Gerald Cavanagh, S.J., interim dean of the College of Business Administration

Dear Alumni,

There is much good news to share with you about the College of Business Administration. The College experienced a 55 percent increase in undergraduate full-time enrollment over the past five years, and a 14 percent increase in MBA enrollment in 2009.  This year the College was reaccredited by AACSB, the highest accreditation obtainable by undergraduate and graduate business programs.  UDM remains the only private institution in Michigan with AACSB accreditation. Two outstanding young faculty members in accounting and finance joined our faculty. Both are national award winning scholars, who love teaching and students and are delighted to be at UDM.

This fall, the College began a 5-year BS-MBA Program for high achieving students.  The College also initiated a required course for all first-year business students: Business as a Profession.  Please check out details of the above items in this issue of the Current.

Members of the CBA Board of Advisors and the CBA Alumni Board help the College and its students in many ways.  These talented, loyal alumni and friends provide mentoring and also co-op and internship positions to CBA students, arrange for dozens of business executives to come to campus to speak [they themselves constitute most of those speakers], help recruit undergraduate and graduate students, and provide service to those in need in the city – often alongside students.

The College is currently searching for a new dean and a new faculty member in finance.  Academic Vice President Pamela Zarkowski promoted Bruce Brorby to Senior Associate Dean of the College of Business Administration.  Bruce has served no less than nine deans, and he has done so with competence, generosity and sensitivity to all.  All of us are indebted to Bruce for his decades of untiring, dedicated work on behalf of students, faculty and alumni of the College.

Joe Walsh '69, '70, is co-chair with Denise Illich and Freeman Hendricks of Detroit Mayor David Bing's Transition Team.  Walsh recruited talented recent alumni Jonathan Sanders, '02, '09, Jessica McGrath '04, '07 and James Gardziola, a current graduate student, to help in this task.  Bing asked teams to examine the City of Detroit's budgets, procurement, hiring, salaries, finances and practices and procedures.  For more than three months they volunteered their time and skills to help build a renewed, healthy City of Detroit.  They described their work and findings to CBA students and faculty on Oct. 6; the full report was presented to Mayor David Bing the next day.

For a decade College faculty members have asked all undergraduate and graduate students to do community service work as a part of their education.  Students spend time with and try to help the hungry, homeless and young people, who may not have a parent at home.  Later in the classroom students reflect on the clients they meet, what causes their plight, and how their own talents and skills can build a more healthy society.  Students appreciate this experience and they find that it broadens their view of their own professional role and responsibilities.

Sincerely,

Gerald Cavanagh, S.J.
Interim Dean, College of Business Administration