains those relationships.”

In her work leading ASWWU Global Service, Thompson drew upon skills she learned in her business classes. “I think the most valuable and applicable class was Fundamentals of Leadership that I took while holding this position. The class not only focused on our leadership skills, traits, and how we all lead differently, but it put a huge focus on servant leadership,” she said. “As the Global Service director, and in every management position, I believe servant leadership is so important. Not only was my goal to serve my community and provide ways for fellow students to serve the community, but I also wanted to serve my team.”

During Thompson’s leadership, ASWWU Global Service helped the Friends of Children of Walla Walla and the Friends Club connect university students with elementary school students through a mentoring program. They also provided chapel services for the homeless at the Christian Aid Center, worked on restoration projects after flooding in the valley, decorated Christmas cookies for underprivileged children, and collected Christmas gifts for children in foster care. At the end of the year, they were able to donate more than $7,000 of funds they raised to Treehouse, a nonprofit organization that supports and advocates for children in foster care throughout Washington state.

Thompson has passed the leadership torch for ASWWU Global Service to Emma Tucker, senior business major (prephysical therapy), who has taken over for the 2020–21 year. She is pleased to note that Tucker will continue to cultivate the relationships between WWU and local nonprofit organizations in Walla Walla that she worked so hard to establish.

Motzev presents research at international conference Mihail Motzev, professor of business, presented his research on business simulations and experiential learning at several conferences in Europe. He presented twice for the Summer School on Research Methods 2020 conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, about statistical learning networks and KnowledgeMiner for Excel. He also published a textbook, Business Forecasting: A Contemporary Decision Making Approach, and was elected to the ISAGA (International Simulation and Gaming Association) international advisory council for the eighth time.

Motzev’s previous work includes presentations on “Accuracy in Business Simulations” for the 50th Anniversary ISAGA World Conference and “Prediction Accuracy, Errors and Prediction Intervals” for the International Conference VSIM:20: Vanguard Scientific Instruments in Management 2020.

Motzev was the recipient of the Accuracy in Predictive Analytics Faculty Research Grant from WWU, is author of “Prediction Accuracy—A Measure of Simulation Reality,” which appeared in Vanguard Scientific Instruments in Management, and is coauthor of “Accuracy in Business Simulations,” which was part of the Simulation and Gaming Through Times and Across Disciplines proceedings of the 50th Anniversary ISAGA World Conference.

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NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID WALLA WALLA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS (509) 527-2951 204 S. College Ave. College Place, WA 99324 busnschool@wallawalla.edu RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

New advisory council facilitates discussion between students and department dean The School of Business started a Student Advisory Council during the 2019–20 academic year as a way for students to provide feedback and to advise the dean of the school on matters of concern to business majors.

Topics discussed during the monthly meetings last year included technology, policies, outreach, career options, and social and networking opportunities. The council includes two each of freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors with meetings chaired by the dean.

The council has boosted student morale and has made significant contributions to the department. For example, as a result of feedback from the council, a teacher’s assistant was hired to help streamline the process of on-campus job interviews for business majors. The teacher’s assistant works to take professional LinkedIn profile photos and helps students record interview videos in a professional setting.

In addition, a discussion about classes offered and the importance of data analytics led to a new class being created, Advanced Business Analytics and Visualization, which will be offered for the first time during fall quarter of the 2020–21 academic year.

The council will continue to meet during the 2020-21 academic year.

97%

More than 97% of WWU business graduates are placed in careers or graduate schools within 12 months of graduation.

100%

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$30k

One hundred percent of business majors complete internships in a variety of settings across the country.

WWU offers professional certificates in business analytics, bookkeeping, professional writing, and social media and digital marketing.

In addition to scholarships awarded

by WWU, the School of Business awarded $30,295 in scholarships in 2019–20.

99th

percentile

WWU seniors scored in the 99th percentile on the Major Field Test—the highest score to date.