May 15, 2008

 

Rotary Meeting, May 08:

 

Presiding: Esther McGann

Invocation: Galand Thaxton

News: Don Black

Humor: None.

Music: None.

Introduction of Speaker: John Evans

Speakers: Brent Hathaway, Dean, UW College of Business

 

Club Respondent: Gregg Jackson

FOUNDATION DRAWING: The pot is now $143.  Tom Mangan won $10, the joker remained in the deck.

    

GUESTS: Doug Mader hosted Alec Shea; Megan Goetz hosted Antonio Bendezu; John Shuster hosted Jon Benson; Bob Bryant hosted exchange student Arda Tezcan.

 

VISITING ROTARIANS: None.

 

ROTARIANS OF THE WEEK: Paul Heimer nominated Rotarian state legislators Kermit Brown, Phil Nicholas and Jim Slater for passing the Wyoming Matching Grants for the library foundation.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Todd Pearson announced that committee appointments have been made for next year and passed the list so members could have a last chance of picking committees of their choice.  Paul Heimer announced that the Duck Race committee and any other interested members will meet at 11:00 a.m. on May 22, immediately prior to our regular meeting.

       

* * * * * * *

“The dirty work at a political  convention is almost always done in the grim hours between midnight and dawn. Hangmen and politicians work best when the human spirit is at its lowest ebb.”

--Russell Baker

 

* * * * * * *

 

PROGRAM

     Brent Hathaway, Dean of UW’s Business College, presented a program titled “Building Business Education In Wyoming.”  The Business College currently has 1065 undergraduate majors on campus plus 134 taking on-line classes and 150 graduate students.

      The college has 5-6 opportunities for employment for each accounting graduate and is one of only 15% of business schools that is AASCB accredited. The seniors score in the top 95 percentile.

     The college promotes sustainable business practices and offers a unique value from the faculty/student ratio, tuition and strength of faculty.

     Economists are ranked 10th in the USA and 12th in the world for research productivity in environmental natural resources economics. Links with UW’s new School of Energy includes two new professors.

     Under Entrepreneurship and New Ventures the college boasts: the $10K competition; a link with the Wyoming Technical Business Center including grad student interns; an internship program and career focus; and in the last five years and Executive in Residence program featuring distinguished speakers and thematic panel presentations.

     The Business Ethics program includes: Bill Daniels Distinguished Professor and also works with community colleges; UW students placed second in an international business ethics competition hosted by the Ella School of Management at the University of Arizona; students research and nominate businesses for the BBB Torch Awards.

      Under Leadership/Talent the college highlights: business grants critical for economic diversity; having more students stay in state; focusing on new ventures and entrepreneurship; adding an executive MBA and partnering with the Wyoming Business Council for Wyoming business leaders.

    Among the goals of the college are: reputation for quality, ETS, ENR; promoting business sustainability; expand state outreach; and undertaking a facility facelift d(dinged on this 8 years ago during accreditation survey).

      Looking to the future, the college is building a new facility. When dedicated in 1960 the present facility was designed for 425 students. Today there are 1300 majors and 1250 non-majors taking business courses. Hathaway estimates 20,000 people are using the facility on a weekly basis.

      The plan – constructing a $54+ facility. Adolfson & Peterson has been hired as the construction firm and a groundbreaking is scheduled for July 9, 2008.  A list of naming opportunities was shared with the club.

     Hathaway noted that the new facility will be LEAD Certified.

 

* * * * * * *

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE

     It was Sunday morning. He slipped into his wife’s dressing- gown and went downstairs to answer the door bell. As he opened the door, the milkman kissed him.

      After giving due consideration to this unusual occurrence, he came to the conclusion that the milkman’s wife must have a similar dressing gown.

 

* * * * * * *

DATES TO REMEMBER

 

MAY 22 – 11:00 a.m.: Duck Race committee meeting at the Country Club.

 

JUNE 5-7 – District Conference in Cody WY. You may register online at www.rotary5440.org. The conference will include afternoon tours, community work times, golf, etc., to provide a well-rounded experience.

 

* * * * * * *

 “A mind that is stretched to a new idea never returns to its original dimension.”

--Oliver Wendell Holmes

 

* * * * * * *

ROTARY: 1,210,648 members in 32,912 clubs in 532 districts. (31 December 2007)