Key question answered in this post: "What were the forces that made possible the Business Leadership Program (B.L.P.) at U.P.S. over thirty years ago?" I presented the paper at University of Puget Sound (U.P.S.) on June 9. The B.L.P. is very alive and well today. A longer post than usual because the case is worthy of consideration by college faculty, students, and the business community in general.
Business Leadership Program at University of Puget Sound: the Start-up
Darrell Reeck Professor
of Religion (retired)
Co-founder and one-time Co-Director of Business Leadership Program
Co-founder and one-time Co-Director of Business Leadership Program
June 9, 2018
My goal
is to present the major factors leading to the B.L.P.
Step 1: an initial link was formed
between the Business School and the Humanities Division.
Here’s the story of how that
happened. When I first arrived on campus
as a new ethics professor in late summer, 1969, Professor Robert Albertson, Director
of the Humanities Division, walked me across campus to the School of Business.
In the office of the director, Albertson said, “Tom, here’s your new business
ethics professor.” Maybe Thomas Sinclair was surprised. I suspect so.
Prof. Sinclair
said “Alright!” He offered to team-teach the course. Tom and I team-taught Business
Ethics until he retired in 1972. That pleasant partnership was the seed that would
develop into the B.L.P.
Much
was happening just then in the Business School and in the university. Philip
Phibbs assumed the presidency of the university in 1973. Soon, he posed a
planning issue for trustees and faculty: “What do we want the University to
become?” He sketched two basic choices: 1, to grow in size to become a version
of the University of Southern California, or, 2, to grow in quality as a small liberal
arts college. Faculty and trustees deliberated and within a year or so decided
on the high quality-small size option. President Phibbs led us toward the goal
of a higher quality liberal arts institution.
About
the same time Dr. Robert Waldo succeeded Professor Sinclair as Director of the
business school. Bob stepped into team teaching the business ethics course with
me. It wasn’t always an easy success. I recall a sentence from one student
evaluation: “Reeck knows a lot about ethics, but not much about business.” Very
deflating! But I took it as a challenge to learn about business. I enrolled in
the finance sequence, often competing for an “A” grade with students of mine
from the business ethics course. (Talk about potential conflict of interest!)
Step 2.
After a couple of semesters, Waldo and I dreamt about expanding on our
team-teaching partnership into a larger track of some sort. Gradually we focused the question: “Can we design
an undergraduate program with core business courses and liberal arts education
for outstanding students?” We developed three benchmarks: business courses,
liberal arts thinking skills and heritage, for a limited number of highly qualified
students.
With our proposal in hand we met
with President Phibbs and Dean Tom Davis. We knew we’d get nowhere without
their support. To our relief, the President and Dean responded enthusiastically.
They felt the dream proposal fit well within the university’s goal of high
quality education and directed us to devise a curriculum for the new program.
To that end, Dr. Waldo approached a
key history professor with the idea that B.L.P. students should learn the
history of business from the History Department. Professor Walter Lowrie agreed to develop a
European history course with an emphasis on business history. The Curriculum Committee approved this course.
At that point, we had two unique courses
designed specifically for the B.L.P.--the ethics course and the history course. We added certain specific business courses,
particularly Accounting and Finance. The partnership of Business and Humanities
was in full swing toward fulfillment.
It wasn’t just an assortment of
courses. Courses were carefully designed means to ends: capable communications,
written and oral; critical thinking concerning business responsibilities in
democratic societies; competence in numerical disciplines like accounting and
finance; and an understanding of leadership.
Step 3:
We put the plan before the Business Administration faculty. They approved. Then
we took the plan to the Curriculum Committee of the University. We were tensed
up, knowing that faculty tend to guard thei own academic specialties. To our relief,
Curriculum Committee members approved the B.L.P. proposal.
Steps 4 and 5: We still needed
students! We developed recruitment strategies with the Admissions office. The goal
was to recruit twenty incoming freshman students. Admissions began announcing
the opportunity to advisors in high schools.
At this
stage, President Phibbs guided Prof. Waldo and me to secure start-up funding
and referred us to potential contributors. I remember the day that Bob and I met
with the President of Rainier Bank, high up in his Seattle headquarters tower. This
man became an enthusiastic supporter of the B.L.P. concept. His bank donated a substantial
grant toward start-up expenses.
Soon, Admissions
had some student candidates to recommend. I have a clear memory of meeting one
of them, a high school senior named Tim Hinthorn. We met in a Salem, Oregon
restaurant. Tim became the first to be admitted into the new Business
Leadership Program.
We also recruited business mentors to
work with our B.L.P. students on a one-to-one basis. The first of these was
Phillip Barr, a Weyerhaeuser executive and my neighbor. An advisory committee of business people was also
formed.
Finally, the program was off and
running. I’m delighted that the program endures as a valued part of the
University of Puget Sound under the leadership of its director, Professor Alan
Krause.
Very best wishes to each B.L.P. student and
graduate and to each B.L.P. faculty member, and long live the B.L.P.!
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