Message from the Dean

May has arrived and with it another end of the semester.  A number of our students are leaving us to work, attend graduate school, or spend one last summer on the beach before starting the job search.  We’re working to curb the enthusiasm for the last alternative but ingrained habits die hard. 

As part of the exodus, we bid farewell to six of our Mitchell Ambassadors.  Camellia Atkins is planning to use her entrepreneurial degree to further expand the Gulf Coast tourism industry.  Blakney Barnett is weighing options with consulting firms in Atlanta Birmingham, and Dallas.  Miena Haider plans to attend graduate school in the States or in Germany.  Mary Kristin Lee is waiting to hear from a Scottish university where she plans to complete a Masters in Tourism Marketing, or she will join the marketing department at the USS Alabama, the State’s top tourist attraction.  Gabriela Vargas-Uribe is planning to join the world of pharmaceutical sales in the Jacksonville, Florida area.  Shelby Weaver will enter the world of public accounting in the Mobile area.

Ms. Nancy Lambe is retiring from the faculty.  Before joining the College in 2006, Nancy held a number of managerial positions at companies including Sara Lee, Diamond Crystal, Nabisco, Ocean Spray Cranberries, and Proctor and Gamble.  Her teaching assignment included management and statistics classes.  In addition, she has been the driving force in incorporating SAP into the undergraduate curriculum.  She is planning to teach part-time for us during her retirement.

Despite my numerous attempts and best efforts to talk her out of it, Dr. Marjorie Icenogle insists on retiring and relocating to Florida.  Marjorie joined the faculty in 1994 after a career in human resource management with Coca-Cola.  In addition to teaching management courses at the undergraduate, masters, and doctoral level and chairing DBA dissertation committees, she has served as the Associate Dean for the College for most of my tenure.  The terms excellent, superb, outstanding, or your choice of any another superlative cannot begin to describe her performance in that role.  Her management of our curriculum/assurance of learning process, undergraduate student issues, and a number of other duties as assigned has been exemplary.  The word indispensable comes to mind.  Without her, the College would not be who we are.  She will be missed.

A busy summer awaits…the fall semester starts in just over 100 days.  Best wishes for a restful and enjoyable summer.  See you in the fall.