Tag: malcolm lemay

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COB wins big at University Day

University Day 2015 had a decidedly College of Business flavor as COB members collected two of Oregon State’s highest honors during the awards presentation part of an all-day program Sept. 21 at the LaSells Stewart Center, Reser Stadium and the CH2M HILL Alumni Center.

Sandy Neubaum, Dale McCauley, Lauren Caruso and Vaerine Bauder accepted the Student Learning and Success Teamwork Award on behalf of the college’s Austin Entrepreneurship Program.

And Malcolm LeMay picked up the OSU Professional Faculty Excellence Award.

Neubaum is the AEP director, while McCauley serves as program manager, Caruso is civic engagement coordinator, and Bauder is an office specialist. Headquartered in the Weatherford Residential College, where roughly 400 budding entrepreneurs live each year, the AEP’s multifaceted mission includes outreach in the form of financial literacy education and social entrepreneurship, including a summer 2015 student trip to Uganda.

LeMay becomes the 22nd winner of a Professional Faculty award that dates to 1992. The COB’s director of operations, LeMay oversees both long-range administrative projects in the dean’s office and the college’s day-to-day operations. A former Marine Corps aviator, he was instrumental in organizing the college’s move from Bexell Hall to Austin Hall – which opened exactly one year prior to the day he received his award.

The honors for LeMay and the AEP were part of a full day of recognition and addresses, including remarks by OSU President Ed Ray, to kick off the 2015-16 school year.

Brandon Busteed, executive director of Gallup Education, delivered the keynote address, titled “Aiming Higher Education at Great Jobs and Great Lives.”

Busteed noted how surveys of academic officers indicate a strong belief that universities are producing graduates ready for the work force, but similar surveys of employers and the general public show something entirely different. He also talked about how university mission statements, of which he has read more than 1,000 – “It’s a terrible hobby to have,” he joked – love to talk about goals such as instilling critical-thinking skills but uniformly avoid wording related to trying to place graduates in terrific jobs.

Busteed also focused on the topic of well-being and its impact on everything from on-the-job productivity to the need for medical care (the more well-being you have, the more productive you are and the less health care you need, research has shown). Given those sorts of factors, Busteed pointed out, well-being isn’t just something that’s nice for employees to experience, it’s economically vital.

Gallup uses survey methodology that breaks well-being into five types: Purpose, social, financial, community and physical. Especially with what’s at stake beyond simply happiness, society is best served when higher education and employers team up to help each person attain well-being in as many of those five as possible.

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OSU Faculty Senate President Mike Bailey, onstage with a sign interpreter, introduces keynote speaker Brandon Busteed of Gallup Education.
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Veterans Day holds different meanings for College of Business vets

College of Business student Robert Fredlund remembers how he felt the day he returned from Iraq.

It was February of 2011 and he had just finished a 10-month tour of duty with the United States Army. As he stepped off the plane, Fredlund heard something he wasn’t expecting on the runway.

“It was the first time I had stepped on American soil in about a year, and there was a group of people clapping for us,” Fredlund said. “It’s tingly, chills. It’s that feeling you are appreciated and it means a lot.”

For veterans in the College of Business — including students, faculty and staff —those small gestures can often be just as special as the parades and ceremonies that are a key part of Veterans Day traditions.

Oregon State College of Business student Robert Fredlund, a U.S. Army veteran, helps construct the Veterans Day float for Give 2 The Troops.
Oregon State College of Business student Robert Fredlund, a U.S. Army veteran, helps construct the Veterans Day float for Give 2 The Troops.

Fredlund started at Oregon State in the fall of 2012 and pursuing a dual major in Business Management and Entrepreneurship with a minor in Leadership. His personal experience led him to get involved with veterans’ organizations while at OSU, and try to pay back the kindness he’s seen as a veteran.

As the president of the OSU Management Club, Fredlund has organized activities through Give 2 The Troops, a group that sends care package to soldiers overseas.

The club has participated in packing parties and other events. This year the club used a meeting to handwrite notes for the boxes and helped build the Give 2 The Troops float for the Albany Veterans Day Parade.

“I saw it as an opportunity to apply the skills I’ve learned at the College of Business,” he said. “These projects are a good way to get real world experience but also give back to the community.”

Malcolm LeMay, director of operations for the college, spent 20 years as an aviator in the Marine Corps.

LeMay has made it a point to stay connected to veterans in the college and the community since coming to Oregon State. He served as president of the Military Officers Club of Corvallis, and makes an effort to meet with students who have served and are looking for advice.

“It’s neat to see recent vets going through here,” LeMay said. “You can tell the experience, the maturity and confidence they have.”

LeMay has been impressed with Oregon State’s commitment to veterans. More than 1,000 students receive veteran educational benefits at OSU, and the university has a number of resources available to help the transition.

“We go out of our way to make it easy for returning veterans to get started with class,” LeMay said. “That’s more than just on Veterans Day. It’s year-round commitment to veterans and their skills.”

Dan Schwab, a College of Business advisor, has experienced that commitment firsthand.

Before coming to the college Schwab served three years as Commander of the OSU ROTC program, and then 10 years as OSU’s director of student conduct after retiring from the U.S Army as a lieutenant colonel in 2004.

“I thought it was a rewarding job because I was preparing future leaders, my replacements,” Schwab said. “It was a good transition job from active duty to a civilian job.”

A third-generation military veteran, Schwab said he has always felt a call to serve, which helped lead him to higher education after his military career ended.

“I like to serve something, to serve people,” he said. “That’s why I’m an advisor today. I feel I’m serving students.”

New College of Business Assistant Professor Charles Murnieks previously served students and his country as an instructor at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Murnieks joined the Air Force Academy after high school as a way to give back to a country he felt had already given him so much.

“I entered the service because I felt there was something honorable in serving my country, and serving to protect it,” Murnieks said. “When I signed up I felt I owed the country this, I never felt the country owed me anything.”

After joining he realized he wanted to make the Air Force his career, and later was asked to join the academy as an instructor. The Air Force encouraged him to continue his education, supporting him as he earned his MBA from UCLA and his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado.

While he’s enjoyed his move to Oregon and out of the Air Force, Murnieks said he is grateful for the reminders of his service and thanks he’ll get from people he speaks with.

“I’m always struck anytime someone takes time out of their day to say thank you,” Murneiks said. “I’m always touched by that, because I don’t expect it.”