The past three years in the College of Business Administration have been exhilarating and marked by significant accomplishments. Using the best tenets of strategic planning, the faculty have reviewed all aspects of how we prepare our students for successful business careers. We adopted new mission, vision and purpose statements to guide us. We cultivated our stakeholders and benchmarked what we want our students to learn against what the business community's needs are now and in the future. Everything we learned reaffirms our belief that the goal of quality professional education is graduates who are well versed in the basic principles of business and equally well prepared to apply those principles to tomorrow's challenges.

Throughout the College, everyone is dedicated to maintaining our reputation as providing the finest professional education. Nowhere is this spirit more evident than in our Management Department. In a very short time the Management Department has coalesced into a team that works well together. They are dedicated to helping students learn and to advancing our knowledge of business. They have proved the adage that working collectively beats a collection of workers every time.

A major theme of the Management Department is working with the business community. As the College approaches its 50th anniversary, all of us -- faculty, staff, students, alumni and the business community -- must work together. In partnership with you, we can assure a bright future. Your support is essential and we have many opportunities for you to help. If I have not yet had the chance to meet you, I hope to soon. So many good things are happening, and I really would enjoy the opportunity to recruit you to our cause.

I know you join me in a great sense of pride in what the Management Department has accomplished. I am delighted to be associated with so many fine teachers and business researchers.