Tabor College Business Department News

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Tabor College is experiencing a transition. This past December 31, president Larry Nikkel retired. Larry is a good friend to all he knows. I particularly appreciate his openness and friendliness. He takes a personal interest in the lives of students and employees. He is currently helping the advancement office raise funds for the centennial plaza project. Plans for the project were unveiled this past homecoming at the festival dinner. Individuals will have an opportunity to make a donation and secure a brick paver on which they may have a message or name engraved. Larry exemplifies what Tabor is about a life of learning, work, and service for Christ and Christ's Kingdom.

This January Dave Kroeker taught his Tabor famous Personal Finance Course. Those of you who have taken the course remember his favorite saying "Pay God First, Pay Yourself Second, Be A Godly Steward Of What Is Left Over." His approach to this subject says a lot about who we are as a department. God owns it all and we are called to manage those resources in a way that gives God glory. We are directed to serve the Lord with the resources he gives us and use those resources to the best of our ability to serve God and God's kingdom.

As for me, I taught the Investments course. We looked at all forms of investing from securities to hard assets. I assigned the endowment fund project again. In that project, the students are given a hypothetical sum of money to invest. If they can beat the return on the S&P 500 index for the month, they earn a grade of A for the project. This month that was fairly easy as the S&P plummeted over 8% for the period the project ran. I guess it shows you don't have to be a financial wizard to make money, put it in a savings account and let it draw interest. It was challenging for them to pick securities that had enough volatility for them to achieve a price move which would earn them a profit and yet not have just the opposite happen the security price move in the wrong direction and them lose money.

Linda spent the month supervising student internships. She had 4 students out working for the month at various places located in Kansas. From my conversations with her, the experiences have given some of our students more direction and insight as to just what form their post college careers should take.

Jesse did not teach classes this January, he took classes. He is pursuing a DBA at Anderson University in Anderson, Indiana. His classes started the week after Christmas and continued through the second week in January. He has an ethics course and for which he must write a paper. His topic is "Is It Unethical to Not Teach Accounting Ethics In An Accounting Course." He has worked hard to refine the topic, it will be interesting to see just how it turns out.

Our new president Dr. Jules Glanzer is assuming his duties this next month. The campus community is planning a welcome for him on February 1, He will be speaking to us at 1:00 in the afternoon with a time of fellowship to follow. Jules two sons, Matt and Jeremy were both business majors at Tabor. Their spouses, Chrissy and Jody were graduates also.

On another note, I received an e-mail from one of our MSA graduates, Sullivan, Higdon, Sink, an Advertising Agency in Wichita is looking for accountants. If you have any interest, e-mail me at my address normh@tabor.edu. If you have word of positions available for our students or are aware of any internship possibilities, do not hesitate to contact us.

Norm

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