Benefactor 2008 by Mays Business School

What are our greatest assets?

Mays Business School has terrific facilities. Our state-of-the-art classrooms have the latest technology to aid in teaching. The Wehner building, with its spacious lecture halls and top-notch computer labs, is beautiful as well as functional and is a source of pride for all of us.

We can also brag about the excellence of our faculty, who are renowned for their research as well as their skill as instructors. They teach with passion, and prepare our students not just for a high-paying career after graduation, but a lifetime of real success.

And where would we be without our students? Mays students are second-to-none. They consistently impress me, both with their outstanding academic quality and with their commitment to giving back to the community and to the world.

Our students, faculty, and facilities are all assets vital to our success. But just important are our benefactors and other supporters. Indeed, one of our greatest assets at Mays is you.

You share our vision for sustainable excellence in business education. You make our passion a reality. Without your support we would not have the means to have such fantastic facilities; we could not afford to attract the finest faculty available; and we would not be able to give our students the rich and rigorous education they deserve.

Did you know that our accounting students continue to have the highest pass rates in the state of Texas for the CPA exam? Our MBAs topped the charts in the area of placement after graduation in the latest rankings of America’s best graduate business schools from U.S. News & World Report. Mays undergraduate program was listed at 10th in the nation among other public business schools in a recent study by BusinessWeek. These measurable examples of success would not be possible with out you.

Your gifts, be they for faculty endowments, scholarships, programming, or facilities, are making a difference every day at Mays. As you read through this publication, I hope you will be touched by the students’ stories. I hope you will be impressed with the faculty we’ve highlighted and the work that they are doing. And I hope you will be inspired by the benefactors who have made it all possible.

Thank you for partnering with us in this important work.

Sincerely,

RICkY GRIffIn Interim Dean

“It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it.” – Albert Einstein

Thrust and parry, debit and credit

Mays student balances full academic load with passion for fencing

“...I want the donors that support me to feel that they’ve made a good investment in me.” A ndrew S prigg S ’11

Awton , o

As a National Merit Achievement Scholar, Andrew Spriggs could have gone just about anywhere for his education. Yet out of all of his college options, this highly intelligent and successful young man chose Mays.

The offer of substantial scholarships was what first caught Andrew’s eye about Texas A&M. As the recipient of a President’s Endowed Scholarship, Director’s Excellence Award, and National Merit Recognition Scholarship, Andrew is able to attend Mays at no cost. This was important to him, as his father recently retired from the Army with the rank of Major. Andrew was determined not to burden his family with his educational expenses while his father transitions from a 20-year military career into the civilian sector.

Beyond the financial incentive, Andrew was drawn to A&M on his first visit by the friendliness of the campus. “Even though it’s a big school, everyone here tries to reach out,” he says. “It really feels like a big family.”

Andrew recognizes that the donors that fund his education are an important part of that Aggie family. He appreciates the opportunity that he’s been given and knows that it comes with a responsibility. “I feel that there is an obligation on me now…I want the donors that support me to feel that they’ve made a good investment in me,” he says.

Rest assured, that investment is bearing divdends. Andrew is maintaining a 4.0 GPR as a business honors student, in addition to spending most nights working out with his teammates on the A&M fencing squad. Andrew is planning to be an accounting major, and intends to graduate from the Professional Program—achieving his BA and MS in accounting, along with a CPA certification—in just four years, instead of the usual five.

A new home in Texas

High achieving Aggie finds her place at Mays, plans for a career in real estate

“...There’s a focus on gratitude, respect, and building character right from day one.” ”

Tragedy marked Allison Dyer’s life at a young age. When she was seven years old, a head-on collision with a drunk driver claimed the life of her mother and aunt. Her father survived the accident, but was left with permanent traumatic injuries.

Eventually her father’s injuries prevented him from being able to drive or continue his work as a teacher, making insurance settlements their only income. They had enough to live on, but college became a hard-to-reach dream when Allison discovered that the insurance money she was receiving made her ineligible for federal financial aid.

Allison is a high-achieving student with a passion and drive for her business education. That’s why she chose Texas A&M, though there were more affordable places closer to home. “I knew what A&M had to offer and I didn’t want to sacrifice my college education for the sake of finances…It’s the little things that make the business program at Mays different from other schools,” she said. “There’s a focus on gratitude, respect, and building character right from day one.”

One of the “little things” that makes a difference for Allison is the Business Honors program at Mays. This selective program pairs high-achieving students with the best faculty in a small classroom setting. Allison says honors has been amazing during her first year as a student.

Allison was awarded the Lorraine and Theodore Dinerstein ’53 Dean’s Endowed Scholarship, which has paid for much of her freshman year and qualified her for in-state tuition.

“That’s a BIG help,” she says. Allison is immensely grateful to the donors that are funding her education. “It means so much more than they can imagine. The money I received is important, but more than that, giving me this scholarship means they support me and care about my goals. It’s really encouraging to know that.”

Though she is not a native Texan, Allison is now a confirmed transplant. “I love it here,” she says. “I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.” She plans to stay in Texas after she graduates with a degree in marketing and go into the field of commercial real estate.

“Many people despise wealth, but few know how to give it away.”

– Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Building a global Aggie reputation

Venkatesh Shankar doesn’t use his endowment funds to escape to his “ivory tower.” Instead, he uses them to make a name for A&M all over the world

Venkatesh Shankar, professor of marketing, has traveled the world to conduct and present research, but he has not done it alone. As an endowed chairholder, everywhere he has gone, he’s taken the name of Brandon Coleman with him.

The name of the benefactor whose gift enables Shankar’s work is mentioned every time Shankar is introduced at a conference; when Shankar publishes a paper, Coleman is acknowledged; and when Shankar gives a business card, Coleman’s name is there.

Shankar says this is only fair, as the endowed funds Coleman has provided contribute to the research account that makes his accolades possible.

“Sometimes the funds that other faculty have are not adequate if they don’t have an endowment. If you have an endowed fund to back you up, it allows you to collect additional data and go the extra mile in your research and also share the research on a broader scale,” said Shankar, who sees tremendous value in disseminating his research.

The more A&M students and faculty present at conferences, the more recognition and respect the school earns on a global platform, says Shankar. “Overseas, the school is not as well known as it is within the U.S.…once they get to know the quality of our work, they are impressed,” he said. For this reason, Shankar uses much of his endowed fund to travel and present his research. He also supports his PhD students in doing the same.

Sometimes the best research topics are also the most expensive. Shankar says that knowing he has the ability to pursue what he is passionate about, with little concern with how he’ll finance it, is very liberating for him and for his students.

“A faculty member without an endowed fund may have to tell his or her students ‘you may want to look at a different dissertation topic…this one’s going to be too expensive to research.’ The endowment frees up resources for [my students] to be able to go after the right projects,” he says. “It allows them to unleash their research and creative energies

in areas where they will have maximum impact.”

Currently, Shankar is using his research account supported by endowed funds to complete a timely book on China and India as emerging world superpowers. As part of his research, Shankar recently traveled to Asia where he conducted research, met with business people, and presented his research in several settings.

“I

Endowed professorships

One gift, numberless recipients

According to Michael Hitt, Texas A&M University

Distinguished Professor of Management, when a Mays benefactor chooses to endow a chair, that gift has ripples that will touch thousands of lives.

As the one-time holder of dual endowed positions, he knows firsthand the difference this type of gift can make. He holds the Foster Chair in Business Leadership, and recently stepped down from the C.W. and Dorothy Conn Chair in New Ventures to allow the honor to pass to someone else in his department.

Hitt uses much of the endowment monies available to him for research—for both his projects as well as students. If the gift’s usefulness can be measured by the accolades Hitt and his students have garnered, then the money is being well spent. Hitt and his students continue to publish work that is making an impact in today’s marketplace. Numerous best

paper and similar awards can be attributed to Hitt or his guidance over the 20 years he’s been teaching at Mays.

Professional enrichment through travel is also a key benefit Hitt sees in these endowed funds. Hitt routinely allocates money to send his students to conferences that will make them better researchers, better professionals, and better instructors. Often the students he sends are PhD candidates, whose attendance at these events also benefits the undergraduate students they are teaching.

The dollars he spends on his own research enrich Hitt’s classroom, as he employs real world examples in his instruction, drawn from his own study. Hitt’s area of specialty is international strategy, so those travel funds are especially important. For example, he recently taught a section about China to MBAs and EMBAs.

“One of the major reasons I can do that is because I’ve traveled to China and met with scholars and business people there a number of times…having the support to be able to do that has helped me build a store of knowledge about China that I’ve used in the classroom,” he says. Hitt is also an honorary dean at the School of Management at China’s Xi’an Jiaotong University.

There’s more to an endowed gift than the financial impact. Hitt says that when donors are willing to lend their name to the school, it’s meaningful to people even outside of academia.

“Having that title opens doors and allows access to executives all around the world,” he says. “That name goes with me anywhere I go…having that endowed position lends extra credibility and legitimacy to me that help me do my work.”

As part of his work with the Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship, Hitt recently co-created a new publication titled Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal He has recently been recognized as one of the top 30 mostcited and most-published authors in the history of the prestigious Journal of Management. He has also been named an Inaugural Fellow of the Strategic Management Society.