by Allison Phillips | Jan 25, 2013 | Current Students, Uncategorized
A group of students in front of a frozen waterfall at the end of our hike
We kicked off the third day of Summit listening to Dr. Rick Lytle, Dean of the College of Business, talk about inspiring a shared vision. Outside of the guest speakers who we got to listen to, this particular lesson on leadership was probably my favorite. One of the biggest things I walked away from was the simple idea that,
“We don’t think big enough, often enough.”
This is an incredibly difficult concept to grasp, because often as leaders we try to cover all the bases and make sure we don’t have any obvious liabilities. However, in this process it is very easy for leadership to lose sight of any big goals it may have.
One incredible example of a group who never lost sight of its big goals is Mission Lazarus, a nonprofit relief organization located in Honduras. Mission Lazarus was founded by ACU alum Jarrod Brown; luckily for us, Jarrod and his family were actually at Summit, where we had the opportunity to listen to Jarrod speak and then to work through a case study with him and his wife, Allison.
Jarrod Brown, of Mission Lazarus
Jarrod began his speech by talking about the kind of person he was when he was here at ACU. He explained that he’d been completely consumed with the idea of making money, and that God really had no place in his life. Immediately after graduating, he jumped on the corporate ladder and landed an unbelievable consulting job that most COBA grads would love to attain.
However, he began to realize he wasn’t fulfilled, and after visiting Honduras on a short-term mission trip, Jarrod began to feel God leading him towards permanent residence in Honduras.
Jarrod’s story struck a chord with a lot of the students at Summit. After all, most of us are currently studying business here at COBA, and a lot of us would like to get a great, high-paying job straight out of college. Because of the parallel that Jarrod’s story had with many of our own, the points he made about living for Christ really struck home:
- The most important investments you will make are those in your family.
- Don’t settle for the status quo.
- Live what you claim to be.
Listening to Jarrod, I was reminded of the unique opportunity that I have to be a part of COBA. I can’t imagine studying business anywhere else, and if I do anything but use that opportunity to bring God glory, then I am making a lesser choice. Instead of allowing myself to do what I want to do, I need to seek God’s will for my life and my calling, something that I can begin working on right now. As Jarrod pointed out,
“You need to decide who you are and what you stand for today.”
What do you stand for?
by Allison Phillips | Jan 24, 2013 | Current Students, Uncategorized
Much like the first day, the second day of Summit was packed full of small groups, speakers, and team activities. However, on this second day the emphasis was on the role of leadership in the church.
In order to help us better understand this complex topic, Rick Atchley, senior minister of The Hills Church, delivered one of the most challenging messages I’ve ever heard on the desperate need for leadership in America’s churches today.
Rick Atchley, Senior Minister at The Hills Church
During his lecture, a lot of Mr. Atchley’s words made an impression on me. However, one of the biggest things I walked away with was his statement that,
“You must minister from your blessing instead of for a blessing.”
This point really got me thinking. I’m only nineteen, but throughout my life I’ve seen numerous individuals go into ministry and then get burned out. Mr. Atchley’s statement made me stop and think about how critical it is to allow ourselves to be filled by God before we try to serve and minister to others. I also wondered how often we as the church forget about this step and then wonder why we seem to have nothing to offer others.
In addition to hearing thought-provoking speakers like Mr. Atchley who caused me to examine and reassess my thinking, I also loved the case studies in which we got to participate.
The unique thing about these case studies is that they were written by our guest speakers and draw on real experiences from their lives. After discussing the case studies amongst ourselves, we then discussed these case studies as a class with the speakers who wrote them.
Throughout this process, we were given the opportunity to process the way we would behave before hearing how older and wiser individuals actually chose to handle things.
All in all, listening to Mr. Atchley challenged me to rethink my role in the church and in God’s bigger story for my life.
What is your role in that story?
Students participated in relays and other games during team activity time
by Allison Phillips | Nov 7, 2012 | Current Students, Uncategorized
While some ACU students spent their Fall Break at home with family and some went camping with friends, a few lucky students went on a trip organized by the Griggs Center for Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy and co-sponsored by the School of IT and Computing. On this trip to California, the group had the unique opportunity to meet with leaders of several major startup companies.
The concept of a “startup” may not impress you, and as a result, you may find yourself thinking, “I’m not really familiar with a lot of startups; I don’t think this trip could have influenced me.” If that’s the case, think again, because these fourteen students got to meet with Google.
The Group at Google
I bet that’s a company you’ve heard of.
The group that participated in this trip was comprised of a variety of classes and majors. Dr. Brad Crisp, who led the trip along with Dr. Jim Litton and Kevin Roberts, ACU’s Chief Planning and Information Officer, appreciated the diversity of their team. “We had a very diverse group of business and technical students on the trip, and it was great to watch them interact with each other and with the companies,” commented Dr. Crisp.
The group headed out of Abilene on Wednesday, October 24 and returned to town on Sunday, October 28. While Dr. Crisp anticipated a good experience at Google, he said that he was also very pleased with the rest of the trip.
“I knew the students would enjoy Google, and they did,” explained Dr. Crisp.“What was more exciting to me was hearing students say how much they learned from the entrepreneurs we met.”
The five-day journey included stops at:
- Inigral: an organization that uses social networking to improve enrollment and retention at colleges and universities
- Circa: a news app that keeps users up-to-date by adding details to pre-existing stories as they unfold
- Silicon Valley Bank (www.svb.com)
- Corona Labs: a company that allows individuals to create apps without having to wade through the technical language of coding
- Lanica: an equally impressive app-creating company
The Group at Silicon Valley Bank
With such a wide variety of successful start-up companies, the group had an incredible opportunity to see entrepreneurship in action and to meet with leaders in each of these prominent companies.
“Everyone we met with was great,” said Dr. Litton. “They shared stories and insight on critical issues they as entrepreneurs and their respective companies have dealt with along the way and are currently facing.”
From Circa, whose app was actually the top featured app in the app store on the day our group met with them, to Google, world super power, creativity and innovation were evident in each of these incredible companies, as well as in their representatives.
The Group Meeting with Company Representatives
As Dr. Litton pointed out, “I thought it was great that students had the opportunity to visit with founders and leaders of companies at all different points along the startup lifecycle – early concept development, launching a product, securing funding, growing a company, and even maintaining an entrepreneurial culture in a company the size of Google.”
Keep your eyes open for more unique COBA and SITC opportunities like this one!
(There was also a free day in San Francisco!)
by Allison Phillips | Sep 5, 2012 | Uncategorized
Last week COBA’s very own Karen Viertel received an incredible honor: Abilene Christian University’s Unsung Servant Award.
Karen with her husband, Mark
Since 1995, the Students’ Association has annually presented this award to a staff member who goes out of their way to be helpful and caring towards students. This award is a remarkable accomplishment because it is presented to a person who serves students in an exceptionally Christ-like and friendly manner.
Karen, who is an academic advisor for the College of Business, is incredibly good at what she does. As Mason Smith, a sophomore management major points out, “Mrs. Viertel has always provided immediate, informative responses to my concerns, large or small. In regards to scheduling and counseling, she is an invaluable member of the COBA team.”
Furthermore, Stephanie Day, a sophomore accounting and finance major, believes that Karen plays a prominent role in helping students figure out the direction they would like their degrees and their lives to take.
“Karen instills a confidence in the students of COBA while simultaneously pushing them to be better,” says Stephanie. “Karen makes it her job to ensure that those of us in COBA not only fulfill our course requirements, but that we also maximize the full potential of our ACU experience. Karen’s extensive knowledge of all things COBA is truly priceless, and she uses that knowledge to make sure that every student is enrolled in the courses that will maximize the learning curve for that particular field.”
The thing that makes COBA so special is the fact that students get to interact with people like Karen who are not only good at their job, but who truly enjoy it.
“I am so extremely thankful to be working here at ACU in COBA where I have so many wonderful students that are willing to share their lives with us,” says Karen, in response to her award. “The students are what keep me excited about coming to work every day. It is an honor and a privilege to work with our student body, staff and faculty in COBA and it’s exciting to see what our grads do after they leave ACU.”
If you see Karen this week, be sure to congratulate her on this exciting accomplishment!
by M. C. Jennings | May 21, 2012 | Uncategorized
The College of Business honored May, August and December 2012 graduates at the COBA Senior Dinner on May 11th. Held in the Teague Special Events Center, Corbin Cross, Senior Accounting major from Southlake, Luz Hernandez, Senior Marketing major from Sulphur Springs, and Kendall Lundschen, senior Computer Science major from San Antonio represented their fellow graduates in addressing the crowd of 380 graduates, family members, friends, faculty and staff. They challenged the class of 2012 to pursue their dreams, their friendships, and their relationship with God on a deeper level. Mr. Matt Corbin, father of Drew Corbin, spoke on behalf of parents to the graduates, urging them to treasure the friendships they have made at ACU, have pride in their alma mater, and forge new friendships with fellow ACU alumni all over the world.
The Senior Class voted for and honored a faculty member from each department with the Classroom Teacher of the Year Award. Dr. Alfa Nyandoro, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, received the School of Information Technology and Computing Classroom Teacher of the Year Award. Dr. Nyandoro’s students have said that he “goes above and beyond trying to make his courses fun and as hands on as possible. He has a real desire to see students succeed and do well. He has a genuine enthusiasm and passion for the subject matter. His kind attitude and his desire to communicate effectively to students is incredible”.
Dr. Terry Pope, Professor of Finance, received the Accounting and Finance Classroom Teacher of the Year Award. Students stated that Dr. Pope “has a great love for the Lord and pours this into all of his classes. He truly cares about his students and their success both in and out of the classroom. It shows in the way that he conducts his classes, speaks to students, and opens his home to students for dinner.”
Mike Winegeart, Assistant Professor of Marketing, received the Management Sciences Classroom Teacher of the Year Award. Professor Winegeart’s students remarked that he is “passionate about Christianity’s role in business. He focuses on the truth and what God’s point of view is. He gets students actively involved in class, relating class to real life business examples and helps prepare students outside of the classroom for the business world while challenging them spiritually”.
Dr. Rick Lytle, Dean of the College of Business, also gave four Dean’s Service Awards. Dr. Ian Shepherd, Associate Professor of Management, received the Dean’s Award for Innovation for applying mobile and distance learning tools to teach economics in novel ways. His work has been spotlighted nationally and he, along with Dr. Brent Reeves, will serve as Mobile Learning Fellows at ACU for 2012.
Associate Professor Bill Fowler, Chair of the Department of Accounting and Finance, Dr. Don Pope, Chair of the Department of Management Sciences, and Dr. Brad Crisp, Director of the School of Information Technology and Computing, received the Dean’s Award for Service and Leadership. Dr. Lytle commended them, stating that “although their work is often unseen and under-appreciated, our academic chairs perform a valuable and necessary service to our programs. They teach, research, attend meetings, counsel, build curriculum, allocate resources, attend meetings, provide assessment, oversee faculty development, design programs of study, and attend meetings as they serve the needs of faculty and students. In short, they are the front line leaders who deliver what it is we produce and sell.”
If you would like to see more pictures of the dinner, please follow us on facebook by following this link: https://www.facebook.com/ACUCOBA. We congratulate the outstanding faculty award winners and the graduating class of 2012 and we offer this blessing; “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26).
by Amanda Pittman | Dec 15, 2011 | Uncategorized
I believe, today, more than ever, our world senses it needs a savior – someone to rescue us from the brokenness of this place – someone to provide peace in the midst of storm – someone on whom we can cast all our fears – someone who holds truth and is deeply connected to the reason for our existence – someone in whom we find real power – someone in whom we can trust – someone in whom we find our purpose for living. Someone who can assure us of salvation.
Particularly at this time of year, I hold a deep sense of awe, reverence, and gratitude for the gift born unto us in the town of David; Christ the Lord. He is that someone. He is the reason for the season. He is the one wise men still seek!
Merry Christmas to you. He is Christ the Lord!
