Professional Notes

Dr. Bernard Brady, Theology Department; Dr. Lee Smithey, Sociology Department; and James Rogers, Center for Irish Studies; gave talks in February at Christi Catholic Community in Eden Prairie as part of its educational program, "Ireland: Its History, Religion and Politics."  Each speaker addressed a different aspect of the political and sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland.

Dr. Joe Fitzharris, History Department, gave a talk, "What Can 21st Century Aerospace Officers Learn from 19th Century Infantry Officers?" Feb. 23 at the Air War College, Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala.  He was invited to interview for a one-year professorship in the Air War College Department of Strategy and International Security.

Dr. Rick Holton, Master of Business Communication program, gave a presentation on self-marketing Feb. 11 to a joint meeting of the Professional Editors Network and the American Society of Indexers.  He outlined ways in which entrepreneurs can make their services more tangible and some strategies for getting the most out of one's marketing dollar.

Ron James, president and CEO of the Center for Ethical Business Cultures, addressed MBA students at the University of Washington Business School, in Seattle, on "Weathering the Storm: Creating an Ethical Business Culture" on Feb. 21.  James also serves on a national task force conducting a 10-year review of the U.S. federal sentencing guidelines that apply to organizations, business and nonprofit.

Closer to home, the center's vice president, David Rodbourne, spoke to the Minnetonka Plymouth Rotary Club on "Business Giving and Community Involvement."  The Center for Ethical Business Cultures has been one of 14 organizations collaborating in a statewide project researching and promoting giving and community involvement by business, with a special emphasis on small- and medium-sized firms.  The results from a survey of 595 business establishments are available on the center's Web site at www.cebcglobal.org or on the project site at www.minnesotabusinessgiving.org where further information about the project and resources to help business will appear.  The research report is titled "The Business of Giving Back."

Dr. Mitchell Kusy, Organization Learning and Development, was the keynote speaker for entré Today, the monthly meeting of entrepreneurs sponsored by the John M. Morrison Center for Entrepreneurship, University of St. Thomas.  Based on research he has conducted, Kusy addressed outmoded and new methods of internal communication.  His address was titled, "Enhancing Internal Communications to Create Over-the-Top Performance."

Dr. Gene Scapanski, School of Continuing Studies, served as the facilitator for the national meeting of the Association of Graduate Programs in Ministry Feb. 20-22 in Jacksonville, Fla.  The conference theme was "Strategic Planning and Theological Reflection."  Scapanski also had an article, "Online Teaching of Adults – Reflections on an Initial Experience," published in the MACAE Update Newsletter of the Minnesota Association for Continuing Adult Education, fall 2002.

Lisa Waldner, Sociology Department, participated in a panel Feb. 22 at the eighth annual Minneapolis Rainbow Families Conference, "Coming Out of Heterosexual Relationships."

Dr. Fred Zimmerman and coauthor Dave Beal were keynote speakers at the Western Wisconsin Chapter of the Society of Plastics Engineers Feb. 25.  They talked about their book, Manufacturing Works: The Vital Link Between Production and Prosperity.  Zimmerman also completed a two-day visit to Stanford University where he met with some engineering faculty, attended lectures on nanosystems and other matters, and then attended an interesting session on the history of Stanford (which gained national prominence in the 1950s when it began having fewer meetings).