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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 27, 2000)
Business students take trip to the Big Apple ■ Students introduce themselves to the world of sports marketing By Simone Ripke Oregon Daily Emerald Usually athletes are the ones be ing flown all over the country and scouted by organizations such as the NBA. But on Jan. 18, the University’s Warsaw Sports Marketing Center took 20 master’s of business admin istration students to New York City, offering them a chance to see first hand how the industry works. For the second year in a row, students spent four days in the Big Apple and had plenty of opportu nities to meet with representatives from sports marketing agencies and national sports leagues. Dennis Howard, professor of sports marketing, said the annual trip is geared toward second-year M.B.A. students focusing on sports marketing. “The intent of the trip is to take our students to the heart of the in dustry,” Howard said. He said students met top exec utives and had a chance to ask questions and introduce them selves. The annual trip is funded by the NBA, which has provided a men torship development gift to the Lundquist College of Business and the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center. Howard said the NBA cov ered expenses for transportation, lodging and meals. All sports mar keting majors could attend. Jeff McGillis, a second-year M.B.A. student, said students had to introduce themselves at a luncheon with approximately 50 executives from the NHL, the NBA and other top executives. “It was tough to get up there and talk” McGillis said. He said most students talked about past internship experiences while others highlighted personal traits that might help them suc ceed in the world of marketing. McGillis, who went last, said he tried to introduce himself on a lighter note, talking about his home country of Canada and the beer and hockey it is famous for. McGillis said the trip was valu able because many executives of the sports marketing agencies that the group visited with took the time to show students around and answer their questions patiently and in depth. He said he was espe cially impressed with David Stem, commissioner of the NBA. “It was kind of neat to see that someone so powerful would take that much time out of his day,” McGillis said. Scott Eilers, another second year M.B.A. student who went on the trip, said he appreciated meet ing people from the industry and establishing some valuable net working contacts. “Probably the biggest deal for me was all the contacts we made there,” he said. Eilers said the students were pre pared to ask good questions and the executives honored their prepara tion with thorough answers. “It gave a lot of people the oppor tunity to ask people questions about jobs that they always thought they wanted to have,” Eilers said. Rick Burton, director of the sports marketing center, said the trip not only provided a great edu cational learning experience and the chance to network with profes sionals, but it also showed stu dents the quality of the M.B.A. program they are a part of. Teach continued from page 1A “corps members” are selected and assigned to one of 13 sites around the nation, where they commit to teach for two years. The members participate in an intensive eight week summer training course, where they earn their emergency teaching credentials and learn how to develop curriculum. For Wilson, who is in his sec ond year teaching at Jefferson Ele mentary School, the experience has been an eye-opener. “I wanted to see what education in America is really like right now,” he said. “The first year was a challenge, but the second year has been nice. I feel like I have a better grasp of things now.” Teaching third graders was not his first choice, Wilson admits, but now he wouldn’t trade the assign ment for anything. “High school was my first choice,” he said. “But I get to spend more time with these kids. At that age, I can really see the process of development and how their mind grows.” The Teach For America pro gram has shown Wilson firsthand what problems are facing educa tors today — from overcrowded classrooms and budget cuts to the looming teacher shortage expect ed to hit in the next few years, as waves of teachers retire. “Teaching is a job that’s under paid, unappreciated and under represented by people with ahigh level of skill,” Wilson said. “There’s a huge shortage of quali fied people who are willing to meet the challenge of teaching.” According to Elizabeth Chung, a recruitment operations manager for Teach For America, corps members aren’t required to con tinue beyond the initial two-year commitment, though some choose to remain teaching. The main goal of the program, howev er, is to build a base of lifelong ed ucation advocates, she said. The program has had that effect on Wilson — he said it has given him an appreciation of educators that will extend beyond when his term expires. “There are few other jobs that, right away, you’re given such a high level of responsibility and a comparatively low level of sup port,” he said. Of the thousands of applicants last year, only 1,000 were selected for the program, five of which were University students. “It’s very competitive,” said Kyle Waide, a current corps mem ber who manned the Teach For America booth at Wednesday’s ca reer fair. “But it allows you to impact the lives of children, get to work with excellent people, and get to know yourself in ways you don’t know already.” So far this year, 13 University seniors have applied for next year. Town hall continued from page 1A blamed for low faculty morale. A panel including the members of the SBC, University President Dave Frohnmayer, Provost John Moseley and professors Suzanne Clark and Roland Gr&ene, an swered a broad range of questions about University financing. University Senate President Pe ter Gilkey, speaking on behalf of the University’s chapter of the AAUP, asked Moseley if the white paper was “do-able.” “Under the assumption that the [Bill] Sizemore initiative doesn’t pass—it is do-able,” Moseley said. Of the six funding sources sug gested by the white paper, Moseley identified two as the most likely to be feasible in the short term. The first would be a reallocation of ex isting University funds towards in struction. The second was a pro posed increase in the fee paid to the University by two of its auxiliary enterprises: athletics and housing. Moseley said that a 2.5 percent pay increase, plus an already scheduled 2 percent increase is likely within the next year. Greene, director of the compara tive literature program, delivered a speech emphasizing the urgency of the compensation issue and pointing out aspects he felt the white paper overlooks. Specifical ly, the scheduled expansion of Autzen Stadium in the face of budget shortfalls in some academ ic departments has raised ques tions about the University’s com mitment to academic excellence. Frohnmayer addressed this is sue, pointing out that the vast ma jority of the funds allocated for the work on Autzen is from private do nations. He gave his “personal assur ance” that the academic disci plines at the core of the University are a focus of fund-raising efforts. emu craft center invites you to the 20t& eumual an art exhibit by Friday Jan 28th 5:00-7:00 pm EMU FIR ROOM UNIVERSITY OF OREGON craft center instructors & staff for more information: 346-4361 tuition, fees, books, and room GRADUATE FELLOWSHIPS AVAILABLE UP TO For information and applications call: James Madison Fellowships 1-800-525-6928 email: recogprog@act.org or visit our website http :/www.j amesmadison. com for the Student Combo Package at your local branch • Free T shirt offer ends 3/3-1/00. Student must open a checking account and or credit card to receive the T shirt Limit one per customer while supplies last at participating branches only. Credit card issued by Wells Fargo Bank Nevada, N.A. and is subject to qualification. Instant Cash & Check card is subject to qualification. •Q 2000 Wells Fargo Bank, N. A. Member FDIC _
