HARRIS-STOWE STATE UNIVERSITY Anheuser-Busch School of Business Administration NEWSLETTER

In This Issue:

• Business School Alumni Spotlight:

Calvin Thomas, IV • Dean Zakery Attends the

Association of Collegiate Business School Programs Conference

• Business School Assistant

Professor Appointed to the Ed itorial Board of Spread Corporation’s Journal

• Dr. Charles Sykes Attends

Globalization Seminar • The National Urban League

Black Executive Exchange Program (BEEP)

• Harris-Stowe State

University Students Attend IT Conference

• Alumni Association’s Fourth

Annual Recognition Luncheon

JUNE 2008 Volume 1, Number 4

BUSINESS SCHOOL ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

CALVIN THOMAS, IV

Calvin Thomas IV is a 2002 Harris-Stowe graduate and a Chief Operating Officer for Hospital Corporation of America (HCA - a $27 Billion Fortune 100 company) at St. Lucie Medical Center in Port St . Lucie, FL. St. Lucie Medical Center is a 194-bed, full-service, acute-care community hospital. There, Calv in is responsible for various departments such as Respiratory, Lab, Pharmacy, Rehabilitation Services, Market ing, Special Procedures, Plant Operations, BioMed and more. His other responsibilit ies include overseeing the $23 million construction project, which will add 35 orthopedic private patient rooms, two additional orthopedic operating rooms, utility upgrades, development of an endovascular surgical program and the new construction of a medical office build ing. Prior to his current position, Thomas was an Associate Administrator in HCA’s COO Executive Development Program at Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, CA. There, he managed two of the three campuses at Los Robles which included a 69-bed East Campus that housed a Transition Care Unit, Senior Behavioral Health Inpatient Unit, an Acute Rehabilitation Unit, Cardiac Rehab, an Outpatient Nutrition Clin ic and a Westlake Campus that housed Outpatient Rehab Programs, an Urgent Care Center, the Business Office and Information Systems. Thomas’ previous experiences include Pharmacy Strategy and Operations with Kaiser Permanente in Los Angeles, Hospital Policy and Program Development with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan in Detroit and the VA in St. Louis. He attended Harris-Stowe State College in St. Louis and received his B.S. in Health Care Management, and then he received his M.S. in Health Care Leadership from Dartmouth College. Continue on page 2

Continued from page 1 Within the St. Lucie County Community Thomas sits on the St. Lucie County Chamber and Habitat for Humanity Boards. He is also a Big Brother in the Big Brothers Big Sisters of St. Lucie County. Additionally, he also serves as a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) since 2000, the National Association of Health Services Executives (NAHSE) since 2003 and more recently, the NAHSE Southern Californ ia Chapter President from 2005 to 2006.

BUSINESS SCHOOL ASSISTANT PROFESSOR APPOINTED TO THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF

SPREAD CORPORATION’S JOURNAL

Dr. Lawrence Acker has been appointed to the Editorial Board o f Spread Corporation’s journal, Insight into Lifelong Learning (Insight). The journal is a forum for scholarly research and experiential discussion of the concept of lifelong learning. The journal encourages comparative explorat ion and focus on the topic as well as

welcomes the application of mult idisciplinary perspectives. Insight seeks to reflect the varied perspectives that differentiate between nations and peoples and that apply to the understanding, application and evolution of the concept of lifelong learning. Dr. Acker is an Assistant Professor at the Anheuser-Busch School of Business Administration at Harris-Stowe State University. Dr. Acker’s background includes 25 years in the health care management and education fields, includ ing 14 years as an independent health care business consultant. While most of that time has been spent in St. Louis, Dr. Acker has worked in Maine and Tennessee. In addition to health care management, Dr.

Acker is interested in international education and the effects of culture on education. To this end, Dr. Acker has spent three semesters teaching in the People’s Republic o f China (Shanghai), two semesters in Bangladesh (Dhaka) and one semester in Thailand (Cha’Am). Th is summer, Dr. Acker is teaching English in Istanbul, Turkey.

DR. CHARLES SYKES ATTENDS GLOBALIZATION SEMINAR Dr. Charles Sykes attended The Globalization Seminar, which was held at Memphis University on June 5-8, 2008. There were faculty from various universities attending this seminar. The purpose of the seminar was to equip Historically Black Colleges and Universities’ faculty with the knowledge, skills, pedagogical tools and international experience to enable them to internationalize their courses, programs and institutions. Dr. Mike P. Peng and Dr. Lethem Janis conduct the seminar and both are authors of books on International Business. Other informat ion gathered from the seminar will be disseminated to our students at Harris-Stowe State University, which will help broaden their perspectives of International Business as it opens up new horizons in a mult icultural world.

DEAN ZAKERY ATTENDS THE ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGIATE BUSINESS SCHOOLS PROGRAMS CONFERENCE

(ACBSP) Dr. Fara Zakery attended the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) Annual Conference June 20. At the conference Harris-Stowe State University was awarded by the president of the ACBSP a certificate for 16 years of membership with the association. June 18-19, Dr. Zakery attended ACBSP’s two-day Malcolm Baldrige Peer Review Evaluator Training Workshop and received a Certificate of Completion presented by the ACBSP Board of Commissioners.

THE NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE BLACK EXECUTIVE EXCHANGE PROGRAM (BEEP)

The mission of BEEP “is to share learning experience across generations, cultivate new leaders and inspire

achievements ‘beyond the possible’ through committed involvement and operational excellence.” Harris-Stowe State University School of Business students Justin Herron and Kelly Weeden attended the National Urban League Black Executive Exchange Program in Miami, FL, early this month. Weeden says that she returned home from the BEEP conference with a feeling that she had been inducted into an upper echelon of intellectuals, professionals and community servants. She described the conference as an excellent tell-all of black executives and professionals demonstrating camaraderie at its best. The conference was a nurturing environment to expose the issues that one may feel could be an obstacle to their professional development as well as

an opportunity to introduce the BEEP community to the talent from Harris-Stowe State University. After being exposed to working professionals through direct contact, Weeden said, “The BEEP Conference familiarized me with the demands of various industries and having access to THE leading executives in d iffering sectors, I felt prepared to not only to be the employee that corporate America is seeking, but to be my personal best. It has made me a better person somehow, connecting with so many people of purpose who aim to achieve and defy discrimination.”

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HARRIS-STOWE STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ATTEND IT CONFERENCE

On June 20 several students and Debbie Johnson, Dr. Zakery’s Assistant from the School of Business, represented Harris-Stowe State University at an IT Conference sponsored by Greater St . Louis Works, a div ision of Regional Commerce and Growth Association (RCGA), at the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark. Our students were asked to work the conference with pay as well as attend. Students who represented the university include Kellian Hank, Po lo Deans and Joshua Johnson. The goals of the conference were to provide informat ion that could be put to good use when attendees returned to their work or school, to allow attendees to hear interesting perspectives and ideas that they might not have heard before, to present a coordinated regional IT talent strategy that included multip le opportunities for IT students to connect and benefit and to have a good time. According to the student representatives and Debbie Johnson, the goals were met.

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION’S FOURTH ANNUAL RECOGNITION LUNCHEON

The HSSU Alumni Association recognized 12 Distinguished Pathfinders at their Fourth Annual Luncheon held at the Frontenac Hilton Hotel on Saturday, June 28. The HSSU School o f Business was proud that nine of the 12 honorees were Business School Graduates. The honorees were Antonio Byrd, 2004 B.S. Business Admin istration (Management); Darius Chapman, 2005 B.S. Business Administration (Marketing); Diana DuBose, 2005 B.S. Professional Interdisciplinary Studies; Ibou Fall, 2001 B.S. Information Sciences and Computer Technology; Jeffrey Hardin, 2007 B.S. Business Admin istration; Scott Hartwig, 2001 B.S. Business Admin istration (MIS); Doriann Houston, 1998 B.S. Business Administration; Robert Kambwalala, 1999 B.S. Business Administration; Ingrid Manning, 2001 B.S Health Care Management; Gail Scales, B.S. Professional Interdisciplinary Studies; Calvin Thomas IV, B.S. Health Care Management and Christine Tilley, B.S. Secondary Education English.