TAKE A TOUR OF THE FLOOR PLANS

What can be more exciting than starting the New Year off with a peek at our new business school floor plan? Dr. Michael Sesnowitz describes what has been happening:

Over the last several months the floor plans for our new building have undergone numerous changes. Some of these have resulted from the need to change the footprint of the building because of land constraints, others from cost overruns, and yet others from the topography of the site. The link below shows renderings of the current floor plans. These are not final, as some additional changes will be made to the main and fourth floors.

One major change involved moving six case class rooms from the lower level to higher floors. A high water table revealed in engineering studies led our architects to reduce the size of he lower level. The basic atrium design of the building has not changed, and faculty offices are still primarily on the third and fourth floors, with undergraduate teaching spaces on the lower, main, and second floors.

Review the floor plan by clicking on http://www.bus.vcu.edu/build _com/future1.htm

The Department of Accounting's Sixth Annual "Black and Gold" Alumni Reunion was held on Saturday, January 29 in the Auxiliary GYM of the Siegel Center following the exciting game between VCU and ODU. Winning the game in a nail biting fashion with the screams and cheers of the Rams fans certainly provided the energy and jubilation for a festive Reunion Reception that kept spirits high. "It was a great turn-out of Accounting Alumni and friends despite sleet falling outdoors," said Department Chair Ruth Epps.

Among the guests recognized were Dr. John Sperry, Department Chairman, from 1981 to 1991 and Mrs. Peggy Bullinger, Department secretary during the same period. Dr. Sperry told the gathering that he was very proud of them and their accomplishments. Several alumni were honored during the event, beginning with those who have been Rams the longest period of time:
John Inman 49 years, Class of 1956; Samuel Treger 47 years, Class of 1958; Walter Wildman 45 years, Class 1960; Adolph Urban 43 years, Class of 1962; Daniel Small & Edward Coffman 40 years, Class of 1965; William Didlake & John Taliaferro 39 years, Class of 1966; Robert Griffin & James O'Brien 37 years, Class of 1968.

Alumni who had appeared in the Metro-Business Section of the Richmond-Times Dispatch during 2004 were recognized for their promotions, appointments to boards, various certification achievements and civic involvements.
Other categories of recognition included those who had traveled the furthest distance; those from the youngest class present, which was the Class of 2003 and those who were fortunate enough to be sitting in a chair with a 'gold bar' on it. All who were recognized received a University black and gold umbrella, which they were immediately able to use as they left the event.

SENIOR LAUREN COLLIER COMPETES FOR TITLES

On January 30 School of Business senior Lauren B. Collier was a contestant for the title of Miss Richmond. She finished as second runner-up. At the end of the month Lauren will compete for the title of Miss Hampton Roads-Newport News. Competition for a beauty queen crown is a tiring but exciting road, says Lauren, who is balancing classes in business administration with competition practice and rehearsals. In the talent competition she sings Broadway show songs.

Currently Lauren is Miss Central Virginia. For two years she has been participating in the Miss Virginia System of preliminary competitions to the Miss America pageant, and hoping that one day she will be named Miss Virginia. Lauren attended Tucker High School in Richmond and Mary Washington College before transferring to VCU. "This type of competition really pushes me to grow both as a person and professionally. She is thrilled at having tied for the "interview" portion of the Miss Richmond contest and looking forward to competing in it again next year.

SIX SIGMA BRIEFING FEBRUARY 25TH

The School of Business Center for Corporate Education will host a Six Sigma Executive Briefing on Friday, February 25 from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. in Richmond Salons I and II, University Student Commons, 907 Floyd Ave. Lee Campe '93, Six Sigma Master Black Belt, will discuss the Six Sigma approach as an effective means to improving organizational performance. World class companies such as General Electric, Motorola, Xerox, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Genworth have used this program to significantly improve their performances. There is no charge for the Briefing, but registration is requested. Call (804) 828-3165 or email corp-ed@vcu.edu

Dr. Roxanne Spindle and family continue to be our contact with military personnel in Iraq. Almost weekly they mail a box from the Business School filled with a variety of items such as books, magazines, wrapped candy, etc. We have received numerous personal notes back. For example, these comments come from SGT Charles T. Sheets and section: "It means so much to me and my soldiers. Just the thought of you guys taking the time and money to send us care packages makes us very proud that there are people out there that care enough about us to send us gifts. This motivates us to do our jobs a little bit better."

To view some of SGT Sheet's section, click on http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/buddrinker20/album?dir=67ca&.src=ph

Richmond businessman Mike White '80 believes giving back to your industry and school is a responsibility of a successful person. White is the president of Virginia Asset Management, and spends a great deal of his time as a mentor to younger financial advisors and students. That is why he continues to visit Virginia universities to talk about risk management and planning for the future. As 2002-03 President of the General Agent and Managers Conference International, Mr. White has traveled widely and carried their message to other countries. On February 3 White was accompanied by "G" Shrestha '02 financial advisor with Virginia Asset Management to VCU where they spoke to two insurance classes, discussing career opportunities, employee benefit planning and financial planning.

Mike White	"G" Shrestha

Dr. Michael W. Pitts' Strategic Management 434 intersession class planned and executed business strategies that produced a donation of 17,540 pounds of food to the Central Virginia FoodBank and over $6000 in contributions to the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, and Tsunami Disaster Relief Three teams of seven students solicited donations, and sold "value-added" products that had been made from recycled items. One lesson learned was that value-added items such as wooden picture frames made from construction scraps, sold better than just recycling the base product. The class was mentioned on the front page of the FoodBank's website calling the class an "innovative teaching opportunity that greatly benefits our community". In a follow-up letter from Fay G. Lohr, Chief Executive Officer, she congratulated the teams. "Wow! What an incredible job!

COMCAST FEATURES VIRGINIA COUNCIL ON ECONOMIC EDUCATION

An interview with Kemper W. Baker, Jr., president of Virginia Council on Economic Education, will be aired in the near future on Comcast Local Edition, a news segment that appears every 30 minutes on CNN Headline News. Comcast uses this local time period to provide information to its cable customers about non-profit, education, community and civic leaders from throughout the Richmond area. In the five-minute taped segment, Baker talks about the various Council activities available to students throughout the State such as the Stock Market Game, LifeSmarts and Teacher instruction.

Boris Kodjoe, 1996 marketing graduate and former VCU tennis star, was presented an alumni award January 26 by President Eugene Trani during the basketball game between the VCU Rams and James Madison Dukes at the Siegel Center. Kodjoe is the star of the Showtime cable TV series, "The Second Time Around,” and was honored for his acting success since graduation. After graduation, the 30-year old Austrian native was signed by the Ford Agency and modeled in 12 campaigns before moving into acting. His previous credits include Showtime's original "Soul Food" series. Read more about his career at http://www.boris-world.com/

The Virginia Bankers Leadership Institute will partner with the Center for Corporate Education to bring a new educational opportunity to Virginia's future bank leaders. Seven two-day modules will be offered September 2005 through April 2006 For further information contact the Center at (804) 828-3165.

Dr. Carol D. Rasnic, professor of Employment Law and Business law, continues a heavy lecture schedule. On January 30 she spoke at the St. Paul's Episcopal Church forum. Her topic was "Law, Politics and Religion in Northern Ireland." On February 11 she spoke to the VCU Honors students on "Lawyers' Advertising--When and Why it Became Lawful." In March she will be returning to Ireland where she will give two guest lectures in Dublin on March 14. The fist will be "Freedom of Religion and the Non-Establishment Clause in the USA" for the law facility, Dublin Institute of technology. The second talk will be on "Capital Punishment, the US Constitution and the Supreme Court" at the law school Trinity College, Dublin.

TEACHING TEACHERS

Suzanne Gallagher is using a new book "Learning, Earning and Investing" published in 2004 by the National Council on Economic Education, to teach Virginia K-12 teachers about the economy and personal finance. Gallagher is the Director of the VCU Center for Economic Education and is one of the authors of the book.

This workshop at VCU and five similar workshops around the state, were funded by a grant from the National Council on Economic Education and the U.S. Department of Education Office of Innovation and Improvement's Fund for Improvement of Education.