THE BUSINESS JOURNAL

Department of Business and Economics
Spring 2007

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Spring Semester Begins with Faculty Changes

In late December, professor Leo Plante unexpectedly resigned from the department, leaving four courses that needed instructors. Chris Gingrich, department chair, found well-qualified instructors to teach these courses:

Karl Stoltzfus Jr. is teaching International Business. Karl has an MBA from JMU and owns his own company, Avotek Books.

Walt Surratt current professor in the department, picked up quantitative decision making, in addition to teaching management information systems and intermediate microeconomics.

Carl Weaver, retired finance professor from JMU, is teaching intermediate finance and the MBA finance course.

In addition, several other adjunct professors have joined the department for the spring semester:

Carol Hamilton is teaching organizational behavior. Carol has an MBA from JMU and currently teaches in their business department.

Leah Kratz, a 2000 EMU accounting graduate, is teaching auditing. Leah has an MBA from JMU and is the assistant fiscal director at Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center .

Jerry Lile is teaching principles of management. Jerry was previously at EMU as an MBA student, graduating in April 2006.

Kevin Longenecker, former EMU accounting grad and controller in the business office, is teaching cost accounting.

We are pleased to have these professors teaching courses for the department this spring. Welcome!

Where in the World is Rick Yoder?

Ok, so what am I doing in Nepal? Briefly, I am the head of a four-year “health sector reform” project with the Government of Nepal. The project team consists of about 12 people – all Nepali except for me.

These system wide reforms are intended to make the country’s health services more effective (better achieve the health system’s goals of reducing mortality and morbidity), more equitable (make health services more accessible, particularly to the poor and other groups who now don’t have access), and more efficient (do all this at a lower cost and with greater sustainability). The British government and the World Bank have put $100 million into the Ministry of Health to support the program.

The reforms focus on six areas:

(1) decentralization: restructure the management of the country’s health system so that decision-making is done primarily at district (state) and local levels rather than at the central level in Katmandu, the capital city;

(2) public-private partnerships: build partnerships between the government and the private sector/civil society so that, for example, health services in, say, a whole region of the country would be sub-contracted to a non-governmental organization to manage with the government having a “stewardship” function where they set policy and evaluate results;

(3) health financing: develop ways to pay for health services (insurance, user fees, taxation, etc) so that the health system is more sustainable financially and in ways that make services to the poor more accessible;

(4) financial management: strengthen the planning, budgeting and accounting systems of the Ministry of Health so it is more transparent, accountable, and responsive to the needs of the people;

(5) social inclusion: build systems that insure that those groups who are now excluded from the health system (lower castes, women, the poor, etc.) become included and have access to health care; and

(6) conflict and post-conflict issues: build mechanisms to ensure that health services are delivered safely and effectively in areas where there is conflict.

Doing this kind of work in a place such as Nepal is really interesting and rewarding, for a lot of reasons. All one’s senses of taste, smell, touch, sight, etc., are reawakened and re-sensitized; many of ones values and world views are challenged. Nepal is among the poorest countries in the world with some of the worst health status indicators. To be part of the process of changing this is enormously rewarding (without justice there is no peace?).

Dealing with questions of “does my child live or die”, rather than marketing BMWs or tummy tucks is also very satisfying. Many skills are used or developed – economic, political, management, cross-cultural, communication – all those things you begin to learn with a liberal arts education.

Nepal is primarily a Hindu and Buddhist country and learning to understand that worldview, and what it means to Nepalis, and me – and how many of the rituals and beliefs parallel my own Anabaptist/Mennonite tradition – is endlessly fascinating. What does the Lord require of us, but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. Try it!

2006 MEDA Convention

The 2006 MEDA Convention was held Nov. 2-5, 2006 , in Tampa , Florida . The theme was “Set the Pace,” and featured special speaker Maria Gloria Penayo de Duarte, First Lady of Paraguay. Nine students attended the convention. Following are reflections from several of those students:

Yuanita Santoso: I liked the seminars that I attended and I liked all the speakers. My favorite seminar was "Leading in the Flat World.” Everything changes so fast and we need to keep up with it. This seminar gave me more awareness. I learned a lot about how the world is changing right now. Overall, the convention challenged me to be ready to face the business world. I really enjoyed the convention because it will help me prepare myself for the changing world.

Enea Rrapokushi: The 2006 MEDA Convention gave me a great opportunity to learn how one can do business as a calling, instead of merely considering business as an activity with the purpose of making profits. This was the underlying theme throughout the convention. I enjoyed attending the seminars, which were of great interest to me. They were informative, and involved interaction between the presenter and the audience. One of the seminars I attended had to do with MEDA's essential mission - fighting poverty and increasing employment opportunities through a microfinance program in Miami . It was amazing to see how much difference the program had made, and it hasn't reached its full potential yet. It has affected hundreds of people of various ethnic backgrounds who have one thing in common: the hunger for success in their lives. Each participant had a unique story and a unique business idea, which were turned into successful and profitable activities through MEDA's support. By looking at some pictures during the seminar, it was obvious that in Miami MEDA is doing a great job at putting smiles into people's faces.