Lee H. Radebaugh has been appointed director of the Whitmore Global Management Center, succeeding Brooke Derr.

"I'm excited to be back at the Global Management Center," says Radebaugh, who was the center's director from 1990 to 2000. "Brooke has done an excellent job with the new programs."

Radebaugh intends to add to and build upon an already successful center. "I want to continue the excellent programs that already exist and leverage the international expertise and language experience of our students," he says.

Radebaugh's own experience in business and academia has earned him respect from a wide network of colleagues and contacts worldwide, says Dean Ned C. Hill.

Before serving as a mission president for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Brazil Porto Alegre South Mission (2000-2003), Radebaugh served as Marriott School associate dean for seven years. Since returning, he has served as MBA program associate director and held the KPMG Professorship in the School of Accountancy.

Radebaugh and his wife, Tanya, have six children and are awaiting the arrivals of their sixth and seventh grandchildren.


BYU's business and law schools are among the top fifty in the United States, reports U.S.News & World Report in its "America's Best Graduate Schools" issue. Other BYU graduate programs and specialties rank in the top one hundred in their categories.

The Marriott School and the J. Reuben Clark Law School are both ranked thirty-fourth.

"We are gratified to be listed among the country's finest MBA programs," says Ned C. Hill, dean of the Marriott School. "We recognize, however, the limited ability of the rankings to measure a school's quality and success. Our most important measure is the character of our graduates-something demonstrated over a lifetime." The Marriott School's graduate accounting program broke into the top ten at number nine. "Our accounting faculty has done a terrific job building an innovative and practical curriculum," Hill explained. "As a result, our accounting students are in high demand."

Referring to the Marriott School's ratings by corporate recruiters, Hill said, "They love the strong work ethic, analytical ability, and communications skills of BYU MBA graduates. We wish we could take more credit for developing these attributes, much of which they learned from good parents and missionary service."

U.S.News ranks graduate programs in the areas of business, education, engineering, law, and medicine. These rankings are based on two types of data: expert opinion about program quality and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school's faculty, research, and students. Indicator and opinion data come from surveys of more than 1,200 programs and nearly 9,600 academics and other professionals conducted in fall 2005.


Brigham Young University doesn't offer a PhD in accounting or information systems, but not because professors are afraid their students will replace them at the front of the class-in fact, they're hoping some may do just that.

Marriott School accounting and information systems professors developed a unique, hands-on doctoral preparation program to coach select students on what to expect from rigorous PhD schools. The programs have placed more than fifty graduates into top twenty-five programs in the past five years-creating goodwill for the university and helping a handful of students each year swap backpacks for briefcases as they learn to become research-intensive university professors.

"PhD programs love our students because they know what they are getting themselves into," says Professor Doug Prawitt, who developed the School of Accountancy PhD prep track ten years ago. "The average national dropout rate from PhD programs is about one-third; ours is much lower because students enter with solid quantitative skills and know what to expect, having already experienced teaching and even co-authoring on research projects."

Prawitt shared the accounting model with colleagues in the Information Systems Department, who, like their accounting counterparts, have enjoyed 100 percent placement. Since its inception in 2003, the prep track has placed eleven information systems PhD prep graduates into top twenty-five PhD programs-schools with a reputation for being extremely competitive.

"A top accounting or information systems program will receive hundreds of applications to fill just one or two openings-but our students have an advantage," says Professor Paul Lowry, director of the Information Systems Department PhD prep track. "The best universities are fighting each other for our graduates and are wondering what it is about BYU that makes our students so well prepared."

The advantage Lowry specifies is an unusual theory-based, empirical research training that transforms highly gifted business students into budding scientific researchers who create new knowledge to help businesses run more efficiently.

Last year, all accounting and information systems PhD entrants from BYU received tuition waivers and stipends averaging more than $18,000. Most of these graduates also received tens of thousands of dollars in fellowships and additional summer research money.

Prawitt believes that it's best for interested students to find out sooner rather than later if being a professor is right for them. "We try to give students all the information they need to self-select the program that best fits," he says. "If they drop out of the prep program we still see it as a success. It's much less costly for them and for prospective PhD programs to find out early if it's not the right choice."


The U.S. Department of Education awarded BYU a four-year grant worth $1.4 million to continue its work as a Center for International Business Education and Research. The grant allows BYU to work with other CIBER schools across the nation to improve international business and language courses.

Brooke Derr, former director of the Marriott School's Global Management Center, spent last summer drafting the proposal with help from center staffers and Associate Professor Kristie Seawright. According to Derr, some of the key factors in winning the grant include an extensive offering of business language courses, BYU's geographic location, and several proposed programs.

BYU currently offers eleven upperlevel business language courses that place the school at the head of the nation in this category. In an effort to stay on the cutting edge, BYU is working with Michigan State and the University of Texas to develop courses in Turkish and Arabic.

"We want to not only be good in languages, but because we have so many people who have lived abroad, we also want to be really good in culture," Derr says. "We are developing an instrument to measure cultural competency, to demonstrate that students not only speak a language but will actually be able to effectively conduct business in different regions of the world."

The grant also allows BYU to create other programs, which could be implemented at schools across the nation. One such program would make BYU the national resource for international business ethics.

Seawright, who drafted portions of the proposal, explains BYU's role in creating the course outlines and materials for the program. "We have international expertise that many other schools don't have and support from Marriott School administrators to become a center for ethics and the training of ethical business managers," Seawright says. "There are ethical issues that come up in international business that don't come up in domestic business. We can help schools identify and teach these issues."

There are thirty-one CIBER schools nationwide that work together to help train other colleges and universities about international business issues. This year more than one hundred schools applied for CIBER status.


It is not every day students hear from someone whose life surpassed his dreams. Dell CEO Kevin Rollins spoke to Marriott School graduates encouraging them to dream big and live even bigger at April's convocation ceremony. Rollins, the keynote speaker, told students that in addition to dreaming big they should work hard, give back, and maintain balance. "It's surprising how much you can get done if you don't worry about who gets the credit," Rollins suggested, sharing examples from his own experience at Dell.

"One of our senior team members, who could obviously be very jealous about the notoriety and recognition Michael Dell gets, calls our management team 'the no-name management team' because no one really knows the names of the great senior managers who make our company work," Rollins explained. "They realize being part of a great team is more important than trying to build their own names and brands."

Rollins encouraged the nearly nine hundred business school graduates to become great leaders and to strive to create an aristocracy of merit and virtue through hard work and compassion toward others. He said doing so involves giving back to schools, communities, and other worthy causes. Rollins also teaches by example-giving generously of his time and financial resources to found BYU's e-business center.

"Kevin has been a wonderful friend to the Marriott School for many years," says Dean Ned C. Hill. "Not only is he a graduate of our MBA program, but he's also a member of our national advisory council. We are grateful for his wonderful support and leadership in that area. Kevin is a great example of how to live one's life."

Rollins said looking back at his career he would have never imagined being where he is today. He urged students to push themselves to be better and do more than they currently think is possible and said they will experience, as he did, results beyond their greatest dreams.

"You do not realize all that you can be at this point in your life," Rollins said. "There is a grand plan for each of us. Each of us was created to succeed and have the potential for greatness built into our spiritual DNA."


BYU's American flag flew at half-staff on Friday, 18 August 2006, in honor of Clark L. DeWaal, a Marriott School associate teaching professor who passed away 10 August 2006 after suffering a fatal heart attack in Taiwan.

"He was a dear friend and colleague," says Michael J. Swenson, Business Management Department chair. "His influence extends far beyond the halls of the Tanner Building. We will miss his smile, his excellent teaching, professionalism, and his friendship."

DeWaal was born 5 July 1952 in Salt Lake City. He married Lorraine Turner in 1975. They have three children, Candace, Tyler, and Josh. DeWaal was a dedicated family man. He loved to travel, and he often took his family with him. He also gave many years of service to Boy Scouts of America.

DeWaal earned his BA in history from the University of Utah in 1977. He spent one year at National Taiwan University and proceeded to earn his MBA in finance from the University of Michigan in 1979. He spent twenty-five years working in Asia, which included serving as vice president of Continental Illinois Bank; as China treasurer for Motorola, Inc.; and as chief country officer in Hong Kong for Deutsche Bank.

In 2004, DeWaal joined the Marriott School faculty teaching international business and business management classes. Students enjoyed listening to his many stories about conducting business overseas. Some called his classes the best they had ever taken at BYU.

"He loved his students," Lorraine says. "His dream was to teach, and he made every moment a teaching moment. He was constantly educating himself-he was well-read and well-versed, and I think he wanted to share that with everyone he could. Business was a means to an end; he used his experience to teach his students."

Published by the Marriott School at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. Copyright 2012 by Brigham Young University. All rights reserved. All communications should be sent to Marriott Alumni Magazine, 490 Tanner Building, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602. Email: marriottmag@byu.edu. Telephone: (801) 422-5083. Fax: (801) 422-0501. The views expressed are those of the various authors and not necessarily the Marriott School. Change your mailing address here.