Happy New Year! My 300^th day on the job is January 8, 2007 and, as you will see, the last 100 days have been very productive for the College.

New Strategic Plan Finished!

Perhaps the most important news is that we have a new vision, mission statement, and core values, and we are ready to implement a new strategic plan.

Our New Vision:

To be a preeminent College of Business in the areas of teaching, research, and service.

Our New Mission:

To provide high quality, innovative instruction that prepares, challenges, and inspires students to shape the future of business; to be an international thought leader by producing high quality scholarly research and publishing in top tier journals; to establish and foster relationships with our alumni, the business community and our other stakeholders; to help the University fulfill its mission and achieve its vision.

Our Core Values:

• We Choose Integrity
• We Choose Respect
• We Choose Innovation
• We Choose Leadership
• We Choose Excellence

We will aggressively pursue this new vision over the next five years. This bold plan was developed with the help and work of many stakeholders. A faculty strategic planning committee participated in a focus group session as well as met bimonthly for over two months. Other focus group sessions were held with human resource professionals, graduate students, alumni, faculty members and the COB Board of Governors. Additionally, 400 surveys were emailed to undergraduate students, alumni, faculty, staff and the business community. A special thanks to all of you who took the time to participate. I want to give a special thanks to CNL Financial Group, Inc., for providing staff support as well as for providing the consulting group, Keystone Alliance, to facilitate this project. The College is excited about the new opportunities ahead of us.

College News and Rankings

• BusinessWeek has given our undergraduate business program a ranking of 25th among public institutions. Five unique measures were used in the rankings, including: surveying over 100,000 business majors at top schools; a poll of undergraduate recruiters; starting salaries for graduates; number of students each institution sent to top MBA programs; and an academic-quality score which included measuring SAT scores, faculty-student ratios, letter grades on teaching quality, facilities and services, and job placement based on the student survey.
• Our undergraduate accounting program is ranked 25th and our graduate accounting program 24th among public and private institutions. These rankings are compiled based on a survey of accounting professors throughout the country and were published in the October 30, 2006 Public Accounting Report. This is the first time our graduate program has been ranked.
• The 12th annual Real Estate Trends & Networking Conference was held on October 19-20, 2006. The event was kicked-off with ESPN's Lee Corso, and featured CEOs Shelley Broader, SweetBay Supermarket; Ed Burr, LandMar Group, LLC; Bruce Mosler, Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.; Peter Rummell, St. Joe Company; and Duane Stiller, Woolbright Development, Inc. This year over 625 participants attended the sold out event.
• During fall semester, the following individuals made presentations in conjunction with the SunTrust Visiting Professor Speaker Series: Dr. Richard J. Rosen, senior economist and economic advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago; Dr. Steve Perfect, senior director of Option Trading at Florida Power and Light Energy Power Marketing, Inc.; Dr. Utpal Bhattacharya, James R. Hodge Eminent Scholar in Finance and associate professor at Kelley School of Business, Indiana University; and Dr. Stephen Figlewski, professor and Yamaichi Faculty Fellow of Finance at Stern College of Business, New York University. Check our web site for spring semester presenters.
• The Marketing Department's Distinguished Scholar Series brought Dr. O.C. Ferrell and Dr. Linda Ferrell to the College of Business for discussions on business ethics and how to incorporate the topic into our curriculum.
• In the last Dean's Brief, I inadvertently left out two of our new faculty members so let me introduce them now. Joining our marketing faculty as assistant professors are Dr. Jeff Smith, ABD, University of South Carolina, and Dr. Ruby Lee, Ph.D., Washington State University. Dr. Smith's expertise is in service operations and Dr. Lee's expertise is in international business. Dr. Lee was previously a faculty member at the University of Las Vegas. Welcome to both these new faculty members!
• William (Bill) Woodyard, J.D., associate in business law and real estate, received the Ross Oglesby Award from the student-run Garnet and Gold Key Honorary Society--FSU's oldest leadership organization. This award "goes to an FSU faculty or staff member who has, for 10 years or more, exemplified the highest order of integrity, service and commitment to students and the university."
• JM Family Enterprises, Inc., treated the JMI staff; JMI Board; Entrepreneurial Showcase winners, Grant and Raymond Capelouto - Capelouto Termite & Pest Control, David Melvin - David H. Melvin, Inc., and Mike Vasilinda - Mike Vasilinda Productions, Inc.; and Jim Moran student scholars to a night aboard the beautiful yacht, Gallant Lady. We all had a spectacular time.
• General Motors, Chevrolet Division, has selected the FSU College of Business as the number one project in the Scholastic Achievement Award competition. The students presented their award winning project in Atlanta in December to executives and to Chevrolet's advertising and promotion companies. Also, the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) took 4th place in their competition. Congratulations to the students and faculty advisor, John Brennan.

Alumni Update

Jeff Rohr, CFO of Deloitte & Touche, USA LLP and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, gave the Charles A. Bruning Distinguished Speaker Series lecture on October 19, 2006. The title of his presentation was "The Serious Pursuit of Good Luck" and can be downloaded off our web site.

These past 100 days, I met alumni and friends in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Tampa, Thomasville, Georgia, Orlando, San Francisco, Napa Valley and New York City. Tim and Jacque Falzone hosted a joint business/law alumni reception at their home in Pensacola and Tim and Paula Gaskin hosted a "Meet the Dean" reception at their home in Ponte Vedra. We have also been meeting with groups of business women to discuss the possibility of a "Women in Business" initiative in the College. These luncheon meetings have been hosted by Cynthia Phipps and Jamie West. I also had the opportunity to share the College's message with the Tallahassee Kiwanis Club and the law firm of Holland & Knight where my host was Morris Miller. Over the last 100 days, I have met 119 alumni and friends. To date, I have now met with over 365 alumni and friends! I am well on my way towards meeting 400 in the first year. Thanks to you all.

Two of our undergraduate students, Andrew Panos, accounting major, and Joevania Alexandre, management major, were selected to attend the U.S. Military Academy (West Point), National Conference on Ethics in America. Management doctoral student Jim Summers represented the faculty. Our students joined with other students and faculty from more than 60 universities across the country to discuss ethics and leadership. Jill Ashton and I have had the opportunity to visit West Point as guests of the new superintendent, Lt. General Franklin "Buster" Hagenbeck. General Hagenbeck received his master's degree in the College of Education from FSU several years ago. These visits are aimed at enhancing our new ethical leadership center and in enhancing our ethical leadership curriculum. We look forward to continuing dialogue.

Board Meetings

Alumni and friends continue to give of their time and money to ensure the success of the College and we appreciate their support. This past fall, the HR Center Board met on October 13, 2006 and the Accounting Advisory Board met on October 20, 2006. The College of Business Board of Governors met at the College on November 4, 2006. New members, Andrew Diaz, law partner of Gaylord, Merlin, Ludovici, Diaz & Bain; Cliff Hinkle, Chairman & CEO of Flagler Holdings, Inc.; Robert Mang, Chairman & CEO of MRC; and Will Rose, Vice-President of Marketing and Sales of Idimension, Inc. have joined the Board. We express our gratitude to those members who are rotating off the Board but have served the College well over the years. Thanks to Sara Connell Arnette, Marshall Cohn, Nick Riso, David Skup, Jim Watkins, Ken Wilson and Jimmy Woodward.

Comings and Goings

We said goodbye to our first college alumni director, Rebecca Bonfanti. Rebecca left the College at the end of November to practice law. We have hired a new alumni director, Leslie Rutter, who will begin her duties on January 8th. We are excited to have Leslie join our staff. She will be responsible for all alumni related activities including providing staff support for the College's Board of Governors, working with our new Student Leadership Council, monitoring the alumni web site and working with me to continue our alumni outreach programs. Mark Roof will also be joining the development team as our new annual giving development officer. Please join me in welcoming these individuals to the College.

Community Service

The College is working very hard to engage the students, faculty and staff in community service projects. For example, all the student groups and some of the faculty and staff participated in this year's Heart Walk. Out of 100 teams, the College of Business was third in most money raised. Dr. Michael Hartline's MBA Marketing Strategy Course chose the Guardian Ad Litem program for its project and our MBA students and staff sent holiday packages to one of our MBA students serving in Iraq and members of his unit. Also, I am the current co-chair of the FSU United Way campaign and several student teams chose the United Way as their project in Pat Pallentino's Professional Selling class. Many of the faculty and staff and several retirees have donated to the United Way this year. Further, the Student Advising Center spearheaded an effort to collect Christmas toys in the "Toys for Tots" Campaign.

Development Update

• LandMar Group Endowed Fund was established to provide continuing financial support for the real estate program initiatives.
• Florida State Real Estate Network, Inc. Endowed Fund was established to provide continuing financial support for the real estate program initiatives.
• Evan D. Jennings Executive Speaker Series Endowment was established to provide continuing financial support for the Evan D. Jennings Executive Speaker Series which brings national real estate leaders to campus to speak with students each spring semester.
• Francis J. Nardozza Endowed Scholars Fund was established to provide continuing financial support for Nardozza Fellows and their research.
• The Katie Froeschle Memorial Golf Tournament was held Oct. 6, 2006 in Tampa to raise scholarship funds for graduate and undergraduate students in the RMI program. The tournament organizers, Randy Dumm and Jeff Froeschle, met their goal of raising funds to reach the $100,000 level so that it is eligible for state matching funds.
• Two students who completed internships with the Department of Management Services' State Purchasing in the Strategic Sourcing Area were awarded scholarships by the Tallahassee Area Chapter of the National Institute for Government Purchasing (NIGP).
• The Professional Insurance Agents of Florida have established an endowment to support the William T. Hold, Ph.D., CIC, CPCU, CLU/PIA Scholarship for undergraduate and graduate students in Risk Management and Insurance.
• Ocean Waters, Inc., has established a scholarship endowment for our Hospitality students.
• Adrienne Kelley has established a Fund for Excellence in Real Estate.

A special thanks to all of you for your generosity and willingness to provide significant financial support to the College. It is very much appreciated. We continue to raise funds for a number of other scholarships, including scholarships honoring Robert Turner, Homer Black, and Kim Winter Cass. If you are interested in contributing to these funds or establishing one of your own, please visit our web page.

Calendar of Upcoming Events

Women & IT Symposium, Jan. 25, 2007
Dedman School of Hospitality Career Fair, Jan. 31, 2007
Insurance Days 2007, Feb. 21-23, 2007
College Board of Governors Spring Meeting, April 20, 2007
College of Business Hall of Fame, April 21, 2006 (Ted Cecala, Randy Smith and Jeff Rohr, recipients)
FSU in New York, May 4-7, 2006

Happy New Year to you all-