The Evening News

For J-term 2010:

BETH 706 - Great Books Seminar: Great Thinkers who Shaped Business Civilization

http://www.stthomas.edu/business/about/ethics/greatbooks.html

This one week, three-credit course is based on the world-renowned Aspen Institute Executive Seminar. It uses selected writings of great classic and contemporary thinkers as a beginning point for an intensive, focused discussion with peers on the enduring ideas and ideals of world civilization, the problems and opportunities of today and the issues to be faced in the years ahead. In a sense, the readings function as case studies in leadership and leadership values.

The readings revolve around such universal human concerns as justice, rights, liberty, equality, power, leadership, democracy, and community. Discussion and debate are spirited as students get to know one another in a retreat-like environment.

The Great Books Seminar is coordinated by Dr. Kenneth Goodpaster.

Course Format
A one-hour orientation is held about six weeks prior to each seminar and a one-hour closure session is held about six weeks subsequent to each seminar. Past instructors have included Professor Kenneth Goodpaster, Dr. Nona Mason, Professor Patricia Hedberg, Professor Charles Reid, Doug Baker, Dean Maines and Merritt Marquardt.

The nature of the discussion and study topics requires that participants be at or near the completion of their MBA degree. Designed to serve as the culmination of the degree program, the Great Books Seminar will provide participants with unique insight and perspective that will last long after they receive their diplomas.

This seminar qualifies as a three-credit management concentration course for MBA students. It may qualify as an elective for other St. Thomas graduate business programs; students should first seek approval from their advisors. The seminar is limited to 20 participants, with priority given on a first-come, first-served basis to current students. If space is available, the seminar will be open to alumni. We are able to offer alumni reduced tuition.

Seminar Dates and Cost
The week-long Great Books Seminar will be held at the Gainey Conference Center. Participants stay at the site during the week to make the most of the learning experience (no exceptions).

January 2010Sessions

January 3-8, 2010: Law and MBA (10 spaces available for MBA students.)
Moderators: TBA
Mandatory Orientation for January Session: November 19, 2009*,
4 - 5:30 p.m. Minneapolis Campus- Terrence Murphy Hall, room TBA
*Orientation scheduled by appointment for those who register late.

Closure meeting for January session: February 11, 2010 4-5:30 pm Minneapolis Campus

January 10-15, 2010: MBA
Moderators: TBA
Mandatory Orientation for JanuarySession: November 19, 2009*,
4 - 5:30 p.m. Minneapolis Campus- Terrence Murphy Hall, room TBA
*Orientation scheduled by appointment for those who register late.

Closure meeting for January session: February 11, 2010 4-5:30 pm Minneapolis Campus

Seminar Cost '10
Tuition (Current cost of 3 credits)
Lodging & meals $ 975
Deposit (Nonrefundable- covers Aspen books/materials, etc*) $ 400
*The $400 nonrefundable deposit will be incurred one week following the orientation session. You may deposit at the orientation session. Cancellation rates will be imposed on a rolling basis. Room and board contracts and royalty fees require this policy.

Contact Us
For more information, please call (651) 962-4211 or jmerolin@stthomas.edu.

MKTG714 - Interactive Marketing; Theory, Tactics and Technology

Course Description: Interactive marketing is the ability to address the customer, remember what the customer says and address the customer again in a way that illustrates that we remember what the customer has told us. Interactive marketing is a conversation with the consumer, rather than the conventional marketer to consumer communication. In this overview seminar, students will look at a wide array of interactive marketing tools and topics including viral marketing, social networking, search engine optimization and customer analysis.

Fueled by developing internet and cellular telephone technology, this area of study challenges all organizations with the question, “it is not a question of will we have an interactive presence; but what will our interactive presence be?”

Students will explore how long-standing and evolving marketing theory applies to this evolving field. Outside speakers from business, government and non-profit organizations will provide first-hand tactical experiences.

For Spring 2010:

REAL 714 - Commercial Real Estate Valuation

Valuation of commercial real estate using the cost, market and income approaches to value are presented and evaluated from a decision-makers perspective. Professional ethics and standards of professional appraisal practice are extensively explored. Professional quality narrative appraisals using comparable sales, depreciated cost and discounted cash flow are reviewed and analyzed for adequacy and sufficiency. Additional topics studied include cost segregation, portfolio analysis and litigation support techniques.
Instructor: Dr. Tom Hamilton
Monday, 6-9pm
Mpls campus

Pre-requisite: REAL 600

MGMT 714 - Enterprise Risk Management

The present economic crisis, along with a range of other looming challenges (climate change, unrest in the Middle East, health and food security concerns, changing consumer preferences and social mobility), have presented global organizations with the most daunting array of risks in at least 60 years. However, turbulence in the risk environment is but one risk management challenge for firms today. There also is turbulence in the risk management field itself. Whereas risk management was once seen as a technical function (indeed, as a set of unconnected technical functions—insurance buying, financial risk management, legal risk management, health and safety, security), recent years have witnessed a rapid transformation. Today, risk management is viewed as an organization-wide and integrated method of assessing and addressing the widest possible range of risks. In fact, in a recent study by a major global auditing association, virtually every developed country in the world has been shown to have a requirement for risk management to be practiced in this way. The term Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) has emerged as a means of capturing the essence of this holistic approach.

One of the more notable results of the ERM movement is that all managers are expected to act as risk managers within the scope of their duties. Yes, there will continue to be technicians with the risk manager title on their business card—but risk management is an expectation of virtually all managers and employees. It is the emergence of the expectation that ‘every manager is a risk manager’ that serves as the primary motivation for the development of MGMT 714. The study of risk management is no longer just for those interested in technical specializations such as finance, audit or safety/security risk; it is an essential topic for all business students.

A milestone in the advancement of ERM is the release in late 2009 of the ISO 31000 standard for risk management, which—among many things—serves to gather up the threads of many developments in the field and to present a cogent framework for thinking about and practicing risk management. Thus students (and professor!) find themselves at an exciting but challenging moment in the development of Enterprise Risk Management—frameworks and a general understanding have emerged, but many critical topics still require investigation. Among the key subjects of investigation in MGMT 714 will be:

- The specific challenge of engaging boards and executive management in order to get risk management onto their agendas, and moving this new awareness toward processes where organization-wide risk policies can be set and implemented.
- The difficulties in translating risk policy into risk management systems and structures.
- The particular processes necessary to knit together the existing technical specialist infrastructure.
- The development of sufficient risk management competence among the entire organization (and especially non-risk management specialists) so that day-to-day risk assessment and risk responses can be integrated into general management systems and actions.
- The problems of communicating relevant risk information to external stakeholders.

MGMT 714 will be led by Dr. Peter Young, the E. W. Blanch, Sr. Chair in Risk Management, who has written and consulted extensively on the subject of risk management, and who will be returning to St. Thomas after a two-year leave working on Enterprise Risk Management projects in Europe. Inquiries about the course can be made to Professor Young at pcyoung@stthomas.edu.

Thursday evenings, 6-9 p.m. on the Minneapolis campus