This site was created based on the feedback we received from you, the parents. Links will be added below from Professor Shishoff during the fall 2007 school year. Additional information will be added on a regular basis. Please feel free to e-mail any comments or suggestions to advisingSBA@notes.udayton.edu.

Powerpoint Presentation (Introduction to BAI 150)

Parent Email #1

Welcome to the 2007 SBA Parents E-mail Group!!

This is the first e-mail of the semester. I just want to get a short administrative message out to alert you to the fact that you should expect more of these during the next few days (to catch up on the first part of the semester) and as well as more throughout the year.

We (actually the students who work with me in the Dean's office) have been busy putting together and validating the list of your e-mails from the sign-up sheets, e-mail responses to me, and your son or daughter's input requested in one of the early BAI 150 class meetings. (More on BAI 150 in the next e-mail!) We're getting a little later start than I'd like - it's been a busy semester!

If you listed multiple e-mail addresses, they all are included in the e-mail group, and you will receive this message multiple times.

This and future e-mails will be sent to you as a blind copy to maintain your privacy. (This is based on parent's requests in previous years - others in the group will not see your e-mail address, nor will you see theirs.) This also means that all replys will come to me, not to the entire group.

Please DO reply if you have a question or comment. If you have a question, it's a good bet others will also. If that's the case, I'll send something to the entire group. We're also always looking for ways to improve the process.

If you change your E-mail address, please include your son or daughter's full name with the change. This will make it significantly easier for us to update the list address, which consists of a series of subgroups organized by the student's last name.

Finally, the e-mails will be sequentially numbered so that you will know if one gets lost in cyberspace! E-mails about the first semester BAI 150 class (and BAI 151 next semester) will be titled "UD SBA 2007 Parents 1", 2, etc. in the e-mail subject line. Copies of e-mails that were sent to all students or other cybertraffic concerning UD will be titled "2007 Parents Info 1", 2 etc. in the subject line.

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

It IS a great year! I'm impressed with the students in class - they're a good group - paying attention, taking notes, etc!

Parent Email #2

Welcome again to the 2007 SBA Parents E-mail Group!!

ALL of the first year business students and ALL new external transfer students (attending UD for the first time) are enrolled in BAI 150, Business Education Planning. This class is designed to help them successfully make the transition from High School to College (or another College to UD).

We spend about:
25% of the class introducing the UD services available to the students,
25% introducing all students to the business majors,
25% going over the curriculum, how to register, UD & SBA policies and administrative procedures, and UD & SBA traditions, mission, etc.,
12.5% on a business case,
12.5% on ethics (an introduction/overview of business ethics; an introduction of Business as a Calling; and some time on personal ethics, integrity and the relationship to (and what is) academic dishonesty and the consequences of cheating, etc.

The topics are interspersed throughout the semester.

This is a graded course with a final exam (on Tuesday, Dec. 11th). There are five written assignments. Student attendance and participation in Peer Advisor directed activities are also part of the grade.

This is one of the few SBA classes taught in the auditorium. The first year class and all external transfer students are divided into two sections. These meet on Monday/Friday and Wednesday/Friday from 2 to 2:50 pm. (The sections alternate on Fridays.) There are also four evening sessions scheduled this semester.

Most of the reading for class is web based. Many of these are accessed through the SBA Advising Center's website. This is by design. If the students remember nothing else, they hopefully will remember website as the first stop in the future to find the answer to their questions.

The students were also given a copy of Off to College 2007 (a transition resource) and receive a one year subscription to Business Week (which has already started.) Reading assignments are also drawn from these resources.

As we go through the class material, I'll send you the student assignments that they were supposed to review before class so that you have some sense of the information available to them (and now YOU!).

Finally, an administrative note. If this is the first e-mail you have received, it is because of an error in our original e-mail list. Based on the undelivered mail, we went back and updated the list. E-mail addresses that could not be corrected, were deleted. We will follow-up with the students first and then with a letter to those affected.

Parent Email #3

Dear 2007 SBA Parents,

The last few weeks have been extremely busy. It's hard to believe that it's October already. I want to start catching you up on what has happened so far in class.

The objectives of the first class in each section were ;
1. To simply get students in the proper seats (assigned because attendance is a part of the grade).
2. Introduce them to who's who in the Dean's office, Advising Center, the student assistants in class, and to the peer advisors.
3. Introduce them to the course and our expectations.
4. Go over their schedules to make sure that no one was registered for a class that would not fulfill a degree requirement or that would decrease their flexibility to complete various programs without taking extra courses.

I sent a copy of the seating chart to the students electronically before class started. In class, we emphasized that their academic and peer advisors were listed on the line with their seat and name.

You can access the powerpoint presentation used in the first class, which contains some information on the instructors, by going to the SBA Advising Center's website at http://sbaweb.udayton.edu/advising/ ... click on Business Curriculum in the upper right corner .... scroll all the way to the bottom ... click on First Year Experience .... and then click on "Introduction Powerpoint." The peer advisors also introduced themselves at the end of the presentation.

The message we wanted to send them about the course (in addition going over the basic course requirements) was that business professionals need to be able to develop and implement a plan - thus, academic planning in one of the first steps to prepare them for success. We also wanted them to know what our expectations for their conduct in class were. (I later tied these expectations to Learn, Lead & Serve and community, from the standpoint of them taking responsibility for their peer seated next to them, if they see that individual nodding off or experiencing some other difficulty. Each section has 200+ students and not all of the speakers are as interesting as I am (they did not get the humor either!). They soon realized that if I see someone nodding off, that individual is marked absent for the day. The idea behind them taking some responsibility for others comes from a discussion with a former CEO who simply said that one needs to be able to serve others before that person can lead others.

The last main issue was to check their schedules (see the third slide from the end) to make sure that they were not taking a class that was not needed for their degree. Even though we (actually Janet Leonard and Jennifer Creech) had reviewed all of their schedules, we have found glitches in the past where someone has changed something, or a gremlin in the system assigned them to a class they did not need.
 

Parent Email #4

Dear 2007 SBA Parents,

I thought I'd send one more e-mail today before leaving the office. One of the things that all parents are interested in is the advising that their daughter or son receives. While it's ultimately the student's responsibility to seek out such advice, they do need to know what resources are available to them.

The attached powerpoint is a version of the advising discussion presented by our Peer Advisors during the first BAI 150 class. The version attached will be used to reintroduce and reinforce the information in the earlier presentation when we start going through registration and the curriculum in class at the end of the month. I'm sending it to you now because it presents a more complete view of UD and the SBA advising resources and should therefore be more useful to you. (This powerpoint presentation can be found online at www.sba.udayton.edu/advising - Business Curriculum- First Year Experience.)

(The Peer Advisor's pitch had more information simply introducing each of the peer advisors and their role. During the initial class sessions, the students are wide-eyed and just happy that they found their way to the right classroom (and seat)! When we go over the attached version in class, they will have settled down enough that a review of this material makes sense to them.)

I'd like to highlight a couple of items:

First, each student's faculty and peer advisors are identified on the BAI 150 seating chart next to their name. They received this electronically prior to class. We also discussed this in class, where I suggested that they "bookmark" both names for future use. Additionally, I noted that not including their Peer Advisor's name on future written assignments will automatically result in a 25% reduction of their grade. (That apparently has been enough incentive for them to keep the file or at least write both names down somewhere! We have not experienced a problem with this, this year.)

Second, as I mentioned in an earlier e-mail, we want them to get into the habit of going to the Advising Center's Web site, as the first place to go - a "portal" (so to speak) that student's can turn to first to obtain academic and other information. From the site, they can then link to other resources, based on their interests and needs. In the past, we've given them a list of pertinent web sites (and have and will do so again this year) as we go through the material in class. The information has a relatively short shelf life however. Hopefully, only having to remember one address as the starting point for their questions will be of continued benefit to them and their advisors throughout their tenure at UD! We invite you to go there also and check the "Parents" tab!

Parent Email #5

The objectives of the second class were to:
1. Introduce the vision and mission of UD and the SBA and how they impact the students curriculum and co-curricular opportunities.
2. Review the curriculum and co-curricular opportunities.
3. Introduce some of the administrative forms, deadlines, etc. and provide a basic menu of sources of information.

Vision & Mission: This is a 20,000 feet overview and probably of more interest to you than to your son or daughter. However, we want to start planting the seeds of what the university and the school are about. There are a couple of "bottom lines" that we want the students to take away sprinkled throughout the slides: Key Outcomes, especially Distinctive Graduates (slide 4); Learn, Lead & Serve (slide 5), Do Well and Do Good (side 7) and slide 9 - the idea that the curriculum and co-curricular opportunities have been developed with purpose. It's not just a random design!

Curriculum and Co-curricular Opportunities: This was an overview to follow up on the "bottom line." It was not detailed, since many had seen it a week or so earlier AND we will spend more time on it later.

Administrative Issues: Even though the students are still about finding their way to class and their seat, we wanted to give them some insight into some of the administrative forms they may need, information sources they should start to become familiar with, and other issues of concern (how to drop a class, maintain their lotus notes account, etc.).

You can access the powerpoint presentation used in the first class, which contains some information on the instructors, by going to the SBA Advising Center's website at http://sbaweb.udayton.edu/advising/ ... click on Business Curriculum in the upper right corner .... scroll all the way to the bottom ... click on First Year Experience .... and then click on "2007 BAI 150 Intro 2nd Class."

It's quiet here now. The students are home with you! I'm going to take a couple of days break as well. More next week.

Parent Email #6

This e-mail is primarily about the third BAI 150 Class!


Dear 2007 SBA Parents,

The objectives of the third session were to:
1. Introduce the services provided by the Counseling Center and the Health Center.
2. Introduce the services provided by LEAD (Learning Enhancement and Academic Development.)
3. Get the students to think about stress (good and bad) and the destressers in their lives at this point in time (and what they can do to relieve those destressers).
4. Introduce the second written assignment.

LEAD: In a nutshell, LEAD provides the following (and there is more information on the website about each!!):
Developmental Courses
Interventions for Designated Populations
Peer-Facilitated Learning Support linked to Specific Courses
Peer-Facilitated Learning Support for General Education Courses
Professional Support Services
Tutoring Services
Writing Support
Competency Support
Disability Services
Study Resources

In class, the main areas of emphasis are on study resources, writing and tutoring support, and disability services. The point I think is important for the students to hear is that they need to develop their strategy to be successful. If that means going to a tutor, they should go. If they have a learning or other disability, they should avail themselves of LEAD's services. It's just a resource to help them achieve success (and not something to be ashamed of). The same is true of the counseling center!! Ms. Brenda Cooper, Ms.Beth Buerschen and Mr. Dudret presented the LEAD material.

Health Center: Dr. Stephen Mueller, who is the director of the Counseling Center and the Health Center, presented the information about these activities. We did not spend a lot of time on the Health Center - primarily emphasizing location and services that are available to the students. The students are generally familiar with how a clinic works.

Counseling Center: Dr. Mueller started the presentation with an exercise asking the students (although they did not know it at the time - they were responding to a question about what they like and did not like so far) to identify stressers and distressers in their lives, which were captured on the chalk board. A class discussion followed, with comments about what students could do to diminish the effects of the distressers. This was then a segway to the counseling services offered by the Counseling Center. (The main point here that I hope the students heard is that counseling sessions are completely confidential - even from parents (sorry!), unless something is life threatening to the individual. AND again - going should be seen as another tool in developing a strategy to be successful. Oh - and it's free (well not really, you've already paid for it!).

The Counseling Center also offers career counseling and Dr Mueller spent the last part of his presentation going over the tools and resources available to the students. This includes individual and group sessions, aptitude testing, and career resources and information, including a new on-line career exploration tool which allows students to explore on-line from any computer, anywhere.

Second Written Assignment: Their second written assignment (The Academic Integrity Analysis) requires the students to analyze a series of mini-cases (all unfortunately true) in light of UD and the SBA's academic dishonest and other policies. They are required to review the academic dishonesty policies on the SBA Advising Center's website and the UD Bulletin and answer a series of questions about each case. You may review the instructions, mini-cases and the answer sheet on the SBA Advising Center's website: http://sbaweb.udayton.edu/advising/firstyearexperience.asp More on this in the next email.

The "readings" for LEAD and the Counseling Center are as follows:
LEAD's website: http://lead.udayton.edu/
Counseling Center's website: http://www.udayton.edu/~cc/

Note that there's a tab for parents on the counseling center's website.

Parent Email #7

Dear 2006 SBA Parents,

The objectives of the fourth class were to:
1. Introduce the students to UD's Catholic Marianist heritage and traditions.
2. Give them some sense of UD's distinguished history.
3. Introduce them to the services and opportunities available to them from Campus Ministries.


Readings for the class: Students were directed to go to the following web sites for additional information beyond that covered in class.
1. Go to Portfolio (www.portfolio.udayton.edu), click on "Living," then "Spirituality and Practice." Click on and read the "Introduction to UD"s Mission and
Philosophy," the "5 Principles," and the "Statement on Diversity."
2. Go to http://ministry.udayton.edu and check out the Campus Ministries site.

Heritage and traditions: Bro Victor Forlani (also holding an earned doctorate in business), a member of the SBA faculty, presented this part of the class. Many of the students already had an appreciation of the Marianist heritage and traditions, so the presentation was somewhat of a review for them. For others (especially those who are not catholic, it was valuable to get a sense of how the mission and vision tie to these underlying traditions, that I think anyone can appreciate. (In the discussion, we made a point to tie back to the previous class discussion on UD's vision and mission.)

History: Actually as a part of the heritage and traditions, we showed a video that chronicled UD's history from its founding, our long association with NCR, and our association with the Dayton community.

Campus Ministries: This presentation focused on the opportunities (retreats, etc.) and services offered by campus ministries. Several business students addressed the class to talk about their experiences on service breakouts, leading retreats, etc.
 

Parent Email #8

Dear 2007 SBA Parents: Thanks for all of your comments about the e-mails. AND...please let me know if you have any questions. Most likely, if you have a question so do others.

Some of you have asked when to expect midterm grades. Midterm grades were due from faculty by Wednesday, 10/17 and were mailed on Friday. They should be received soon - if they have not already arrived.

Please note that only first year students get midterm grades. So if your son or daughter is a sophomroe transfer student, you will not get a midterm grade report. (We require all new external transfer students - students who have attended another university - to also take BAI 150.)

Also, students will not get a grade for BAI 150. At this point in time, they have only completed two written assignments (worth 105 out of 550 points), so there's not much at this point on which to base a grade! This is a good class - overall attendance has not been a problem, they are taking notes when appropriate, and the assignments are coming in on-time.

Please let me know if you have any questions. John

Parent  Email #9

Dear 2007 SBA Parents: My original email about midterms (follows below) generated a question about access from several of you. Additionally, I thought you might be interested in what we do with the midterm reports.

Your access to your son or daughter's grades: Access is governed by the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Essentially, once your son or daughter turns 18, their academic records are theirs. Under the law, we cannot discuss them with you, unless your son or daughter has granted us permission to do so. We do have a form that they can sign to grant you access. This will be distributed in class for their signature next week. If they sign it, it will be filed in their permanent folder for our future reference. A few of you were under the impression that his form was online. It's not. Also, the form only applies to your questions to the School of Business. If you want more information on FERPA, please go to:
http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html


What do we do with midterm grade reports (and end of term grade reports for that matter): All of the grade reports are reviewed (we have several automated reports to help us with this process). Students with some deficiency (a single "D" or "F" grade, GPA below 2.0, etc.) will be contacted by their peer advisor. Those below 1.7 will receive a letter of concern from me (I have about 20 or so ready to be signed) advising them to make an appointment with Janet Leonard, Senior Advisor in the SBA Advising Center, to discuss their situation and develop a strategy to overcome whatever is causing their current academic problem. (A first year student is considered to be in good academic standing if their Cum GPA is 1.7 or above. However, they need to have at least a 2.0 overall and a 2.0 in their major to graduate.)

We will do the same things at the end of each semester - except that students below 1.0 will be dismissed and those between 1.0 and 1.7 will be placed on academic probation. Students with Cum GPAs between 1.7 and 2.0 will receive the letter of concern. Dismissal letters are processed as close to the end of the semester as possible. The letter includes procedures and a deadline to appeal the dismissal. Dismissed students may return to UD. A second dismissal, if it occurs, is usually the final dismissal.

Students on probation are required to meet with me at the beginning of the following semester to sign a probation contract. This contract specifies the conditions of their probation. This will include a GPA requirement, mandatory counseling ("how goes it") meetings once a month with Janet, requirements to curtail extracurricular activities if necessary, and direction to seek assistance from LEAD or the Counseling Center if necessay. (To maintain the confidentiality of any sessions at the Counseling Center, students are only required to have the Counseling Center notify me that they did attend an initial meeting. The Center does not share any of the details of the meetings with me.) In addition, first year students will be scheduled (and must successfully complete) a Developmental Skills course taught by LEAD during the Winter semester.

Students with a Cum GPA above 1.7 but below 2.0 will receive a letter of concern as described above. After the first semester, letters of concern will also be sent to students who are in good academic standing, but who have a sub-par semester GPA.

During the summer, a current degree audit (advising report) is mailed to each student with an information letter indicating the things they should be considering and accomplishing during the following year. Between their Junior and Senior year, the information is much shorter and more directive ("If you plan to gradutate in December of May, you need to do the following...."). Degree requirements that they must take to graduate are highlighted on the degree audit that accompanies that letter.

During the first semester, second year, Janet and Jennifer Creech, our other full-time academic advisor in the SBA Advising Center, meet with all sophomores with a GPA below 2.5. These students often are the ones who have not "gotten it" as far as academic planning is concerned. The purpose of these meetings is bluntly to help them get their act together. These meetings are scheduled before registration begins and were recently completed for this semester.

As students declare their majors, faculty advisors also meet with students who are experiencing difficulties. Very often, during the semester, a class instructor will get involved as well - at least in reference to that class.


In conclusion: We try to make sure that no one falls between the cracks.

We'd like all of the students to be successful!

Please let me know if you have any questions. John

Parent Email #10

Dear 2007 Parents: One last email tonight....

We hope to see many of you at the events this weekend. I'd like to highlight a few of them.

Dean Elizabeth Gustafson will attend the welcome reception tomorrow night in the Kenndy Union Ballroom (7 to 9 pm).

I will attend the Mother's Club Reception Saturday morning in the KU Torch Lounge (10 to 12 am).

If you can fit it into your schedule, you may also want to attend the SBA Study Abroad meeting in O'Leary Auditorium (Miriam Hall 119) on Sunday which starts at 1pm. A study abroad experience is a great opportunity and it's never too soon to start planning for one!

Safe trips to all to and from UD this weekend! John

Parent Email #11

Dear 2007 SBA Parents: I hope everyone who attended Parent's Weekend had a great time. I enjoyed meeting and talking to several of you.

We are currently in the curriculum sessions in BAI 150 (how to select courses the students are interested in and register for them, a review of the curriculum, and laying the groundwork for their academic planning assignement). I'll send some additional details about this to you next week.

Every semester some students have problems registering for classes. This is especially true if the student is registering in the last time block for their year group. You need to know that we are committed to registering students for a complete class load of courses that will fulfill their degree requirements each semester. It may NOT be their preferred schedule (11 to 2 TTh), but it will be classes they need.

The email below is usually sent out several times during registration each semester. We have also gone over the same content in BAI 150.

I thought you'd like to see it also.

Have a great weekend! John




ALL SBA MAJORS and new TRANSFER STUDENTS:


Each semester we have students who have problems scheduling. If you find yourself in this category....read on!


WHAT TO DO IF THE CLASS YOU WANT IS CLOSED:

1. Select another SBA degree requirement and schedule that!
a. Work down and across your degree audit.
b. You must have ALL of the prerequisites to schedule any class!
2. Go to the Department offering the class you really want to take.
a. Ask to be signed in to a section. Or....
b. Ask to be added to a wait list (if there is one).
c. This is especially important if the course you need is in your major (like FIN 301 for a FIN major). If you're undeclared, but thinking about a major or majors, you should attempt to take the first course(s) in the major(s) as soon as you have the prereqs for them.
d. To request to be added to a wait list for MGT and MKT classes, go to
http://applications.udayton.edu/sba/advising.nsf/wWaitCourses?OpenForm
e. To request to be added to a wait list for ECO and FIN classes, go to http://www.sba.udayton.edu/ecofin/waitinglist.asp
f. SBA Departments will work with SBA majors to insure that you will get the classes you need to stay on track and graduate. Please remember that this is a process that requires balancing student demand and the resources (faculty, rooms, etc.) to meet that demand. This balancing will take time. You may not get an instanteous answer. Also, part of the balancing will include a review of your program and schedule. It may be that you could take the course in question later and not damage your timeline (in which case you may not be added to the course in Fall 08) or that you will be added to a section that is scheduled on days or times that are not your first preference - BUT that you can attend based on your current schedule.
3. Continue to check course availability on-line.
a. You can add the course up to the last add day of the Winter 08 semester (Jan 7, 2008).
4. Come to the Advising Center (MH 211).
a. Janet Leonard, Jennifer Creech and the Peer Advisors are available to help you during registration (go to the advising center's website for information on walk-in hours, how to schedule a meeting, etc.). Janet and Jennifer will help you get a complete schedule of courses that will fill SBA degree requirements if you have not been able to do so.
b. However, we cannot override the departments. If the course is closed, we cannot magically create open seats. You need to go to the department (2 above), if it's a course you REALLY need to take.
c. Do not take a random course! Take courses that will help you complete your program, on-time. (That does not mean that you can't take something else, just because you're interested in it - even if it does not fulfill a degree requirement. But, that decision on your part should be a proactive choice, not just a reactive random default to get hours.)

BOTTOM LINE: DO NOT TAKE A RANDOM CLASS JUST TO SCHEDULE THE HOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TAKE COURSES THAT FULFILL A DEGREE REQUIREMENT (or that you proactively are simply interested in taking).

If you have any additional questions, please let me know. (Use this e-mail's subject line.) JWS

Parent Email #12

Dear 2007 SBA Parents: I could use your help!!

As I mentioned in the email I just sent, we are currently covering the curriculum and academic planning in BAI 150.

Students academic plans are due on November 12th and 14th (depending on their section). They will be graded by our Peer Advisors and then returned to the students for correction. I'll provide additional information and detail next week. We'll also spend more time in class going over it then.

From past experience, we know that a significant number of the students will wait until the last minute to do the plan (the VERY LAST MINUTE!) - and because of this - they often do not do a particularly good job on their academic plan; and they certainly do not plan for anything other than the classes they need to take.

This is a lost opportunity for those students. For instance, if they are thinking at all about a study abroad experience, they should include that in their plan because it will have a significant impact on their overall schedule of classes (or they will find that they need to forego the experience because everything offered at the time they decide to go is something that they have already taken in residence at UD). The same could be said for an internship or co-op experience.

I know that many of you talk to your son or daughter regularly. It might help them focus and do a more complete job for themselves (and you, since your paying the bills) if you ask them how they are doing on their plan and if they are planning for experiential and other opportunities in addition to just the courses. Even if they aren't interested in the opportunities at this time, just getting started earlier will make their plan a better resource for them.

Oh - and you might ask them to show you a copy when they come home for Thanksgiving!

Parent Email #13

Dear 2007 SBA Parents:

My apologies to you all - I'm massively behind in getting out the e-mails about the class content. I'll catch up after Thanksgiving.

I did want to send you the last e-mail sent to the students with the information about the assignments the students are working on now. Much of this was sent out to the students earlier and we've spent two class sessions going over the academic major exploration services offered by the Counseling Center and the services offered by Career Services.

The students are to complete a resume and a networking assignment that is due the week after Thanksgiving break. The details are in the e-mail that follows. I'd also invite you to go to the SBA Advising Center's Website http://sbaweb.udayton.edu/advising/ - click on Business Curriculum, scroll down to and click on First Year Experience Courses. You'll find the same instructions that are attached to this e-mail under assignments and you'll also find the Career Services presentation under Presentations (it will move shortly to the Speakers and Special Topics category).

Why send this now?? Just like the students need a good academic plan (many did a good job by the way - some did not, and those students will soon be working on major revisions), each student needs a good resume and needs to start honing their networking skills and strategies. The objective of the assignments are to give them a basic foundation that will serve them well while at UD and later in life.

We've given them several opportunities to establish a network contact. The idea is to get them out of their comfort zone. They could have gone to Dialogue Day earlier this month and talked to several business alums...OR....they can contact alumni through the Alumni Career Network. If they are taking the latter approach, we suggested that they also contact someone outside their immediate family while they're home for Thanksgiving as a backup.

SOOOOOOO.... in addition to asking to see their academic plan, you might also ask to see their resume and ask them how the networking assignment is coming.

I also suggest that you take a look at the Career Services presentation if you have a chance. Mark Sisson from Career Services does a great job of going over the Counseling Center material that the students heard earlier in the semester and then connecting that material to networking and resume building. His discussion includes many of the things (why they need a resume, the importance of networking and taking advantage of opportunities to do so, etc.) that they also have heard from Department Chairs and other speakers - including me - throughout the semester. So... take a look if you can. You will miss his stage presence however. It's hard to put that online!

Have a GREAT Thanksgiving!!! John

Parent Email #14 (SECOND SEMESTER)

Well - the break has come and gone and I did not finish half of what I wanted to do.

I hope you all had extremely enjoyable holidays. Ours were - even if I only got half the things done!!


This was in today's UD Campus Digest. I thought you might enjoy seeing it.

More to come. John



Rewarding Success
With returns at the top of outside firms who manage the University of Dayton's endowment, a student-managed investment fund has consistently outperformed its benchmarks and will receive millions more to manage.


January 4, 2008 - Call it a $4 million vote of confidence.

That's what the University of Dayton's trustees are giving finance students who manage a multimillion-dollar investment fund for the University's endowment.

After reviewing the performance of the Flyer Investments VIIP fund, the trustees' investment committee recently approved adding $1 million per semester over the next two years, bringing the fund total to nearly $11 million and making it one of the largest student-managed funds in the country.

"The University has a number of professional investment firms managing our money; the student-run portfolio has given spectacular, consistent returns, and its results are at the top of all of our outside managers," said Davis, a retired investment professional.

"This is a strong sign of the board's support for and recognition of the success of the student program," said Richard Davis, a University of Dayton trustee who chairs the board's investment committee.

Davis said the fund's one-year performance at the end of September bettered the S&P 500 by 3.32 percent. The Flyer fund was up 19.8 percent, while the S&P 500 was up 16.48 percent. Since the fund was initiated in December 1998, the fund is up 5.79 percent, beating the benchmark by 1.64 percent per year. The fund also outperformed its benchmarks at the three- and five- year marks, Davis said.

David Sauer, associate professor of finance and founding director of UD's Davis Center for Portfolio Management, attributed the students' success to both the thoroughness of the process and the state-of-the-art financial tools they use.

"We spend a great deal of time doing a thorough analysis of all the companies we invest in," Sauer said. "We look for strong sectors, strong industries and strong companies."

Students manage the portfolio in the Davis Center for Portfolio Management, which simulates Wall Street with the same analytical software and database subscription services used by financial institutions globally. Davis and his wife, Susan, gave the University $1 million to endow the center so that students could gain real-world experience.

"This experience helps to nurture teamwork and the collaborative nature of this kind of work," Davis said. "Our students have the equivalent of two to three years of experience. Employers have told us that because of the collaboration and team orientation, our graduates are wise beyond their years."

Thomas Giltner, one of the 15 seniors in the finance class that managed the fund last semester, agreed that the class honed his collaborative abilities.

"Every day instructors were talking about the economy, and we had a round table discussion with 15 different perspectives. You really get a knack for being able to look at it from everybody's perspective," Giltner said. "You can really find flaws or you can see an indication the company will turn around. That means that throughout our careers, we'll be able to look at the economy and companies from all different perspectives."

But Giltner won't know whether the decisions his class made will be good ones, although he appreciates the good decisions made by previous classes that contributed to the consistent showing of the fund.

"Teams in the past have really nailed some of the companies. One company they bought had a 43 percent return, and then they sold it. Since then that company is down about 85 percent from where it was," Giltner said.

As part of the students' final semester presentation in December, they offered investors their outlook on the market and the economy in 2008:

* The economy is at a slowing point with the potential for recession.

* The collapse of the subprime mortgage market not only will cause devaluation of home values, but has negatively affected consumer spending.

* The team expects the Federal Reserve Board to cut interest rates several times to combat the mortgage issues. The rate cuts could affect inflation and cause the U.S. dollar, already at historic lows, to go lower.

* Energy prices will continue to be extremely volatile. A growing trend toward energy efficiency has not helped to lower energy prices as yet.

* A lively presidential election year with diverse and polarizing candidates may create political instability and hinder business and consumer spending.