the

executive

Fall 08Winter 09

Culverhouse College of Commerce Magazine

On-Line Learning
>>is Growing

Distance-learning students find
where there is a will, there is a way.

Inside this issue:

New programs in the College
Hall of Fame profiles

Our Students. Your Future.

Keith Hanson will be a driving force in the economy of the future.

Keith Hanson graduated from The University of Alabama with a masters degree in operations management, a bachelors
degree in operations management and a bunch of job offers, as you might expect for an honor student. He chose BMW
Manufacturing Co. in Spartanburg, S.C. The plant produced 157,530 cars last year.
Enthusiasm for new ideas is at the core of BMWs success. That is why the company recruits students like Keith
students who are as innovative as the automobiles Keith helps produce. BMW employees say the quality of the product they
build is a primary motivation for excelling in their careers. For them, building the ultimate driving machine provides the
ultimate employment experience.
BMW announced in March it would spend $750 million to expand its production plant and create another 500 jobs.

The company must have seen Keith coming.

For more information about our graduates and how they contribute to your success,
contact Linda Johnson, director of employer development and relations, at 205-348-3455
or e-mail ljohnson1@sa.ua.edu.
The University of Alabama Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration 35 Bidgood Hall Box 870222 Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0222

>>

the

Executive

Contents

executive
Culverhouse College of Commerce Magazine

Fall 08Winter 09
Volume 13 Issue 2

2 Deans Message

30 The Alternative Spring Break

4 Mobiles First Lady

The Executive is published

twice annually, in the spring
and fall, for alumni and friends
of The University of Alabamas
Culverhouse College of
Commerce and Business
Administration.

Dean:

8 Video Celebrity

38 Campaign Update

PricewaterhouseCoopers and Reznick Group

each make pledge to School of Accountancy.

Read about awards, appointments and

other items of interest.

J. Barry Mason

Editor:
William R. Bill Gerdes

Graphic Design:
Tori Nelko
Office of Design and Production
The University of Alabama

Contributing Writers:
Carmen Shea Brown
Tiffany Fountain
Bill Gerdes
Aaron Miller
Carolyn M. Rhodes

Contributing Photographers:
Zack Riggins, Laura Shill

Office of Development,
Alumni, and Corporate
Relations:
Charlie Adair, Lindsey Blumenthal,
Kathy DeShazo, Diane Harrison,
Amy Henderson, Laura Rector
Culverhouse College of
Commerce and Business
Administration
Box 870223
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0223
Comments, suggestions,
questions: 205-348-8318
bgerdes@cba.ua.edu
The University of Alabama is
an equal-opportunity educational
institution/employer. MC7835

C&BA alumna has strong work ethic.

Business school students forego beach trip

in order to shadow mentors.

34 New Programs in the College

6 Rollin, Rollin, Rollin

36 In the News

Culverhouse graduate returns home to run

family RV business.

Accounting professor takes passion for

fiction writing in a new direction.

43 Faculty and Staff News

10 A Love of Basketball
and a Winning Record

UA graduate is using skills to make Atlanta

Dream come true.

46 Alabama Business Hall of Fame

12 On-Line Learning is Growing

Distance-learning students find where there

is a will, there is a way.

18 International Issues in Istanbul

Outstanding group of five inductees added

to distinguished list.

52 Alumni on the Move

Students get firsthand look at a dynamic

emerging market.

Six graduates assume new leadership roles.

54 Where Are They Now?

22 Ashley Macs

C&BA faculty provide insight and expert opinions.

Here are more news and updates on

C&BA alumni.

Culverhouse graduate combines love for

cooking with marketing degree.

24 Annual Real Estate Conference

RSAs Bronner is scheduled to deliver

keynote address at event.

26 Creating a Balance Between

Work and Pleasure

Marketing graduate spreads the word about

states folk artists.

28 Real World Sales Lab

Program prepares business students for

future careers.

On

the

12

cover

Distance-learning students find where

there is a will, there is a way.

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cba. ua.ed u

J. Barry Mason
Dean and Thomas D. Russell Professor
o f B u s i n e s s Ad m i n i s t r at i o n

c u lv e r h o u s e

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>>

Deans

Me s s a g e

Challenges Bring Opportunities

Collaborative efforts will keep us moving forward.

As we approach the end of another year, the
Culverhouse College of Commerce faces a number of
challenging issues: less money with which to operate,
higher enrollment, new leadership, accelerating faculty
salaries, and of course, higher expectations as our
student quality increases.
But these issues bring opportunities. Through
collaboration with other colleges we have developed
programs and initiatives that will make us all better
students, teachers and citizens.
For example, we have developed a campuswide
certificate program in ethics and social responsibility
that is open to all students. Likewise, we have
developed, with the College of Arts and Sciences
and Auburn University, a minor in natural resource
protection and management as part of our ongoing
effort to address the greening issue.
I am also happy to report that our
entrepreneurship program is once again ranked in the
top 20 nationally by Entrepreneur magazine. We have
established a campuswide entrepreneurship council
that is raising the awareness level of entrepreneurship
across campus.
As you will read elsewhere in this publication, we
have opened a state-of-the-art sales lab that has proven

to be very attractive to high-profile firms looking for

quality students in the field.
In the context of nontraditional market
opportunities, we are now offering an online course in
finance to high school seniors that can count for three
credit hours at both the high school and college level.
Our overall numbers in online education continue
to increase as our world becomes more and more
technically oriented and students find computer
courses much more compatible with their busy
lifestyles, not to mention the pressure applied by the
increasing cost of commuting.
And as you read this, we will likely be within $15
million or so of our capital campaign goal, a challenge
to be sure, but with your help, one we will surely reach.
I recently had the occasion to meet six first-generation
students, each with a scholarship to The University of
Alabama, thanks to the generosity of Energen Corp.
and James McManus, its chief executive officer. The
stories of these accomplished students are touching and
inspirational, and their faces are the faces of our future.
I hope you will consider a year-end gift to your
college to help us round out this capital campaign. The
students you help educate and the teachers you support
are keys to the future.

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Mobiles First Lady

C&BA alumna has strong work ethic.
By Aaron Miller

Sarah Long Damson has been called chairman, chief executive officer,
volunteer and role model, but of all of the titles she holds her most
beloved is that of mom and grandmother.
Damson is now the chairman and CEO of Longs
Human Resource Services in Mobile, a company
started by her father in 1948 and based on the idea of
providing work for people who want to work.

My father instilled a hard-line work ethic in me at a
very early age, Damson said. He had seen far too many
people lose their way in life and made it his mission to
help them.

She was well aware that she would have a career in
the business world from an early age, because her father
told her she would.

I had applied to several other colleges, Damson
said. My father came to me and told me that I could
apply to as many as I wanted, but that I would be going
to The University of Alabama.

Damson came to the Capstone in 1964. The
University and the business program in particular were
quite different than they are today. Men outnumbered
women by a staggering majority, and Damson was one
of the few women breaking the mold.

I remember there being a lot of men in the
program at the time, and it was very rare to see a
woman go into a field that was predominantly male,
Damson said.

Damson, however, took well to the business school
and its teachers. She was awarded the coveted Austin
Cup, the business schools highest award, and excelled
in and outside of the classroom.

I was never in student government, but I was in
the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and the president of
the Panhellenic Council, Damson said.
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She believes that having access to professors and
other administration members is the most important
thing about college.

Being able to talk to professors was something I
was always happy about, Damson said. Nowadays
you hear many students say that they have never
met their professors and feel as if they are just a
number, and I was happy I never had that problem.
No matter how disinterested a student becomes, it
is important that students and teachers always have
an open dialogue, and this is often overlooked in
undergraduate.

Damson said that her favorite and most useful class
in college, besides economics, was business letter writing.
She believes that this is a skill that is often overlooked at
many colleges today.

I see people every day that simply cannot write a
letter expressing in a polite matter exactly what it is that
they want, Damson said. To me this is a very important
skill to have.

Damson, who has strong family ties with the
M.B.A. program at the Capstone, said she wishes she
had stayed more involved with the University but is
grateful for meeting so many wonderful people there.

I am really proud of the strides that the University
is making in leadership and accepting and attracting
excellent students, Damson said.

Damson has taken all of the lessons she has
learned inside the classroom and out and applied
them to her everyday life in business. Longs Human
Resource Services has a wide variety of positions for

>> A l u m n i

Fe a t u r e

Sarah Long Damson

I love watching the next generation

of women grow more successful .
outplacement and redline groups that have been put
out of work.

Life is something that gives you credibility, and
you should center yourself on what you can influence,
Damson said. You are really only as good as the last
interaction that you have had with a person.

Volunteer work has always played an important role
in Damsons life. She has tried to help other people
and enjoys knowing that she has made a difference in
someones life.

My father and mother encouraged me constantly
to take part in helping people in the community,
Damson said. Volunteering for groups has been one
of the highlights in my life, and I am fortunate to have
met many outstanding people in the process.

Damson was hooked on volunteering after she
had received Junior League training. The Junior
League is an organization that promotes women to
become trained volunteers to allow them to reach out
into the community and make a difference through
charitable work.

After finishing my league work, I decided to join
the United Way, Damson said. Through working
with the United Way I have been able to meet so many
people that have influenced my life.

Damson, who has worked with and chaired several
positions with Carl Jones, Anne Jones, Edith Wilcox
and Doris Claire Stein, credits them with being people
who have had a great influence in her life.

They have always challenged me, and I have
always admired them for their strong integrity and
ethics, Damson said.

She has recently slowed down in her volunteering
efforts to focus on work and on her grandchildren.

When people start thinking that you are working
for them, Damson said, it is time to change your
stance as a volunteer.

Now she is more focused on engaging some of
the new models that her company has just recently
adopted. Damson still finds time to help out at her
church and do some other volunteering on the side.

I enjoy mentoring young women, Damson said.
I love watching the next generation of women grow
more successful.

For all of her accomplishments in volunteering and
in the business world, the Mobile chapters of Beta Sigma
Phi have bestowed upon Damson the title of Mobiles
first lady.

It is such an honor to receive an award for doing
what you love, Damson said. I love this area, and I
am very appreciative of this honor.

Damson looks forward to her work and her
grandchildren. She is also trying to connect with old
friends who have fallen out of touch.

I love my work, and I want to be more of a
presence in my grandchildrens lives, Damson said.
I am planning on connecting with some of my old
friends and making those relationships even stronger. e
Aaron Miller is a senior majoring in journalism.

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J a m i e D o dd

A family business can be a great experience for someone.

Its not always easy, but it can be very rewarding.
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>> A l u m n i

Fe a t u r e

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin

Culverhouse graduate returns home to run family RV business.

B y t i f fa n y f o u n ta i n

Jamie Dodd has fond memories of his time spent at the

Capstone, especially in the fall, when those RVs rolled
into town for a Crimson Tide football game.

When Dodd graduated from The University
of Alabama in 1994 with a bachelors degree in
management and marketing, he knew going into the
family RV business one day was a possibility. But life
took Dodd in a different direction. Following graduation,
he worked four years for an automotive group.

But his career path led back home to Virginia in the
summer of 2000, and he began six months of training
at the family business, Dodd RV. By January 2001, he
became general manager, and after earning his masters
degree from the University of Florida in 2002, he bought
the dealership from his father. With his two sisters,
Susie Shiflet and Jennifer Moore, working by his side,
Dodd has built the business into the most successful RV
dealership in its market.

When Dodd joined the business, Dodd RV was at
the bottom of the rank in its market share. Now, with 45
employees in two locations, it has grown to No. 1 in the
East and has held that designation for the past four years.

How Dodd, a Virginia native, ended up at The
University of Alabama is a testament to the business
schools 20th-ranked entrepreneurship program and its
attention to the owners of small businesses.

Dodd was a distance runner at a junior college in
Asheville, N.C., and traveled all over the Southeast for
competitions. As he traveled, he looked at a number
of four-year institutions to transfer to, but few offered
the classes he wanted.

Sure, many of them had general business
programs, but Alabama had a great small-business
program, Dodd said.

Dodd said he attributes much of his success to
lessons learned from professors in the Culverhouse
College of Commerce and Business Administration.
Dr. Mark Weaver, now director of Louisiana State

Universitys Stephenson Entrepreneurship Institute, was

one such professor. Dr. Weaver gave me a lot of ideas
when I was 21, 22 years old, Dodd said.

Classes on operating small businesses were rare at
that time, Dodd said, but Weaver taught several classes
during which students worked at real-world jobs. Dodd
said it was helpful for him and fellow classmates to
see the actual challenges of running a small business.
Once we went through those classes, our batteries were
charged, Dodd said.

Dodd said he learned the importance of studying the
competition and its business strategies, and that in order
to succeed, one must look for ideas from other successful
businesses. When Dodd took over Dodd RV, he started
to observe companies like Starbucks and Home Depot.
We copied it all, he said.

Dodd said success did not come easily. His ideas
clashed with those of his father. But Dodd said he relied
on a lesson he learned in college. Conflicts will come up
in a family business. Take the effort to learn from them,
Dodd said.

Despite the economy and rising gas prices, Dodd
said he thinks RVs remain an economical way to
travel. By the time you pay for your lodging, food
and entertainment, you come out significantly cheaper
owning an RV. And while his dealership has seen a
drop in the sales of large motor homes, the sales of pullbehind and smaller campers have remained steady.

Dodd said there are many students in college
contemplating going into their family business one day,
and he offers this observation.

A family business can be a great experience for
someone, he said. Its not always easy, but it can be
very rewarding. e
Tiffany Fountain is a junior majoring in journalism.

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Video Celebrity

Accounting professor takes passion for fiction writing in a new direction.

By Aaron Miller

Early in life Dr. Mary Stone, director of the

Culverhouse School of Accountancy, wanted to be
a fiction writer. Since then she has found another
way to earn celebrity status of a sort she appears in
accounting instructional videos.

I always wanted to be a fiction writer, Stone said.
While I was looking for inspiration in my writing, I took
an accounting class and it just seemed right.

Stone graduated from Central Florida University
with a bachelors degree in English and then returned to
the university to earn her masters in accountancy. She
later received her doctorate in accountancy from the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Stone has been doing the standards videos for the
past 10 years and prepared for her first video by going to
Reese Phifer Hall to practice in front of a camera.

I wanted to make sure that I was used to being on
camera and using a teleprompter, Stone said. It really

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did help me to prepare for the video, but I was still

extremely nervous.

Stone scripts all of the videos and travels to Jersey
City, N.J., every year to produce the videos so that they
can be distributed by the American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants.

I am honored that they keep asking me to be a part
of the videos each year, Stone said. The explanation
that they provide to me gives everyone, including myself,
a better understanding of the standards.

Stone said doing the videos helps her to better
prepare for classes and allows her to help her students
better understand accounting as a whole.

Every year I learn about new standards and have
others explained to me before the new textbooks are
out, Stone said. I take everything that I learn and relay
directly back to my students.

Stone said that the videos have made her more
recognizable when she is traveling around.

>>

Fa c u lt y

Fe a t u r e

Dr. Mary Stone

While I was looking for inspiration

in my writing, I took an accounting
class and it just seemed right.

It doesnt happen that often, Stone said. But
occasionally people will approach me in the airport and
ask where they know me from, and it is usually from the
videos.

She remembered an encounter several years ago,
when the videos had a segment on cooking the books
with a very memorable line.

The line in the video was abracadabra the books
are cooked, Stone said. A few people in the airport
were coming up to me and saying, abracadabra. It was
pretty funny.

While making these videos, Stone has been able to
work with some of the most brilliant professionals
in accounting.

All of the people that I have encountered while
working on the standards videos have been amazing,
Stone said. Ben Neuhausen has been a really important
influence on me professionally.

Ben Neuhausen is the chairman of the
Accounting Standards Executive Committee and is
well known throughout the accounting community as
one of the best.

He is extremely knowledgeable and has a great
understanding of business transactions, Stone
said. He is great at translating the topics into
understandable terms.

Stone said that she hopes she will be able to do
more of the videos in the future but loves being at the
University and teaching.

I really enjoy teaching students and working
with such great people, Stone said. I still love
writing, but now I am writing about business topics
instead of fiction. e
Aaron Miller is a senior majoring in journalism.

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A Love of Basketball and a

Winning Record

UA graduate is using skills to make Atlanta Dream come true.

By Aaron Miller

Bill Bolen, president of the Womens National Basketball

Associations Atlanta Dream, is using his marketing skills
and experience in working with start-up companies to
make the Atlanta Dream come true.

Working for the Atlanta Dream is different than
anything I have ever done before, Bolen said. The
first game is the set date that we start up, whether we are
ready or not.

Bolen earned a degree in marketing from the
Culverhouse College of Commerce, where he also
received the Austin Cup, the business schools top
academic honor, and the Ramsey Award. He graduated
from the University in 1991 and later earned his
masters degree in business administration from Harvard
University in 1996.

Bolen, who tried out for the basketball team at
the University, has taken his love of the game and
his winning record in business to help bring a fresh
perspective to womens basketball.

It requires building a brand, staying true to the
brand and simply applying the basics of marketing to
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make the team successful, Bolen said. The teams talent

and athletic ability are helping break the stereotype of
womens basketball and transform the way people think
about gender and the sport as a whole.

The teams opening home game, against the
Detroit Shock, was last May at Philips Arena in Atlanta.
The Dream played to a sell-out crowd with 10,039.
Unfortunately, the team did not win on the court that
evening, but it did win over the people of Atlanta.
We are through the tough times and take every
game one at a time, Bolen said. We have a remarkable
staff, players with talent and positive attitudes that are
unmatched, and fantastic personnel.

Bolen said he goes to as many practices as he can
and tries to build a strong relationship with the team
and coaches.

I was lucky to have very strong mentors, Bolen
said. Dean Barry Mason and the late Dr. Morris Mayer
were influential in helping me with decisions in my
academic career, and I learned how to be a well-rounded
professional from them.

Fe a t u r e

NBAE/Getty Images

>> A l u m n i

Bill Bolen

Any person who graduates from the University is

equipped with the skills to succeed anywhere

in the world.

Bolen, who remains in contact with Mason, said he
believes the connections made at the University and the
people he knew helped him academically and as a whole.

The people I encountered while I was there
helped me to realize the importance of service to the
community, Bolen said.

Bolen said the late Dr. Mayer inspired him to
find his first internship, which in turn led to his first
job with Dow Chemical.

I never even considered working for Dow in any
capacity, Bolen said. Dr. Mayer came and asked me
why I hadnt applied for the internship with them for the
summer. After talking to him about it, I decided to go for
it, and sure enough I got the position.

The quality of education that you receive at the
University is remarkable, Bolen said. Any person who
graduates from the University is equipped with the skills
to succeed anywhere in the world.

From that internship, Bolen moved on to work
with McKinsey & Company, a global marketing and
management firm, and later opened his own firm,

the Divinci Group. He has worked with many young

companies to help take their products and ideas
to the next level of success locally, nationally and
internationally.

He left the Divinci Group for the Atlanta Dream
expansion team and has not looked back.

Bolen said working with the community, doing local
service projects, is one of the most critical aspects of the
team and is in sync with the overall mission of the team.

The team has been involved in many community
service action programs, from holding camps for young
girls to support for the community food bank.

I love the aspect of an exciting new challenge,
and the city of Atlanta is a great place with wonderful
people, Bolen said.

Bolen, his wife, Stacey, and their two children,
Ansley and Will, live outside Atlanta in Kennesaw. e
Aaron Miller is a senior majoring in journalism.

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On-Line

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Learning

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>> C o v e r

Story

Distance-learning students find where there is a will, there is a way.

By Carmen Shea Brown

Stephen Smith could have easily given up.

After I graduated high school, my intent was to
go to college, graduate and get a job, Smith said. It
didnt exactly work out that way.

Smith was a senior majoring in engineering at
Auburn University in Montgomery when he took a job
with Select Ticketing, a computer company based in
Syracuse, N.Y. He tried finishing his degree at Syracuse
University, but the job required large amounts of travel,
which made achieving his educational goals difficult. In
the mid-1990s, his job took him back to Birmingham,
where he tried taking evening classes at The University
of Alabama at Birmingham to finish up his degree. This
plan also did not work out.

Then I saw an ad for distance learning at UA,
which is where Id really wanted to go to school in
the first place, Smith said.

It happened at the right time. Smith, 40, said he
was ready to explore another aspect of his career.

Im at a place in my life now where Im very
forward thinking, Smith said. I really dont need a
degree for what Im doing now, but Im thinking about
five or 10 years from now what certifications and
skills will I need. I didnt need anything else technical.
I needed to get the business side of my career down.
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After meeting with Nina Smith and other staff
at UAs College of Continuing Studies, he decided
to enroll in the online bachelors degree program in
general business, otherwise known as the B.S.C.B.A.
program. Smith now works as an engineer at SISCO,
which also keeps him on the road. But thanks to the
online program, he said, he will complete his degree in
two to three semesters.
It has been a very positive experience, Smith said.
And this is coming from someone who had less than
positive experiences in the past.

Leah Peterzell, 29, also knows what it is like to
be held back from the finish line. After attending the
University of Tennessee for three years and majoring
in retail management, she accepted a job with Edward
Jones and relocated to Auburn, Ala., where she lived
for four years. After considering other schools such as
Auburn University and Troy University, she heard about
the general business online degree at The University of
Alabama from one of her friends.

She put me in touch with Jennifer Humber, and
she looked at my transcripts from UT and helped me
determine the path I should take, Peterzell said. Ive
received just as much attention online as any students
in the classroom.

Peterzell moved to Atlanta, Ga., in May to complete
an internship at LSI Corp., where she plans to become a
regular employee upon graduation in December.

Mountain Brook native and former UA baseball
center fielder Emeel Salem Jr. was close to completing
his bachelors degree in marketing when fate threw him
a curve. Salem was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil
Rays in the summer of 2007, just two semesters before
he expected to graduate.
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While an online program can

be very challenging , our
students typically respond
with the confidence and
satisfaction that the hard
work and sacrifice was
definitely worth it
in the end. Jennifer Humber
I got drafted and I knew I had to go, but I wanted
to finish my degree, Salem said.

While staying in Hudson Valley, N.Y., he took
GBA 490 Strategic Management online. Salem, 23, said
that online learning was so conducive to his schedule
that he took another class and an online independent
study last fall to complete his degree.

Success stories like those of Smith, Peterzell and
Salem would not be possible without the ongoing
partnership between the College of Continuing
Studies and UAs College of Commerce and Business
Administration. Two complete online degree programs
launched in fall 2005 to serve nontraditional students
wishing to complete their degrees. The Bachelor of
Science in commerce and business administration
and a Master of Science in operations management, a
specialized degree that targets people who work in supply
chain and logistics.

Jennifer Humber, academic adviser for the online
general business degree program, said she is excited
and proud of the rapid growth and popularity of
distance learning.

When I accepted this position a couple of years
ago, we had less than 40 students enrolled in our online
classes, Humber said. As the program continues to
grow, we strive to add courses and resources to meet the
students needs and concerns. While an online program
can be very challenging, our students typically respond
with the confidence and satisfaction that the hard work

>> C o v e r

Story

Emeel Salem Jr. took online

classes to complete his degree
after being drafted by the
Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

and sacrifice was definitely worth it in the end.

Allan Guenther, program manager for the College
of Continuing Studies, said that the partnership
between CCS and the College of Commerce and
Business Administration continues to grow. A third
online degree program in the making is the Master
of Arts in management. Guenther said the degree is
cutting-edge because of its global emphasis.

By fall 2009 we expect to have all of the
courses developed in the online format and we
expect our enrollments to be significant as our
marketing efforts increase, Guenther said. Whats
neat about this third program is its broader appeal.
We have students who want to work in another
country, and even people who stay here often work
in corporations that have a global impact.

Guenther said students interested in applying to
the online degree programs come into it with lots
of questions.

Can I do this? Do I have the time? Am I too old?
Does what I took many years ago still count? Guenther
said. Another question I used to get a lot is, what will
my degree say? And I tell them it is exactly the same
as the traditional business degree. It will say the exact
same thing.

But the questions do not stop there. Even after
being accepted, distance students have to juggle
family, work and life in general, Guenther said.

We dont do advising, but we can provide
support through our libraries, directing them to the
right person in financial aid or the Career Center,
Guenther said. Our philosophy is that theres
nothing out there that our campus students have that
they shouldnt have. Access to resources should be the
same and the quality of the degree is the same.

Guenther said that addressing the educational
needs of the adult student goes back 70 to 80 years when
independent study courses using mail-in assignments
began. In the early 1990s, videotaped lectures, known as
the QUEST program, were developed. The late 1990s
saw many individual courses offered online, and after the
year 2000, UA hit the ground running with online degree
programs and courses.

What has changed in recent years, however, is that
as online classes become more popular, instructors are
using technology to mirror a real classroom experience.
For instance, many faculty in the business college,
particularly EC 110 and EC 111 instructors, have
recently used Wimba collaborative learning technology
in the classroom. Wimba has revolutionized online
learning by using a Web conferencing format in
which students and instructors can participate in live
chats on a regular basis to discuss course content and
assignments that could otherwise only be accomplished
in a real classroom.

Dr. Louis Marino, associate professor of
entrepreneurship and strategic management, uses the
Wimba to facilitate his GBA 490 online course.

When one student talks, everyone hears them,
Marino said. If I talk, everyone can hear me. This
has been particularly effective with our case study
assignments, which otherwise would be challenging
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40
online instructors,
and more than 50 if you
include the masters
programs, and I would
put our business
school instructors
up against any of the
other programs in the
country. Allan Guenther
We have at least

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to do with an online format. Lets say someone does

a great job on a financial analysis. I can send them a
virtual token, which is like a share link, and if they
accept it they can use it to share their assignment with
the other students.

Marino also uses the Wimba technology to
assist with his regular M.B.A. classes.

Whats neat is Im bringing technology from
online to the classroom, whereas before instructors were
implementing classroom activities into an online format.

Guenther said that this cutting-edge technology
and the superior quality of the academic unit and
faculty shatter the negative image that online learning
may have had in the past.

We have at least 40 online instructors, and more
than 50 if you include the masters programs, and I
would put our business school instructors up against any
of the other programs in the country, Guenther said.

Dr. Tom Downs, associate professor of finance,
teaches three different versions of Finance 302: face-toface, traditional online and a new hybrid version that
consists of a blend between face-to-face meetings and
online class assignments. FI 302-901, the traditional
online course, is conducted strictly online and has no
attendance requirement. FI 302-001, the hybrid version,
has a weekly lab attendance requirement and four
exams. Downs said although the hybrid version is less
flexible than the traditional online course, it has the
highest enrollment and appears to be the most effective
form of learning for students.

The glue that holds this together is the 30
digitized lectures available online, and we also have
quizzes online for all three sections, Downs said. The
spillover effects from the online videos to the classroom
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are amazing. Students who take the regular course do

not have to watch the videos, but many of them do so
anyway, and it has helped them to learn better.

Guenther expects the trend toward hybrid courses
to continue.

I think theres always going to be that campus
component there, Guenther said. But I think were
going to see an expansion of online courses and even
more of these blended or hybrid courses.

Improvements in distance education have given
new meaning to the concept of a UA community.
Guenther said that CCS research has almost always
found a connection between The University of
Alabama and the distant student.

They usually live in the same state or the same
region, and then some live in other parts of the
country, Guenther said. Theres always some kind of
connection to UA there. Its like were one big family.

>> C o v e r

Online instructors have also used new technology
to curb plagiarism and cheating. Marino said online
instructors use several versions of the same test to
administer to students online. Many of them also utilize
the Web site http://turnitin.com in which they submit
papers online and compare them to other students in
the class and to papers on similar subjects that were
submitted online.

Some people see this as a punitive tool, but its
not, Marino said. It can help them learn about what
exactly constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it. e

Story

Online B.S.C.B.A. Program

O
 ver 2,600 online C&BA course enrollments in
the 200708 academic year, campus and *distance
enrollments combined, with over 900 of these
enrollments being distance enrollments
O
 ver 200 *distance students currently admitted in
the online B.S.C.B.A. program, with an estimate
that the number of distance students will be close
to 300 by the spring 2009 semester
O
 ver 600 applications from *distance students for
admission to the online B.S.C.B.A. program since
2005, the year of the programs launch
*Students who are pursuing their degree completely online

Online M.S.O.M. Program

Over 70 online M.S.O.M. enrollments in the
200708 academic year, with most all of the
students in the program being *distance students
A total of 14 students currently admitted in the
online M.S.O.M. program
Over 60 applications for admission to the online
M.S.O.M. since 2005, the year of the programs
launch
*Students who are pursuing their degree completely online

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f e at u r e

Story

International Issues in Istanbul

Students get firsthand look at a dynamic emerging market.
B y Carolyn M. Rh o de s

In 2008, the Republic of Turkey celebrated its 85th

anniversary as a republic and 555 years of independence,
and there is no question that this overwhelmingly
Muslim country has come a long way.

Turkey is a dynamic emerging market at the
crossroads of the world trade routes and in close
proximity to the developing energy-producing regions of
the Caspian Sea and Central Asia.

All of which makes Turkey an ideal site for the
Culverhouse College of Commerces Interim summer
overseas group program called International Issues in
Istanbul.

Turkey is an historic crossroads between East and
West, Asia and Europe, Islam and Christianity, with
emerging and developed economies, said Dr. Glenn
Richey, associate professor of marketing and supply chain
management at The University of Alabama and faculty
director of the schools Turkish study abroad program.

It is the best opportunity I can think of for teaching
students how to be open-minded about the future of
business. Plus, it is a heck of a conversation piece on any
students rsum, Richey said.

While the Silk Road used to link West and East
through what the Romans called Asia Minor, modern
Turkey in the post-Cold War era finds itself a literal
bridge between these two worlds. No other country is
simultaneously a member of such diverse organizations
as NATO and the Islamic Conference Organization.
Even today Richey has been asked by companies such as
Georgia Pacific about best practices for land distribution
from Europe to the Middle East and Far East. His reply?

There still isnt an answer.

On the economic side, economic principles that
were adopted more than two decades ago have created
a fully functioning market economy. Many structural
reforms enacted along the way increased the strength and
resilience of the economy.

Today, Turkey ranks 17th in the world in terms of the
size of its gross national product, which was $658 billion
last year. It is the largest economy in Eastern Europe, the
Balkans, the Black Sea basin, the Caspian Sea basin and
the Middle East. In 2007, the per capita income rose to
$9,300 while the trade volume has reached an all-time
high of $277 billion.

About two years ago, Richey attended the invitationonly Consortium for International Marketing Research
conference as a guest speaker at the prestigious Koc
University in Istanbul. He earned the best reviewer
award and is now a regular at the conference that will
convene in Beijing, China, in 2009. Over time, Richey
has maintained relationships with business leaders and
educators from the region, which has opened doors for
Alabama students to study business in a country that
facilitates Middle Eastern Islamic trade.

The goal of the coursework is to tie related business
concepts and tools to both European and Asian
(especially Islamic) real-world situations, preparing
students for dynamic decision making in their careers.
The course incorporates lectures; class discussions; guest
speakers across history, culture and law; videos; and team
presentations.
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The more our students

can learn about different
cultures and different
systems of business the
better, and for that
reason Turkey is great.
Dr. Chad Hilton

Study abroad programs attract a diverse group of
students. Some have never left America, while others
have never left Alabama. Some are undergraduates,
others are graduate students, and a few are already
business managers looking to improve communications
within a competitive world marketplace.

Dr. Chad Hilton, director of international programs
for the Culverhouse College of Commerce for more than
20 years, has lectured on many trips overseas and has
accompanied students to countries such as China, Korea,
Italy, Spain and France.

Its a collective team effort, Hilton said. Capstone
International is our first connection.

The Capstone International Center supports UAs
international efforts on campus as well as throughout
the state and the world. The center coordinates the
Universitys international endeavors; facilitates the
development of a global perspective campuswide; and
supports students, faculty and staff in global outreach,
teaching and research.

We simply could not get off the ground without
Capstone Internationals academic programs, as far
as their implementation of the hardest part the
administrative and advertising, Hilton said.

Capstone International encouraged me to outsource
all the logistical issues related to my trip to Turkey. You
would think a supply chain professor would have known
to do that. They made the trip a success, Richey said.

Dr. Jane Stanfield, director of Capstone International,
and Angela Channell, director of overseas study, have
been the driving forces, and their coordination is vital to
the success of the trips, Hilton said.

Richey worked closely with Capstone International
throughout the planning phase of the trip to Turkey.
This collaboration started the ball rolling, along
with his communication with top Istanbul educators

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and business professionals from the international

community in Turkey.

As Istanbul program director, Richey coordinated
lectures with Dr. Matt Tokman, a native of Turkey and
a graduate of the marketing doctoral program at UA,
who is now employed at James Madison University.
Dr. Banu Elmadag, who recently earned her doctorate
in marketing, joined the group. She teaches marketing
and supply chain management at Istanbul Tech. Tokman
and Elmadag, both international students from Turkey,
helped the American contingent understand the Turkish
perspective and helped the Turks understand the
Alabama view.

Mustafa Bayraktar, who received his undergraduate
degree in finance at UA, had dinner with Richey
on his visit. Mustafa is the chief executive officer of
multibillion dollar, family-owned businesses. He directs
the operation of an automotive trading company and
a company that operates a sunflower crushing and
refining plant with operations in Turkey, Romania
and Azerbaijan. The guests included Michael Baldwin,
managing director of an Islamic Finance Company.
Baldwin graduated from C&BA in the 1960s. Michael
watches UA football games on the Web in the middle of
the night. I promised I would send him any info that I
get on the team, Richey said.

The cultural linkage was cemented with presentations
by Gil Alic, strategic manager of Sony Eurasia, and Vivek
Pandi, Koc professor and director of an import-export
law firm.

While most of the lectures were held at Koc
University, tours and site visits were led by Richey and
a local tour guide. Istanbul is a city of artifacts and
architectural wonders, Western retailers, trendy bazaars
and street festivals, and folk music and dance.

>>

John Watkins, a graduate of UAs M.B.A. program,
said, Turkey seems to live a dual life as a Western yet
Islamic nation even though the government is secular.
Its a fascinating duality.

One of the students, Shani Phillips, spent her out-ofclass time taking lessons in belly dancing and enjoying a
massage at the Turkish baths.
Undergraduate management student Ben Salida
said he was impressed with the people he met. I
would recommend this trip to anyone who wants to
see a culture that is moving towards a Western lifestyle.
Traveling the countryside of Turkey and the visit to
Cappadocias rock mountain caves and the dinner cruise
were some of my favorite experiences on the tours,
besides the lectures and presentations.

Jackie Freeman, an accounting major, said,
Understanding the history and current culture is
essential. The preparatory class was important. Knowing
the current political and socio-economic state of Turkey
prepared me to process things. I personally was absorbed
in the presentations and eager to learn more.

A highlight of the trip was a dinner cruise through
the historic and strategically positioned Bosporus strait.
The Bosporus divides the Asian and European sides
of Istanbul and connects the Black Sea and the Sea of
Marmara.

Watkins said the trip altered his business perspective
of the world.

The Bosporus strait is important on many levels. It
is symbolic of a dividing line of Europe and Asia, where
the Bosporus river bridge connects two continents, Asia
and Europe. Throughout history it has played a crucial
military role as a natural barrier. Today, it is the lifeblood
of Istanbul as it serves as a busy hub for fishing boats,
ferries and tankers. Russias Black Sea ports like Odessa
also connect with the Mediterranean, a vital outlet for
Russian oil.

f e at u r e

Story

M.B.A. student Jill Hickman, whose brother is
serving in Iraq, said, Turkish students dont have all the
privileges we have in America. Sometimes we take our
freedom and privileges for granted as Americans. Many
of the Turkish students wish they had the opportunities
we have here.

Rachel Smith, a spring 2008 graduate with a
degree in marketing and an interest in supply chain
management, said she felt the trip was invaluable to her
new position as a district manager with Aldi.

The program has given me a greater understanding
of international business and what drives a consumers
needs and wants in an expanding marketplace.

According to Hilton and Richey, the College is
starting an exchange program between The University of
Alabama and Koc University.

The more our students can learn about different
cultures and different systems of business the better, and
for that reason Turkey is great and were planning the
next trip, Hilton said. We also need to expand to areas
such as India and Brazil. Next July, 2009, we will bring
students to Australia.

Richey said Hilton takes the management side of the
trip and he takes the marketing side.

The connection is very tight, Richey said, adding
that he will be speaking and teaching in Spain, Cuba,
China, Turkey and Australia for fall 2008 and spring
2009. Many people dont recognize the influence the
college of business has on world economics. I hope what
we are doing with global supply chain management will
make that more apparent.

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>> A l u m n i

Fe a t u r e

Ashley Macs
Culverhouse graduate combines love for cooking with marketing degree.
B y Aaron Miller

Ashley McMakin, a 2002 graduate of the Culverhouse

College of Commerce, has taken her marketing skills
and combined them with her love for cooking to
develop the perfect recipe for entrepreneurship.

I was sitting at work one day, talking to a friend
about cooking, McMakin said. That is how we came up
with the idea to start a catering service.

McMakin and her co-worker began working out of
their kitchens to get the business started and have never
looked back.

The business began growing like crazy, McMakin
said. It became so big, that we had to quit our jobs.

McMakin, who was working at an advertising
company, had to buy her partner out after her partner
decided to leave. McMakin has stayed with the catering
service and parlayed it into a thriving business.

I always knew that I wanted to be in food,
McMakin said. My mother was a great cook, and she is
the one that really turned me on to cooking.

The business has expanded so quickly that her
husband, Andy McMakin, quit his job to help her
with the still-growing business. He handles most of the
business from the couples home.

My husbands experience as a CPA (UA,
accounting, 2003) has been extremely helpful in dealing
with the business end of everything, McMakin said.

McMakin has just completed her first year in the
store at 759 Shades Mountain Plaza in Birmingham but
is finishing her third year after having worked two years
out of her house.

McMakins store, dubbed Ashley Macs, mainly
caters to businesses, private parties and customers who
want dinners to go. She also offers quick take-out snacks
and box lunches.

I like doing the business meetings and private
parties, McMakin said. I want to try and stay away
from the wedding crowd as much as possible.

Ashley Macs is also in the early stages of shipping
brownies and eventually cakes.

We have already started to ship brownies,
McMakin said. We still havent quite figured out how
to ship the cakes to ensure freshness and to make sure
there is minimal damage.

McMakin also plans to open a new store in Cahaba
Heights.

The business delivers throughout Birmingham and
some surrounding cities. Available products can be seen
online at http://ashleymacs.com.

I am doing what I have always wanted to do since
college, McMakin said. I love cooking and serving
homemade food. e
Aaron Miller is a senior majoring in journalism.

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Annual Real Estate Conference

RSAs Bronner is scheduled to deliver keynote address at event.

This is truly an exciting partnership with HBAA and

we expect it to have a significant impact on the housing
industry in the state as well as consumers.

The Alabama Center for Real Estate at The University
of Alabamas Culverhouse College of Commerce and
Business Administration has had a busy year, and 2009
promises to be just as eventful.

The Ninth Annual Commercial Real Estate
Conference will be held Jan. 30, 2009, at the
Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, which
includes the Sheraton Birmingham Hotel. David
Bronner, chief executive officer of the Retirement
Systems of Alabama, will be the keynote speaker. The
RSA in June provided pension benefits to more than
100,000 retirees or their survivors and paid out $2.035
billion in fiscal 2007.

According to Grayson Glaze, executive director
of ACRE, the conference will include sessions on
networking, professional development, the real estate
outlook for 2009 and technology trends in the real estate
profession.

ACRE also recently teamed with the Home Builders
Association of Alabama to collect, analyze, store and
disseminate a new comprehensive monthly report on
the states home building industry. The new report was
introduced in August.

This is truly an exciting partnership with HBAA,
Glaze said, and we expect it to have a significant
impact on the housing industry in the state as well as
consumers.

Since 1999, ACRE has partnered with the Alabama
Association of Realtors and continues to produce
monthly reports that provide useful information
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Grayson Glaze

associated with existing home sales and housing

affordability, Glaze said. The new construction report
will complement this report, allowing the center
to provide even greater coverage for our real estate
stakeholders and consumers in every corner of the state.

The real estate program has also seen a large increase
in student enrollment, Glaze said. The program has
revived Rho Epsilon, the real estate fraternity, which now
offers presentations by real estate professionals and other
business people.

Our core curriculum now includes real estate
finance, management, appraisal, development,
investment analysis, and real and personal law, Glaze
said. In addition, our Real Estate Career Assistance
Program offers help in finding internships as well as
permanent employment assistance. This past spring
we placed 16 interns and found permanent positions
for eight students who had completed the real estate
curriculum.

ACRE is located in Room 127 of Bidgood Hall on
the UA campus. The ACRE Web site provides housing
statistics, construction statistics, information about
educational events, student rsums, employment and
internship opportunities, information about the ACRE
staff and board of trustees, and an online store where
interested persons can order a number of real estate
publications.

For more information visit the Web site at
http://acre.cba.ua.edu. e

>> O u t r e a c h

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Creating a Balance Between

Work and Pleasure

Marketing graduate spreads the word about states folk artists.

By Carolyn M. R ho de s

Doug McCraw is the founder and president of Peregrine

Partners Group Inc., a real estate development company
in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

But McCraw, a University of Alabama graduate
with a degree in marketing, now splits his time between
Fort Lauderdale and Birmingham, Ala., where he has a
loft and gallery filled with contemporary art. Over the
past 20 years, he has balanced his heavy work schedule
with his passion for art and has amassed a substantial
contemporary art collection.

McCraw was born in Tuscaloosa. Following
graduation from UA, he founded Data Archive Services
Inc. in 1981 and sold it in 1996 to Iron Mountain
Group, a national records management company.
That allowed more time and focus for returning to his
Alabama roots, where he is exploring new projects and
other business interests.

But now, McCraw said, he is refocusing his business
interests on some new opportunities. He said he feels
Alabama in the next five to 10 years will be one of the
top business markets for domestic growth, and he wants
to be a part of it. Coming home to my roots in Alabama

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and The University of Alabama feels great, he said.

Much of McCraws time and energy will be spent
making people aware of Alabamas folk artists and
their rich heritage. McCraw spends much of his time
with Birminghams Alabama Folk Art Museum project,
which features and celebrates the rich history of the
states folk art.

The Smithsonian National Museum Web site
will soon be exhibiting the 82-piece collection of
artist and photographer Hank Willis Thomas. The
collection is jointly owned by McCraw and his sister,
Becky Patterson, and is currently on display at the
High Museum of Art in Atlanta as part of the exhibit
titled After 1968: Contemporary Artists and the Civil
Rights Legacy. The collection will move from the High
Museum to the Smithsonian in November 2008 and
then on to the West Coast.

McCraw said he wants to get the word out nationally
that Alabama has a large concentration of some of the
countrys most influential and talented folk artists.

McCraw has been a steadfast supporter of the
University. He serves on the Presidents Cabinet and is

>> A l u m n i

Fe a t u r e

D o u g M c C r aw

He has energy and enthusiasm the

board greatly appreciated, and hes a great
collaborator. He has a heck of a serious
contemporary art collection, too.
Dr. Chad Hilton

a past chairman of the business schools International

Business Advisory Board. Additionally, McCraw has
funded scholarships for students who wish to study
abroad, because his internships abroad to Holland and
Sweden while he was a student changed his perspective
on his business and personal goals, he said.

Dr. Chad Hilton, director of international studies
at the business school and a longtime McCraw friend,
said, Doug contributed significantly to the advisory
boards focus on entrepreneurship and the tech sector.
His contacts resulted in successful liaisons between
Culverhouse and business leaders in our community.
Doug is a great friend to the business school, its
international business programs and the University. He
has energy and enthusiasm the board greatly appreciated,
and hes a great collaborator. He has a heck of a serious
contemporary art collection, too.

Doug is an interesting guy, said Pam Parker, vice
president for advancement at UA. His connections
are broad and deep within his Tuscaloosa roots, and his
commitment to this University is immeasurable. He has
connected others to us who would not have ordinarily

become involved with our University.

McCraw refers to his collections as a bit of
serendipity eclectic, culturally diverse and covering
a broad range. His private collection includes works
of many Alabama artists, such as Lonnie Holley, the
sandstone artist who exhibited his work at the White
House during the Clinton era; Thornton Dial, famous
for his Picasso-like self portraits; Charles Lucas, who
works through the medium of mosaics, tiles and
sculpture; and the famous Gees Bend Quilters.

McCraw said he believes that art is genetic and that
all artists, whether trained or with little formal education,
share a common thread: a genius for art.

McCraw speaks fondly of childhood memories of
family trips to Moundville Archaeological Park and his
familys strong ties to UA. His mother, Ina, graduated
in 1956; his sister Becky graduated in 1963; brother
Bob graduated in 1968; and a younger sister Jan
graduated in 1983. e

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D r . Le n i ta D av i s

Real World Sales Lab

Program prepares business students for future careers.

B y Ti f f a n y F o u n t a i n

Nervous students dressed in business attire anxiously

paced the corridors of Bidgood Hall. They were not
awaiting the results of their latest exam but were about
to dive headfirst into the first of three job interviews
on this busy day. The interviews were not real job
interviews, but they were close.

The role playing the students were experiencing
is the vision of Dr. Lenita Davis, assistant professor of
marketing in the Culverhouse College of Commerce
and Business Administration. A year ago, she
envisioned a real-world lab to prepare business majors
for future careers. Now, with the help Dr. Rob Morgan,
head of the department of marketing and management;
Dr. David Mothersbaugh, associate professor of
marketing; and J. Barry Mason, dean of the business
school, Davis expects her sales lab to be constructed by
Christmas and fully functioning by the spring semester.

After graduation, students face daunting job

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searches and interviews, Davis said. In a professional

sales lab, students learn skills that will help sell
themselves to prospective employers and that will prove
useful for the rest of a students career.

Our vision is to be the best in the U.S., said
Davis, who is already running her sales lab on a
small scale. With the new lab, she wants to add larger
student sections, additional staffing, more corporate
involvement and more activities, such as opportunity
fairs and executive boot camps. Davis also envisions
having at least eight cameras to film the mock
interviews and help students review their progress.

The professional sales lab will have its own
customized, secure Web site. The idea is to get the
students to really open up, Davis said. I also want
to create an environment where it is safe to make
mistakes. Students will have complete control over the
release of anything on the Web site.

>>

College

Fe a t u r e

you learn a lot about yourself. You really

learn confidence, how to think off the top of your head, and
how to stay calm in a real-world situation. Nicholas Esposito

In Dr. Davis class

Students attending Davis classes say they feel
she prepares them well for the real world. She keeps
you busy, said Leslie Brewster, a senior majoring in
marketing. Dr. Davis encourages you to get as much
hands-on experience as possible.

Last year Davis also helped create Pi Sigma Epsilon,
a sales fraternity. The University had the largest
founding chapter of PSE, with 78 members in the fall
of 2007. Trace Gallant was the fraternitys first president.
Gallant graduated in May and now assists Davis with
the role-play exercises.

PSE holds a number of activities for its members,
including etiquette dinners hosted by well-known
corporations, picnics, rsum workshops, bowling
nights and dinners on the Bama Belle cruise ship. All
the occasions offer business students the opportunity to
network with major corporations.

Davis drew ideas for her lab from Eli Jones, a

professor at the University of Houston. Eli runs a

wonderful sales lab program, Davis said. Jones also
wrote the textbook Davis uses in her classroom. Davis
took cues from successful methods Jones used, such as
professional selling classes, advanced sales classes and
sales management classes, replicating and improving as
she went.

Davis said she hopes the sales lab will eventually be
open to all UA students. Davis said she feels the skills
learned in this type of lab could benefit any student, no
matter what their degree.

Nicholas Esposito, a senior marketing major who
will graduate in December, said, In Dr. Davis class you
learn a lot about yourself. You really learn confidence,
how to think off the top of your head, and how to stay
calm in a real-world situation. e
Tiffany Fountain is a junior majoring in journalism.

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The Alternative Spring Break

Business school students forego beach trip in order to shadow mentors.
Last spring, business school students Patrick Gross, Rigo
Flores, Michael Toulomelis and David Ruberg decided
they had had enough of the beach and the traditional
spring break. Instead, they decided they would take
another approach, one with practical and useful side
benefits: They would arrange a spring break that would
allow them to shadow four successful businessmen in
four different cities.

Using family contacts and friends, the four
business school honor students arranged to spend part
of this past spring break in Memphis, Tenn., with City
Gear; in Knoxville, Tenn., with Morgan Stanley; in
Atlanta, Ga., with Chick-fil-A Inc.; and in Norcross, Ga.,
with Allen-Orton.

These guys are really instigators, said Dr. James
Cashman, professor of management and director of the
honors program. They said there has to be a better way
to spend spring break than going to New Orleans or the
beach.

Cashman said he and the administration at the
Culverhouse College of Commerce are looking into
institutionalizing The Alternative Spring Break.

We want to capture what they have started and
grow the experiment using more business school honors
students, Cashman said. But we want to leave it as
much as possible in the hands of the students.

Flores, a 4.0 junior from Lubbock, Texas, majoring
in finance and economics, said he has done some
research and so far has not found another university
that has a formal program for students who want to use
their spring break in similar fashion.

This is certainly something we want to look
at, said J. Barry Mason, dean of the business school.
These students are some of our best and brightest,
and they would be great ambassadors to the business
community. They, in return, would be exposed to best
( c o n t i n u ed

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on

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32)

>> C o l l e g e

Fe a t u r e

Le f t t o r i g h t : D a v i d R u be r g , M i c h a e l T o u l o m e l i s , P a t r i c k G r o s s a n d R i g o F l o r e s
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( c o n t i n u ed

from

page

30)

practices from some of the nations most respected and

successful companies.

David Turner, senior director of field operations
for Chick-fil-A, said the four students were very well
prepared and professional in the way they approached
our time together. They were very inquisitive and were
prepared with some good questions. This was obviously
something they wanted to do versus just an assignment.

When we started brainstorming about shadowing
top executives in top companies around the Southeast,
I got pretty excited about the opportunities that this
experience was going to open for us. Flores said.

The groups first stop was Memphis, where they
spent the day with Mike Longo, president and chief
executive officer of City Gear and Martys Mens Store.

He is a charismatic and charming person, who treats
everyone with respect and practices what he preaches,
Flores said. One of the main things I got from Longo
is that to be a great leader, you have to know how to
delegate. With great power comes great responsibilities,
but no one can work by himself. He knew how to
delegate and take care of things.

The second stop was in Knoxville, where they
stayed with Paul Green, a financial adviser and senior
vice president at Morgan Stanley.

We spent the day with him at his office, where we
saw him perform under pressure, Flores said. Bear
Stearns had just been acquired by JP Morgan, and the
stock market was hitting rock bottom. This made our
experience more exciting and productive because we
learned many different things about the market and
how to work under pressure.

Flores said Green, who has been in the industry for
the past 28 years, stressed maintaining the right attitude
at all times. He also shared with us the five Fs in life,
Flores said.

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The first F stands for family. Family should be
your most important asset in life, and you should
never forget that family comes before anything. The
second F was for faith. Have faith in the Lord and he
will take care of you. The third F was for friends. When
everything else fails, make sure you are surrounded by
the right people. Friends come and go, but those who
stick with you, those are the friends Im talking about.
The fourth F stands for fitness. Take care of your body
and mind. Exercise is a good way to open the mind and
soul and release the pressure that everything else brings.
If you are in shape, then you are ready to give your best
at all times. Finally, the fifth F stands for finance. If
you already took care of the first four Fs, then the last
one comes by itself. You would not have to worry for
money if you follow the first four Fs.

The group left Knoxville and headed for Atlanta
and a day at Chick-fil-A.

David Turner of Chick-fil-A told a story that
changed the way I will operate as a student, businessman
and person for the rest of my life, Gross said. Gross,
an honor student from York, Pa., is a junior majoring in
entrepreneurship and small company management.

From the position of a controller at Chick-fil-A,
Turner is responsible for firing unethical restaurant
operators and sees store owners lose their stores because
of their lack of ethical principles, Gross said.

The story that affected me most was not about a
store owner, but about an M.B.A. student who applied
for $100,000 a year job at Chick-fil-A fresh out of grad
school. This job applicant graduated at the top of her
class. Needless to say, she was more than qualified for
the job. Turner explained to us that Chick-fil-A spent
thousands of dollars on the training interview processes
required to see if she would be a good fit. Everything
seemed to be perfect, and what she thought was a sure
thing most likely turned out to be a life lesson for

>> C o l l e g e

Fe a t u r e

why these men are so successful

at what they do ... seek advice from these men to promote
ourselves as students and business people, gain an edge on others
entering the job market, and learn how to become a leader

We wanted to understand

early in our careers. David Ruberg

her. The last thing Chick-fil-A does before preparing
an offer letter is cross-reference college transcripts
with the potential applicants rsum. Unfortunately,
the applicant had a 3.8 GPA on her rsum and her
transcript read 3.6. This was a fatal mistake for her, and
in the eyes of Chick-fil-A, an obstruction of its core
value, integrity. She would have no further affiliation
with Chick-fil-A, Gross said.

The lesson I learned from Turner is that integrity
is key to being successful in all business. Before
experiencing Chick-fil-A, my definition of integrity was
a little different than the real definition. After hearing
David Turners story about telling the truth every way
possible to the highest degree, I believe it is the only way
to function if you want to be successful. It is easy for
a lot of people to be focused on the short term and to
lie or burn bridges for personal benefit. Hearing Turner
speak convinced me to think long term and always act
with integrity.

Toulomelis, an accounting major from Powder
Springs, Ga., said the trip turned out to be an eyeopening experience he did not expect. Before the trip,
I was thinking about what a great thing this would be
to put on my rsum, he said. I mean, four college
guys organize an entire week of shadowing prominent
businessmen and no one told us to do it? We sacrificed
spring break to better ourselves, and that was something
you could really sell on a rsum.

Toulmelis said the visit to City Gear, the Memphis
company operated by Mike Longo, taught him to look
at business differently.

To start with, I knew nothing about how a retail
clothing store was run. We walked through the main
warehouse and the offices and learned how they were
organized, how they shipped products and how they
kept up with inventories, Toulmelis said. I learned from
Mike Longo that you cannot do everything yourself.
You have to rely on different people, but you have to
make sure those people know what you want them to do.
Another valuable lesson was that business is not always
just to make the huge amounts of money but also to give
people you employ a meaning and purpose.

This trip was an attempt to improve our knowledge
of what business in the real world is like, Ruberg said.
While a college education is vital in getting a good job,
we felt there is a lot of experience and knowledge that
universities fail to provide students with.

Ruberg, a marketing major from Lexington, Ky.,
said the four students had six goals when they embarked
on the mentoring trip. We wanted to understand why
these men are so successful at what they do, find out
how they got to where they are, see how top executives
conduct business daily, seek advice from these men to
promote ourselves as students and business people, gain
an edge on others entering the job market, and learn
how to become a leader early in our careers.

Without a doubt, the trip was a huge success for
us. What we gained from it will benefit us throughout
our careers, as well as the rest of lives, in and out of the
business world. e

For more information about the corporate mentoring program, contact Dr. James
Cashman, professor of management, at 205-348-8940 or jcashman@cba.ua.edu.

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New Programs in the College

Supply Chain Institute

College creates program to meet growing need.

The oversight of materials, information and finances as
they move in a process from supplier to manufacturer
to wholesaler to retailer to consumer has taken on
added importance in this day of high fuel costs and
tight financing.

Supply chain management involves coordinating
and integrating these flows both within and among
companies.

The purpose of the Supply Chain Institute at the
Culverhouse College of Commerce is to promote
research, education and industry outreach in the field of
supply chain management.

The tremendous growth in the academic field of
supply chain management and in the manufacturing,
distribution, procurement and logistics activities within
the state make it imperative that the University establish
a means for promoting its expertise in SCM and for
capitalizing on these growing opportunities, said
Dr. Charles Sox, University Chair of Manufacturing
Management and professor of operations management.

The Supply Chain Institute was established by Sox
and Dr. Alexander Ellinger, professor of marketing and
supply chain management, to promote supply chain
research activities and collaboration between faculty,
students and industry.

The institute will provide oversight for all supplychain-related academic and educational programs as well
as promote networking and job placement support for
students in these academic programs Ellinger said. The
institute will also facilitate networking between supply
chain management professionals and the exchange of
expertise and knowledge among professionals, faculty
and students.

Sox said the colleges supply chain management

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curriculum provides M.B.A. students with the analytical

and managerial foundation needed to satisfy the needs
of business partners and the ultimate consumer to ensure
that the right product, in the right quantity, in the right
condition is delivered to the right customer at the right
place, at the right time, at the right cost.

The college also recently launched a fourcourse undergraduate specialization in supply chain
management that can be integrated into any existing
business major.

Actuarial Science

Program for students with quantitative bent is 1 year old.

The actuarial science program at the Culverhouse
College of Commerce is a year old, having been made
available Nov. 1, 2007.

The program was developed by a team of professors
led by Dr. William Rabel, professor of insurance and
financial services at the business school. A cooperative
venture between the mathematics department and the
business school, the actuarial science program is designed
to attract gifted students with a quantitative bent to
come to The University of Alabama. Initially, Rabel
will be responsible for administering and marketing the
program.

The program in actuarial science is part of the
quantitative finance major. Students who complete the
curriculum will meet all preparatory course requirements
and be prepared for two actuarial examinations.

An actuary is a business professional who analyzes
the financial consequences of risk, using mathematics,
statistics and financial theory to study uncertain
future events, especially those of concern to insurance
and pension programs. Most actuaries work in the
insurance industry, although a growing number work
in other fields.

>> C o l l e g e

Minor in Natural Resources

Management

Program aimed at protecting wildlife, environment.

A revised curriculum focused on protecting and
managing Alabamas natural resources, which leads to
a minor in natural resources management, has been
developed at The University of Alabama.

Our state has an abundance of natural resources,
which have played a unique role in the history and
economy of the state, said J. Barry Mason, dean of
the Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business
Administration. This curriculum will help preserve those
natural resources and provide students who choose this
path an opportunity to develop an understanding of the
importance of environmental issues in decision making
in both profit and not-for-profit settings.

Mason said the idea for the program came from
Riley Boykin Smith, former president of the Alabama
Wildlife Federation, and Tim Gothard, executive director
of AWF. Smith and Gothard called on Dr. Robert
Olin, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Dr.
Dick Brinker, dean of the School of Forestry at Auburn
University, for help in developing the program.

The minor, which is offered through the College
of Arts and Sciences, is available to students majoring
in either UAs College off Arts and Sciences or the
Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business
Administration. It was created from existing courses in
biology, geological sciences and geography, along with
advanced courses focused on water, timber, landforms
and ecological relationships.

Many UA students are from rural backgrounds, or
their families may own large parcels of land, be weekend
farmers or simply have a passion for outdoor activities.
The common thread is a love of the land as a renewable
resource, Mason said.

The minor is designed for students interested in
protecting wildlife habitat and the environment while
meeting the ever-growing human demand for wood
products, clean water, outdoor recreation and scenic
beauty.

In the College of Commerce and Business
Administration, Mason said, the usual path for such
students is a major in finance with a concentration in real
estate, and as such, they would benefit from a minor that
allows them exposure to a body of material that provided

Fe a t u r e

an enhanced framework for decision making and an

appreciation of the unique role of natural resources in
the history and economy of Alabama.

For students in the College of Arts and Sciences,
Olin said, the natural resources management minor
dovetails beautifully with our majors in biological
sciences, geological sciences, chemistry, geography and
others.

The focus of the minor is interdisciplinary
and practice driven with students having hands-on
experiences, field trips and working internships all
of which will supplement what they will learn in the
classroom.

Students will serve internships and study at an
approved biological station, where they will be exposed
to real-world natural resources management scenarios,
such as forest management, wildlife management,
recreation and aesthetics management, and sensitive
flora and fauna management and protection. Experts
in the field will share professional and practical land
management considerations with students and will share
best practices and philosophies commonly used on
Alabamas rural lands.

Tanglewood, The University of Alabamas J.
Nicholene Bishop Biological Station and a family
homestead of 480 acres in Hale County, part of the
College of Arts and Sciences, will be used to further
undergraduate and graduate research in biodiversity and
environmental processes.

Students who complete the natural resources
management minor will be prepared for professional
opportunities in environmental monitoring, such as
endangered species and wetland delineation, restoration
of disturbed land and management of forested lands.
Students may work for federal, state, and local land
management and planning agencies or non-governmental
organizations and legislative bodies concerned with landuse policies and laws.

All courses presented for the minor must be passed
with a grade of C or better.

For additional information in the College of
Commerce and Business Administration, contact
Dr. David Heggem, associate dean of student services,
at 205-348-4537 or deheggem@cba.ua.edu. In the
College of Arts and Sciences, contact John C. Roboski,
director, natural resources minor, 205-348-5972 or
jroboski@as.ua.edu. e

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In The News

C&BA faculty provide insight and expert opinions.

Faculty and staff are often called on to share their expertise with the media.
Here are a few selected examples.
Media Worldwide
Dr. Benton Gup, professor of finance and the Robert
Hunt Cochran/Alabama Bankers Chair of Banking,
has been in demand for commentary lately by media
around the world following the fall of Lehman
Brothers, the problems faced by mortgage giants Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac, the $85 billion government loan
to AIG and general turmoil on Wall Street.

Gups latest book, Too Big to Fail: Policies and
Practices in Government Bailouts, is getting a lot of
attention as well.

Gup has been interviewed by CJOB Radio in
Winnipeg, Manitoba; by a reporter with Folha de
Sao Paulo, Brazils largest newspaper; and several
U.S. publications, including both Newsweek and
BusinessWeek.

This from Newsweek: If the government envisions
that a failure will have a serious adverse consequence on
the economy, its going to step in.

Gup was also contacted by the Los Angeles Times for
input into a Sept. 21 article headlined, Takeovers of AIG,
Fannie and Freddie raise business and political questions.

The history of federal bailouts has been generally
good, Gup told the Times, noting that the government
even turned a $313 million profit on stock options
it received when it provided $1.5 billion in loan
guarantees to automaker Chrysler Corp. in 1980.
The Birmingham News
Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford has proposed that
his city make a bid to host the Olympics in 2020.

The games would positively change the image of
the city, he said.

But winning the games is a complex process of
competing against other cities and making one stand
out as the best.

The primary obstacle is having the sufficient
infrastructure to support the Olympic Games, Louis
Marino, associate professor of strategic management
at the Culverhouse College of Commerce, said,

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Could it happen? Yes. Is it likely to happen? No. But

that shouldnt stop one from dreaming.

Infrastructure including upgrades at the
Birmingham International Airport, mass transportation
improvements and additional hotels are all needed
to support the games, he said. The costs are high and
money is tight, Marino said.

Given the time frame that were shooting for, I
dont think its one that we could really achieve, he said.
Florida Today
Clearly, Florida is growing and banks must either grow
or die, said Benton Gup, a finance professor at The
University of Alabama, when asked for comments about
bank mergers in Florida. Gup, who has closely followed
RBC Centuras acquisition of Alabama National
Bankcorp, said the move makes sense.

Gup also downplayed the notion that Canadian
snowbirds might find Royal Bank of Canada attractive
for nationalistic reasons. Snowbirds, Gup said, are
looking for the best banking deals loans, fees, etc.
like most consumers. And he added that you rarely see
RBC Centura promoting its Canadian roots.

I dont think snowbirds care one way or the other
about RBC Bank being part of a Canadian bank, he said.
The Gadsden Times
Clearly as countries like China and India develop their
demand for fossil fuel and their economies are moving
up, we have to compete globally for those fossil fuels,
Robert Brooks, the Wallace D. Malone Jr. Endowed
Chair of Financial Management at The University of
Alabama, told the Gadsden Times.

Its something were not used to, and its not going
away. Brooks said its human nature to be mad at high
gasoline prices and search for someone to blame a
foreign government, maybe oil company profits.

Whenever there are uncertain times, we tend to
prefer getting angry rather than trying to understand
whats going on, Brooks said.

>> F a c u l t y / s t a f f

Its my observation there are still an enormous
number of people traveling on the highways, and Im
not that persuaded people are changing their ways that
much, Brooks said.
CFO.com
Professors who regularly bring in corporate executives to
speak to students say finance chiefs often have a tough
time being understood in the classroom.

Often, CFOs fall down because they just get
too detailed, said William Petty, a former corporate
controller whos now a full-time instructor at the
University of Alabama. Or they have blinders on,
rather than getting students to open their eyes to whats
out there.

Thats particularly unfortunate, he says, because
students are predisposed to like visiting finance chiefs,
and want to listen intently to their presentations. They
know youve got that knowledge and they want to pick
your brain, he says. But if the style of presentation
is off- base, students often zone out, despite the
enthusiasm they brought with them to the classroom
about what they might learn.

Many corporate finance chiefs, for their part, also
love the idea of talking to classes, notes Petty, who
regularly arranges for people from the business world
often Alabama graduates to make appearances. But
desire, of course, is not enough to make a good lecturer.

Pettys advice to visiting finance executives in
Alabamas Operations Management class at least
for their first appearances there is to avoid the
temptation to dig deep into specific corporate or
finance-department problems. Take a step back and
present a simpler, bigger picture, he recommends. Let
the students know what your company is and what it
does. And let them know whats really expected of a
person in the finance department.

news

Montgomery Advertiser
Is there a sports car in the future of Montgomerys
Hyundai plant?

Industry analysts and economists think so, but the
South Korean automaker isnt commenting.

Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama now
produces the Sonata, a sedan, and the Santa Fe, an
SUV, but isnt running at its 300,000-vehicle capacity
and could handle a third model. A good fit, experts say,
would be a front-drive sports car. Strong sales for a new
front-drive sports model would raise production at the
Montgomery plant closer to capacity, numbers show.

Professor of management Dr. James Cashman
thinks the Montgomery plant needs to operate closer
to capacity. Manufacturing plants should run at a
minimum 90 percent capacity, he said.

That is not desperation time, he said of the
plants production level. It is not a red-light issue, but
it is a yellow light.

One solution to Hyundais excess manufacturing
capacity would be a front-drive sports car, Cashman said.

To me, it would sound like an excellent match for
the plant, he said.

Cashman has no doubt the Montgomery plant
could handle a third model. You have all kinds of
flexibility there, he said. They can do things like
adding shifts or adding hours. They just have to keep
the quality good.
The Tuscaloosa News
Its statistical magic, Annette Watters, at the UA
Center for Business and Economic Research, said of
the population estimates through 2007 released July
10. Watters told the Tuscaloosa News, The farther
away you get from the last census, which was in 2000,
the rockier the estimates get because you are always
standing on the stool of the last census. The farther up
you get up on that stool, the shakier it gets. e

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Campaign Update

S a m u e l A . D i P i a z z a J r.

PWC Pledges $1 Million to UA to Support

School of Accountancy
The international partnership of PricewaterhouseCoopers,
the largest accounting firm in the world, has made a $1
million pledge to The University of Alabama to support
accounting in the Culverhouse College of Commerce
and Business Administration.

The contribution will be used to support
three permanent funds, each named in honor of
PricewaterhouseCoopers and its chief executive
officer, Samuel A. DiPiazza Jr., who received a dual
degree in accounting and economics from The
University of Alabama.

One of the three funds, the PricewaterhouseCoopers
LLP/Samuel A. DiPiazza Jr. Accounting Endowed
Faculty Support Fund, will be used to attract and hire
nationally ranked faculty to the Culverhouse School
of Accountancy. Another of the funds will be used to
support full-time doctoral students in the school of
accountancy, and the third will be used primarily to fund
doctoral research and publication.

The shortage of doctoral students and faculty
in accounting is one of the greatest challenges facing
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accounting education and the accounting profession,

said UA President Robert E. Witt. This generous
contribution will greatly enhance our efforts to attract
qualified doctoral candidates and faculty.

Dr. Mary Stone, director of the Culverhouse
School of Accountancy, said the contribution will
also be particularly useful in furthering the research in
accounting now being conducted by doctoral students
and faculty members.

This will give our doctoral students an even greater
opportunity to develop their research skills, to present
their results at academic conferences and submit their
papers for review for publication in leading academic
journals, while at the same time raising the profile of the
school of accountancy, Stone said.

The support comes at a crucial time for accounting
education and the Culverhouse School of Accountancy,
Stone said, noting that the combination of increasing
accounting enrollments, aging professors and the
increasing cost of doctoral education has created
a situation in which the nationwide supply of new

>> C a m p a i g n

u pd a t e

This will give our doctoral students an even greater

opportunity to develop their research skills, to
present their results at academic conferences and
submit their papers for review for publication in leading
academic journals, while at the same time raising the
profile of the school of accountancy. Dr. Mary Stone
accounting faculty for 200508 will be less than half of
the demand.

Stone said the shortage is most acute in the specialty
areas of auditing and tax, adding that of the 187 students
nationwide expected to receive doctoral degrees in
accounting this year, only 22 expressed interest in
teaching in those two areas.

The contribution was announced by David M.
Pickett, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP managing partner,
on behalf of the company.

DiPiazza has served as CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers
International Limited since 2002. Previously, he led
the PricewaterhouseCoopers U.S. firm as chairman and
senior partner, and he was a member of the Global
Leadership Team.

DiPiazza joined PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1973
and became a partner in 1979. He was elected to the
Firm Council in 1986, and he headed the Birmingham
and Chicago offices before being named Midwest
regional managing partner in 1992. Two years later he
became the regional managing partner of the New York

Metro Region, with a dual role as client service vice

chairman. In 1998, he was named the Americas Leader
for Tax and Legal Services, and in 2000 he was elected
chairman and senior partner of the U.S. firm.

DiPiazza is a trustee of the International Accounting
Standards Committee Foundation, chairman of the
World Business Council on Sustainable Development
and an executive committee member of the International
Business Council of the World Economic Forum. He
is also chairman of the International Business Leaders
Advisory Council to the mayor of Shanghai and
has served as a trustee for the Financial Accounting
Foundation. In addition, he is a member of the executive
committee and the immediate past chairman of the
board of trustees of The Conference Board Inc.

DiPiazza has served on the UA Presidents Cabinet,
the UA National Advisory Board and the Culverhouse
College of Commerce Board of Visitors.

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Campaign Update

Reznick Group P.C. Pledges $125,000 to UA

School of Accountancy

We are proud to be a part of the bright future of

the University. Eddie Lusk, principal in Reznick Group
Reznick Group P.C., a national accounting firm, has
pledged $125,000 to The University of Alabama in
support of the Culverhouse College of Commerce and
its Culverhouse School of Accountancy. Ranked among
the top 20 public accounting firms in the nation,
Reznick Group employs approximately 1,500 people.
The firm maintains 10 offices nationwide, including a
full-service office in Birmingham.

The Reznick Group Endowed Support Fund for
Faculty Excellence will be used to attract and retain a
faculty member in the school of accountancy who will
coordinate the master of accountancy program.

In todays business climate, a master of accountancy degree is almost essential to an accountants success, said Dr. Mary Stone, director of the Culverhouse
School of Accountancy. The Reznick Group Endowed
Support Fund for Faculty Excellence will allow the
school of accountancy to continue to provide students
the academically rigorous course of study needed for
success in todays competitive business environment.
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UAs master of accountancy degree program is a
fifth-year professional program and is designed to provide
students with a greater breadth and depth of understanding of accounting and business than is possible in an
undergraduate program. The program prepares students
for careers as professional accountants in financial institutions, government, industry, nonprofit organizations
and public practice. Graduates are prepared to research
various databases related to troublesome accounting
problems and to exercise judgment in making accounting-related decisions by drawing on their integrated,
comprehensive body of accounting knowledge.

We are very excited about being a financial partner
with The University of Alabama, said Eddie Lusk,
principal in Reznick Groups Atlanta office and a UA
alumnus. For several years now we have recruited from
the nationally recognized school of accountancy and
have greatly benefited from the talented professionals it
produces. We are proud to be a part of the bright future
of the University. e

>> C a m p a i g n

u pd a t e

The University of Alabama Energen First Scholarship winners are pictured, left to right, with Dr. Barry Mason,
dean of UAs Culverhouse College of Commerce, and James McManus, Energen CEO: Marc Skipwith, from
Ramsey High; Kristian Lincoln, from Sylacauga High; Monica Kirk, from Walker County High; Mason;
McManus; TraVon Howard, from Ramsey High; Colby Burttram, from Southside High in Gadsden; and
Shauna Myers, from Oak Mountain High.

Winners of the Energen First Scholarship

As the first winners of the Energen First Scholarship,

you are indeed a special group of students.

When you start here, you can go anywhere,
said James McManus, chief executive officer
of Energen, which awarded six scholarships to
first-generation business school students. I am
very excited to be able to offer these scholarships
from Energen, McManus told the students. It
gives me a great feeling to be able to meet you
and tell you that your opportunities are limitless.
As a graduate of The University of Alabama, I
found my way as a student here. While a student

James McManus

here, I had to decide what field of study best

suited me, and I was able to find my place in the
job pool and work my way up. I encourage you
as winners of the Energen First Scholarship to
keep your grades up to maintain this assistance.
Im delighted to meet each of you, and I wish
you all the best of luck. As the first winners of
the Energen First Scholarship, you are indeed a
special group of students.

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>>

fa c u lt y / s ta f f

news

Faculty and Staff News

The Culverhouse College of Commerce

Read about awards, appointments and other items of interest.

CBERs Addy Named to Alabama
Waterfront Access Study Committee
Dr. Sam Addy, director of the Center
for Business and Economic Research
and associate research economist, has
been named to the Alabama Waterfront
Access Study Committee.

The committee was created May
18, 2008, by a resolution approved by
the Alabama Legislature. The resolution
was a result of efforts by the Alabama
Working Waterfront Coalition, a group
of working waterfront stakeholders
facilitated by the Auburn University
Marine Extension and Research Center/
Mississippi-Alabama Sea
Grant Consortium.

The committee, which includes
representatives from the state
legislature; state and federal agencies;
the commercial and recreational fishing
industry; local government; and other
relevant sectors, will study the degree
of loss and potential loss of the diversity
of uses along the coastal shoreline of
Alabama and how these losses impact
access to the public trust waters of the
state. The committee will be chaired by
the director of the Mississippi-Alabama
Sea Grant Program.

This study will help us make the
best use of one of our natural resources
and is one of many forward-looking
activities in Alabama, Addy said. The
Legislature charged the committee with
five specific tasks:
Gather information about local landuse management and zoning, current
shoreline development trends and
local tax rates, including tax assessment
trends for shoreline properties.

Collect research and information

from Alabama and other states and
jurisdictions regarding incentive-based
techniques and management tools
used to preserve waterfront diversity.
Assess the applicability of such
tools and techniques to the coastal
shorelines of Alabama.
Prepare a draft report with a statement
of the issues, a summary of the
research and recommendations
to address issues of diversity of
waterfront use and access in Alabama.
Hold at least three public meetings
to present the draft report and
recommendations to the public and
user groups.

The committees final report is due
in 2010. An interim report is due at
the beginning of the Legislatures 2009
Regular Session. Several other states
have formed similar waterfront access
study committees.
Paper Co-authored by UAs Schlesinger
Awarded Best Article by Decision
Analysis Society
Dr. Harris Schlesinger, professor of
finance and the Frank Park Samford
Chair of Insurance at The University
of Alabama, has received an award from
the Decision Analysis Society of the
Institute for Operations Research
and Management Science, known as
INFORMS, for the best decision analysis
article or book published in 2006.

The paper, Putting Risk in Its
Proper Place, is co-authored with
Dr. Louis Eeckhoudt, a professor at
the Catholic University of Mons in
Belgium, and appeared in the American
Economic Review in March 2006. The

award was presented at the INFORMS

annual meeting in Washington, D.C.,
in October.

This is the sort of recognition
that has earned Dr. Schlesinger
his much-deserved international
reputation as one of the worlds
foremost scholars and researchers,
said Dr. J. Barry Mason, dean of the
Culverhouse College of Commerce
and Business Administration.

Both authors attended the meeting
to discuss the paper, which examines
preferences toward particular classes of
lottery pairs.

Risk aversion has long played a
role in analyzing decisions under risk,
Schlesinger said, but higher order
concepts also play an important part
in the analysis. However, except for
technical properties, these concepts
have been little understood. We show
how these higher order properties can
be characterized by preference relations
over certain types of simple lotteries.

Schlesinger and Eeckhoudt have
collaborated on a number of papers and
books on risk and its impact on modern
economics. Their book, Economic and
Financial Decisions under Risk, jointly
authored with Dr. Christian Gollier, a
professor at the University of Toulouse,
and published by the Princeton
University Press, had recently won the
2007 Kulp-Wright Book Award.

Schlesinger has been at The
University of Alabama since 1987. He
has been on sabbatical leave as a visiting
professor of mathematical finance and
economics at the University of Munich
in Germany.

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Agrawal Paper Now No. 6 Among Most

Accessed Papers Appearing in Journal of
Law and Economics
A paper co-authored by Dr. Anup
Agrawal, professor of finance and the
William A. Powell Jr. Chair of Finance
and Banking, is listed as the sixth most
accessed paper ever published in the
Journal of Law and Economics. The paper,
published in 2005, was co-authored
with Sahiba Chadha, a Culverhouse
College of Commerce 2004 doctoral
graduate in finance who is now with a
hedge fund in Boston.

The paper examines whether
certain corporate governance
mechanisms are related to the
probability of a company restating its
earnings. The study examined a sample
of 159 U.S. public companies that
restated earnings and an industry-size
matched sample of control firms.

The two researchers then assembled
a novel, hand-collected data set that
measures the corporate governance
characteristics of these 318 firms.

We find that several key
governance characteristics are
unrelated to the probability of a
company restating earnings, the
authors wrote. These include the
independence of boards and audit
committees and the provision of nonaudit services by outside auditors.
We find that the probability of
restatement is lower in companies
whose boards or audit committees
have an independent director with
financial expertise; it is higher
in companies in which the chief
executive officer belongs to the
founding family. These relations
are statistically significant, large in
magnitude, and robust to alternative
specifications. Our findings are
consistent with the idea that
independent directors with financial
expertise are valuable in providing
oversight of a firms financial
reporting practices.
Dean Mason Named Tuscaloosa
Civitan Clubs Citizen of the Year
As he looked over the program for the
ceremony during which he was named
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the Civitan Clubs Citizen of the Year,

Dr. Barry Mason said he began to
realize the company he was in and the
significance of the award.

There were names like George
Denny and Paul Bryant and many
other distinguished people from
The University of Alabama and the
Tuscaloosa community. I thought,
my, this is really something, said
Mason, dean of the Culverhouse
College of Commerce.

Mason was the 75th recipient of
the award, which honors those who
have made extraordinary contributions
to their community. In 2006 Mason
was inducted into the Tuscaloosa
County Civic Hall of Fame and was
recently recognized by the West
Alabama Community Foundation as
a Pillar of West Alabama for sustained
contributions to the betterment of
West Alabama.

Susan Hathorne, president of the
Tuscaloosa Civitan Club, said Mason
was chosen for his work with the Boy
Scouts, The University of Alabama and
Junior Achievement, which benefits
children by providing educational
materials for the classroom and teaches
children how the business community
affects their lives.

Mason, who is also the Russell
Professor of Business Administration, has
served as dean since September 1988.

Masons leadership experience
spans more than 30 years at the
University. In addition to serving as
dean of the business school, he has
served as a department head and as
interim president of the University.

Under his leadership, the College
of Commerce has moved to No. 29
among public business schools, and the
Colleges endowment increased from
$6 million in 1988 to more than
$80 million today.

Mason is past chairperson of
the board of the 40,000 member
American Marketing Association and
past president of the Southwestern
Marketing Association and the
Southern Marketing Association.

Mason is a past winner of The
University of Alabama National
Alumni Association Outstanding
Commitment to Teaching Award,
c o mm e r c e

the Burnum Award and the Western

Electric (now AT&T) Award for
Outstanding Innovation in Business
Education. He was the recipient of
the first Educator of the Year Award
established by the Academy of
Marketing Science.

Mason received the Wayne A.
Lemburg Award for Distinguished
Service from the American Marketing
Association; was named a Distinguished
Alumnus by his alma mater, the
Louisiana Tech University College of
Administration and Business; and was
recognized in Marketing Educator as
one of the top 100 most productive
marketing scholars in the last 20 years.

In 1994 he was designated
a Distinguished Fellow of the
Academy of Marketing Science for
exemplary services to the academy
and outstanding contributions to the
marketing discipline. He was awarded
the Leavey Award for Excellence in
Private Enterprise Education by the
Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge
for outstanding efforts to help young
people better understand the function
and benefits of private enterprise and
free market economics.

Mason earned his bachelors
degree at Louisiana Tech and his
masters degree and doctorate at UA.
Mason and his wife, Linda, have a
daughter, Michelle, who also resides
in Tuscaloosa.

New Faculty Members

Join the College
Information Systems, Statistics and
Management Science
Marcus Perry
Ph.D., Industrial Engineering, Florida
State University, 2004
M.S., Manufacturing Systems, Southern
Illinois University, 2000
B.S., Industrial Technology, Southern
Illinois University, 1998
Minor: Management

Dr. Marcus Perry has been named
assistant professor in the department
of information systems, statistics and
management science.

>>

He is a former assistant professor
in the department of industrial
and systems engineering at Florida
International University. He conducted
undergraduate- and graduate-level
lectures and seminars in the area
of quality engineering, including
statistical process control, design and
analysis of experiments and response
surface methodology.

Prior to FIU, he was an assistant
professor of operations research at
the Air Force Institute of Technology.
In 2004 and 2006, he was recognized
by the AFIT Student Association
as an outstanding teacher and was
awarded the Instructor of the Quarter
Award for a course in response surface
methodology.

Perry has published several papers
in scholarly journals, including IIE
Transactions, Quality and Reliability
Engineering International, International
Journal of Production Research, Quality
Technology and Quantitative Management,
and International Journal of Reliability,
Quality, and Safety Engineering.

He is active in various
professional societies, including
the American Society for Quality,
Institute for Operations Research and
Management Science and the Institute
of Industrial Engineers.

He has five years of industry
experience as a plant engineer at
Material Service, a subsidiary of the
General Dynamics Corporation.
Dung Chau
M.B.A., 1998, The University of
Alabama
B.S., Accounting, 1997, The University
of Alabama

Dung Chau has been appointed
as a clinical faculty member. He is
the former president of Chau Group
LLC, a consulting company that assists
clients in improving business processes
and technologies.

For seven years he was the chief
operating officer of Strategic Metrics
Inc., of Tuscaloosa, where he increased
the companys annual revenue from
$400,000 to more than $3.5 million in
four years.

From 1998 to June 2000, he
was employed as a consultant with
Accenture in New York City before
returning to Tuscaloosa.

He has worked with major clients,
including BellSouth, several major banks
and credit unions, Allstate Insurance,
Best Buy and Ford Motor Company.
Accounting
Susan Jurney
Ph.D., Accounting, University of
Oklahoma, 2008
M.B.A., University of Notre Dame,
2002
B.B.A., Accounting, Oklahoma
Christian University, 1998

fa c u lt y / s ta f f

news

Mobbs has taught corporate
governance to M.B.A. students and
courses on mergers and acquisitions,
international finance and introduction
to finance. He has received a number
of awards and scholarships. His work
experience includes financial analyst
and corporate financial planning at
FedEx; manager and engineer, and
supply chain and control systems at
Procter and Gamble; and a global
positioning system analyst with the
United States Air Force, where he
obtained the rank of captain.
Two Faculty Members Retiring

Dr. Susan Jurney has been named
an assistant professor of accounting.
She lists as her academic and research
interests judgment and decision
making, non-professional investors,
reliability and credibility of the financial
statements, and teaching income tax
and financial accounting.

Jurney taught a variety of courses
while earning her doctorate, including
income tax accounting and financial
accounting. Her work experience
includes employment as a financial
analyst with Global Logistics, Integrated
Supply Chain, IBM in Boulder, Colo.;
a senior tax associate with Arthur
Anderson LLP, in Oklahoma City; and
a gas revenue intern with Chesapeake
Operating Inc., in Oklahoma City.
Economics, Finance and Legal Studies
H. Shawn Mobbs
Ph.D., Finance, Vanderbilt University,
2008
M.B.A., University of Georgia, 2003
M.S., Electrical Engineering, Georgia
Institute of Technology, 1994
B.S., Electrical Engineering, Georgia
Institute of Technology, 1993

Kathleen R. Bindon, associate

professor and Arthur Anderson Faculty
Fellow of Accounting
Walter Misiolek, professor of economics
and Dwight Harrigan Endowed Faculty
Fellow in Natural Resource Economics
Cowles Joins College as Senior
Career Consultant

Susan Cowles has joined
the business school as a senior
career consultant.

Susan has solid experience in
working with the business community
and the many organizations that
recruit on campus each year, said
Linda Johnson, director of employer
development and relations.

Cowles formerly was assistant
director for operations and technology
at the UA Career Center. She has
worked for the University for seven
years. She received her undergraduate
degree from Sweet Briar College
and her masters degree in business
administration from Troy University. e

Dr. H. Shawn Mobbs has been
named an assistant professor of finance.
He lists as his academic and research
interests corporate finance, executive
compensation, corporate governance,
capital markets and investments.

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Alabama Business Hall of Fame

Outstanding group of five inductees added to distinguished list.

Five of the states leading business and civic leaders were inducted into the Alabama Business Hall of Fame
recently at a black-tie dinner at the Bryant Conference Center on The University of Alabama campus.

This year marked the 35th anniversary of the Hall of Fame, sponsored by the Board of Visitors of UAs
Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration. The five inductees exemplify hard work and
determination as well as a commitment to excellence and the betterment of their community. More than 125
prominent business leaders have been inducted into the Business Hall of Fame, and their likenesses are embossed on plaques that line the walls of the Hall of Fame Room in Bidgood Hall on the University campus.

The 2008 inductees are Aubrey Derrill Crowe, of Birmingham; Nimrod T. Frazer, of Montgomery; James
R. Hudson, of Huntsville; Benjamin Russell, of Alexander City; and James Thomas Stephens, of Birmingham.
Their biographies follow.

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Fame

Aubrey Derrill Crowe, M.D.

(1936)
Founder, Mutual Assurance Society of Alabama
For most of Dr. Aubrey Derrill Crowes medical career, he
balanced a successful medical practice with building one of
the largest medical malpractice insurance companies in the
United States.

As a practicing urologist, Crowe was chosen by the State
Medical Association in 1976 to lead a group of physicians in
developing a plan to form a malpractice insurance company
at a time when most Alabama physicians
faced the prospect of practicing medicine
without liability insurance.

The situation led Crowe and his
colleagues to form the Mutual Assurance
Society of Alabama. Their strategy was to
defend every case in which there was no
negligence. At that time, the national trend
was to settle most cases, which spawned a
large number of frivolous malpractice suits,
resulting in the depletion of insurance
company reserves.

Mutual Assurance was one of many
policyholder-founded companies derisively
called bedpan mutuals by insurance
industry experts who predicted most of
them would not survive, a prediction that
proved true.

This was not the case for MASA, and by 1985, it had
paid off both its $5.5 million bank loan and the direct $2.5
million capital loans from physicians. At that time, the
company had expanded through the provision of dental
liability insurance and hospital liability insurance. Under
Crowes leadership, the company continued to prosper.

Mutual Assurance demutualized and began trading on
the Nasdaq system in September 1991. Policyholders received
stock valued at $10 per share and the companys market
capitalization was $69 million. In 1993, Crowe retired from
the active practice of medicine to lead the company. In 1994,
Mutual Assurance moved outside Alabama and acquired
insurance companies in West Virginia, Indiana, Ohio and
Missouri while changing the company name to MAIC
Holdings. By 1996, MAIC Holdings moved to the New York
Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of $129 million.
Expansion continued throughout the Southeast and Midwest.

In 2001, MAICs merger with Professional Group, a
Michigan-based insurer of similar size, was completed. The
merger created ProAssurance, a New York Stock Exchange
company with a market capitalization of $450 million.

Today, ProAssurance is the fourth largest medical
malpractice company in the United States, and its market
capitalization is approaching $2 billion. Over the past 30
years since its founding, written premiums have grown from
$8 million to approximately $550 million in 2007. The
company insures more than 30,000 physicians with more
than 35,000 policies in force.

In the 1980s, Crowe also led two revolutionary advances
in Alabama health care. He helped develop the first
freestanding, physician-owned outpatient surgery center in
Alabama, and he initiated outpatient treatment of kidney
stones by extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy.

Crowe was born in Troy, Ala., the son of Minnie Lee
and Aubrey Glen Crowe. He did undergraduate work at
Howard College (now known as Samford
University) in Birmingham. He completed
his graduate medical education at
Medical College of Alabama in 1962. He
completed his internship in 1963 and a
surgical residency in 1964 at Lloyd Noland
Hospital in Birmingham. He completed
residency training in urology at The
University of Alabama at Birmingham in
1967. Crowe is also a 1990 graduate of the
Owner/President Management program at
Harvard Business School.

Throughout his career, Crowe has
been active in organized medicine, serving
his colleagues and the Medical Association
of the State of Alabama in many positions,
including the Board of Censors and the
Alabama Board of Medical Examiners. He
was also a member of the Jefferson County Medical Society.
In early 1985, he was asked to serve as the chairman of the
Alabama Certificate of Need Board.

Crowe sits on the board of advisers at Samford
University and was the commencement speaker for Samfords
1996 graduation.

Crowe was honored by the Birmingham News as CEO
of the Year for 2004 for his role in establishing ProAssurance
as a leader in Alabama and the nation. In March 2008, Crowe
was elected to the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame, which
honored him for his work in medicine and at ProAssurance.

Crowe has four children from a previous marriage, and
his wife, Cameron, has two from a previous marriage. The
couple has two children together. e

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Nimrod T. Frazer

(1929)
Retired Chief Executive Officer, Enstar
Nimrod T. Frazer has been working since the age of 14, when
he got a summer job on a farm in Wilcox County and learned
to drive a truck. That job morphed into a wartime school bus
driver along with other duties at the age of 15.

The son of William and Margaret Frazer, he was born
in Montgomery and continues to live there now, but he has
come a long way from his farm workdays.

Most of Frazers business career
has been spent in the financial services
industry. He was a broker for Sterne,
Agee & Leach, served as executive vice
president at Thornton, Farish & Gauntt,
and from 1976 to 1996, he was chairman
of the board and co-founder of The Frazer
Lanier Company, a regional investment
banking firm in Montgomery that deals in
corporate and municipal securities.

His business creed was established
early in life at Huntingdon College. As a
sophomore at Huntingdon, Frazer learned
a lifes lesson from a family friend: Act
ethically not only because it is the right
way to do business, but also because doing
so will lead to financial success.

Frazer had already established
a reputation as a highly successful
businessman and financier, but it was his successful
resuscitation of Enstar that earned him praise and respect
around the globe. Enstar formerly did business as a
holding company for KinderCare Inc., a day-care-center
company founded in Montgomery. In 1989, Enstar was
disassociated from KinderCare but found itself deeply in
debt and facing bankruptcy.

In 1990, Frazer was elected to the board of The Enstar
Group Inc. He later accepted the role of chairman, president,
and chief executive officer and resigned from Frazer Lanier,
taking over Enstar when it had a $100 million negative net
worth. His job was to put the company into bankruptcy, do
what he could for the creditors and shareholders and shut it
down. Almost no one dared to hope for survival.

Frazer took on the challenge. He divested assets,
collected judgments from executives and repaid creditors. He
transformed the company into a holding company of financial
assets and entered the insurance and reinsurance world.
Eventually the company, whose shares were worthless when
Frazer arrived on the scene, repaid all its creditors 100 cents
on the dollar, resurrected its shares and returned them to the
original owners.

Under Frazers leadership, Enstar increased its net
worth by more than $400 million and increased its market
capitalization to nearly $1.5 billion.

Enstar invested in troubled property and casualty
insurance companies, helping to set them straight and get
them out of trouble. Frazers reputation for ethics and doing
things the right way spread throughout the financial services

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industry. In an interview with Ethics Newsline in 2006,

Frazer said, Our ethical profile is a corporate asset.

In 2007 Enstar merged with Castlewood Insurance, the
company moved to Bermuda and Frazer retired as CEO.

Frazer has also been active in the industrial real estate
business in the Montgomery area. Through the partnership
of Industrial Partners, the company constructed numerous
high-quality industrial facilities, most
built on a completely speculative basis.
These buildings played a huge role in
Montgomerys industrial development
success, providing product to lure great
industrial and manufacturing companies
and providing much-needed jobs. The
company today continues its mission
under a new generation of leadership
while Frazer has constructed and
purchased buildings under his current
ownership of The Jobs Company LLC.

He serves on the boards of several
financial and insurance companies in
the United States and abroad and has
been active in economic development
associations throughout the Southeast.

Frazer has been involved
with numerous civic and charitable
organizations. He was chairman of the Montgomery Area
Chamber of Commerce, a member of Leadership Alabama,
president of Lurleen B. Wallace Cancer Foundation, chairman
of the Montgomery Water Works and Sanitary Sewer
Board, and was a founding director of both the Landmarks
Foundation of Montgomery and the Montgomery County
Historical Society. His trustee service includes the Alabama
Department of Archives and History; Atlanta International
School; Albright Institute for Archaeological Research in
Jerusalem, Israel; Huntingdon College; and Hughston Sports
Medicine Foundation.

He received his undergraduate degree from
Huntingdon College in Montgomery in 1954 and his
masters degree in business administration from Harvard
Business School in 1956.

After entering the Army as an enlisted man, he was
commissioned at Officer Candidates School. He served in the
Korean conflict as an Army lieutenant, tank commander and
tank platoon leader. He received the Silver Star for gallantry
in action, U.S. Presidential Unit Citation, Republic of Korea
Presidential Unit Citation, a Letter of Appreciation from the
37th Infantry Regiment of the Republic of Korea, and the U.S.
Parachutist Badge. He has also written about his experiences
in Korea for military magazines. He is a member of both the
American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Frazer and his wife, Lee Martin Frazer, have been married
for 51 years and have five children and nine grandchildren. e

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of

Fame

James R. Hudson

(1942)
Founder, Hudson-Alpha Institute for Biotechnology
James R. Hudson is the founder and president of the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, a nonprofit research
institute that uses biotechnology to improve human health,
stimulate economic development, and inspire the next
generation of scientists.

Hudson grew up in Huntsville, the son of James R. and
Mattie May Ellis Hudson. He graduated from Huntsville
High in 1960. He received his bachelors
degree in chemistry and a masters
degree in physics from The University of
Alabama as well as a masters degree in
biology from The University of Alabama
in Huntsville.
Prior to beginning his professional
career, Hudson served as an officer in
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from
1967 to 1970. During his tour of duty in
Vietnam, Hudson flew many missions
over North Vietnam, where he earned the
Distinguished Flying Cross.

Hudsons business acumen was
nurtured by his father. The senior
Hudson, together with sons, Jim and
Gary, operated Hudson Metals, a
Huntsville foundry. Hudson Metals
became the most productive small
foundry in the Southeast before it was sold in 1982.

After selling Hudson Metals and earning his biology
degree, Hudson founded Research Genetics with an initial
investment of $25,000. While conducting research that
required a piece of synthetic DNA, Hudson was appalled
when he learned it would take up to four weeks to receive his
order. It took only four hours to produce DNA but his order
was behind many others, being produced by a single machine.
In that instant, I knew exactly what my business model
would be, he said. I was going to have enough machines
that I was going to ship tomorrow everything ordered today.

Launching from that initial business model, Research
Genetics became a biotech business icon. Research Genetics
was a chief partner in the Human Genome Project, the
international effort coordinated by the U.S. Department of
Energy and the National Institutes of Health to identify the
sequence of the DNA found inside human cells.

Hudson served as chief executive of Research Genetics
until 2000, when he sold the company to Invitrogen for more
than $130 million.

Having the capital (from Research Genetics) opened a
lot of doors to help biotech gain a foothold in Huntsville,
he noted. Hudson has advised and incubated six successful
biotech companies. He is co-founder and served as the first
president of the Biotechnology Association of Alabama.

Hudson and his wife, Susie, have initiated a number
of projects to revitalize Huntsville and entice young

professionals to the city. His vision and passion have

brought new art venues, restaurants and a greatly enhanced
after-hours scene.

The Hudson-Alpha Institute for Biotechnology today
continues the work Hudson started at Research Genetics.
The mission at Research Genetics was to find the latest tools
to accelerate research and make the findings of that research
available to the rest of the world in an
expedient and cost-effective manner.

Hudson raised $80 million
in private donations to establish
HudsonAlpha. The state of Alabama
subsequently matched the private
donations with a $50 million
commitment. Together these monies
will create over 900 new jobs. Hudsons
initiative is positioning Alabama to
become a worldwide leader in biotech
research and one of the premier places
in the nation for high paying jobs that
cannot be exported overseas.

HudsonAlphas new four-story,
270,000 square-foot facility, which opened
in November 2007, will initially provide
accommodation for 12 for-profit biotech
companies. HudsonAlphas nonprofit
research will be led by Richard Myers, previously the chair of
human genetics at Stanford University, where Myers directed
one of the nations largest genome research centers.

Hudson serves as adjunct professor at UAH and is a
member of the College of Science Advisory Council and the
board of directors of the UAH Foundation. He is a member
of the Huntsville Rotary Club and the Committee of 100.

Hudson and his wife, Susie, are co-founders
of CityScapes LLC, which focuses on downtown
revitalization. Hudson serves as vice president. The couple
has four children. e

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Benjamin Russell

(1938)
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Russell Lands Inc.
Born in Alexander City, Benjamin Russell began his career
with summer jobs at Russell Corporation, a textile and
apparel firm founded in 1902 by his grandfather. After
attending Mercer University and The University of Alabama
and following active duty training in the Air National
Guard, he was employed by Russell Corporation as a
management trainee.

In 1970, Russell was asked to assume
leadership of a small family-owned farm
and timberland company. Russell Lands
Inc. has since become a diverse corporation
with over 500 employees and eight
operating divisions.

Russell set in place a much earlier
dream of his grandfathers. Russell had
accumulated thousands of acres, comprising
hundreds of miles of shoreline during the
construction of Lake Martin in the early
part of the 20th century, specifically for the
creation of a world-class recreational lifestyle
in south central Alabama.

Over the past 35 years, Russell has seen
this dream come true with the development
of 15 residential communities consisting
of some 1,500 lots on Lake Martin. Russell
Lands also manages over 300 leased
properties on Lake Martin. More than 1,000 first and second
homes are also managed by Russell Lands Real Estate Inc.,
and the divisions non-corporate transactions capture the
areas largest real estate market share.

Willow Point Golf and Country Club, one of the top
golf courses in the state, is another Russell Lands venture.
Renovated in 2003, the club has recently hosted the 2008
Alabama State Seniors Championship and the 2008 Alabama
State Amateur Championship.

Other Russell Lands operating divisions include Russell
Marine, which operates four sales and full-service marinas
on Lake Martin. Russell Marine was recently recognized by
Boating Industry magazine as the ninth ranked boat dealer
in the world. Another division operates nine building
supply facilities affiliated with Do it Best Corp. A $4 billion
cooperative with over 4,000 members, Do it Best recognized
Russell Lands as its fourth largest member in 2007.

In the 1970s, Russell formed the Energy Conservation
Company to promote the use of wood energy in industry.
This effort has led to the consumption of over 5 million
tons of waste wood to replace some 5 million barrels of oil.
ECON has also led the way in research and development
for a practical wood gasification power system for vehicles.
A related business also specializes in the processing of forest
products residue for landscape products.

Almost 30 years ago, Russell crossed the country in a
conventional automobile powered entirely by wood. ECONs

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continuing research in vehicular and small-scale gasification

has proven to the world that todays automobile can be
powered solely by gases produced by the partial combustion
of wood in the event of a national emergency.

In 1987, Russell founded, and still chairs, the first
statewide fundraising campaign for CARE, the worlds
largest private relief and development agency. CARE
Alabama has raised more than $9
million for the people of developing
nations.

In 1989, Russell founded
Childrens Harbor, a not-for-profit
organization with the mission of
strengthening children and families.
Framed in a classic New England style
setting, the Childrens Harbor campus
is located on the shores of Lake Martin.
The campus has recently undergone an
$8 million expansion to serve an even
greater number of Alabamas children
and families.

In 1998, Russell also made a
significant financial commitment to
Childrens Hospital in Birmingham,
which resulted in the construction of
the Childrens Harbor wing that houses
the Childrens Harbor Family Center. This collaborative
effort with the hospital provides counseling to chronically ill
children and their families. In 2008, Ben and Luanne Russell
made the lead commitment toward the Benjamin Russell
Hospital for Children, an entirely new Childrens Hospital
facility to be named in memory of Mr. Russells grandfather
and mentor.

Russell was named Philanthropist of the Year in 2000
and Outstanding Philanthropist in Alabama in 1994. He
is a member of the 1997 Alabama Academy of Honor and
received the first CARE World Humanitarian Award in 1990.
In 1975, Alexander City named him Man of the Year.

He and the former Luanne Radney have one daughter,
Adelia Dedie Russell Hendrix, and a grandson, Benjamin.

>> H a l l

of

Fame

James Thomas Stephens

(1939)
Chairman of the Board, EBSCO Industries Inc.
James Thomas Stephens has spent 46 years as an employee
of EBSCO, the company founded by his father, Elton B.
Stephens, in 1944 to sell magazines and other items to
the military.

Stephens is chairman of the board of EBSCO
Industries Inc., one of the most highly diversified
companies in the world and one of the top privately held
companies. EBSCO manufactures
items from duck decoys to fishing
lures while maintaining its position as
a leading subscription service.

Stephens was born in Birmingham,
the son of Elton Bryson Stephens
and Alys Varian Robinson Stephens.
He married Julia McDonald in 1970.
They have four children, Bryson David
Dudley Stephens; Trent McDonald
Stephens Lloyd; Bart William Robinson
Stephens; and Alys Fay Stephens; and
six grandchildren.

He was educated in Birmingham
public schools and graduated from
Yale University in 1961 with a degree
in history. He earned a masters degree
in business administration at Harvard
in 1964.

His career with EBSCO began Sept. 1, 1962. He served
as president from Oct. 30, 1970, through June 30, 2005, and
has been chairman since 2002, through the companys major
growth to its status as a worldwide company of over 6,000
employees at 76 locations in 22 countries.

EBSCO is a widely diversified corporation with
businesses in distribution, manufacturing, real estate
development and services. The company has annual sales
of more than $2 billion and has subsidiaries located around
the world. EBSCO Information Services is the largest
subscription agency in the world serving libraries. EBSCO
Publishing, through its online platform, EBSCOhost, is
the worlds largest provider of online research databases to
libraries. EP licenses content from over 75,000 publications
and offers over 250 research databases to schools, public
libraries, colleges, universities, hospitals, corporations and
government agencies.

PRADCO, a division of EBSCO, is the largest
manufacturer of fishing lures in the United States with such
brands as Rebel, Cotton Cordell, Heddon, Bomber, YUM
and Arbogast.

EBSCO is developing two traditional neighborhood
developments at Mt Laurel in Shelby County, Ala., and Alys
Beach on the northern Florida Gulf Coast.

EBSCO donates 5 percent of its pre-tax profit to charity.
Each $1 donated to the United Way by EBSCOs employees
is matched with $1.50 from EBSCO. EBSCOs employees

share in the profits as 15 percent of EBSCOs pre-tax profit is

returned to the employees through the EBSCO Savings and
Profit Sharing Trust.

Stephens is a United States Army veteran and served as
an infantry lieutenant, airborne qualified.

He has been an active supporter of education and is a
past president of the board of trustees at Highlands School,
Altamont School and BirminghamSouthern College, where he also served as
chairman of the academic affairs committee
and vice chairman of the board.

He is a past chairman of the board
of the Boy Scouts of America Greater
Alabama Council, a Distinguished Eagle
Scout and a recipient of the Silver Beaver
Award. He sponsors the James T. Stephens
Eagle Scout Scholarships.

His public service includes being
a board member of The University of
Alabama Health Services Foundation and
The University of Alabama at Birmingham
Health System.

He is chairman of the Alabama
Symphony Endowment Board.

The University of Alabama College of
Communication and Information Sciences
inducted Stephens into its Hall of Fame in 2003, and
Birmingham-Southern College awarded him an Honorary
Doctor of Laws in 2000. He also received an Honorary
Doctorate of Humane Letters from UA in 2007.

He is a major contributor to the Elton Bryson Stephens
Science Laboratory Center and the Welcome Center at
Birmingham-Southern College; the Alys Robinson Stephens
Performing Arts Center at The University of Alabama at
Birmingham; the Alabama Symphonic Association; and the
Boy Scouts of America.

He is a member of the United Ways Alexis de
Tocqueville Society and served as chair of the fundraising
campaign for The University of Alabamas School of
Information Sciences in the 1990s. He also chaired the
Campaign for Character for the Greater Alabama Council for
Boy Scouts of America and the 2007 fundraising campaign
for Big Brothers Big Sisters.

He is a member of Canterbury United Methodist Church
and enjoys traveling, horseback riding, and reading history
and international relations. e

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Alumni on the Move

Six graduates assume new leadership roles.

Lockheed Martin Appoints UA Graduate Marillyn
Hewson President of Lockheed Martin Systems
Integration-Owego
Marillyn A. Hewson, a University of Alabama graduate
and a member of the Culverhouse College of Commerce
Board of Visitors, has been named president of Lockheed
Martin Systems Integration-Owego.
Lockheed Martin Systems Integration-Owego
provides technology products, services and systems
integration solutions to defense, civil and commercial
customers worldwide. Principal capabilities include
helicopter systems integration, fixed- and rotary-wing
modernization and sustainment, ground vehicles and
distribution technologies. With major facilities in Owego,
N.Y.; Patuxent River, Md.; and the United Kingdom, the
business employs about 4,000 individuals.
With her strong operational focus, orientation
toward action and results, proven track record in
domestic and international pursuits and diverse
experience within Lockheed Martin, Marillyn Hewson
is superbly qualified to lead our talented Owego
team to perform at new levels, said Christopher E.
Kubasik, executive vice president of Lockheed Martins
Electronic Systems business area.
Hewson, 54, formerly was executive vice president
of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company in Fort
Worth, Texas. She joined Lockheed Martin in 1983 and
advanced through a series of leadership positions in two
of the corporations four business areas and led several
major functions at the corporate headquarters. She
earned a bachelors degree in business administration
and a masters degree in economics from The University
of Alabama.
James Dixon Named Senior Managing Director of
Private Client Group for Sterne Agee
James Dixon has been named senior managing director
of Private Client Group for Sterne Agee.
Dixon joined Sterne Agee in 1994; he has worked in
Equity Trading, Fixed Income Trading and the Private
Client Group. Prior to his new position, Dixon was

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involved in the management of the Birmingham Private

Client office. Dixons new responsibilities will include
recruiting and extensive development of the Sterne Agee
Private Client Group.
Dixon graduated from The University of Alabama,
where he also earned a masters degree in business
administration. He earned a certificate in financial
planning from Florida State University and completed
the Securities Industry Institute at the Wharton School.
Dixon is a graduate of the Branch Manager Development
Program at the Security Investors Association.

Roger Hobby Named President of Wilmington Trust
FSB, New England
Roger Hobby has been named president of Wilmington
Trust FSB, New England.
Hobby joined Wilmington Trust after 19 years with
Fidelity Investments, where he served as president of
Fidelitys Family Office Services group in Boston. Hobby
is responsible for managing Wilmington Trusts Boston
office and leading the development of wealth advisory
services for clients throughout the northeastern United
States. These services include private banking, investment
services, fiduciary services and family office services.
Hobby began his career as an investment broker for
Fidelity in 1989. Later he was responsible for integrating
Fidelitys national call centers and branch network to
help generate additional business and improve clients
overall experience. In 1997, he was promoted to senior
vice president of sales and business development for all
Internet, call center and branch activity. In 1999, Hobby
became senior vice president and national head of the
core retail group, helping to bring new relationships
and a significant level of new assets to Fidelity. In 2003,
Hobby became senior vice president and market manager
for Boston. He helped build the companys local market
manager structure in which he managed 10 branch offices
with 60 vice presidents. In 2004, Hobby joined the
Family Office Services group; he was named president
last year.
Hobby earned his undergraduate degree from The
University of Alabama and completed the Harvard
Business Schools General Manager Program.

>> A l u m n i

Culverhouse Doctorate Holder to Head UCFs New

Real Estate School
Randy I. Anderson, who earned a doctorate in finance
from The University of Alabama in 1996, has been
selected to lead the University of Central Floridas new
real estate school as it prepares to expand in one of the
nations fastest-growing regions.
Anderson was chosen the first to hold the Howard
Phillips Eminent Scholar Chair in Real Estate at the
Orlando university, the nations sixth largest, with more
than 48,000 students.
Anderson, who owns a boutique investment bank in
Winter Park that does debt and equity financing for real
estate, previously taught real estate finance at Florida
International University in Miami before forming his
own investment company. Now he will direct a researchand-education institute in the Dr. P. Phillips School
of Real Estate, which is in UCFs College of Business
Administration. The program, which started in 2006,
has nearly 200 students majoring or minoring in an
undergraduate real estate program.
He was the Ryder Eminent Scholar Chair while at FIU
and during that time was chief economist and director of
research for Marcus & Millichap Investment Services.
Southern Company Names Jim Miller CEO of
Southern Nuclear
James H. Jim Miller III, a 1971 graduate of the
Culverhouse College of Commerce, has been named
president and chief executive officer of Southern Nuclear
Operating Company.
Miller formerly served as senior vice president,
compliance officer and general counsel at Georgia Power.
Miller joined Southern Company in 1994 as corporate
counsel for Southern Nuclear after achieving partner
status with the Birmingham, Ala.-based law firm of Balch
and Bingham. Since then, he has held roles of increasing
responsibility, including senior vice president of external
affairs for Alabama Power and senior vice president of the
Birmingham Division of Alabama Power.
Additionally, Miller served as senior vice president,
general counsel and assistant secretary for Southern

Notes

Company Generation and Southern Power, where he had

responsibility for legal issues surrounding the wholesale
generation business, as well as external issues relating to
the operations of the power plants.
Miller has been involved in many community
activities, including board membership of the Lakeshore
Foundation, a nonprofit organization that trains people
with disabilities in athletic endeavors. He also serves on
the boards of Fidelity Southern Corporation, Fidelity
Bank, the United Way and Farrah Law Society.
Miller spent three years in the U.S. Navy and later
reached the rank of lieutenant commander in the U.S.
Naval Reserve. He earned a juris doctor degree from The
University of Alabama in 1977 and is a graduate of the
Advanced Management program at Englands Oxford
University and the Nuclear Reactor Technology course at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Culverhouse Graduate Named
Dean of Southern Mississippi Business School
Lance Nail, a Cullman native who earned his
undergraduate degree in finance in 1989 at The
University of Alabama, has been elected as dean of the
business school at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Nail, a graduate of Cullman High School, began
studying finance at Wallace State Community College,
where he enrolled in a pre-business program.
Nail transferred from Wallace State to The University
of Alabama.
After graduating from UA, Nail worked for three years
with Ernst & Young, an accounting consulting firm with
an office in Birmingham.
Nail left the firm to attend the University of Georgia,
where he earned a doctorate in finance.
After earning the doctorate, Nail began his career at
The University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he
was on the faculty for 12 years, including five years as
chairman of the department of finance, economics and
quantitative methods. e

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Where Are They Now?

Here are more news and updates on C&BA alumni.
1956
William A. Renz has retired as president of Cincote
Industries in Cincinnati.

Joseph E. Sandner III was recently listed as one of

the Heavy Hitters in Commercial Real Estate in
Birmingham Business Journal.

1958
James R. Azar, senior vice-president of planning for
Alfa Mutual Insurance, was featured in the Alabama
Alumni magazine for his 50 years with Alfa.

1975
Clayton R. Lee II was named chief credit officer at
Peoples Bank of North Alabama.

1965
Richard T. Darden was recently listed as one of
the Heavy Hitters in Commercial Real Estate in
Birmingham Business Journal.
1967
Lewis M. Steward Jr. was recently listed as one of
the Heavy Hitters in Commercial Real Estate in
Birmingham Business Journal.
1969
Robert L. Holman has been elected to serve on the
YMCA of Metropolitan Birminghams corporate board
of directors.
1970
Lewis R. Cabe (M.A. 70, Ph.D. 71) has retired from
the CNA Corporation after 26 years. CNAC is a
Virginia-based nonprofit organization that provides
research and analyses for government organizations.
He is also a retired Army officer and previously served
on the faculty of the Naval Postgraduate School.
1971
Frances Trott Jordan has joined W.R. Taylor & Co. as
treasurer.

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1976
Keith B. Arendall was recently listed as one of
the Heavy Hitters in Commercial Real Estate in
Birmingham Business Journal.
Carey P. Gilbert was recently listed as one of the
Heavy Hitters in Commercial Real Estate in
Birmingham Business Journal.
1977
William B. Eyster Jr. was recently listed as one of
the Heavy Hitters in Commercial Real Estate in
Birmingham Business Journal.
1979
Sherrie D. LeMier has been appointed corporate
treasurer at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama.
1981
Joni F. Blakney has been promoted to benefits director
in the human resources department at Childrens
Health System in Birmingham.
Keith Hazelrig was recently listed as one of the Heavy
Hitters in Commercial Real Estate in Birmingham
Business Journal.

Gilbert C. Steindorff has joined Compass Bank as

senior vice president and manager of commercial
marketing for the Montgomery Market.

Carol D. Mackin (M.B.A.) has been named vice

president of planning and assistant corporate secretary
for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama. She is
responsible for coordinating the companys planning
process.

1973
William E. Pearson Jr. has joined Smith Barney in
Birmingham as a financial adviser.

1982
Randall W. Jordan has been appointed regional
president at Wachovia.

1974
Lewis A. Metzger has been recognized as one of the
top 10 outstanding advisers in the United States by
Registered Rep. magazine.

Greg Rayburn (M.Acc. 84) has been named interim

chief executive officer at Sytex-Brillian Corp., a leading
manufacturer and marketer of LCD HDTVs, digital
cameras and consumer electronic products.

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>> A l u m n i

Randall Self (J.D. 86) recently received a masters

degree in German literature from Vanderbilt University.
1986
Edward K. Aldag Jr. was recently listed as one of
the Heavy Hitters in Commercial Real Estate in
Birmingham Business Journal.
1987
Adolph Weil III (M.B.A.) has been appointed director
for the National Cotton Council and Cotton Council
International.
1989
Jesse A. Lewis Jr. has recently moved back to Alabama
after being appointed marketing director for Education
Corporation of America.
1991
J. Christopher Atkinson (M.T.A.) has been named
vice president of finance for Coventry Workers Comp.
Services.
Jerry Malone Dent Jr. has been selected as one of the
Top 40 Under 40 for 2008 by Birmingham Business
Journal.
Katie M. Hosemann is an accounting manager with
World Omni Financial Corp. in Mobile.
Bryan C. Hunt has been promoted to managing
director of Wachovia Securities.
1992
Seletha Rochell Butler has joined Nelson, Mullins,
Riley & Scarborough LLP in its Atlanta office as of
counsel. Butler is an experienced corporate attorney
who focuses on mergers and acquisitions; strategic
commercial matters, including technology and
outsourcing arrangements; and matters involving small
business ownership and operations and entertainment
contractual arrangements. She earned her juris
doctor degree from Harvard Law School, where she
was a member of the Harvard Black Law Students
Association.

Notes

Scott A. Stewart has joined Donaldson, Holman &

West P.C. as a professional manager.
1993
Matthew T. Edwards (J.D. 97) has joined W.R. Taylor
& Co. as vice president of corporate finance.
Charles Barry Poole has been promoted to manager at
Way, Ray, Shelton & Co., P.C.
Michelle C. Robinson has received the Presidents
Club Award for 2007 at Synovus Mortgage.
Stephen A. Stabler has joined the Bank of Tuscaloosa
as a senior vice president of commercial banking.
Pamela D. Thomas has been promoted to plant
controller at Wolverine Tube Inc.
Derek L. Weaver was recently listed as one of the
Heavy Hitters in Commercial Real Estate in
Birmingham Business Journal.
1994
Leigh Davis has been selected as one of the Top 40
Under 40 for 2008 by Birmingham Business Journal.
Tonya L. Formby has accepted a position as an
executive recruiter for accounting and finance
professionals with Sunbelt Search Partners.
Gregory D. Hess was recently listed as one of the
Heavy Hitters in Commercial Real Estate in
Birmingham Business Journal.
Padmanabhan Menon is working as an Oracle
Applications Production support analyst in Petaling
Jaya, Malaysia.
1995
John N. Coleman was recently listed as one of the
Heavy Hitters in Commercial Real Estate by
Birmingham Business Journal.
Franklin Delane Myers has been selected as one of the
Top 40 Under 40 for 2008 by Birmingham Business
Journal.

Christopher J. Van Steenberg has been senior vice

president and director of card products and ATMs in
the retail direct USA division.
( c o n t i n u ed

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( c o n t i n u ed

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1996
Sam Jones Carroll IV has been selected as one of the
Top 40 Under 40 for 2008 by Birmingham Business
Journal and was also listed as one of the Heavy Hitters
in Commercial Real Estate.
1997
Kelly Bratschi Thompson has been selected as one of
the Top 40 Under 40 for 2008 by Birmingham Business
Journal.
1998
Christa Pettway Carter (M.S. applied statistics; Ph.D.
applied statistics 02) has been appointed fair lending
research manager at Wachovia Bank.
1999
Brendan Knowles, CPA, (M.T.A. 00) has been
promoted to manager with Way, Ray, Shelton & Co.
Felicia K. Uhlir (M.T.A. 00) has been promoted to tax
manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
2000
Shelly E. Ciarella has been promoted to assistant vice
president and marketing manager for KeyBank Alaska.
2001
Bradley Moore is corporate controller for PivotHealth
LLC in Brentwood, Tenn.
Brandon D. Sparks has been named assistant vice
president and relationship manager for Compass Bank.
2003
Eric W. Hoffman has been named chief operating
officer and director of business development for
Hoffman Media LLC.
Trenton P. Shepard (M.Acc. 04) has been promoted to
senior accountant at Way, Ray, Shelton & Co. P.C.
2004
Lauren H. LeCroy (M.Acc. 05) has been promoted to
senior accountant at Way, Ray, Shelton & Co., P.C.
Rachel R. Mims (M.T.A. 05) has become a member of
the Young CPA Board.

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2006
Sonja Marie Burrage has joined Way, Ray, Shelton &
Co. P.C. as a staff accountant.
Russell W. Chambliss Jr. (M.B.A.) has been promoted
to vice president of administration at Mason Corp.
Matthew R. Shields has joined Pearce, Bevill, Leesburg,
and Moore P.C. as a new staff accountant.
Talon Cole Woods has joined the audit department at
Donaldson, Holman & West P.C.
2007
Andrew J. Knight (M.Acc. 07) has joined the audit
department at Donaldson, Holman & West, PC.
Megan Young has joined Pearce, Bevill, Leesburg, and
Moore P.C. as a staff accountant. e

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Culverhouse College of Commerce

and Business Administration

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permit no. 2400

Box 870223
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0223

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