Week of May 19 – 24: Keeping you connected to COBA & CIT!

1. In session

Summer school officially started last Monday. As of last Wednesday’s data, we counted 8,631 students as enrolled (up 68 students from the same point in time last year).

The all-important measure – student credit hours (SCH) – was also up over last year. We are showing total SCH production of 57,778 hours (up 1,060 hours from summer ‘07).

And, with one week already behind us, approximately 20 percent of the first summer term is over!! Wow, the pace is awfully quick in summer.

It is Memorial Day weekend and that means a three-day break for most everyone. I can tell you that our staff (and some faculty) are sure looking forward to having the time off!

I hope you and your family enjoy the weekend, maybe watch a little racin’ (NASCAR or the Indy 500), and fire up the grill!!

But don’t forget why we are pausing on Monday.

Memorial Day used be called “Decoration Day,” and I believe this special day extends all the way back to the Civil War when widows would go to cemetery’s and decorate the graves of loved ones who died fighting for liberty and freedom in this country.

Officially General John Logan proclaimed Memorial Day on May 5, 1868 as a day to honor those who died in service to our country.

Think about that on Monday, if you would. Thank you.

I would like to thank Roland Berry (’72 BBA) and the Warner Robbins Rotary Club for hosting me at their weekly Tuesday meeting. It was good to share the COBA story with this group and meet their founding president (who founded this Rotary Club 51 years ago!).

Roland followed up with an email that included interesting stories about some of COBA’s original leaders, including Paul LaGrone, Ori James, and Lewis Stewart. I didn’t get a chance to ask Roland if I could share his comments with our readership, but I don’t think he would mind if I mentioned this one:

“You may know Lewis Stewart, he was a new instructor I think my senior year in 1972. He was an energetic young instructor who was slim as a stick.”

Charlene, could that possibly be true??!!

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Linda Wilke and I also traveled on to Maysfield, KY to visit with Tom Coe. I’d like to thank Tom for his hospitality and history lesson about our real estate emphasis.

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Finally, I spent the end of the week in Savannah attending the semi-annual governing board meeting of the WebBSIT consortium. Similar to the WebMBA program, the WebBSIT is an online bachelor’s degree in information technology offered by Georgia Southern in a consortium with Southern Poly, Macon State, Armstrong Atlantic, and Clayton State Universities.

This is an ambitious undertaking since the program delivers the last two years’ worth of curriculum in the bachelor’s degree. Twenty-four courses are offered by consortium schools each calendar year, so there is a considerable amount of coordination and effort involved.

I would like to acknowledge and commend Barbara Price, one of the driving forces 4-5 years ago, who helped conceive and create the program. Simultaneously, Han Reichgelt (who is now the dean of the school of IT at Southern Poly) and former CIT Dean Jim Bradford took responsibility for implementing the WebBSIT.

In addition, Art Gowan serves on the operating board for the WebBSIT and attended the operating board meeting in Savannah on Friday.

The first four graduates of the program earned their degrees this spring – two from Georgia Southern and two from Southern Poly. The program is healthy, but enrollments – especially Georgia Southern enrollments – are not as robust as I think they should be. So, besides working on the budget at the governing board meeting, the deans of the consortium schools talked at length about improving the marketing and visibility of the program. We welcome your input and ideas!

Expect to see a lot more about the WebBSIT program in future Updates and elsewhere.

4. Savannah Business Report & Journal

In this month’s Lessons in Leadership column titled “Counseling Employees,” Bill McCartney offers excellent advice for those who must address poor performance or behavioral problems with employees. Bill says:

“Maybe one of the most difficult jobs for a leader is to communicate to subordinates that their performance is unacceptable. In fact, the task is so distasteful many managers tend to ignore behavioral problems in hopes that the issue will either go away or solve itself; however, experienced leaders know that neither of these solutions is likely to occur. Little problems that are ignored tend to turn into big problems that cannot be ignored. Therefore, good leaders promptly and professionally deal with behavioral problems before they become unmanageable.”

Okay, so what’s the magic solution? Bill suggests three easy-to-implement tactics for success. To find out what he recommends, click on the link below:

http://coba.georgiasouthern.edu/insights.htm

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This week Mildred Wilson reviewed “Work Like You’re Showing Off!: The Joy, Jazz, and Kick of Being Better Tomorrow Than You Were Today” by Joe Calloway. Mildred writes:

“Work Like You’re Showing Off is a stimulating book that provides a refreshing perspective on how we view our situations. It’s the motivational book without all the theoretical stuff. It talks about how something as simple as a smile from an employee to a customer is a symbol of showing off…. (the book) provides inspirational tools that will enable greater productivity and satisfaction in ways that bring great rewards to employees and employers alike.”

Mildred also says, “It is organized in short, easy to read chapters with titles that are sure to engage you to read on.” Click on the following link to read her complete review:

http://coba.georgiasouthern.edu/insights.htm

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We are still catching up from some weeks where we lost our link, so here is another book review, courtesy of Jerry Burke. Jerry offers his opinion of the book titled “Season of Life: A Football Star, a Boy, a Journey to Manhood” by Jeffrey Marx.

This is not your typical self-help business book, as Jerry suggests:

“The book forces the reader to critically examine America’s mainstream ideal of manhood. By association, business leaders, regardless of gender, may also gain a fresh perspective on their missions and business relations by reading this book. As the title suggests, this book is about life progression, so I highly recommend it not only to the business community, but also to the general population.”

Jerry says the main theme of the book is about building relationships, which is developed through the off-the-field work and philosophy of a former professional football player, Joe Ehrmann.

“Through ministering in urban environments, Joe develops the belief that a root problem in innercities is a lack of real men. From Joe’s perspective the 3-Bs value system of ball, bedroom, and billfold conquests lead young males into unfulfilling and disaffectionate lives.”

Jerry links the message of the book to today’s business environment. You will enjoy reading his review at the following link:

http://coba.georgiasouthern.edu/insights.htm

A publication called “WERC Watch” is distributed quarterly by the Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC) for warehousing professionals. The Spring 2008 issue is devoted exclusively to the results of DC Velocity’s Annual Warehouse Benchmarking study, which was co-authored by Karl Manrodt. Karl’s picture is featured on the front page of this very colorful and professional publication. Grad student, Joe Tillman, is also mentioned in the acknowledgments. Congratulations, Karl (and Joe)!!

Here is the latest roster of charter member of EExS, COBA’s new membership society to provide a margin of support for initiatives that go unfunded by state appropriations.

Dr. John Brown

Brenda Carter

Greg Colson

Tommy David

Barbara Greef

William Head

Kelly Kahley

Dr. Mike McDonald

Greg Morgan

Dr. Cathy Owens Swift

See the box at the bottom of the Update for details on how to join EExS.

7. Welcome new subscribers

§ Elizabeth (Hunt) Miltiades (’04 MED) and Stephen Miltiades (’04 BBA in management). Stephen is the owner and operator of a Chick-fil-A store in Powder Springs.

§ Erin Schrimpf (’05 BBA in logistics), who is train master for CSX Transportation in Riverdale, FL.

§ Chris Sasser (’95 BBA in logistics), who is vice president of Bennett International Group in McDonough.

§ Leslie Hill (’07 BBA in marketing), who is working in Hinesville.

§ Kate Bussey (’04 BA in economics and ’08 MBA through the WebMBA program), who is career counselor with Okefenokee Technical College in Alma. Congratulations, Kate, on finishing the WebMBA program!

§ Constance Smith (’92 BBA in marketing), who is a teacher in the Gwinnett school system in Lawrenceville.

§ Branson Macatee (’00 BBA in management with an emphasis in entrepreneurship and small business) and Amy (Appel) Macatee (’01 BBA in finance). Branson is the owner and operator of a Chick-fil-A store in Savannah.

§ Leigh Ann (Hood) Churcher (’05 BBA in accounting) and Eric Churcher (’05 BBA in accounting). Leigh Ann is a staff accountant with McNair, McLemore, Middlebrooks in Macon.