Donors

Carmichael to fund A&M real estate programs with $1 million

John R. Carmichael III ’73, of Dallas, recently pledged a $1 million estate gift to enhance real estate programs at Mays.

His gift establishes the John R. Carmichael III ’73 Real Estate Excellence Fund, which will support the faculty and administration of such programs as the Master’s of Land Economics and Real Estate, housed in the Department of Finance.

“John’s extraordinary generosity will have a marked impact on our ability to prepare future leaders for the real estate industry,” says Dean Jerry Strawser. “In addition to the financial impact of his gift, his own experiences and success provide a stellar example for our students as they begin their own careers.”

Carmichael is co-founder and president of Plano-based Westwood Residential, a multifamily housing investment, development and operations firm that oversees $500 million in assets from Texas to California. The 1973 finance graduate spent two decades in real estate management with Trammell Crow Company, eventually becoming partner for the West Coast region. He formed his own residential real estate business in 1992. He has two Aggie daughters: Taylor ’04 and Meredith ’06.

“I want to support the dean and program director as they advance real estate education,” Carmichael says. “We need to encourage some of the best people to get into real estate and to really be prepared to enter the field.”

— Sommer Hamilton

Students

Dalton is Big 12 Sportsman of the Year

Aggie second baseman and senior finance major Parker Dalton was named the Big 12 Sportsman of the Year for his extraordinary display of sportsmanship and community service.

Dalton and a co-winner from Missouri, Jodie Heinicka, were selected by a media panel. Dalton was key in welcoming six Tulane teams to A&M this fall. As president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, he organized Aggie athletes to serve as mentors for Tulane sportsmen.

He organized athletes to attend Tulane sporting events on the Texas A&M campus, and when the semester ended, Dalton initiated a “Final Wave Goodbye” party to celebrate the time all the student-athletes had spent together.

The Aggies' baseball team captain volunteered for the Toys 4 Tots drive that collected approximately 1,700 toys; AggiesCan which collected 150,000 cans and $3,000 for hurricane relief; and the Coat Drive that collected hundreds of coats for Twin City Mission in Bryan.

— Staff Reports

Centers

Setting the standard for global commerce

Nasbite How can the movers and shakers in international trade demonstrate their expertise? Before 2005, they might have only been able to point to experience in the field. But a new Global Business Professional credential developed by NASBITE International is changing the way business people evaluate a person’s international business knowledge.

Texas A&M’s Center for International Business Education and Research at Mays Business School has been strategically involved in a rigorous process to create the NASBITE Certified Global Business Professional credential—the first of its kind in the U.S. To become NASBITE CGBP certified, trade advisors, executives and students must pass an exam that covers international management, logistics, marketing and finance.

More than 100 people have taken the exam—from a broad array of backgrounds including engineering, agriculture, business and international studies—since it first debuted in March 2005 as the new standard for competency in global commerce.

“This credential certifies that you have a fundamental understanding of international trade and business,” says Kelly Jett Murphrey, director of the Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade housed at Mays.

Murphrey is past president of NASBITE International and a member of its executive committee who has been actively working to develop the credential since 2000. “In the international arena, there has not been a formal way to judge a person’s international business competency. This provides a way, and we are already seeing a growing interest to hire certified people in companies and in the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Agriculture.”

Academic and continuing education courses with content aligned with the NASBITE credential are emerging at universities across the country. Murphrey is one of those now crafting training materials: he’s developing four Web-based continuing education prep-courses for the global professional exam.

To learn more about the credential, visit http://cibs.tamu.edu/outreach/certificate.htm.

— Sommer Hamilton

Students

Yong accepted as Research Fellow

Yong Ying Xuan Yong, a senior accounting and finance major, has been accepted into the 2006-2007 Texas A&M University Undergraduate Research Fellows Program with a proposal titled “Capital Structure in China: Analyzing Pecking Order and Static Tradeoff.”

“I'm always up for a challenge,” Yong said. “The Undergraduate Research Fellows program is one of the most challenging experiences available at Texas A&M. It forces me to think critically.”

As a student leader for the Memorial Student Center, Yong traveled to China to participate in A&M’s China-U.S. relations conference last November. The trip exposed Yong to the research opportunities available. He sees significance in research because it allows students to contribute to scholarship while learning, he says.

Yong had internships during the past two summers with Deloitte & Touche and Merrill Lynch. These experiences helped shape his views on research. “I've always felt that there has been a divide between practitioners and academia,” Yong said. “Through research I can build a bridge and a better understanding of how the two are interrelated.”

The academic work Yong will complete with the research fellows is comparative to the amount of work required for a three-credit course. Yong, the 2006-2007 MSC president, was also awarded a $300 research account to use for research expenses during the fall.

— Ashley N. Coker

Former Students

Foster to join Texas Business Hall of Fame

Joe Foster with his wife Harriet

Joe B. Foster ’56, the founder, former chairman and CEO of Houston-based Newfield Exploration Co., was recently honored as both a businessman and a citizen.

Foster is one of five business leaders who will be inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame this fall. Inductees to the Hall of Fame are business leaders who are recognized for having made contributions in their field and community, as well as for providing financial support for business education. Foster will join the ranks of other major leaders such as Michael Dell, Ross Perot and former President George H.W. Bush.

Houston’s World Affairs Council also recently awarded Foster with the Jesse H. and Mary Gibbs Jones International Citizen Award 2006. The council is a citizen forum that through diversified programming presents all sides of current global issues, promotes better understanding of international relations and contributes to national and international policy debates.

Foster is a 2001 Mays Outstanding Alumnus. He is a member of the Dean’s Development Council and his contributions to Mays established the Joe B. Foster ’56 Chair, held by Distinguished Professor of Management Michael A. Hitt.

— Staff Reports

Students

Callaham earns Brown-Rudder Award

Caitlin Callaham, a management graduate from El Paso, was awarded the Brown Foundation-Earl Rudder Memorial Outstanding Student Award during Texas A&M’s commencement ceremonies in May. That makes her the second Mays student in a row to win the university’s highest honor.

Callaham graduated summa cum laude and was a member of Mays’ Fellows Program. She was the recipient of the four-year Terry Foundation Scholarship and was a member of the Golden Key National Honor Society and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars

“Caitlin Callaham is a study in approachability, integrity, courage and leadership,” said David Parrot, Texas A&M's associate vice president for student affairs and dean of student life. Parrot served with Callaham on the Student Rules and Regulations Committee. “She is an effective, capable leader because of her simple honesty and sterling character.”

The Brown-Rudder Award is presented to two graduating seniors each May. Matt Josefy ’04, BBA in accounting and master’s in finance, received the award in May 2005. To be eligible, a student must demonstrate outstanding academic achievement and leadership, be a member of an honor or professional society and have participated in extracurricular activities, including community service, and do so humbly and with dedication to Texas A&M and its principles.

After interning at Harry and David Operations Corp. in Medford, Oregon, last summer, Callaham returned in January as their stores recruiter. She has already been promoted to supervisor of recruitment and college relations.

— Staff Reports

Faculty

Boswell, Shaub lead professional groups

The newest faculty member at Mays has just been elected vice president (regions) for the American Accounting Association’s Accounting, Behavior and Organizations section. That’s Mike Shaub, who started June 1 as clinical professor of accounting and joins the school from St. Mary’s University.

Associate Professor of Management Wendy Boswell was also elected to service leadership with the Academy of Management. She will join the executive committee of the Human Resources Division of the Academy.

Committee membership puts Boswell in a leadership role with the oldest and largest scholarly management association in the world.

—Staff Reports

Former Students

Faubus named Accountant of the Year

A. Overton Faubus ’39 was named Alumnus 2006 Accountant of the Year in education by the Department of Accounting at the University of Arkansas’ Sam M. Walton College of Business. Faubus was recognized at the 33rd annual accounting banquet in April.

Faubus received his bachelor’s degree in agricultural administration from Texas A&M in 1939 and his master’s in accounting in 1957. He completed his PhD in accounting at the University of Arkansas in 1967.

Faubus currently resides in Abilene, where he was a partner in the firm of McCurdy, Faubus & Wright Accounting. He was also a professor emeritus at Abilene Christian University, where he was named head of the department of business in 1967. He retired in 1980 as dean emeritus but continued teaching in the college of business.

Faubus, 92, was unable to travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to accept the award but a video of him speaking was shared with the current students and faculty at the University of Arkansas.

— Staff Reports

Centers

Aggie 100 campaign nets marketing award

Houston-based marketing firm Hollinden won a prestigious Crystal Award from the Houston chapter of the American Marketing Association for its promotion of the inaugural 2005 Aggie 100, presented at Texas A&M in October.

Each year, the Crystal Awards honor the most innovative and effective marketing campaigns. The awards are one of the highest honors for marketing professionals.

The Best Integrated Public Relations—Non-Profit Campaign award recognized Hollinden for the branding, media relations and promotion of the 2005 Aggie 100. Aggie 100 received coverage in a dozen statewide newspapers, periodicals and TV stations, including a front-page business section story in the Austin American Statesman.

The promotion of the event resulted in an attendance of more than 625. “Hollinden’s efforts helped us achieve maximum visibility and attain recognition not only for the 100 honorees, but also for Mays Business School’s Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship,” said Richard Scruggs, CNVE director. “The results far exceeded our expectations and we continue to see the residual benefits of their promotional efforts.”

Leveraging the success of the 2005 event, Hollinden and CNVE are in the midst of promoting the 2006 Aggie 100. To learn more about the Aggie 100, visit www.aggie100.com.

Christine Hollinden, a Texas A&M MBA graduate of the class of 1987, is the founder and principal of Hollinden professional services marketing.

— Staff Reports

Former Students

Peters receives leadership award

Mervin Peters ’64, chairman of Wells Fargo’s Brazos Valley branches, was awarded the Research Valley Economic Development Leadership Award. The award is presented annually to an individual who has contributed to economic development in the Brazos Valley region of Texas.

Peters has been a banker for more than 40 years. He has served as president of the Twin City Endowment Inc., Brazos County Industrial Foundation, Bryan-College Station Economic Development Corporation and Brazos County Blinn College Advisory Committee.

— Staff Reports

Students

Students honored for scholarship, service

Malecha accepts her Mitte Scholar award from Mitte Foundation Director Cheryl Nolting and Dean Jerry Strawser.

Awards and honors piled up for Mays students by the time the spring semester ended in May.

The Roy F. and Joann Cole Mitte Foundation Circle of Excellence Awards were presented to an outstanding MBA and undergraduate student. Senior marketing major Lindsay M. Malecha was named a Mitte Scholar—she turned her college career into a unique program of international learning, studying abroad in South America and Asia, leading the Aggie International Ambassadors and co-founding the Fort Worth Sister Cities Global Alumni Program.

MBA candidate Rikke Philipoom was named a Mitte Fellow. Philipoom earned a BBA in accounting from Utah State University and interned at Bear Stearns during her MBA studies to increase her understanding of accounting and finance. She is now employed with FTI Consulting in Dallas.

In another honor, junior accounting major Amanda Sulak was named Mays’ Phi Kappa Phi outstanding junior for 2006. Phi Kappa Phi inducted more than 270 new members from Texas A&M this spring.

And from the marketing department’s Center for Retailing Studies, graduating marketing major Katie Gravely was chosen as the Leonard Berry Outstanding Retailing Graduate. Gravely headed into the JCPenney executive training program.

— Staff Reports