I trust this 500 Days Dean's Brief finds you all well and enjoying summer. Historically, summer was a time when the activity of the College slowed as students left Tallahassee for summer jobs, creating a somewhat quieter business building. These times are long gone. This summer we are offering 154 classes on the main campus with more than 6,300 students taking advantage of our summer offerings. We are also heavily engaged in welcoming the next freshman class and new transfer students as we provide college-specific orientation to more than 1,200 students and their parents during the University's official orientation days. The business of the business school is now year-round with the hustle and bustle of students, faculty, staff and visitors keeping the school vibrant.

During the last 100 days, I have attended the Annual AACSB International Conference in Tampa, met individually with the college faculty, attended a joint FSU Business, Film and Fine Arts alumni event in New York (photos) hosted by David Ford (FSU Trustee), an MBA alumni event (photos) in South Florida hosted by Peter Collins, and a Seattle alumni event (photos) hosted by Jim Harkins. While traveling on the West Coast, we hosted the first of our Dean's Drop-In series of informal gatherings in Los Angeles and San Francisco. We hope to have more of these in other cities around the country.

I have made presentations at the Real Estate Roundtable events in Tampa and Orlando. The Tampa event was hosted by Rob Boos, Boos Development Group, Inc.; Larry Richey, Cushman & Wakefield of Florida, Inc.; and Robert Hernandez, NorthMarq Capital, Inc.; and the Orlando event was hosted by John Crossman, Crossman & Company; Jason Kaiser, Staubach Retail; and Whit Duncan, Crescent Resources, LLC. A special thanks to these alumni who have provided me with an opportunity to share our new strategic vision with other college alumni and friends.

I had the opportunity to tour JM Family Enterprises and the Jim Moran Foundation (photos), where I was hosted by Rick Noland and Tom Blanton. I also toured Tallahassee-based FuelMaster (photos), where I was hosted by CEO Doug Dunlap.

Several retired faculty and staff attended our second annual Retired Faculty & Staff Luncheon (photos). Those able to join us were Mrs. LaRue Baxley, Dr. Ronald Braswell, Mr. Darrel Couch, Dr. Edward McIntryre, Dr. Gibbes Miller, Sr., Ms. Alice Nichols, Mrs. Beverly Pitts, Mr. Robert Riedel, Dr. Persis Rockwood, Mrs. Mary Rovetta, Dean Ray Solomon, Dr. Charlotte Williams, Dr. Neil Young, and Mrs. Rose Zongker.

We are well into the first stage of our new branding initiative. Dr. Phillip Downs (Marketing) is leading the marketing research stage, which is occurring this summer. The College of Business Board of Governors' Marketing Committee is heavily involved in the initiative. Bruce Redditt, Executive Vice President of the OmniCom Group, is chairing the committee. Others involved include Suzanne Barwick, Gary Bliss, Andrew Diaz, Amy Johnson, Bob Mang, Will Rose, Leslie Mille and Joanna Southerland. The Zimmerman Agency of Tallahassee is working closely with the College in determining the "brand" of our College through research and collaborative efforts. A brand is an organization's identity. It's how it's recognized, it's their image, and it's their face in a crowd. It's how everyone perceives the organization. A hard-working brand is built out of positive growth, integrity, and a sure sense of who you are, where you are going, and how you're going to get there. It, in its simplest form, is a promise to our audience that is continually built upon and improved. We expect our branding process to be completed by January 1, 2008, and at that time, we will begin "activating" our new brand internally and externally throughout all our communication avenues.

Development News

Bank of America made its final payment in support of the Robert G. Turner Scholars Program (photos). Bank of America's $750,000 ($1,250,000 when the State match is received) generous contribution is being combined with contributions provided by alumni and friends of Dr. Bob Turner and will be matched by the State of Florida. The Robert G. Turner Scholars program will help deserving students find and succeed in paid corporate internships, and then provide them with financial support when they return to campus to complete their education. Please visit our website (http://foundation.fsu.edu/Community/Page.aspx?pid=837&srcid=626) if you would like to make a contribution. In anticipation of this program's initiation, Dr. Mike Showalter (Marketing) will be spending the coming year benchmarking the best college internship programs in the country, and providing recommendations to the College aimed at supporting our strategic goal of creating a first-class internship program.

The Marketing Department hosted the inaugural meeting of the Professional Selling Advisory Council in April. The goals of the Council are to advocate on behalf of the professional selling program, assist in preparing students for careers in professional selling, and support the department in strengthening the sales program. The Council is currently comprised of eight member companies: Kia AutoSport, Standard Register, E. J. Gallo, Northwestern Mutual Financial, Tom James Company, Carnival Cruise Line, Unicorn Financial, and Romero Financial.

Peoples First Insurance made a $50,000 gift to the Robert A. Marshall Endowment for Excellence in Insurance. This generous donation brings the total gift commitments to the fund to more than $100,000, making it eligible for matching funds from the State.

Jeanie Cannan Vidauretta made a gift of $20,000 to the Management Information Program. A portion, $5,000, will be used to upgrade the department server, and the remaining funds will be used to attract disadvantaged and underrepresented students focusing on a career in Management Information Systems.

Jim, Bruce and Sandy Albe established a $101,000 gift in memory of Peter Albe, a 1981 hospitality graduate. Their gift will provide scholarships for students in the College's Dedman School of Hospitality.

Chris Iansiti made a generous contribution that provided the College with a 52-inch flat panel television (photos) which is housed in our main first-floor lobby.

Our Work on the Insurance Crisis

As many of you know, Florida is experiencing what has been called an "insurance crisis." Our top-ranked Risk Management/Insurance faculty have been working diligently to help the State find solutions. For example, Professor Pat Maroney (Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and RMI faculty member) participated in a panel discussion at House Speaker Marco Rubio's (R-Miami) 100 Innovative Ideas Summit in Orlando before an audience of 500. He also testified before former Lt. Governor Toni Jennings' committee on property insurance, and addressed the House membership at the three-day workshop for the Legislature assembled by Rep. Donald Brown (R-DeFuniak Springs). Maroney also served on CFO Alex Sink's transition team with former Insurance Commissioner Bill Gunter, authored a transition report, and advised the Governor during the special session in January. Dr. Randy Dumm (RMI) has been appointed chair of the Florida Commission on Hurricane Loss Projection Methodology, and also has been asked to serve on the board of directors for the National Alliance Research Academy.

With the support of Rep. Anthony Trevesia (R-Tampa), the Legislature established a Florida Catastrophic Storm Risk Management Center in the RMI Department. Unfortunately, the Governor vetoed the funding. We are still working diligently to fund such a center at Florida State. In support of that initiative, Dr. Kathleen McCullough (RMI) and Professor Maroney attended the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund 2007 conference in June speaking to industry participants about the possibility of private funding to replace the lost governmental funding for the center.

Our Ethics Initiative

The first annual Cecil B. Day Ethics Award, created by the Day Family and Florida State University, was given to Mr. Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-Fil-A. The award was established to honor esteemed ethical leaders in the hospitality industry, and to honor recipients who embody traits of a natural born leader with high levels of integrity and family values both at home and the workplace. The Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association, in cooperation with the National Restaurant Association, announced the award at the International Society of Restaurant Association Executives' annual meeting in Chicago.

Faculty News

FSU recognized more than 40 faculty members during the annual Faculty Awards Ceremony. Dr. James Doran (Finance) received the Undergraduate Teaching Award.

Dr. Mike Brady (Marketing) was named a finalist in the 2007 Sherwin-Williams Excellence in Teaching Award to be given at the Society for Marketing Advances annual conference. Brady will present his teaching portfolio at the conference in San Antonio this November. He also received the 2007 Joan H. Raley, REALTOR® Faculty Award.

Dr. Angela Hall (RMI) was awarded a McKnight Junior Faculty Development Fellowship for 2007-08. Her research looks at the causes and consequences of an employee's decision to invoke his or her legal rights in the workplace.

Dr. Annette Ranft (Management) was elected as the associate program chair for the Strategy Process Track for the Strategic Management Society. Ranft will assume the duties of program chair in 2008 and chairperson in 2009.

Dr. Jim Combs (Management) and Dr. Bruce Lamont (Management) were appointed to the Editorial Review Board for the Academy of Management Journal, the premier empirical journal for management research worldwide.

A recent article co-authored by Dr. Mark Martinko (Management) and two former FSU doctoral students, Scott Douglas and Paul Harvey, received special recognition of merit. The paper, "Understanding and Managing Workplace Aggression," published in Organizational Dynamics in 2006, was selected as a finalist for the Outstanding Practitioner Oriented Publication in Organizational Behavior Award for 2007. This award is given annually by the Organizational Behavior Division of the Academy of Management in recognition of the publication that makes the most significant contribution to the practice of management.

Student News

The Student Leadership Council has teamed with Dr. Lori McCall and the Tallahassee Rotary Club to launch an undergraduate program called "Lunch with a Rotarian." Before her retirement, Dr. McCall was Director of Graduate Career Services & Online Programs in our graduate office and created this program for our MBA students. Local Rotarians host a student for lunch and spend time speaking one-on-one with the student and giving career advice. Expanding this program's accessibility to our undergraduate students is a part of our new mentoring initiative.

Florida State University presented the 2006-07 Outstanding Teaching Assistant Awards to 15 graduate students for their excellence in teaching. Nominated by faculty and students, the recipients submitted teaching portfolios, which allowed the teaching assistants to be evaluated for their instructional skills, course structure, accessibility and rapport with students. Six COB doctoral students, Melinda Andrews (Marketing), Alisa Brink (Accounting), Kevin Gatzlaff (RMI), Kevin Krieger (Finance), Mary Dana Laird (Management) and John Upson (Management), received Doctoral Teaching Awards.

John Martin, a second-year Strategic Management doctoral student, was chosen among more than 1,200 faculty and doctoral student reviewers worldwide to receive a Business Policy & Strategy (BPS) Division Best Reviewer Award at this year's Academy of Management Conference in Philadelphia, PA. This annual award is given to the top 5 percent of reviewers in recognition of their thoughtful, constructive reviews and service to the BPS Division.

Congratulations to Vaneesha Boney (Ph.D. student in Finance) and Dr. Stacey Sirmans (RMI). They won a $9,000 grant from the Real Estate Research Institute (RERI) for a project on "REIT Exchange Traded Products and the Volatility of REIT Returns."

Mark Gleim, an incoming Marketing Ph.D. student, was awarded the prestigious Presidential Fellowship, which is granted for four years and is competitive on a universitywide basis.

Jamal Grimes (RMI) was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Award. The Fulbright Program for U.S. students is awarded to outstanding students with a commitment to cultural engagement. Grimes received an assistantship to teach high school students in South Korea.

Kylie Williams, Marketing undergraduate, was crowned Miss Florida 2007 in the Miss Florida Scholarship Pageant.

Alan Tucker, (Ph.D. 1986) currently a faculty member at Pace University, was awarded the Jensen Prize for Corporate Finance and Organizations (2006 Journal of Financial Economics Best Paper Award). His article (coauthored with John Graham of Duke), "Tax Shelters and Corporate Debt Policy," was awarded the top prize.

Other News

It is with great sadness we note the passing of Jim Moran, the automotive pioneer. Mr. Moran, his wife Jan, and JM Family Enterprises, Inc., established the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship, which supports our entrepreneurship degree and our significant outreach program.

We also mourn the death of Diana Farcas, a 30-year college employee in our undergraduate advising office. She worked with thousands of students during her career and had recently retired.

COB Street Names and Addresses to Change

To facilitate law enforcement concerns, we will have new addresses beginning August 6. Our new addresses are listed below.

Enjoy the remaining days of summer. We have listed the upcoming college events. If you are interested in attending the events or would like more information, please do not hesitate to contact us.