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Inaugural Awards
Luncheon Celebrates College’s Collective Achievements
On
Nov. 1, Dean Jim Strong hosted the inaugural College of Business
Administration and Public Policy Awards Luncheon in the newly
expanded Loker Student Union Ballroom. As the first event of its
kind for the college, it served as a fitting opportunity to bring
together and celebrate everyone who makes the college what it is
today: students, faculty, alumni, the Dean’s Advisory Board, and
three special awardees from within the CBAPP community. Beyond just
another event, it provided a meaningful and critical way for the
Advisory Board members to get involved and raised money for future
scholarships – more than any other event has raised in the college’s
history. Dean
Strong had wanted to host such an event for some time, but it took
the push from the Advisory Board, and in particular, Guy Fox, who is
president and CEO of logistics firm Guy Fox & Associates, to turn
that into action. “Guy really pushed this forward and continued to
push until we made it happen,” says Strong. “He was key to making
this event happen.” In the end, Fox also served as master of
ceremonies.
In
the months leading up the event, Strong, Fox, Patrick Stewart,
development officer and Loretta Adikhai, director of event
scheduling and planning, led the planning charge and were supported
by the entire Advisory Board. With 300 people in attendance, it was
no small production. Fox put the healthy amount of planning into
perspective: “It was quite a bit of work, but when you’re doing
something meaningful and productive where the people who benefit are
students like those at Dominguez Hills, then, to me, there really is
no work involved.” The
event generated more than $23,000 in revenue from the sale of tables
at the event, and a number of the advisory board members donated, as
did a string of area businesses and even some faculty members. The
funds will go to future scholarships, and one of the most successful
outcomes of the event was seen in the number of tables that were
donated so that students could attend. It worked to bring value both
ways – the board members and speakers looking out at the students in
the audience were able to see the people they were striving to help,
and these same students were able to hear the life lessons and
inspirational tales of the awardees. “As soon as everyone arrived, it became clear that that it was worthwhile. No question,” says Strong. “I had longtime CSUDH employees who have been to seemingly countless events on campus coming up to me and telling me how well done it was; that it was the best event they had ever attended. What it really did was make everyone really proud of Dominguez Hills.”  The
program was centered around honoring the three awardees: Ernest
Klinger, chief financial officer and executive vice president of
It’s a Grind Franchise – who also serves as chair of the Advisory
Board Executive Committee – received the 2007 Executive of the Year;
Lt. General Michael A Hamel (M.B.A., 1974), the commander of the
Space and Missile Systems Center for Air Force Space Command, was
named 2007 Alumni of the Year; and Michael Christenson, deputy
executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, represented his
company in accepting the 2007 Organization of the Year award. New
Advisory Board member Dale Wallis, CFO of the Aerospace Corporation,
was then instrumental in getting the president and CEO of his
company, Dr. William F. Ballhaus, Jr., to serve as the event’s
keynote speaker. As Strong explains, these four did more than bring their glossy titles to the program; they provided particularly meaningful messages to students. Ballhaus, Christenson, and Hamel conveyed to students the tools and dedication that has led them to their prominent positions. Klinger, who grew up in northern Wisconsin with no running water in his house and who scratched out a college degree while working full-time in his rise to success, brought the “you can be anything you want to be” message in living color to students. Recognizing that CSUDH students face similar challenges, Klinger even got emotional at one moment as the award and recognition brought him full circle when looking out at the student audience, as if he was speaking to himself.  “He
came up the hard way,” says Strong of Klinger. “He’s not a part of
the CSUDH community because he is looking for recognition like this.
He showed up on our door because he saw himself in our students. He
has taught classes, he’s an unbelievable leader of our board, and he
continues to look for ways to help this university. He embodies so
much of what our students aspire to become, and the fact that he now
looks to give back in so many ways is just exemplary of the kind of
community that this university fosters.” So will the luncheon become an annual event? Strong left no doubt in his answer to that question: “If we don’t continue this and make it a tradition, we’ve got rocks in our head,” he deadpanned. |
