Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/56535
Headlines SHORT TAKES n Barry Z. Posner and Jim Kouzes have received the Distinguished Con- tribution to Workplace Learning and Performance Award from the American Society for Training & Development. Posner is dean of the Leavey School of Business as well as professor of leadership at Santa Clara University in California. Kouzes is an executive fellow at SCU's Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship. Together they have co-authored several books on leadership, includ- ing The Leadership Challenge. ASTD provides leadership to individuals, organizations, and society to achieve work-related competence, perfor- mance, and fulfillment. n Ming-Jer Chen has been chosen as vice presi- dent-elect of the Acad- emy of Management. Chen holds the Leslie E. Grayson Professor- ship and teaches strategy and com- petitive dynamics at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business in Charlottesville. Chen has served as associate editor of the Academy of Management Review and as chair of the Academy's Business Policy and Strategy divi- sion, among other positions. GRANTS AND DONATIONS n Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, has announced a $7.5 million commitment from Charles D. Fowler, and his wife, Charlotte, to support sustainable enterprise initiatives at the Weath- erhead School of Management. Charles Fowler, the president and CEO of Fairmount Minerals, is a 16 BizEd JULY/AUGUST 2009 member of Case's board of trust- ees. The Char and Chuck Fowler Fund will establish a chaired profes- sorship in sustainable enterprise, support research and the creation of teaching material, and fund the operation of The Fowler Center for Sustainable Enterprise. n Bentley University received a $400,000 grant from the Ernst & Young Foundation's University Fund to transform its accountancy and finance curriculum. The grant will fund new course materials, account- ing resource technology, and an accounting lab assistant program for high-achieving students. The award also includes a provision for match- ing funds to be sought from Bentley alumni at Ernst & Young, bringing the expected total value to $515,000. Oesterle McCartney n Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, has received a $1 million gift from William Oesterle to create the school's first endowed professorship in information technol- ogy. The Olga Oesterle England Professorship of Information Technology will be held by Gerry McCartney, Purdue's chief information officer. Oesterle, co-founder and CEO of Angie's List, is also a trustee of Purdue. OTHER NEWS n Omnicom Group, a global advertising and marketing services group, has given its support to the Wharton Interactive Media Initiative (WIMI). The initiative, launched by the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Phila- delphia, considers the challenges and benefits of marketing through the new social media. WIMI will serve as a matchmaker between academic researchers and global companies that want to analyze and use "customer-level data" obtained through digital media. n The Rotman School of Man- agement at the University of Toronto in Canada has launched a new three-year fellowship program that will allow up to eight new MBA graduates to pursue careers with organizations that focus on the environment and the community. A $750,000 gift from Sonia Labatt, a philanthropist and faculty mem- ber at the university's Centre for Environment, has established The Sonia and Arthur Labatt Fellow- ships in the Not-for-Profit Sector. A 12-month work placement will be funded by a fellowship from the Rotman School, which will be matched by a stipend from a regis- tered not-for-profit organization. n The University of North Carolina at Greensboro has established the North Carolina Entrepreneurship Center to expand connections in the state and region. The center will target seven areas: creative industries, family busi- ness, franchising, health care entre- preneurship, international entrepre- neurship, social entrepreneurship, and technology entrepreneurship. The center will create an early-stage "bridge" incubator for students, fac- ulty, and staff to develop businesses that later might reside in more tra- ditional incubators. The center will also help develop student entrepre- neurship groups at UNCG. n z TOM COGILL