Summer 2014
Volume 5, Issue 2
DoB Newsletter
Division of Business
Xavier University of Louisiana
The Journey to Performance Excellence
Inside this issue:
AGROWTOPIA takes shape
2
Student Success Tools
2
Performance Excellence cont’d
3
Student Highlights
3
Semester Highlights
4
Tonia Doakes, James Bartkus, Division Chair, Joe Ricks, LQF President, Gordon Payne, Cliff Wright and Syed
Ahmed pose after award presentation in the Governor's Mansion.
The Division of Business is proud to have received the Level II Louisiana Performance Excellence Award (LPEA) sponsored by the Louisiana Quality Foundation (LQF). The journey required a year-long commitment to the application process and
a cultural commitment to continuous improvement. The application process consisted of a narrative application that was completed in the Fall of 2013 and a site visit by an independent LPEA Review Team conducted in the Spring of 2014. In preparation
for completing the award application, the Division sent Dr. Cary Caro to the state Baldrige examiner training program in the
summer of 2012 and Dr. Syed Ahmed in the summer of 2013 to learn the process. To further demonstrate the Division’s
commitment to performance improvement, Dr. Ahmed and Dr. Richard Peters attended examiner training this summer. In addition to helping the Division improve its operations, examiner training is an excellent development tool for division faculty. According to Dr. Peters, “Examiner training was an enriching and eye opening experience. It reminded me of the importance of
effectively implementing the management practices we teach in the classroom in organizational settings. It also provided me
with new tools to assist in my own professional development.”
(l) Quentin Messer, Jr. Assistant Secretary LED and (r)
Gordon Payne, LQF president makes remarks during
the LQF award ceremony.
Dr. Joe Ricks, Division Chair, gives acceptance
remarks at the LQF award ceremony held in the
Governor's Mansion.
http://www.xula.edu/business
(l) Dr. Joe Ricks, Division Chair and (r)Gordon
Payne, LQF President pose for pictures after
presentation of award.
Page 2
DoB Newsletter
Volume 5 Issue 2
ARGOWTOPIA Takes Shape
Original Site
Site cleared and fenced
Site covered and prepped
Planting beds built
Senior students takes new GMAC reflect
assessment to identify areas for soft skill
development.
August 2014, New Orleans. The landscape around the Xavier campus has
changed in many ways, but none more than at the intersection of South Genois St and
Euphrosine St., just 2 blocks from the University Center. An urban farm has sprouted
there in the past few months. Agrowtopia is the name of this urban farm and it will provide affordable, fresh, locally grown foods to local residents and the Xavier university
community. New Orleans, with a population of more than 300,000, well known for its
culinary options and one of the fastest growing cities in the country, also contains many
food deserts. The US Department of Agriculture defines food deserts as areas in which
healthy food is not available and not affordable by the local population. These areas are
plagued by various health ailments such as obesity, hypertension and heart disease. Gert
Town, where Xavier is located, is a food desert.
In addition to addressing an important social community concern Agrowtopia
will serve as clinical component for business education for students and faculty. According to Dr. Joe Ricks, Chair of the Division of Business, “This has already been a great learning experience for me. Just going through the trademark application and the lease negotiation processes have given me valuable experiences I can use in the classroom.”
Mark Quinn, Conrad Hilton Chair for Entrepreneurship, states “The plan was to
be in full operation during the summer, however with the number of balls we had to juggle and things we are still learning about urban farming, the launch of operations had to
be pushed back to the fall.” Agrowtopia will be staffed by Xavier students at managerial
as well as staff levels, as a primary goal of Agrowtopia is to provide students with real life,
practical experience in launching and operating a business.
This project began as part of the Sales for Social Impact course in the Fall of
2013. Xavier students conducted extensive research including completing a feasibility
study of the venture. To achieve profitability, which was a critical component of deeming
the project feasible, Agrowtopia will focus on growing crops that require minimal space,
require relatively little maintenance, have high yield production, and sell at high margins.
Having determined its feasibility, work proceeded to launch the venture.
The site was cleared and fenced. Urban farming experts, including a landscape
architect, were consulted, which led to twenty-nine raised beds, each with a volume of
approximately 640 cu. ft. being constructed. Additionally, water was brought in to the
site via a connection to the city water supply. Plans call for fruit trees to be planted on
the site as well.
New Tools for Student Success
Beginning in the fall the Division of Business will institute two new assessments
for business students: the Success Navigator from ETS and Reflect from GMAC.
Incoming freshmen will complete Success Navigator to be assessed on four areas critical to academic success and retention. These four indicators include academic
skills, commitment, self-management, and social support.
The second tool is a soft skills assessment by GMAC called Reflect. Reflect examines ten critical soft skills for workforce readiness: innovation, operational thinking,
decision making, strategic vision, self-awareness, resilience, drive, interpersonal intuition, valuing others, and collaboration. Juniors and seniors will take this assessment.
The goal is to make students aware of areas they need to improve in their soft
skills so these can be part of their development plans for internships and other out of the
classroom activities. The division is excited about implementing both of these assessments as they provide advisors with a framework addressing academic and nonacademic
issues with students.
http://www.xula.edu/business
Page 3
DoB Newsletter
Volume 5 Issue 2
The Journey to Performance Excellence cont’d
According to the LQF website, “Louisiana Performance Excellence recipients demonstrate their achievement of award
criteria benchmarks that align with the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Criteria, an internationally recognized standard
for performance excellence initiated in 1987.” The Baldrige Award is the only formal recognition of the performance excellence
of both public and private U.S. organizations given by the President of the United States. It is administered by the Baldrige
Performance Excellence Program, which is based at and managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an
agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The LQF is the state level organization that administers the Baldrige-based performance excellence award to promote quality and performance excellence awareness and practices in Louisiana and recognize the
quality achievements of Louisiana organizations. The LPEA is a statewide award recognizing quality leadership in education, government, manufacturing, service industries, health care and non-profit organizations.
The Division was evaluated on its organizational profile and documentation related to its leadership, strategic planning,
customer and market focus, measurement, analysis, and knowledge management, human resource focus, and process management. According to Dr. Joe Ricks, Chair of the Division of Business, “We always push our students to evaluate themselves and get
better; this process demonstrates we practice what we teach here in the Division.” As a part of its strategic plan the Division of
Business plans to submit another LPEA application during the 2017-2018 academic year.
For the Division, the application award process provided an opportunity for independent, non-academic review, to ensure that its core business practices aligned with its mission and the mission of Xavier University. Dr. Caro, the primary writer for
the LPEA application, said “Going through this process challenged us to take a critical look at ourselves and get better the same
way we challenge our students.” The Division of Business was awarded the Level II (LPEA) based on an evaluation of its proven
effectiveness, sustainability, innovation, integrated processes and tracked results, and was honored at the annual Award Ceremony at the Governor’s Mansion June 24, 2014, along with the other 2014 Level II recipients.
Student Highlights
Christopher Hayes, senior Accounting major, recently interned at Duff & Phelps
Investment Management Co. in the portfolio group through UNCF’s Gateway to Leadership
program. During his internship Chris networked with students and investment professionals
from numerous backgrounds, and completed a professional development training program
by Career Core.
Despite working primarily in DPIMC’s Chicago office, he worked with colleagues in
the headquarters in Hartford, CT. HIs activities and responsibilities included developing a
hypothetical L/S Equity strategy for Virtus (the parent firm) including sub-adviser allocation,
seed capital requirements, and growth projections as part of an alternative investment capstone project. He used Monte Carlo simulation models in projecting portfolio performance
and creating risk reports by tying in month and quarter-end data with historical portfolio
performance. According to Chris “Overall, I had a phenomenal summer in which I not only
learned a ton about financial services (especially concerning buy side firms), but also had a
great time doing it.”
Kaila Pulliam Collins, senior Sales & Marketing major, interned with the Global Marketing and Commercial Leadership team at The Coca-Cola Co.’s headquarters in Atlanta, GA.
This program was the pilot for a competitive new intern program in conjunction with the
International Collegiate American Marketing Association. Kaila worked on a marketing capabilities team that provided tools and training for Coca-Cola marketers internationally. According to Kaila, “I learned the value of consistency even when your consumers are spread
across the globe; because it all contributes to the brand image which, for Coca-Cola, is a
major asset. I never fully understood the number of tasks that fit under the marketing umbrella, but through my experiences, access to people and conversations I got a clearer picture of all the things marketing can be and the many paths that can be taken.”
http://www.xula.edu/business
Senior Accounting major Christopher
Hayes during his internship at Duff &
Phelps Investments
Kaila Pulliam -Collins, (left) with her
intern class on a factory tour of the
Coca-Cola plant in College Park, GA.
Summer 2014 Business Achievers pose for an end
of program reception after receiving their
completion certificates.
Tayler Loyd, Senior Sales & Marketing major,
3rd from left, interned this summer with 3M.
The Division of Business hosted a LQF reception on Xavier’s campus to celebrate winning the LPEA
level II award
Kaylin McLeod, Senior Sales & Marketing major
5th from left, interned this summer with 3M.
First-time freshmen meet with Dr. Ricks
during freshman orientation
For more information on the programs offered by the Division of Business, please email us at business@xula.edu or call us at
504-520-7505. Or visit us in building 40 (Xavier South) room 325.
For previous editions of our Newsletter, visit us at http://www.xula.edu/business/newsletters.html
To view Division activities visit out YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJcpXMXNeURw6-qeXE83ndg
http://www.xula.edu/business
Xavier University
Division of Business
1 Drexel Drive
New Orleans, LA 70125-1098