Dean Spam

Posted by Liz Wick on Friday, May 20, 2011 at 8:41 AM PDT

Dean Spam is something I send out every two weeks updating people on what is happening in Albers.  I started sending it out within my first year as dean because I saw how faculty and staff were not able to keep up with the activities of their colleagues.  In many cases the right hand did not seem to know what the left hand was doing!

At first I sent it only to faculty and staff.  Then I started sending it to my advisory board.  Then others in the school said I should send it to their advisory board, so at some point it started to go to all our advisory boards.  I started sending to a few people on campus, such as people in PR, and pretty soon others on campus got wind of it and wanted to receive a copy (such as people in University Advancement).  So, now there are a lot of people from on and off campus who receive Dean Spam and some of them even appear to read it!

I think it has been a useful tool for communicating, and there are several important characteristics of Dean Spam.  First, the content is kept very simple and I don't tell people every little detail about something.  If people want more information, they will ask.  Too much information and they will stop reading.  Second is to send it on a consistent schedule, which is basically every two weeks (although in the summer it is more likely to be every three weeks).  I don't think it works well to send it out "every once in a while."  Third, I keep it simple by just cutting and pasting from a Word document.  No HTML or fancy graphics in this missive!

In it's early days, I would occasionally have people warn me that I needed to change the title, because "Dean Spam" would get snatched up by spam filters and my message would never get through.  I resisted that because I liked the title "Dean Spam" since it was such an apt description and I could not think of something similar.  It turns out that Dean Spam did not get blocked very often, and when it did those folks could easily set their filter to correct the problem.  That is, if they wanted to correct the problem!

When we first started discussing blogging, someone suggested I routinely post Dean Spam up on the blog.  Below is the latest edition of Dean Spam, sent yesterday.  It is a pretty typical edition.  I'm not sure that I should routinely post Dean Spam to the blog.  What do you think??  If I don't hear back, I will take that as an indication that it is not necessary!  Also, if you would like to be added to the list of Dean Spam recipients, let me know and I will do that.

Dean Spam May 19th, 2011

Publication 

Congratulations to David Reid.  His article “A Study of Chinese Street Vendors: How They Operate,” co-authored with Eugene Fram (Rochester Institute of Technology) and Chi Guotai (Dalian University of Technology), has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Asia-Pacific Business.

SIFE Places in Top Ten Nationally 

Our SIFE team placed ninth in the national contest that took place in Minneapolis last week.  More than 360 team competed in the nationwide competition.  The team also received Campbell Soup’s Lasting Hunger Relief Award, which is given for the project that best helps people break the cycle of poverty.  Leo Simpson serves as faculty advisor for the group.  They repeated their presentation today at noon in Pigott Auditorium so we could see how good they are!

HLEMBA Approved 

The SU Board of Trustees approved the new Health Leadership EMBA program on May 5^th and we are recruiting the first class for Fall, 2011!  

School Meeting 

On May 13^th, over 60 faculty and staff gathered for a school meeting.  The meeting included reports on the Albers SU Youth Initiative Task Force, the Undergraduate Business Core Task Force, and IB Assurance of Learning.

Red Winged Leadership Award 

The Red Winged Leadership Award Ceremony was held on May 12^th  in Campion Ballroom.  The award process is led by students in the Graduate Leadership Formation Certificate Program, and recognizes social entrepreneurs for their business acumen, leadership, and social impact.  First prize went to Chris Fontana of Global Visionaries.  Global Visionaries empowers youth from diverse backgrounds to become leaders and global citizens through community engagement.

 Business Plan Competition 

The final round of the Harriet Stephenson Business Plan Competition took place on May 13^th.  More than $30,000 in prize money was distributed, with Feral Motion as the grand champion.  The event featured a luncheon address by Ben Elowitz, CEO of Wetpaint and co-founder of Blue Nile.  Over 150 volunteers were involved in the process as mentors and judges.

  Microsoft Exec Speaks 

Kurt DelBene, President of Microsoft’s Office Division, spoke as part of the Albers Executive Speaker Series on May 19^th.  His topic was, “Transforming the Microsoft Office Business for the Cloud,” with over 150 in attendance.

 Albers Awards Ceremony 

The Albers Awards Ceremony took place on May 13^th in Pigott Auditorium.  Over 100 friends and family gathered to recognize the accomplishments of our outstanding students.  Bill Santucci received the Paul Volpe Award for the highest academic performance of an undergraduate student.  Andrew Barfoot received the Jerry Viscione Award for the highest performing grad student.  Ajla Aljik received the Spirit of Albers Award for the student who best embodies the values of Albers.   Altogether, 23 awards were presented. 

BGS Ceremony 

The Awards Ceremony was followed by the Beta Gamma Sigma Installation Ceremony.  BGS is the academic honorary for AACSB accredited business schools. Thirty-one undergraduate and 62 graduate students were inducted into BGS.  Tiffany Wadel received the $1,000 BGS scholarship and Carlos Mello-e-Souza received the BGS Professor of the Year award.  Congratulations to all!

Volunteer Recognition Event 

The Albers School Volunteer Recognition took place on Thursday, May 19^th.  The event recognizes advisory board members, mentors, and others who have supported our work over the last year.

Business Week Rankings 

Although we were not included in the overall Business Week undergraduate business programs rankings for 2011 because an insufficient number of recruiters responded to the survey, we did receive some good scores in some of the program rankings.  Highlights include #4 in the nation in sustainability, #7 in business ethics, #11 in quantitative methods, #12 in international business, and #15 in entrepreneurship.  

It seems these rankings don’t rely on the recruiters! :}

 Nobel Prize Winner to Speak 

Tun Channareth, 1997 Nobel Peace Prize Recipient and 2011 SU Honorary Degree Recipient, will be speaking as part of the Albers Executive Speaker Series on June 2^nd.  It will take place in Pigott Auditorium from 5:30 -6:30 p.m. The title of his presentation will be, "Landmines: A Story from the Heart." 

Have a good weekend!

JP