DeVos Women…Truly Distinguished!
DeVos MBA students Ginny O’Neil (EMBA Midland ‘08) and Emile Ondrus (FTMBA ’06) were recently nominated and selected to play an integral role in Northwood University’s 37th annual Distinguished Women’s Awards Gala in Dallas, TX.  On October 20, Ginny and Emile each had the privilege of introducing a Northwood University Distinguished Women award honoree for 2006. 

Ginny had the opportunity to introduce Barb Samardzich (Dearborn, MI), Vice President, Powertrain Operations at The Ford Motor Company.  Emile was to present Ms. Myrtle Potter (Woodside, CA), former President of Genetech Inc., and currently Co-Founder/Principal of Chapman Real Estate Enterprises.  Unfortunately Ms. Potter suddenly became ill, and was unable attend the event, however looks forward to the 2007 Gala.     

The Distinguished Women’s Award is bestowed annually to recognize the enormous contribution women make to communities, businesses, volunteer agencies, and public and private sector services world-wide.  Other 2006 Distinguished Women honorees include: Leslie Ann Crozier (Dallas, TX), Barbara Daseke (Dallas, TX), Dr. Kathleen Davis (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), Bobbie Gaunt (Saugatuck, MI), Nancy B. Loeffler (San Antonio, TX), Alice Rodriguez (Dallas, TX), and Lyn St. James (Indianapolis, IN).

Alumni Strategy for 2006-2007…”GET INVOLVED!”
We wanted to provide detailed updates regarding our Alumni Planning and Strategy Session held in late May 2006.  The session provided a forum to assess and develop a line of business strategy for our newly adopted Alumni and Development segment of DeVos. 

The following Core Needs, and Activity Fits were identified by your alumni peers as key elements necessary to expand the breadth and reach of the DeVos Graduate School.  Furthermore, these Activity Fits serve as the drivers for developing active subcommittees of which we request your involvement!  A number of volunteers are eager to work on developing these projects.  You are encouraged to reach out to fellow DeVos alumni (listed below) and get engaged in an area that interests you. 

Core Needs (of DeVos Alumni):

• Quality Alumni and Students
• Prestigious DeVos Brand Image
• Continual Learning Opportunities
• Personal and Professional Opportunities
• Involvement to Give Back to DeVos

Activity Fits (groups formed and alumni with Interest listed):

• Marketing and branding focused on DeVos awareness and prestige
  • Kathy Vertin (EMBA ’95): vertink@northwood.edu
• Mentoring and student referral opportunities
  • Jim Houvener (EMBA ’05):  jim.houvener@quebecorworld.com
  • Sue Haley (EMBA ’05): gshaley@chartermi.net
  • Bean Patel (EMBA ’05): beanptm@hotmail.com
• Networking opportunities
  • Neil Hershfield (EMBA ’95): nhershfield@dow.com
• Communication and involvement on the evolution of academic rigor
  • Steve Cook (EMBA ’05): cooksj@michigan.gov
  • David Olson (EMBA ’05: dolson@nthconsultants.com
  • Ben Bakken (MMBA ’04): chewbakken@yahoo.com
• Leverage alumni talents
  • Willie Mason: (EMBA ’95): wamasonusa@netscape.net
• Recognized “DeVos” identity with substance

Stay tuned to further developments in this initiative, and be sure to contact your peers if you are interested in one of the aforementioned subcommittees.  We need your help!

Learning is a Journey
Professor Cathy Bush
Learning is a journey, not a destination.  You have probably heard this before, but have you ever thought about what it means?  If you are getting this newsletter, you probably made a decision somewhere along the way that you should begin a learning journey when you decided to go back to school.  Perhaps you were urged by others to get your MBA, or perhaps you followed some intrinsic motivation that pushed you through all the challenges of completing this part of your education.  Either way, you did it!  You embarked upon a learning journey.  But does this mean you are done learning when you graduate with your MBA in hand?  

From time to time I get the opportunity to talk with DeVos alumni about life, their careers, and what they have been doing since they finished their MBA program.  The conversation inevitably always turns to something that they believe has left a lasting impression on them from their DeVos experience.  These valuable lessons come from all sources – different topics from a class that they took, professors who had an impact, struggling through simulation, journaling, giving feedback to their peers, and a wide range of other things they learned.  Some people tell me that they miss the opportunity to interact with the people in their cohort group, to explore ideas and kick around concepts from other perspectives.  Others tell me that they miss the different readings – even those long behavior readings! – because it got them to step outside of their daily routine and think about some other ideas that they don’t usually encounter.   Most people describe some sense of loss when they compare what they were learning at DeVos to their learning experiences following graduation. 

So how do you keep growing and learning and getting the benefits you got when you were a DeVos MBA student?  What can you do to stay on this learning journey, even though you don’t have a regular class schedule or a paper due next week?  Here are a few ideas that may work for you. 

1. Keep a journal.  I know, some of you never really got the hang of this journaling thing, but think about how similar this is to the discussions we had in our classes.  If you learn a new concept, or are trying out a new behavior, journaling is a great way to help you stay focused on it.  You may not be able to get another person’s perspective from a journal, but at least it is a chance for you to stop and consider a new idea and reflect on yourself.   It is a great place to write down a goal and notice when you have done something new and how it worked out.                         
2. Create your own cohort group.  Maybe you have some people at work that are also interested in learning and getting out of their daily routine.  Or perhaps there are a few people from your former DeVos cohort group that would love to get together and continue this learning journey with you.  You will probably have to set up some type of routine for getting together, or your busy schedules will make it hard to get a lot of benefit from this. 
3. Set some learning goals.  Take a few minutes to identify some areas where you might need some improvement.  Write these goals down, and include some specific ways that you will work on improving.  The more specific you are with your actions, the more likely it is that you will be successful with these goals.  Make sure you include other people to give you feedback along the way.  Tell them what you are working on and invite them to help you improve.  Perhaps you can work out a reciprocal learning relationship – maybe they are working on something that you can help them with as well.  Hold yourself accountable to working on your goals.

Whatever you do, be intentional about it.  Don’t be a passive learner, hoping that new stuff will trickle in without you making much effort.  By now you should know that learning does not really work that way.  One of the fundamental things about the DeVos experience is that you played a very active role in maximizing your own learning experience.  You can stay on this learning journey throughout your life, as long as you actively make it happen! 

Pass the word along to potential students about our Program Information Sessions.

Please RSVP by contacting 800.MBA.9000 or via email at mba@northwood.edu

This is your newsletter, if there is something you want to see or that you want to help make happen please let me know.  We are always open to suggestions, your feedback and ideas are vital in our planning of alumni events and services.

Bill
Dr. William T. Busby
busby@northwood.edu

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