Troy’s Blog 

I know, I know…I’m the worst blogger ever! I haven’t written a post in quite a long time and I apologize for that. There has been a lot going on and I don’t even know how to capture it all. So, in an effort to save time and hit all the high points, we’ll experiment with bullets:

• Two Friday’s ago (April 25) we had our GBSA Spring Social Event at rBar. It was another huge success - we had 181 current, new, and past students and their guest in attendance. Special thanks to my friends Corey and Leigh-Anne at rBar for all their assistance (and to Kyle, AJ, and Jason). Oh, thanks also to fellow blogger, Rob Boyle who provided entertainment for the event - he’s amazing!
• At the GBSA Spring Social, I found out from new students that people DO read my blog and it is the goal of the girls in the new in-coming one-year class to get my blog exposed to a wider audience by the time they graduate! Well, we will see where that takes us - I guess I’m up for the challenge!
• PIPPIN rehearsals are over. The show opened this past weekend at Kirkwood Theatre Guild and a number of SLU staff and students have come out to support me. It’s been a fun show and I get to have a lot of fun with my role as the Leading Player - four more shows to go this weekend (Thursday, Friday, and TWO shows on Saturday - that is going to kill me). It’s nice to have a few days off - tonight was my first night of not performing the show since last Sunday night!
• I auditioned for another musical two weekends ago - BIG: THE MUSICAL, based on the 1988 Tom Hanks movie. I got the lead and will be playing Josh Baskin (the Tom Hanks role) at the end of July and beginning of August. I am really excited about this role and can’t wait to begin rehearsals at the end of May. Watch for more information - this is such a fun show - they are even building a piano for me to dance on that lights up!
• As of today, we have our largest in-coming one-year MBA class - ever! We are at 40+ which is amazing! We have a great class and it looks like we are going to end-up with more women than men - which is unheard of in MBA programs. On Thursday (May 8th) Senior Associate Dean, Tom Miller, and I will be announcing the winner of this year’s $25,000 scholarship recipient on the air at 8:10 a.m. on 97.1 FM.
• This week is finals week for Graduate Business Students - I can’t believe the year is almost over and we are getting ready for graduation! The students have all been studying very hard, although, no one is studying harder than my law school friends - it seems like they save it all up for the last few weeks of school because thier lives depend on their final grades.
• I’m getting ready for the one-year MBA new student orientation that takes place the last week of May. This year we have secured a special guest - Fr. Biondi will be joining the new students at a lunch during orientation. We will also be taking the students to the new arena and giving them a tour as well as putting them through a quantitative boot camp of sorts! It should be a fun week for all.
• Many of you know that I am now the Chair (or president) of the Staff Advisory Committee at the University. It’s a big role and a huge commitment - my first meeting as chair is this Thursday and Fr. Biondi will be our special guest speaker. All staff of the University are encouraged to attend, and from what I have heard - it will be highly attended. If you have specific questions about this or getting involved, contact me at any time.

Okay, so my bullet points got a little long winded - which tells me I need to be posting more. I will close this post with a picture that tells a hundred stories - one from the GBSA Spring Social  clearly showing that my arm isn’t nearly as big as Chris’ or Adam’s, but I can pretend.

GBSA sponsored a “Night with the Blues” on Saturday, March 29, in which approximately 50 students and guests enjoyed the Blues vs. Blackhawks game (we lost) in the privacy of a suite that included food and drink. The night was a great success and although the Blues lost, the students and their guest seemed to greatly enjoy themselves. One student I talked to told me how cool it is that GBSA sponsors stuff like this throughout the year because it gives students an opportunity to know one another outside the classroom setting. In fact, a lot of our graduate business students develop friendships in our program that carry on even after graduation.

The next GBSA event is the Spring Social at rBar on Friday, April 25 - 200+ people have already RSVP’d to attend this, what has quickly become known as our most anticipated and largely attended event of the year.

As for a Pippin rehearsal update, things are going well, but I am in lots of pain. The dance in the show is very physical, and I have bruises all over - my knees, my elbows, my legs, my back - everywhere. Opening night is a little over two weeks away and I am in panic mode. There is so much for me to remember - choreography, lines, music, staging, etc. - and I feel like I can’t remember any of it. I know it will eventually come, but I have realized that there is not one moment in the show when I can stop thinking. In fact, I am practically on-stage the entire show, which leaves me little time to review things off stage before coming on.

Last night was our first night in the theatre (we have been rehearsing in a rehearsal hall), so we spent the evening spacing and re-staging all the musical numbers. I realized I really need to make sure I am going over stuff outside of rehearsal so I don’t forget it - like my lines. It will all come together, though, I have no doubt - I just need to work through the pain and keep focused at rehearsals.

The 3rd Annual John Cook School of Business Service Day was a success! Over 200 students, faculty, and staff ended-up painting, cleaning, planting, etc. at the Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls club last Friday, March 28.

I was especially impressed with four of my professional graduate business students who took time-off from their jobs to help with this huge project (pictured above): Brad Collier, Chad Predmore, Bob Madigan, (me), and Jenn Harp. *Tim Hurley, undergraduate advisor and part-time MBA student also participated in the event; however, he was not on our team, thus not in our picture. Team I members only (we were very strict about this)! Click here to view more pictures from the event.

For my avid blog readers (and apparently there are many of you), you know that I always have random lists of things I like to mention - and this is going to be another one of those entries…

Interviews
We have been conducting interviews for our new one-year MBA class non-stop over the past few months, but this week has been especially abundant. We are building quite the class and I am looking forward to the new class starting in May (while I will still miss the current full-time MBA students leaving in May). This year’s class brings a wide-variety of experience and is the most diverse class we have ever had. We have students from Dubai, India, Columbia, Bulgaria, China, as well as, from states across the country. It’s has also been an interesting year, as the number of women currently outweigh the number of men (a first, since I have been at the University). And the interviews are not over…

Service Day
The John Cook School of Business Service Day is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. Approximately 350 business students (both undergraduate and graduate) will be participating at Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club (not far from the University) - they will be doing activities such as: painting, washing walls, landscaping, and playing with kids. This is the 3rd annual JCSB Service Day and we are all looking forward to it. Look for pictures on fellow blogger Rob Boyle’s blog in the coming weeks!

Performing
Well, I have decided to get back into performing. Prior to getting my MBA I did a lot of performing in musicals around the St. Louis Area - but haven’t done many as of late. About two weeks ago, I auditioned for Kirkwood Theatre Guild’s May musical -Pippin. I have always wanted to play the role of the Leading Player in that show (Ben Vereen originated it on Broadway), and I got the part! Rehearsals started last week, so I am spending my evenings singing, dancing, and memorizing lines. It’s still too early to tell how the end result will be, but it’s been fun to get back into it. I’ll keep you posted, and maybe even post some rehearsal photos…we’ll see about that, though.

Alright, that’s all for now…

Okay, it’s Friday (finally) and I have two brief very different things to discuss that are not related at all, so bare with me…here is the first one:

Spring is finally here - I think! For the past three days I haven’t had to wear my winter coat into work, so that’s a good sign. However, the weather guys and gals are predicting snow flurries tomorrow…not happy about that. Seriously, can we be done with the snow already?!

With the arrival of spring also comes spring break. The undergraduate students are finishing-up mid-terms today and will be heading off to their spring break destinations. Many of them are opting for service projects over the week this year, as opposed to the traditional Mexico and Florida destinations. That really speaks volumes about the student body at SLU - they are very service oriented individuals and look for ways to help others on a consistent basis.

Alright, here is number two:

As part of my job, I sit on a committee that interviews all of our one-year MBA students seeking admission into the program. This is the final phase of the interview, and for me, really gives me insight into the prospective students and how they would fit into our program and with their future classmates (potentially). 95% of our applicants are able to come in-person for these interviews; however, there are some that simply cannot do that because they are currently residing in other countries, and for them we do phone interviews.

Last week, this happened to be the case, as we were interviewing a young woman from India. Obviously, we weren’t going to ask her to come in for an interview, so we set-up a conference call. I had to join the call late because I was in another meeting. When I introduced myself, the young woman on the phone immediately told me she knew who I was from reading my blog and proceeded to ask me how the fashion show went the week prior! I was floored and really very excited about this. When I began this blog project six months ago or so, I had no idea what the impact would be. But now, to hear that it has reached one of our prospective students in India, it is amazing and it shows that this new initiative is doing exactly what it set out to do. I’m known in India and I didn’t even know it! It was really a great story that I have shared with many people and I hope we continue to reach people all over the world with these blogs - it’s a constant reminder that I always need to watch what I write because I don’t know who could be reading!

As a side note, we offered the student a spot in our new one-year MBA class and I am hoping she makes the decision to come here - we would really love to have her.

A number of people have asked me for an update on the Dress For Success Fashion Show last week, so here’s my update: it was a success! The Career Resources Center has gotten a lot of very positive feedback about the event and I could not have been more proud of the students and faculty that modeled in the show. They put up with my crazy ideas and the end result was really great - a number people were surprise as to how well rehearsed it all was and how smoothly the whole event ran. The students had a lot of fun and I know a lot of them are looking forward to participating again next year. In addition, the employer panel following the fashion show was very well received and a lot of good tips were offered. I have a number of ideas to make it even better next year, and if you were at the show, please feel free to share any of your suggestions with me as well.

Click here to see pictures.

Off the top of my head, though, I do have one VERY important suggestion: I need a suit that is perhaps a size larger. Because I’m fat now (no, really I am)…the suit that Banana Republic had me wear was a bit on the ’snug’ side. Of course, I made the mistake and buttoned my suit jacket thinking it would make me look skinnier, when all it did was make me look ridiculous (you’ll see in the pictures). My full-time MBA students have been making fun of me all week telling me they were waiting for one of my buttons to pop-off and hit them, and one student wanted to know if I got my suit from the “Too Small Suit Jacket Shop”. No, I did not…well, maybe I did. At any rate, I should have worn my own suit…at least they fit me properly.

This Thursday, February 28, the Career Resources Center in association with BSGA and GBSA are sponsoring a “Dress For Success” fashion show in the business school atrium from 4 to 6 p.m. From 4 to 4:30 p.m., there will be networking during a reception, and the official fashion show will begin at 4:30 p.m. followed by a panel answering questions on business professional attire and what to do in the workplace.

Before I get into the details of the fashion show, I need to share a funny story - or at least I thought it was funny. Early last week, I was still looking for some students to be models in the fashion show. As a result, I sent an email to all graduate business students asking for volunteers…the theme of this year’s show is ‘Bringing Dressy Back’, so in the body of my email and in the subject line, I typed ‘Help Bring Dressy Back’. About five minutes after I sent the email, Jenn (who works in my office) came to me and said, “uh, Troy…you just sent out an email to the student body asking them if they’d like to bring SEXY back!” Needless to say, I got a number of interesting emails back from the students and was throughly embarrassed!

Anyway…the fashion show is going to be quite the event this year - we have 30 models walking a 40-foot runway in the atrium of the business school. They’ll be walking to songs ranging from “Glamorous” to “Toxic” and everything in between, while I am the guest Master of Ceremonies and discuss their outfits as well as moderate the discussion following the show.

In addition, the show has been choreographed by me and Cindy Addenbrook (part-time MBA student) and it has turned into a flashy production. I think the students are really proud of it (we had a rehearsal this past Saturday). So, if you’re free this Thursday, please come-by the business school and check it out - the event is FREE and all are welcome. If you have any questions about the event, contact the Career Resources Center at 314-977-3824. See you Thursday!

This morning there was a breakfast to recognize six members of the University community (Tim Hercules, Sharon Mattingly, Christy McFarland, Dustin Montgomery, Kim Scharringhausen, and myself) who ‘demonstrate professionalism and behavior consistent with the University’s Guiding Principles and whose accomplishments further the mission of Saint Louis University’. The program, known as SLUStars, is a way to showcase employees who are performing beyond normal expectations to make a positive impact on the University community.

To my surprise, I was one of those six employees selected to receive such an honor this morning from the Human Resources Director, Gigi Henson, and Provost Joe Weixlmann. The breakfast and ceremony were held at Bannister House and it was very nice. Father Frank Reale opened the breakfast with a invocation and it was followed by the honoring of the SLUStar recipients.

I post this on my blog to encourage staff members of Saint Louis University to nominate outstanding employees as SLUStars - nomination forms can be obtain by contacting the SLUStars chair: Danielle Blount (dblount@slu.edu or 314-977-2266). Don’t let someone’s contributions to the University go unnoticed!

Two weeks ago, the Graduate Business Programs office sponsored the Sunday, January 20 Billiken Basketball game vs. Temple Owls. As part of our sponsorship, we distributed 2500 ‘fan scrolls’ to those in attendance. A ‘fan scroll’ is like a scroll, only horizontal. On one side it had ‘GO SLU’ and a Billiken, and on the other said it had Graduate Business Programs contact information - I have to admit, they were pretty cool. Fans were thrilled to get them, although, I do have to share a funny story about them, which totally sidetracks the direction I was going with this, but it’s worth it…trust me.

A woman came-up to Jenn (a student services associate in my office) as she was handing them out and pulled her aside and asked, “Who’s responsible for deciding what is given out at the games?” Jenn replied, “Well, we’re sponsoring the game, so we choose them…why?”. The woman (in a very upset tone) responded, “I have been going to these games for 20 years and have been trying to get Billiken fans to cheer and clap and these (pointing at Jenn with the scroll) are completely defeating the purpose. I think they’re stupid!” That was followed by her throwing the fan scroll in the box and storming off. What a riot! There were 10,000 people in attendance at that game, and only 2500 got ‘fan scrolls’, which means 7500 could still clap if ALL 2500 were holding the ‘fan scrolls’ at the same exact time!

Okay, back to the game sponsorship…so, 2499 fans were thrilled to get ‘fan scrolls’. In addition to giving those out, we were presented with the game ball center court before the game started. The Dean (Ellen Harshman), Senior Associate Dean (Tom Miller), Assistant Dean (Kathy Day), Program Coordinator (Nancy Biscan), Student Services Coordinator (Jenn Harp), and myself (not pictured: Nan Rohlfing, Student Services Coordinator) were introduced and had our picture taken with the Billiken (see below). I’m the one in blue!

We ended-up having 200 students, their families, alumni and faculty/staff in attendance for the game, and the event was a huge success. In addition to an exciting game - it went into overtime - I also had the opportunity to run the HUGE flag during the second half of the game (thanks, Declan). Every year I usually run the flag around the court - (I was the ‘U’ this year), typically once around. This year, the student running the ‘S’ decided we were going to circle the entire court like four times, and then run around in a circle at one end like five more times! I was ready to die - I actually think they had oxygen tanks waiting for me when I got off the court! Nevertheless, our students loved it, and the game was so much fun and I can’t wait to do it next year in the new arena.

This is just one of the many events we sponsor for students throughout the year - having graduate business students feel like they are a part of Saint Louis University is very important to me and to the Graduate Business Programs office. If you are interested in other up-coming events for our students, check out the GBSA Web page.

I did it! Last Thursday afternoon, I had Lasik done. Of course with me, nothing is ever easy and I had to get a special procedure done - Epi Lasik - because my cornea’s are thin. Instead of cutting into my eye, they pushed the skin back before reshaping the cornea. So, rather than the normal 24-hour recovery time, my recovery time is a week. Currently, they have contacts over my eyes to protect them while the skin grows back and I won’t be able to drive until this coming Thursday when I go back in to have the contacts removed and hopefully have them tell me I can see 20/20! This past weekend was a nightmare - I would go from being able to see just fine, not not being able to see anything at all. Today is the best so far, and I am able to get my work done - though things are still kind of blurry.

The true test will be tomorrow night - we have New Student Orientation for our newly admitted part-time MBA students beginning the program this spring - February 4. New students will come to the business school around 5 p.m. and we will take them to Parking and Card Services to get their student id’s and parking passes. We will then walk them over to the Busch Student Center to the bookstore to purchase books and SLU apparel. Upon return to the business school, they will have an opportunity to network with current students and staff during a reception, and the evening will end with a formal presentation by the dean, senior associate dean, assistant dean, career resources center, and myself. We will give them more insight into Graduate Business Programs, the business school, and how to be a successful student. I hope throughout all of this, I will actually be able to see the new students and I won’t trip over the podium or fall off the stage while speaking to them. I’ll make sure someone has a camera ready, should this happen.