June 2008
Welcome
Welcome to the June edition of the Northwood University alumni e-newsletter. In the last issue we informed you of the Southeastern (SE) Michigan Alumni & Friends Chapter road show gatherings that were being held in June. We are happy to report that all three meetings were held and were a great success. The new and improved SE Michigan Alumni & Friends Chapter will be launched with an estimated 40 members. Stay tuned for more information on how you can get involved in the SE Michigan chapter and other chapters across the Midwest region!
Summer brings us a much needed break; faculty usually enjoys a reduced teaching load, staff makes use of their vacation time, and generally the university takes time to breathe. Even so, there is much work to be done in the next three months. At every location and operating unit, we'll be busy this summer moving Northwood to a bright and strong future. Plans for the 50th Anniversary are moving right along. The September issue of the Northwood Idea magazine will give details of what we can look forward to in the year ahead as we launch the celebrations.
Please take time to renew and refresh this summer as we look forward to the new academic year in the fall and the celebration of our 50th anniversary.
Julie Felske
Class of 2001
Alumni Director
felske@northwood.edu
Click HERE to view the alumni e-newsletter archive online.
Upcoming Events
| June 30 | Tri-City Golf Outing – Saginaw Country Club, Saginaw, Michigan |
| July 9 | Alumni Night in the Northwood Loon's Suite – Dow Diamond, Midland, Michigan |
| August 14 | Alumni Night in the Northwood Loon's Suite – Dow Diamond, Midland, Michigan |
News @ NU
Click on the news articles below to view the rest of the story.
- Northwood University Business Professionals of America Students Win National Awards
- Northwood University Strategic Planning Teams Earn Global Top 50 Rankings in GLO-BUS Simulation
- Mauro Amor and Dr. Agustin Arbulu Awarded the Samuel R. Marotta Faculty Ethics Award at Northwood University
- Northwood University Student Receives American Economic Association Scholarship
- Northwood Gallery Presents Two Summer Shows
- Benedict Hughes Receives Faculty Excellence Award from Northwood University
- Northwood Michigan Employees Receive Innovation Awards
Athletics
Men's Lacrosse Coming to Northwood University in the Fall, 2008
MIDLAND, Mich. - This coming fall Northwood University will introduce lacrosse as a men's club team. The team is open to any student participant and will begin conditioning in the fall. The team is coached by Jacob Adams, assistant director of the Hach Student Life Center. The official lacrosse season will begin in the spring of 2009 and compete against 12 lacrosse clubs of all divisions and conferences. If you were a member of the former lacrosse team here at Northwood and are interested in helping get this sport back off the ground please contact Coach Adams.
For more information, call 989.837.5258 or visit our website at timberwolves.gonorthwood.com.
Special Report
Former Northwood University President Goes Back to His Roots
President Emeritus Dr. David Fry recently instructed a Special Topics in Management (Mgt. 385) Florida campus class for the very first time while teaching a mini session. His focus? Taking the basic tenets of the Northwood Idea and applying them toward solving the problems we as a society face due to the global climate change.
Armed with the assignment to apply the Northwood belief that a competitive, productive effort can overcome obstacles, solve problems and achieve goals, each student was asked to prepare a business plan that would flourish under the economic conditions created by the climate change. For example, a prospective business that provides machines to purify or desalinate water would be of value due to decreased availability of fresh water.
"The critical thinking concepts and combination of Northwood's key ideas helped me to develop a way of thinking that can be applied toward the free enterprise environment. Using his captivating personality and positive outlook towards the class, Dr. Fry went back to the root of learning and engaged all of us, individually and as a group," said John Seicker, a senior and Ontario native whose business plan proposed an aerobic manure digester that converts raw manure into energy which can power a farm. "What I take away from this class is not only several great building blocks for a successful career, but also a renewed passion for the Northwood Idea and what it stands for," he added.
"It was terrific to teach a winter-mini class on the Florida campus. I had a chance last June to teach the business capstone course, Business 500, to our eighty-one students who were about to graduate in Switzerland. That was wonderful and rewarding, but in many ways not as difficult for the students as the Florida winter-mini, which required them to apply elements of The Northwood Idea to a societal problem that has been almost universally considered to be strictly a public policy challenge. Substituting free enterprise action for public policy prerogatives is a "very Northwood" thing to do, but to ask a group of juniors and seniors to do it, from scratch, in one week is a very challenging assignment - even more so when Global Warming was the topic. With the help of Kevin Petrovsky as "science discussant" the class mastered all the necessary elements and wrote excellent final projects. In fact, several were graduate level efforts. In was exhausting, great fun for me, and I hope for some of them as well. It is easy to be quite proud of the Florida students I met that week," said Dr. Fry
Brad Thomas, a Northwood senior counts Fry's class among his favorites. "Reflecting on my week spent with Dr. Fry, I feel I now have the ability to think of free markets first, and how to apply the Northwood idea of free enterprise, towards achieving a solution to virtually any public policy issue. Dr. Fry challenged us to think outside of the box by presenting us with a unique issue, relevant to today's society, which I feel, we all managed to solve by applying the Northwood principles. My time spent with Dr. Fry has certainly been the highlight of my Northwood career," he said.
"I was very pleased to contribute in a small way to Dr. Fry's course. As the science professor for the Florida campus, I strive to help students make the connection between their future business endeavors and their role and impact in our global environmental society. Dr. Fry's class reinforced those connections by linking the pressing global problem of climate change with real-world business responsibility and solutions. It was also a personal pleasure to be able to participate in a class led by such a dynamic and knowledgeable professor. I would encourage any of our Northwood students to take advantage of a Dr. Fry class if given the opportunity," said Kevin Petrovsky, Associate Academic Dean and Professor.
Eye on Business
The purpose of the Eye on Business section is to provide you with interesting websites to add to your "favorites" on your computers, as well as to provide you with key economic data at a glance.
| Present – June 26, 2008 | Previous Year – June 26, 2007 | |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | 11,453.42 | 13,337.66 |
| NASDAQ | 2,321.37 | 2,574.16 |
| Price of Crude Oil ($ per barrel) | 134.00 | 69.50 |
| Price of Gold | 882.75 | 647.25 |
| Prime Interest Rate | 5.25 | 8.25 |
| Average Home Mortgage Rate | 5.52 | 5.86 |
| Value of U.S. $ relative to Euro | .6371 | .7430 |
| Value of U.S. $ relative to Yen | 107.65 | 123.75 |
| U.S. Budget Deficit | 161 Billion | 248 Billion |
| Quarterly GDP | 13,967.3 Billion | 12,573.5 Billion |
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Northwood University
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Midland, Michigan 48640
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