INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
FOCUS
News from the School of Business and Economics
March 18, 2013
Volume 4, Issue 10
Strategic Planning at UNC
1
Public Memorial held for Dr. Swapan Sen
2
A Message from Dean Bailey
A Message from Dean Bailey
1
Student Profile—Sadé Powell
3
Bryant Foriest at the MACHE Bowl
2
Dr. Craig Richardson speaks on Zimbabwe
3
HBCU Business Deans Roundtable
2
Coming Events
4
Welcome Back! Spring Break remains an
excellent opportunity to reinvigorate as
winter fades to spring and the academic
year enters the final home stretch.
UNC President Speaks to Rotary Club on UNC Strategic Plan
Dr. Jessica Bailey, a member of
the Winston-Salem Rotary Club, was
in the audience for the weekly
luncheon gathering of the club March
12, when the featured speaker was
Dr. Tom Ross, President of the UNC
Dr. Tom Ross system. Dr. Ross, a former member
of the club, spoke about the future
direction of the system, which
includes sixteen universities and two
high schools. He made many positive
comments about Winston-Salem State
University as he described the system
which operates with a budget of
more than $9 billion and employs
more than 60,000 individuals
statewide, 2,000 of whom are located
in Forsyth County.
He explained that, as part of the
new five-year strategic plan, the
system has an educational
attainment goal of 32% of the
residents of the state possessing a
B.S. degree or higher by the year
2018. This is to be achieved as the
system simultaneously raises its
admissions standards.
The School of Business and
Economics fully supports these
goals, as we continue to produce
graduates with skills desired by
North Carolina employers. These
skills include critical thinking, oral
communication, written
communication, ability to work
well in teams, quantitative
literacy, and information
literacy. The SBE is proud to be a
major player in helping to shape
the North Carolina that we all
want for the future.
Additional information
about Dr. Ross and his life leading
to his service as President of the
UNC System is available at http://
www.northcarolina.edu/
president/index.htm.
This coming week promises a wealth
of activities for all of our
stakeholders. The Women of Purpose:
Leading for Life
Conference will kickoff on
Monday evening at
6:30pm and will feature
events throughout the
week, culminating in an
Etiquette Luncheon Friday
at the noon hour. The
Dr. Jessica Bailey MHA Advisory Board will
be meeting on
Wednesday, March 20 to consider
modifications to the application for
accreditation recommended by the
Commission on Accreditation of
Healthcare Management Education. The
Grand Opening of the Finance Trading
Room will take place Tuesday, March 19
from 4:30 to 5:30pm in front of the R.J.
Reynolds building, weather permitting.
We hope to see you there. Jessica Bailey
The Grand Opening of the SBE Financial Trading Room and Lobby ‐‐ March 19 from 4:30‐5:30 FOCUS is published weekly by the School of Business and Economics at Winston-Salem State University. For information concerning the
newsletter, or to contribute an article, please contact Ben Greene at (336) 750-2330 or by forwarding an e-mail to
greenebp@wssu.edu.
FOCUS News
Page 2
Bryant Foriest at the MACHE Bowl
Bryant Foriest, Master of
Healthcare Administration (MHA)
candidate at the SBE, was one of several
graduate students to compete in the
second annual Maya Angelou Center for
Health Equity (MACHE)
Bowl, held at the BioTech
Place Atrium in WinstonSalem, on March 2, 2013.
The MACHE Bowl is
sponsored by the Wake
Forest School of Medicine
and Johnson & Johnson. It
is a healthcare competition
Bryant Foriest where students from
diverse backgrounds
collaborate to solve a case study in front
of a live audience. Three
interdisciplinary teams of graduate
students addressed a complex health
disparities study, developed by a group
of faculty members representing
different academic fields. These faculty
members focused on prevalent health
issues like obesity and diabetes. They
judged the teams on the quality and
clarity of their responses and the use of
interdisciplinary approaches. Participating universities included
Appalachian State, UNC-Greensboro,
Wake Forest School of Medicine, Wake
Forest, and Winston Salem State.
Mr. Foriest stated “I was able to
gain first-hand experience in interacting
with others from various disciplines and
address some of the issues that affect
healthcare today. We were able to look
at the widening disparities being faced
by people of different ethnicities and
socioeconomic backgrounds, in a
practical, real-world manner.” Bryant
strongly encourages other students in
the SBE to participate in the next event,
saying. “The experience goes beyond
classroom studies. The caliber of the
people and professionals at the
competition was of the highest quality. I
was able to meet and interact with some
of the future leaders from various
disciplines and made some lifelong
friends.”
Other WSSU student competitors
included MHA candidates JaNae Joyner
and Julian Simpson from the WSSU MHA
Program and Charles Cook, Nancy PerezFurr, and Amma Tyler from the School of
Health Sciences Nursing department.
HBCU Business Deans Roundtable
Northern Regional Meeting
On Friday, March 15th, the Northern
Region of the HBCU Business Deans
Roundtable held its annual conference
in Alexandria, Virginia at the Crowne
Plaza Hotel in Crystal City. The meeting
was attended by business school deans
from Howard University, Morgan State
University, University of the District of
Columbia, Harris Stowe University,
Chicago State University, Bowie State
University, Delaware State University,
Winston-Salem State University, and
Southern University Baton Rouge. Three
members of the Board of Directors of
the Roundtable were in attendance: Dr.
Donald Andrews, Dr. Jessica Bailey, and
Dr. Fara Zakery.
Dr. Jessica Bailey, immediate past
President of the Roundtable, gave a
presentation to the group concerning
plans for the Annual Summit to be held
June 6-8 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The theme of the upcoming Summit is
“Economic Security—The New Civil
Right?” Based upon this theme, the
Board of Directors is planning several
keynote speakers who will speak on
ways to attain economic security for our
graduates. Also planned is a tour of the
National Civil Right museum in
downtown Greensboro. The assembly
discussed developing a recognition
program for deans who are retiring or
stepping down from their positions.
Dr. Anthony Nelson led a discussion
on the topic of toxic faculty. Many
ideas were exchanged among the deans
in attendance for handling this issue.
The keynote luncheon speaker was
Frank K. Ross, Director of Howard
University’s Center for Accounting
Education, who is legendary for having
been instrumental in founding NABA
(National Association of Black
Accountants). He revealed that very
little progress has been made over the
past decade to increase the percentage
of minorities active in the field and
encouraged all to focus attention on this
problem.
Memorial for
Dr. Swapan Sen
A memorial service was held
Saturday, March 16 at the Ghent
Methodist Church in Norfolk, Virginia in
honor of Dr. Swapan Sen. Dr. Sen, a
valued member of the SBE faculty, passed
away March 6, 2013, after a long illness.
The service, known as Shok Sabha, was
attended by many friends and colleagues
of Dr. Sen, including Dr. Jessica Bailey,
Dr. Morteza Sadri, Dr. George Heilman,
and his wife, Joyce Heilman. The Shok
Sabha of the Hindu tradition is a
celebration of a
person’s life following
a period of mourning.
The program began
with opening remarks
by Soham Sen,
Swapan’s son, who
explained that the
ceremony was divided
into three main parts:
community reflections,
colleague reflections,
Dr. Swapan Sen and family reflections.
During the first part,
Swapan’s friends read
from his writing in Benghali, which was
followed by a poem and an interlude of
music. Two friends who played bridge
with Swapan came forward from the
audience to share impromptu remarks of
sorrow and remembrances.
The second section included remarks
by Dean Jessica Bailey who expressed the
condolences of the WSSU community.
She included specific remarks from
several SBE faculty. The last part of the
program included family reflections from
his siblings in India and his immediate
family here in the United States. Soham
Sen ended the ceremony with a poem.
Following the ceremony, a feast of
Indian food was made available to all in
attendance. Friends and colleagues
enjoyed the food as they reminisced
about Swapan, a unique individual and a
true academician.
Swapan was born in Gandharbapur, a
small village in rural West Bengal, India,
and studied economics at the University
of Calcutta. After five years in the
Government of India’s Economic Service
(IES), he emigrated to the United States
in 1987 to acquire a Ph.D. in Finance from
the University of Nebraska. Upon
Continued on Page 3
FOCUS News
Dr. Sen Memorial
(Continued)
graduating, he taught for more than
thirty years, at universities including
Michigan Technological University in
Houghton, Michigan; Christopher Newport
University in Newport News, Virginia; and
most recently Winston-Salem State
University. Over ten years as a professor
at WSSU, Dr. Sen served as a recognized
teacher, member of the Faculty Senate,
and Coordinator of the MBA program,
globalizing the curriculum and
facilitating exchanges with academic
faculty all over the world.
This saying by Rabindranath Tagore
adorned the program: “Death is not
extinguishing the light; it is only putting
out the lamp because the dawn has
come.”
Page 3
Dr. Craig Richardson speaks
on Zimbabwe
Dr. Craig Richardson, Associate
Professor of Economics and MBA
Program Coordinator, recently traveled
to London to speak to
450 people at a Royal
Geographical Society
event “Hope in a
Desert,” which
included a
conversation about
the breakdown of the
rule of law in
Dr. Craig Richardson Zimbabwe during the
past decade and its
disastrous effect on more than 1.8
million starving people in the country.
(Continued in the next column)
Student Profile—Sadé Powell
Sadé Powell is attending classes at
Veritas University in San Jose, Costa Rica.
It was from there that she took the time
to provide the following
update on her study
abroad experience. We
look forward to hearing
from her in person when
she returns to the SBE
as a Senior marketing major in early
April.
“I embarked upon my study abroad
experience with every expectation to
gain insight into a culture outside of my
own. Over the past few weeks my
experience has been nothing short of
that. More importantly, the amount of
growth I have experienced is unparalleled
to anything I have encountered inside of
the classroom. I say with confidence that
the adaptation required to embrace
cultural immersion is a skill that helps lay
the foundation for the emerging leader
Winston-Salem State University strives to
create. It is an experience that requires
you to listen, learn, and accept diverse
perspectives that encompass the global
community.
As a member of the social media
club at Veritas University, I have utilized
my classroom experience to apply
marketing and communications to deliver
a message that resonates with a diverse
community. Visits to the local orphanage
have made clear that the problems we
see in the U.S are not unique to our
community. Unfortunately, with the
absence of organizations or mobilization
they are oftentimes worse than what we
are accustomed to seeing. The classroom
experience has exposed me to a pedagogy
that promotes a space where each of us
can engage in progressive dialogue and
learn while being our authentic selves
and sharing our authentic perspectives.
What I appreciate most about my
experience are the intersections between
education, politics, and social norms from
a multitude of cultures all at once. It is
my hope that other students will use the
resources made available to them to
consider studying abroad. It is an
experience where you will experience
growth, and in the process gain
invaluable insight about yourself and the
world around you.”
During the four-month program, Sadé
participated in an intensive Spanish
course in addition to business and human
rights courses. The human rights courses
helped students understand the effect of
abuses on the global economy while the
business courses allowed for the
exploration of international business.
Excursions included trips to the Arenal
Volcano and the Monteverde Cloud
Forest. Sadé also took a trip to Panama
where she visited a gorgeous beach full of
starfish, had an opportunity to snorkel
and watch dolphins in the bay. In the
coming weeks, she plans to visit Granada,
Nicaragua, a beautiful colonial town
south of Managua.
Dr. Richardson (Continued)
There, he and Ben Freeth, Member of
the Most Excellent Order of the British
Empire (MBE) and Executive Director of
the Mike Campbell Foundation spoke on
the Zimbabwean condition and their
contention that economic recovery and
growth for the country can only occur
through enabling policies and legislation
as well as the restoration of individual
property rights. They were joined by
Gillian Higgins, an International
Criminal Law Barrister who spoke on
international criminal law and human
rights as they relate to Zimbabwe, its
culture of impunity and the resultant
suffering by its people. Each of the
speakers for the event were introduced
by Kate Hoey, a Member of the British
Parliament.
Dr. Richardson’s longstanding
interest in Zimbabwe also resulted in
the publication of an opinion piece in
the Wall Street Journal Online and in its
European editions. There he speaks to
upcoming elections and the lack of a
restoration of property rights when
citizens are asked to vote on a new
constitution. As a result, he opines,
commercial farmers will have no
redress to reclaim seized lands and
makes future land grabs of this type
legal. To exacerbate the situation,
government deficits have grown rapidly,
as the country continues to look to
China and the West for loans. Dr.
Richardson encourages a no vote on
Saturday to prevent a further loss of the
country’s physical assets.
Dr. Richardson is the author of the
book, “The Collapse of Zimbabwe in
the Wake of the 2000-2003 Land
Reforms” (Mellen Press, 2004), as well
as numerous articles on Zimbabwe
which have been published in African
Affairs, The Cato Journal and the Wall
Street Journal. He authored
“Zimbabwe: Why is One of the World’s
Least Free Economies Growing So Fast?”
which will be released soon from the
Cato Institute.
Information for this article courtesy of the
Mike Campbell Foundation and the Wall
Street Journal.
You are cordially invited to the
Trading Room Grand Opening
Tuesday, March 19
4:30-5:30 p.m.
Please RSVP to greenebp@wssu.edu or (336) 750-2330
MBA/MHA Open House
Thinking of Graduate School?
Want to further your career
and increase your earnings
potential?
Attend the MBA/MHA Open
House
Thursday, Apr. 4
from 6:00-7:30 p.m.
RJ Reynolds Center
Room 201
Women’s of Purpose:
Leading in Life
Conference
March 18-22
Sponsored by the School of
Business and Economics
Professional Development
Center