Exceptional new faculty
team joins CBA

In the last Exchange, I mentioned what a great faculty recruiting season the College of Business Administration (CBA) enjoyed. I saw the credentials, met most of these fine candidates, and had a great feeling about this group. Most of these teachers had teaching awards to their credit, and each had a specific research agenda, but how a new faculty member will “fit” into the environment is always a concern. To help ensure a smoother transition, CBA named a teaching mentor and a research mentor to work with the new faculty and increase their likelihood of success in the College of Business Administration.

Early this semester, my wife, Lori, and I hosted the new faculty at a reception at our home. I came away from that event even more impressed with this group. We have an excellent foundation of faculty who will be ready to help guide this college in the coming years. Be sure to read the new faculty story on page 6 of this issue of Exchange. I think you will be impressed as well.

Online M.B.A. now offered

The coming months will be particularly exciting for the college. In January, the M.B.A. will begin being offered in an online format. The first concentration will be in SAP – the leading comprehensive enterprise software program for large companies. This will provide students the knowledge to better harness SAP in the organizations in which they work. SAP is the
first concentration designed as a “value-added” for companies. Other proposed concentrations are nearing the end of the approval process. I hope to be able to tell you about them in the next Exchange.

College day attracts
prospective students

The college had its first ever CBA Day this past summer. More than 400 potential students and their families visited the college and saw first-hand some of our excellent programs. A bigger and better CBA Day is being planned for summer 2008. Each CBA department now has uniform, impressive display units and identical CBA polo shirts. These small things help communicate that this is a high quality, professional College of Business Administration. I tell CBA faculty and staff to walk with a swagger and to be proud. As I have said before, this is a great college. It is truly a special place. Everything we do must be consistent with our goal.

To that end, over the next few months we are completely reworking the college’s Web site, www.cba.cmich.edu. A series of vignettes demonstrate that our college is doing some exceptional things. Ultimately, this format will be used for each department, major, or concentration the college offers.

Keep sharing your knowledge

Finally, Operation Reconnect continues to amaze me. What outstanding, highly successful alumni this college has, and how satisfying it is for me to get to know you. We are truly happy to meet you and to facilitate ways for you to bring your wealth of experience to the table for our students. We are not about reconnecting in order to ask for your money. What interests me is developing great relationships with great alumni. If you are one of our alumni who hasn’t reconnected yet, I hope you will soon. We really would like to hear about your success.

Sincerely,

Mike

D. Michael Fields, Dean