CoBA Council President Olivia Wilson and her executive committee held an awards ceremony on April 27 at the Student Center. Department of Marketing Chair Dr. Terry Clark served as master of ceremonies. Winners were: The Career Enhancement Week Award - Blacks Interested in Business; Big Dawg Olympics Award - Pi Sigma Epsilon; Tip of the Hat Award - Matt Purdy; RSO Faculty Adviser of the Year Award - Michael Haywood; CoBA Council Representative of the Year Award - Curtis Richardson; RSO Officer of the Year Award - Ashley Gibson; CoBA Cup Award - Blacks Interested in Business; Outstanding Student Leader of the Year Award - Jennifer Spengler and Outstanding Organization of the Year Award - Alpha Kappa Si. Department of Marketing Chair Dr. Terry Clark hosted the Department of Marketing Graduation Banquet at Giant City Lodge on April 30. Marketing alumnus Chris Egelston was the featured guest. Wachovia Senior Financial Advisor & Branch Manager Rob Siracusano and Delta Dental of Missouri Chief Marketing and Sales Officer Richard Klassen, both Hall of Famers and members of the Dean’s External Advisory Board, are the new chair and vice-chair, respectively, of the Department of Marketing External Advisory Board. Michael Davids, president and editor of McD Media and a Dean’s External Advisory Board member, officially ended his term as Marketing Board Chair during the April meeting. Ken Posner, partner at Tatum LLC and Adaire Putnam, president of Perspectives Research and “Inspiring Women” Award winner, are the new chair and vice-chair, respectively, of the Dean’s External Advisory Board. Ken Harre, executive director of Harre Consulting, officially ended his term as chair during the April meeting. Economics alumnus and Hall of Famer Diane Kosmach Schumacher, special counsel and chief compliance officer of Cooper Industries, Ltd, is the newest member of the Dean’s External Advisory Board. The following business leaders served as Executives in Residence this school year: Betty Brennan, owner and president of Taylor Studios, Inc.; Richard Klassen, chief marketing and sales officer of Delta Dental of Missouri; Mickey Levitt, president and owner of Consolidated Foam Inc.; Adaire Putnam, president of Perspectives Research; Elizabeth Kepuraitis, president of F & B Manufacturing Company; Susie Rashid, chief financial officer and chief administrative officer of Element 79; Rick Bakosh, managing partner of Accenture; Steve Goepfert, staff vice president, internal audit of Continental Airlines; Dennis Lemkau, president of Lemkau & Associates; Diane Kosmach Schumacher, special counsel and chief compliance officer of Cooper Industries, Ltd and Michael Schumacher, director of Airline Logistics, Airline industry. Dr. Terry Clark, director of Barking Dawg Productions, an in-house SIU marketing group, has produced promotional videos featuring CoBA alumni ACE Hardware CEO Ray Griffith, Consolidated Foam President and Owner Mickey Levitt, RGMA Consultants President Ralph Moore and Element 79 CFO and CAO Susie Rashid. You can view the videos on www.youtube.com/salukidawgs. CoBA’s facebook.com efforts - led by Associate Director of the Business Placement Center Matt Purdy and Assistant Professor of Marketing Dr. David Campbell - are profiled in the current issue of BizEd, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International magazine.
Marketing alumnus Dr. Linda Greef Mullen, assistant professor of marketing at Georgia Southern University College of Business, won the Governor's Teaching Fellowship (GTF) program award and the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp Faculty Enrichment Award. Rodney Kinzinger, Hall of Famer, School of Accountancy alumnus and Accountancy Board of Advisors Chair, has been named the Office Managing Partner of Deloitte LLP’s St. Louis office. Finance alumnus, Dean's External Advisory Board member and Hall of Famer John M. Collard was a speaker at the International Institute for Business Information & Growth, 2008 Distressed & Turnaround Investment Forum – East in New York City on May 14. Collard, chairman of Strategic Management Partners, Inc., is a turnaround specialist and equity capital investor. Marketing alumnus Dr. Ramendra Thakur, assistant professor of business management at Utah Valley State College Woodbury School of Business, has been named the school’s Scholar of the Year.
A paper by Professor of Management Dr. Peter P. Mykytyn, Jr., Lecturer in Management Kathleen Mykytyn, doctoral student in management Ann Pearson and former faculty member in management Dr. Souren Paul entitled “Incorporating Problem-Based Learning in MIS Education” has been chosen as one of the best empirical papers published during 2007-2008 in Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education. The researchers will be presenting the paper at a special session sponsored by the Curricular Issues Mini-conference during the Decision Sciences Institute annual meeting in Baltimore this November. A research paper entitled “Fund Flow Volatility and Performance,” by Dr. David A. Rakowski, assistant professor of finance, will be featured in The Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis (JFQA), a top-ranking publication.
The Southern Illinoisan profiled management major Brian Kerby who will ride his bicycle across the country to benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Carbondale.
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Gus Smith, a two-degree graduate of SIU and his wife, Debra, made a $1 million donation through the SIU Foundation to establish the Gus and Debra Smith Undergraduate Student Experience Endowment Fund at SIU College of Business. Smith, a retired managing partner of Accenture, a global management consulting firm with net revenues near $20 billion, is a McLeansboro native, a Hall of Famer and a member of the Dean’s External Advisory Board. The Smiths are also members of the Henry J. Rehn Society.
Irl F. Engelhardt, former chairman and CEO of Peabody Energy, the world's largest coal company, received the highest honor Illinois can award. On April 26, he was awarded the Order of Lincoln Medallion which inducts him into the Laureates of Lincoln Academy of Illinois. Established in 1965, the Lincoln Academy was established to honor Illinois' most distinguished citizens. Past recipients include Ronald Reagan, Walter Payton and Gwendolyn Brooks. The honorees are chosen by 60 trustees, led by the governor, who elect from 10 categories, including arts, business, religion, education, government and law, medicine and science. Engelhardt, an MBA alumnus and Hall of Famer, formed the Future of Pinckneyville Foundation and has made contributions to area schools, the county fair and local chamber of commerce. (Photo courtesy of the Southern Illinoisan.)
Marketing alumnus and Hall of Famer John Chen [pictured] was profiled in The New Straits Times, Malaysia’s oldest newspaper, in an article by Marc Lourdes titled “The measure of a man that is Chen.” Chen is managing director of Foster Partners Southeast Asia. In April, Chen and his family travelled from Malaysia to Carbondale to attend the CoBA Awards Banquet. 
Dr. Michael D. Michalisin [pictured], associate professor of management, was one of eight University faculty members who won the "Excellence Through Commitment" award. He received $3,000 outright plus a matching amount through the Office of the Provost to support professional activities during the next fiscal year. The Alumni Association also presented him with a watch. 
Graduate Programs Coordinator Julie Virgo continues to excel as a student advocate. “Julie really cares about students. We are so lucky to have her at CoBA,” said Emily Miller, a graduate student in accounting. Virgo and her staff provide academic advisement to all graduate students and they coordinate with faculty to assist doctoral and executive MBA students. “I love the interaction with students and faculty because I am helping them achieve their goals,” said Virgo. When she’s not tending to her CoBA crew, Virgo is with her children – 16-year-old Brigitte, 15-year-old Sarah and 10-year-old Clayton. “They keep me busy,” she said. A native of Clay City, Virgo earned a bachelor’s degree from EIU. She majored in sociology and minored in business administration. She also holds a master’s degree in workforce education from SIU.
Finance students Chiquita Watts and Vincent Hardy [pictured] were elected president and vice-president of the SIU Undergraduate Student Government. 