March 25, 2003

WUT Students Win Business Challenge

Loretto-Hilton Earns a Prize of Its Own

Bert Walker Honored

Did You Know?

Kampus Kudos

St. Louis Calendar Highlight

WUT Students Win Business Challenge

Four Webster-Thailand students have scored a big win at a national competition for graduate business students. Naveen Kaparthy and Mukesh Kumar, both Indian students working on M.B.A.s in Finance; Dakshata Rana, a Nepalese student working on an M.B.A. in International Business; and Sasiporn Pongpaiboon, a Thai student working on an M.A. in International Business, were winners in the Bangkok Business Challenge, which is intended to inspire entrepreneurship.

Universities from throughout Thailand participated in the event, which is sponsored by the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration of Chulalongkorn University and Krungthep Turakij, one of Thailand’s leading business newspapers. The universities entered 38 teams with four members each. After four rounds of competition, the Webster team survived to take the Mini Bangkok Business Challenge Award. This is a special award open to nonfinalists who make a 10-minute oral presentation and answer questions for five minutes. Unlike other award winners, the Webster team not only had to win the support of the contest judges, but also the audience and participating teams. By winning the approval of this diverse group, the Webster team took the "Mini" prize of 50,000 baht (about $1,200 U.S.).

Under the direction of Steven Schafer, adjunct professor and M.B.A. coordinator, the team submitted a business plan to launch a "pick-up truck bed extender." According to the students, Thailand has the second largest pick-up truck market in the world. Using the product, which has been patented in the United States, "the owner of the pickup can extend his bed size by nearly 24 inches and does not violate any law," states the business plan.

According to Sanjib Subba, director of Registration and Academic Advising at WUT, the team’s achievement "has put Webster-Thailand on the Kingdom’s corporate map. This is a giant leap and a historical moment for Webster-Thailand, its faculty, staff, and students. Further, this achievement has given Webster-Thailand face-to-face positioning with many well-established business schools in Thailand and Southeast Asia."

Loretto-Hilton Earns a Prize of Its Own

Clerestory windows and a wall of windows in The Jean and Wells Hobler Center for Dance provide the award-winning Loretto-Hilton expansion with plenty of light.

Award-winning productions are frequent fare at the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts. But this month, the center earned a prize of its own. Buildings Magazine (www.buildings.com) named the Loretto-Hilton addition the "Winner in Educational Interiors" in its annual Interiors Design competition. The two-page article about the Loretto-Hilton, which appears in the March issue of the magazine, cited the clever cantilever design that architects MackeyMitchell created to allow for two new dance studios on a narrow site. In addition, "Natural light also played a big part in the Center’s new design. Horizontal, clerestory windows were introduced; bringing light in from above, these windows allowed for extra wall space and privacy, intentionally screening activity from the public."

Webster dancers can now rehearse comfortably in The Jean and Wells Hobler Center for Dance.

Approximately 36,000 square feet were added to the Loretto-Hilton’s backstage area, and 20,000 square feet of space were renovated. Jinny and Laurance L. Browning, Jr., Jean and Wells Hobler and other supporters of Webster played important roles in the Loretto-Hilton expansion.

Bert Walker Honored

At its quarterly meeting on March 6, the Board of Trustees honored its longtime member, Bert Walker, with a special citation, declaring him to be a "life trustee." This is only the second time that the board has chosen to recognize one of its own with such a high distinction. Monte Throdahl received the honor in 1996.

The citation says, "George Herbert Walker III has embraced Webster University and adopted it as his own, working nonstop, with absolute commitment and zeal, to advance the University as an institution of higher education and a model for the community, the nation, and the world…" It continues, praising Walker as an "exceptional leader, who supports higher education through word and deed."

Walker has served on the board almost continuously since 1974, chairing it from 1987 to 1992. He has been a strong voice for Webster at home and abroad and an energetic fundraiser and donor who spearheaded the campaign to name the College of Fine Arts for President Leigh Gerdine. He was influential in bringing President George Bush to St. Louis for the 1999 commencement and he established the George Herbert Walker Student Award for outstanding graduates.

In his emotional acceptance speech, Walker said that it had been his pleasure to serve and to work with the University’s strong leadership, singling out President Meyers, Executive Vice President Neil George, and Vice President Karen Luebbert. He added that what he had done for the University paled in comparison to what his association with the University had done for him.

Did You Know?

Sylvan to Sell Its K-12 Units and Focus Entirely on Higher Education

From Goldie Blumenstyk, Online Chronicle, March 12, 2003

Sylvan Learning Systems announced on Tuesday [March 11] that it would sell all of its operations related to elementary and secondary education, transforming it into a purely higher-education company. In selling its K-12 units, including the tutoring for which it has long been known, the company will now focus on two of its fastest-growing lines of business: education and its network of international universities.

In making the announcement, Sylvan officials also indicated for the first time that the company might eventually decide to operate a postsecondary campus in the United States. Until now, Sylvan had said its focus within the United States would be limited to distance-education offerings. …

Over the past several months, a committee of Sylvan’s Board of Directors had analyzed its businesses and determined that the postsecondary operations had a long-term growth potential of 30 to 40 percent, while the K-12 businesses could be expected to grow at a rate of 10 to 15 percent.

"We intend to build a postsecondary-education company serving 200,000 students, and generating revenue of more than $1-billion over the next four years," Douglas Becker, the chairman and CEO, said in a prepared statement.

Sylvan now operates a network of seven institutions in Chile, France, Mexico, Spain, and Switzerland, which together enroll more than 60,000 students. An eighth, in India, is scheduled to open in August. Sylvan also owns several companies engaged in postsecondary distance education, with an overall enrollment of more than 16,000, mostly in the United States.

Jeri Levesque, associate professor, director, Literacy Center, presented "Preventing Reading Difficulties through Family Literacy," at the National Coalition of Title I and Chapter I Parents conference; she presented "Evaluation Strategies for Family Literacy Programs: Common Sense," at the National Even Start Association conference; she was an invited guest at the U.S. Department of Education Early Educators Academy; she presented a session on Program Evaluation at the National Center for Family Literacy conference and she serves on a task force on project evaluation for the Parental Involvement Resource Centers program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences.

Vickie Fredrick, associate vice president, Finance, has been appointed to the St. Louis Workshop Committee of the Central Association of College and University Business Officers (CACUBO). The nonprofit association represents chief business officers at more than 700 institutions throughout the North Central region of the United States. Its primary objective is to plan, provide and encourage professional and personal development for all levels of management in the business and financial area of higher education.

Margo Thompson, adjunct professor and advisor, Nursing, Kansas City Metro Campus, received a Star Award for her special contributions to the Kansas City Colleagues in Caring Project. Thompson designed and donated a Web site about the Kansas and Missouri Nursing Articulation Plans to the project. She also received a Leadership Appreciation certificate and a medal for chairing the project’s Accreditation Committee for six years. The Kansas City Colleagues in Caring Project was one of 22 nationwide grants from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation. The project evaluated the current nursing workforce, its future and the adequacy of academic programs for the present and the future.

Linda Holtzman, associate professor, Communications and Journalism, was chosen to be a faculty member for the National Conference on Community and Justice’s Dismantling Racism Institute for Educators. The institute provides one-week training for area school superintendents and other upper-level administrators; she is a diversity trainer/consultant for the faculty at Washington University’s George Warren Brown School of Social Work; a consultant to Jews United for Justice, an organization working on educational equity and worker rights issues; and co-author of "A Working Paper on the Jewish Context of the Academic Achievement Gap."

David Stone, director, Facilities Planning, is president-elect of the American Institute of Architects, Missouri chapter, which lobbies the state legislature regarding proposed laws that affect the practice of architecture, including laws that affect small and mid-size businesses in general. The group focuses primarily on health, safety, and welfare legislation and on tort reform.

Glen Bauer, assistant professor, Music, presented lectures on Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio and Massanet’s Thaïs for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ docent training program. These works will be performed by Opera Theatre during its May–June season.

Nancy L. Bender, accounting assistant, Finance, performed with the Meramec Symphonic Band at the Missouri Music Educators Association. She attends monthly weekend camps in preparation for the Chicago Royal Airs Alumni Drum & Bugle Corps’ summer season.

L.J. Hansen-Brown, adjunct professor, Jacksonville, Fla., Metro Campus, was appointed to the board of directors of the Small Business Resource Network. As the owner of a management-consulting firm that serves small businesses, Hansen-Brown will chair the Consultants Network.

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St. Louis Calendar Highlight

Two Plays

Alex Cannon ’03 and Meghan Carroll ’03 perform in On the Verge.

For the first time, the Conservatory of Theatre Arts will present two productions in tandem. The Laramie Project, about local reaction to the notorious murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard in 1998, will be presented March 26 and 28; and, again, April 3, 5, and 6. On the Verge, is a comedy that follows three women explorers on a "frolicsome jaunt" that defies time and place. On the Verge can be seen March 27, 29, and 30; and April 2, 4, and 6. Bill Lynch, associate professor, directs The Laramie Project; Liz Shipman, assistant professor, directs On the Verge. Both shows are at Stage 3, in Webster Hall. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. with a 2:00 p.m. matinee on Sunday. Faculty and staff receive two free tickets by calling the Fine Arts Hotline at ext. 7128.

For more information on St. Louis events, check the online calendar.