Fittingly, as management professor, Neil Young devotee and renowned good guy Erik Larson took the podium at his retirement celebration May 15, Young’s tour de force “Heart of Gold” poured forth from the sound system in the Robert Family Events Room.
“I want to live; I want to give,” Young sang. “I’ve been a miner for a heart of gold.”
That’s exactly what the College of Business collected back in 1980 when it lured a young scholar west from SUNY-Buffalo, the pairing working so well that Larson became something of a rarity: a professor whose entire career took place at one university.
“I’m proud to have worked at Oregon State and in this college,” Larson said. “And I’m really glad to have gotten to spend my last year here, in the house that Ilene built.”
A colleague of Dean Ilene Kleinsorge for nearly three decades, Larson chose for his final year at the university a corner, fourth-floor office at brand-new Austin Hall as an exclamation point after spending 34 years in the college’s former home, Bexell Hall.
“It’s up to you guys to make (Austin Hall) a home,” he told the dozens of faculty and staff who turned out to wish him a well – a crowd whose size surprised the unassuming project-management legend.
“I told my wife as we were driving over here, ‘I wonder if anybody will show up; it’s a Friday afternoon,’’ Larson said.
Fellow management professor Keith Leavitt emceed the event (and arranged for the Young soundtrack). Leavitt said Larson was defined by genuine concern for others exemplified by how he shielded young faculty from things they didn’t need to worry about and spoke with candor about the issues they did need to be concerned with.
“Erik will tell you exactly what’s on his mind,” Leavitt said. “And he embodies the culture of the College of Business: Performance should never sacrifice people. He’ll always remind you not to take yourself too seriously.”
In retirement, Larson plans to follow Young’s advice to keep on rockin’ in the free world – with an emphasis on the world part of that. He’s been to 45 countries and wants to visit another 45, likely teaching part time wherever his travels find him and his wife, Ann – whom he thanked from the podium for “putting up with me.”
“I don’t know how she does it,” Larson said, training his eyes on her in the crowd. “I love you.”
This fall Oregon State management student Kayla Pearce thought she had made one phone call too many.
The senior was working on organizing the Corvallis Run With Color, a fundraiser for the Family Tree Relief Nursery, but also her final for her Management Field Practicum class.
She called Oregon State Risk Management to check on the state of their request for the 5K they wanted to run through campus. The call drew attention to the request, which the office said wouldn’t work because they were just involved with a class, not an official club or organization.
“It was a month and a half away from the event,” Pearce remembered. “That was a tearful phone call to my mom.”
The group rallied, though. They got backing from Family Tree for insurance, put on the run as planned and raised nearly $4,500 for the organization.
It’s a typical story for the class, run by College of Business Professor Erik Larson, that provides not only experiential learning for students but has benefited dozens of charities since starting in 2006.
“Five little beehives”
Larson said he came up with the concept for the course while on sabbatical in 2005.
“Originally I taught classes that were very experiential, but because the project management methodology didn’t really fit that I didn’t think it was possible,” Larson said. “But [Austin Entrepreneurship Program Director] Sandy Neubaum said yeah, you can do it in a quarter, it’s possible.”
At the beginning of the term students bring ideas for possible events, which are whittled down to around 5-7 teams, each with around five students.
While Larson lectures briefly at the start of class and provides assistance when needed, students are left to define and execute the project themselves.
Outside of assignments to get the projects started — a formal proposal, risk management plan and milestone goals — the event is the main focus.
“The way I look at it, there’s a series of gates,” Larson said. “You look at it in your own mind, talk to someone else about it, work up a proposal and get approval by me.”
With only 10 weeks and a goal of raising $1,000 the pace moves quickly for each team as they try to arrange dates, venues, volunteers and everything else that goes into a successful fundraiser.
The classes have raised $76,700 since 2006, with some terms bringing in more than a combined $10,000.
“I like walking into a classroom and feeling the energy in the room,” Larson said. “It’s not students waiting to take notes. When it’s going good it’s like five little beehives.”
Learning from challenges
While most of the projects work out, Larson noted some groups have done well (and learned some key lessons) with events that didn’t turn out as expected.
He remembers one that built a cardboard city in the Memorial Union Quad to raise money to assist the homeless and awareness of the issues facing those without shelter in Corvallis.
Instead many — including the Corvallis Gazette-Times newspaper — criticized the group for what they saw as making light of a serious problem.
“But what the writer didn’t know was that they went homeless for three nights,” said Larson, who still has a clipping of the article on his bulletin board. “It was neat, even though it didn’t work.”
Jennifer Berry, a dancer with the OSU Ballroom dance club and Utah Ballroom Dance Company, pitched the Dancing with the Stars event. Typically run by the OSU Ballroom Dance club, Berry offered to run the event through the class.
While many aspects of the DWTS show are familiar — in addition to her experience at OSU, Berry travels the country with the Utah Company putting on shows — running one has been a different experience.
“I worked barely in the ones in the past, not like how I am now,” Berry said. “It’s a lengthy process to do everything. It’s taken up a lot of my time this term.”
The group picked stars by going through each member’s personal network and contacts, including one all the business students knew, College of Business Dean Ilene Kleinsorge.
“Once we got the stars confirmed I felt like I could breathe a little bit and we could just start marketing the event,” Berry said
The biggest issue so far has been a star dropping out the day posters for the event were going to be printed. Berry sprinted to Oregon State Printing and Mailing the morning of, finding that luckily the job hadn’t gone to press and was able to be changed.
Berry said so far the class has driven home the importance of managing time and the skills of the people she gets to work with.
“There is so much to do in this project, you have to learn how to delegate things and mange time with your other classes,” she said. “And also working with people and figuring out how to use their strengths to help your project.”
Running the show
For Pearce, her 10 weeks organizing the Run With Color this fall taught her about the importance of dedication and taking initiative in a project.
Not only did she get the chance to work through real-life issues on a project, but also she saw the benefits for Family Tree.
Pearce said the experience is something she takes with her now as she plans her job search after graduation.
“Cramming for a midterm and reading a textbook and dumping it into a midterm doesn’t teach you anything,” Pearce said. “This was so hands on and practical, it’s something I talk about in my interview, it’s on my resume.”
“You’re your own boss,” she said. “The success of the event depends on you and your teammates.”
Spring 2013 Projects
Suns Out Guns Out “SOGO” Outdoor Volleyball Tournament