Articles for the December 2006 edition of InFormation are now available.
(Subscribe | Forward | Printer-friendly | RSS)
Being a businessman in the Charleston community and a graduate of The Citadel, William Moody Jr. has often looked to his Alma Mater as a recruiting pool for his accounting firm, Gamble, Givens & Moody, LLC. He was invited by Professor Cynthia Bolt to speak to the accounting club at the school, and has made other visits to speak with cadets about the accounting profession.
"Then Earl Walker came along and said 'We really want to take this thing (CSBA) to another notch,'" Moody said recently. "And when he said that and shared with me his vision, I thought, 'Wow, this is really impressive.'"
Moody agreed to serve on The Citadel School of Business Administration's Advisory Board, and since joining up, he said "it has been bigger than I had always thought it would be." He now serves as Vice Chairman.
Thus far, he said it has succeeded beyond his hopes on a variety of levels, including the Advisory Board itself. The group set "pretty big goals," Moody said, and since it started measuring its results, "it is way beyond where most of us thought it might be."
One aspect that Moody said he feels is particularly poignant is the concept of the leader of principle. He said this ideal is sorely missing in the modern business community, but is one The Citadel School of Business has "a very unique role in providing."
"When you sit around that table now with the Advisory Board," he said, "and you see the people sitting around that table - both alumni and non-alums - it is incredible the talent that is giving its time and its resources to support that idea."
Moody also notes other remarkable efforts, including the Mentors Association, The Citadel Business Hall of Fame, and the development of criteria for the business school.
"There's just been a ratcheting up of the whole level of the program," he said. "It has been really exciting."
Moody said the Advisory Board has allowed him to use his talents in organizational development, and utilize his experience in the local community. He has served as chairman of the Board of Directors for the Charleston Regional Development Alliance in 2000, Campaign Chairman of the Board of Directors for Trident United Way, among others. "I know what some of the economic development needs are and how all this stuff works together to bring those ideas out," he said, particularly considering that a lot of the graduates from The Citadel remain in South Carolina.
Dean Walker said that Moody has prompted and coached the Advisory Board through the years. "He has led board meetings, involved us with the Charleston Regional Development Alliance, gave us consulting opportunities with his firm, actively supported us in getting the class of 1965 to support The Citadel Business Hall of Fame, and lectured in our courses," he said. "As Dean, I can always rely on Bill for good counsel, assistance, and encouragement."
It is no secret that The Citadel's mission is to build leaders of principle. But in the School of Business Administration, these leaders are meant to be members of a community of principle; one that includes teachers, students and administration.
Four years ago, the school initiated a lunch program to allow students to meet by class and interact with other students and professors.
Over four successive Wednesdays in September, the students gather with faculty in the Riverview Room for a lunch meeting.
Dr. Wes Jones, Dean of Undergraduate Studies, said that due to the set-up of the Business School, different "pieces of the puzzle" emerge each year that the school would like to reinforce.
"We thought that it might be a good idea to bring them all together at one time, in one place, and give each class the specific information for that year that is relevant for them," he said.
"Our challenge was how to talk with all 650 of our students," said Dr. Earl Walker, Dean of The Citadel School of Business Administration. "The Business Executive Leadership Team decided that the best way to do that was to meet with them over lunch, class by class. At those luncheons, we introduce all of our faculty and staff, and provide guidance on the students' progress through the business school."
Sophomores have the greatest burden because they are not yet business majors, and the school would like to remind them what they must do to enter the school during their junior year, including career visioning requirements which must be completed prior to being admitted. The juniors receive information about fine tuning their career visioning, considering internships and thinking about the interview process. Seniors are reminded that if they have not started interviewing by Thanksgiving of their senior year, they are running behind in finding a job that will begin upon graduation.
The freshmen are the most interesting piece of this, Jones said, since they must declare an intended major upon admission to the school. However, some will decide before they even enter the School of Business that it is not for them. "For those that are going to stay around, they will not see most professors for two years," Dr. Jones said. "They are probably going to hear a lot of names, but we want them to begin to put a face with a name and start feeling that sense of community and realize that it is not an us against them environment at all. We really are all involved in the same push to get them into a successful career and life when they leave The Citadel.
"Our intent in the school of business is really to go beyond the traditional student, teacher relationship," said Dr. Jones. "We want to build community. We want to build community not only between the faculty and the students, but also community among the students."
There are other elements that have piggy-backed onto these class lunches. Several years ago, the Advisory Board suggested that the school should begin implementing some sort of method to ensure students knew what they wanted to do when they left the school. Last year, career visioning began. In this, sophomores meet five more times with professors, administrators and businesspeople to offer guidance and to prepare the students for their entrance into the School of Business and a career. This year, the school is also piloting a junior program where students will meet two additional times. The school is also working to implement a program for seniors, whereby they will meet one additional time.
While it is early to define whether these programs have been a success, Dr. Jones said the "initial, anecdotal evidence says yes, they have really responded well to this."
"They have responded well to the meetings and to us trying to build community," he said, "because it is important to them. They want to know that they haven't spent four years here and they are just a number."
"These undergraduate business school lunches have gone a long way to better involve the cadets in the school and in their courses," said Dean Walker.
The Princeton Review recently named The Citadel School of Business Administration an outstanding business schools with a "reasonably priced" MBA in the 2007 edition of the New York-based education services company's Best 282 Business Schools guide.
"The Citadel School of Business Administration's MBA program has nearly tripled in the last 10 years," Dr. Earl Walker, dean of the CSBA. "We have added new concentrations and new opportunities to earn dual degrees, collaborating with the Medical University of South Carolina. As the only AACSB accredited business school in the Lowcountry, we are delighted with this recognition by Princeton Review for a program that is committed to continuous improvement and service to graduate students throughout the region."
"We chose schools for this book based on our high regard for their academic programs and offerings, institutional data we collect from the schools, and the candid opinions of students attending them who rate and report on their campus experiences at the schools," said Robert Franek, Princeton Review vice president of publishing.
This is the second time in as many years that the school has been acknowledged by the Princeton Review. The accolades stem from academics, student life, admissions, selectivity and career placement services. The school is featured in a two-page profile.
Dr. Sykes Wilford made a decision to move to the South after years in more metropolitan areas of the United States and abroad.
Once in Charleston, Dr. Wilford began teaching a course at the College of Charleston. There he met Doug Snyder, an MBA student and a member of The Citadel Board of Visitors.
"Doug introduced me to Earl (Walker, Dean of the School of Business Administration) and I really was very impressed with what people are trying to do here at The Citadel," Dr. Wilford said.
Last summer marked the end of Alex McMillan's tenure as the W. Frank Hipp Distinguished Chair in Business Administration, and Dr. Wilford was asked to apply as his successor.
"I really came to The Citadel because I was impressed with the whole approach that is being taken," Dr. Wilford said. "The Mentors (Association), I just think is a great idea. The concept of working to create leaders, I think that is the correct mission. I feel that all too often in academia we ignore that factor and we actual coddle kids. I don't think that gets them ready for the real world because, when I am on the other side hiring someone that just came out of school, I find that many of them are just totally unprepared to take responsibilities that they should be able to take at 21, 22 years old. I think what The Citadel's trying to do is create people that can take those responsibilities and, to me, that was very attractive."
Dr. Wilford has spent much of his career immersed in the international business world. He received his M.S. from Vanderbilt University and his Ph.D. in Economics from Tulane University. He was an Economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, as well as Chief International Fixed-Income Strategist for Drexel Burnham Lambert in London. Dr. Wilford was the Chief Investment Officer of Bankers Trust's Private Bank and Managing Director of Bankers Trust's Global Investment Management operations. He was Managing Director of Chase Manhattan Bank, managing the Portfolio Strategies Group and chairing its Investment Committee in London. Dr. Wilford also directed Chase's Global Commodity Risk Management and European Index Linked Derivative Products businesses.
Presently, Dr. Wilford is Chairman of the Advisory Board of Beauchamp Financial Technology and a founding partner of Hamilton Investment Partners. He was the Chief Investment Officer and member of the Board of Directors of CDC Investment Management from 1997 to 2002.
Dr. Wilford has written in both the academic and popular press. His articles have appeared in research journals such as the American Economic Review and the Journal of Finance. He has both authored and edited several books, ranging from economic policy in developing countries to managing financial risk.
As Hipp Chair at The Citadel, Dr. Wilford will teach classes, and he will organize the Leadership Forum in both the fall and the spring semesters during which leaders from across the country come to speak with students in The Citadel MBA program.
"We want students to hear the importance of integrity and ethics in leadership and how that pays in the long run" Dr. Wilford said.
The fall series includes talks by Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr.; Susan M. Phillips, Ph.D., Dean of the School of Business and Public Management of George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and former governor of the Federal Reserve System; Bluford Putnam, President of Bayesian Edge and a well-known academic; and Jim Huling, President and CEO of MATRIX Resources.
Beginning this spring, Dr. Wilford will teach two classes. He said that they will focus primarily on international finance.
"We are privileged to have Dr. Sykes Wilford in the Business School," said Dean Walker. "His international finance experience is remarkable, and in just the first few months as the Hipp Chair, he has already contributed enormously to our students. Not only has he been instrumental in the development of our Leadership Forum for the academic year, he has also helped us broaden our horizons in international business."
Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley's skill at leadership is a blend stems from a knowledge and understanding of history, and an unbridled focus on making the right decisions using a bit of gut reaction and lot of study.
Mayor Riley, who is serving his unprecedented eighth term, elaborated on his understanding of leadership and his many successes as mayor of the city of Charleston during the first installment of the Fall 2006 Leadership Forum presented by The Citadel School of Business Administration and underwritten by South Carolina Bank and Trust.
Mayor Riley addressed a large group of MBA students and professors in Grimsley Hall, speaking for 30 minutes about leadership and dedicating 15 minutes to questions from the audience.
His talk was built upon two aspects of leadership: Leadership within and leadership without, described, respectively, as inherent skills embodied in a leader, and how this leadership must play out to constituents.
"You have to earn it every day, you have to work for it every day," Mayor Riley said of leadership, acknowledging that a true leader must be "honest, fair, truthful and just."
"You need to recognize achievements," he said. "And when things don't go right, you need to take the blame."
On the topic of the city of Charleston, Mayor Riley said that his primary goal has been to give the people what they want. When he was first elected in 1975, the city was racially divided, and he took it upon himself to be a "bridge builder" between white and black residents.
"I knew the city couldn't get to where it wanted to go if it didn't take care of that problem first," he said.
He hired Reuben Greenberg as chief of police, which continued his success in the battle against racism.
"I knew that in their (residents) hearts, they wanted a deep southern city that had confronted these issues," he said.
Subsequent efforts were made to refurbish the Charleston Place Hotel, which led to the renewal of King Street and eventually the entire downtown area.
Mayor Riley also elaborated on the successful evacuation of the city during Hurricane Hugo, which struck on September 21, 1989; he said he aimed to use the impending disaster as an opportunity to serve the people.
"Mayor Joe Riley is, without question, one of the finest mayor's the country has ever known," said Dr. Earl Walker, Dean of The Citadel School of Business Administration. "Formerly as a business dean in Kansas City, I heard about his reputation from afar. He has exceeded my already high expectations by leagues."
Next year, The Citadel School of Business Administration will induct Mayor Riley into the Business Hall of Fame and will award him the Leader of Principle award.
"When he agreed to receive this award, he also agreed to speak at one of our Leadership Forums," said Dean Walker. "His seminar was very insightful about the challenges government leaders face in leading and creating ethical environments."
This was the first of four leadership forums this fall. The series also includes talks by Dr. Susan M. Phillips, Dean of the School of Business and Public Management of George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and former governor of the Federal Reserve System; Bluford Putnam, President of Bayesian Edge and a well-known academic; and Jim Huling, President and CEO of MATRIX Resources.