Professor teaches economics in South Korea

Nancy Scannell, Associate Professor in the College of Business and Management, was invited by the President of Chonnam National University (CNU) in South Korea to teach Financial Economics for the University's inaugural "International Summer Semester."

CNU's initiative is intended to expose Korean students to international faculty. The photo features the two teaching assistants, Chul-hi and Youri, who Nancy was asked to train in the course of her teaching. While in South Korea, Nancy also facilitated a discussion about business ethics at the Gwangju International Center, a local community group.

Professor brings utility regulation focus to UIS through Ameren Professorship

By Courtney Westlake

It was purely an accident that Dr. Karl McDermott wound up as a leading expert on public utility economics and utility regulation.

McDermott was studying for his master’s degree at the University of Wyoming, pursuing a focus in money and banking.

“When one professor retired and the other one got sick, there was no money and banking anymore,” he said with a laugh. “So I ended up taking public utility economics as a placeholder and wrote my master’s thesis on it. Sometimes, you just find something when you weren’t looking for it.”

In April 2008, McDermott arrived at UIS to become the new Ameren Endowed Professor in Business and Government, a professorship that is housed in the College of Business and Management. Through his Ameren professorship, McDermott’s duties include teaching, conducting research and facilitating lectures and seminars for corporate, political and civic leaders.

Prior to being at UIS, McDermott served in numerous roles within the field of public utility economics, including being a commissioner at the Illinois Commerce Commission under Governor Jim Edgar, founding the Center for Regulatory Studies at ISU and traveling the world as a regulation consultant.

“The Ameren professorship was exciting,” he said. “I had been a consultant working in court cases and being cross-examined, and while it was interesting, I missed teaching. With the opportunity to have this endowed chair and have a chance to create a regulatory institution that could do research and educational programs, that seemed like the right thing to do. So I was willing to give up life as a consultant and traveling around the world; now I can help students get into that world, and that’s exciting.”

Through funds provided by the Ameren professorship, McDermott is planning to hire a research assistant this summer, as well as travel around the region to promote the public utility economics focus at UIS.

“One of the things I’m trying to do is reach out to the public utility community, both companies and regulators, and let them know that we’re in the market and turning out students,” he said.

McDermott is currently in the process of creating the Center for Business and Regulation at UIS within the College, he said, which is a major step for UIS’ role in the field of utility economics.

“It’s a place where I hope we can get research money and help try to solve some of the public policy problems,” McDermott said. “It will also hopefully be part of the MBA program, so we’re hoping to have a sequence in regulation so students can get a concentration in regulation or even a certificate.”

One of the first items on the list for the Center for Business and Regulation will be to host the American Gas Association annual meeting in Chicago this summer.

“I’ll be teaching some of the classes, and I’m hoping that we can use this to bring some students up there and introduce them to different people and help them with job prospects, so it has a lot of different angles,” McDermott said.

“We need more students who are interested in regulation,” he added. “This is a potential field for advancing their careers. Regulation can involve all aspects of management, and not just management but also public affairs, public policy, history and other aspects. Hopefully we can get a program up and running and turn out some students. The more we do that, the more utilities and government agencies will come looking for us to supply them with people for jobs.”

McDermott is currently teaching an ECCE (Engaged Citizenship Common Experience) class – Accounting 454 - on American economy and regulation’s role in the American economy.

“Through this class, we’re trying to introduce our students to a wide range of ways in which regulations actually impact our lives,” he said. “I tell students ‘it's from the cradle to the grave - your pediatrician is regulated all the way to your undertaker, and almost everything in between.’ There are a lot of ideas that can pop out and a lot of job opportunities. In today’s economy, where what we’ve seen is the potential failure of a free market process that didn’t have enough regulations to kind of reign it in, this all of a sudden makes the idea of studying regulations that much more important for the students. So they may see this as way of having job opportunities, and I’d like to encourage that.”

Professor delivers finance seminar in Mexico

Dr. Nancy Scannell, associate professor in the College of Business and Management at UIS, was invited to deliver a finance seminar in January 2009 to students at the Tecnológico de Monterrey Chihuahua campus in Mexico in collaboration with a designated co-professor as part of the campus' initiative to internationalize its curriculum.

While in Chihuahua, Nancy also met with students at nearby University Autonomy de Chihuahua to share information about UIS and to discuss the financing university studies in the U.S. Nancy´s presentation was organized by Mtra. Silvia Muñiz Baeza, head of the Office of Scholarships & Programs abroad for the Secretary of Education of Culture of Chihuahua Government. Nancy wishes to thank Rick Lane, director of the Office of International Student Services at UIS and Lori Giordano, UIS Admissions, for facilitating the international student recruitment endeavor.

Speaker discusses financial innovations

By Courtney Westlake

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Dr. William Poole, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, spoke to campus and community members on Thursday evening, March 6, on the topic of "Financial Innovation: Engine of Growth or Source of Instability?" in Brookens Auditorium. Poole's presentation was part of the ECCE (Engaged Citizenship Common Experience) Speakers Series at UIS.

The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is one of 12 regional Reserve banks, serving the Eighth Federal Reserve District. Regional Reserve banks, along with the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., constitute the Federal Reserve System.

In his current position with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Poole directs the activities of the Bank's head office in St. Louis, as well as its three branches in Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee. He also represents the bank on the Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Reserve's chief monetary policymaking body.

"The markets, as we're all aware, have been pretty upset," Poole said during his presentation. "Distress in home mortgage markets, falling new home construction and falling home prices in many areas have been a focal point in the outlook for the U.S. economy for at least the past nine months."

There is "nothing fundamentally new" about the recent subprime mortgage "debacle," Poole said. There are many examples in history of innovations that led to instability, at least initially, he said, but in general, economists agree than financial innovation plays a big role in economic growth, such as the long-term amortizing mortgage, money market mutual funds and credit cards.

"Financial markets are always innovating," Poole said. "Some innovations, such as credit cards, reflect technological advances. Clearly some people borrow more than they can afford. Credit cards, however, like many other payments and credit innovations, have lowered transaction costs, improved resource allocation and thus contributed to economic growth."

Subprime mortgage lending took off in the 1990s, but default rates on subprime mortgages began to rise in 2006, when the growth in house prices began to slow down, Poole said. He claims there are five major mistakes that led to the "meltdown," with plenty of blame to go around.

But there are lessons to be learned from this occurrence and other cases of instability, he said.

"For the individual or the firm, the lessons are clear: educate yourself about the potential risks of any investment or financial transaction, understand the incentives of counterparties in those transactions and avoid putting at risk money you cannot afford to lose," he said.

Above all, the importance of financial innovation in promoting economic growth shouldn't be forgotten, Poole emphasized.

"Successful financial innovations - those that meet the market test over the long term - promote the efficient allocation of capital and contribute to raising our standard of living," he said.

Professor Engages Students with Theatrical Teaching Style

By Courtney Westlake

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Dr. Richard Judd started out as a young man who wanted to sing classical music, but he soon realized that few people can have a career in opera, so he switched to musical comedy and became a professional actor and singer in the 1960s.

Eventually, though, Judd shifted to a new audience.

With a Ph.D. in Business focused on business strategy, Judd has been a writer, researcher and professor at UIS for the past 28 years, engaging his students with his clever personality and interactive teaching style in the College of Business and Management.

Over his tenure here, Judd has taught subjects ranging from entrepreneurship, business strategy, business and public policy, franchising and marketing. He also teaches a course called Business Perspectives, which is the first course in UIS' MBA program. The class discusses how to analyze a firm and examines key issues business leaders will face in the next ten years.

"We want you, when you move into your career, to move beyond your biases and come to: what is the philosophic point, as I manage and own and make a decision that will have an impact, where I can stand firm?" he said.

Judd has published three different books: one on business strategy, an award-winning book on small business in a regulated economy and the first and only textbook on franchising, which is now in its fourth edition.

He also serves as the director of the UIS Center for Entrepreneurship, which was launched in January 2005 as part of the Illinois Entrepreneurship Network along with twelve other centers in the state. Judd was also the director of the center when it began originally in 1983.

"(Business leaders and entrepreneurs) come in and talk; we see what the center can do for you, whether it be workshops, counseling and developing, guidance to another source," Judd said.

Judd often looks over finances of businesses confidentially and make recommendations about next step. Many who come to the center are also referred to the Small Business Development Center, located downtown. He is thrilled with the Center for Entrepreneurship, he said, and hopes to remain involved after retirement at the end of the school year.

"I want the center to become more intimately involved in the local business community, and all around central Illinois, not just in Springfield. And my personal goals include doing more fishing," he joked.

For students attending UIS, Judd encouraged students to immerse themselves in the opportunity they have been given.

"Why would you ever come to school? You come to school to learn arts and develop habits.
You come here to learn to think critically; you come here for self-examination," he said.
"You come to a good school for one thing: self-knowledge. So you know who you are when you leave much better than when you came."

Judd said he is more than pleased with the growth and continuing excellence of the College of Business and Management over the years.

"We've made dramatic changes in our programming here. The beauty is, after some long and hard work, we are now an accredited association, one of a couple hundred in the country that are accredited nationally and internationally for what we do as a business school," he said. "We've come a long way, and we've done a good job, frankly. The strides made here have been virtually incredible."

Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour Motivates UIS Students

By Courtney Westlake

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Sheena Lindahl clearly remembers leaving for college with one half of her first semester paid for and $30 in her pocket. But she was determined to make it, and through ambition, action and some good fortune along the way, found a job and earned her way through school.

Lindahl is now one of the co-founders, along with Michael Simmons, of Extreme Entrepreneurship Education and authors of The Student Success Manifesto and All or Nothing, Now or Never. The pair is 2005 graduates of New York University and now travel the United States as part of the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour.

The Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour made a stop on Wednesday afternoon, October 2, at UIS while visiting colleges nationwide to inspire students to dream big and take action.

"There are a lot of reasons that having a vision is important," Simmons told the crowd on Wednesday. "Even though it's way in the future, what you want to accomplish in your life and the legacy you want to leave, it immediately starts guiding your decisions now."

The tour also brings together young entrepreneurial speakers who have made, earned and sold their company for millions and made a huge impact before 25. UIS’ panel of speakers included Joe Kim of Springfield’s Design Ideas, Michelle Tjelmeland of e-Websmart in Springfield and Mary Byers, a local author and motivational speaker.

"Act like the person you want to be," Byers advised the audience during the panel presentation. "If you want to be a successsful CEO, you need to dress like one, you need to act like one, you need to respond to phone calls like one, you need to be a continuous student like one. Whatever it is you want to be, ask yourself how does this person act, and then act that way, and you'll be successful."

Throughout the afternoon and evening, booths were set up in the Lincoln Residence Hall entry from a variety of vendors around the area, including the UIS College of Business and Management, Career Development Center, and Center for Entrepreneurship, SCORE, LLCC Small Business Development Center, State Farm Insurance, Illinois Entrepreneurship Network, e-Websmart, Chamber of Commerce Young Springfield Professionals Network and Design Ideas.

Several workshops, speed networking and an “inspirational” keynote introduction were also offered as part of the tour’s stop. During the Dream Action workshop, participants were asked to write down their goals in life, how they might accomplish those and what obstacles they might face, and were left with the challenge of taking action on their goals.

"If you're really committed to a vision, and you're willing to take action steps, you'll have all of the resources - like research, marketing, networking - available to you," Lindahl said. "It sounds so simplistic: to take action. But if you're taking action on your vision, you can't go wrong."