Professor
My favorite thing about working with honors students is to see the excitement and earnest quest of knowledge beyond that of just getting a good grade in a course. While grades are important to honors students, it’s my experience that they sincerely wish to know more, dig deeper, and have more of the “why” and back story behind concepts explained to them or to research on their own. Business honors students are generally very practical people as well, so when they can connect how a theory forms the basis of actual workplace behavior or how a management concept improves business decision making; then I see that their academic and professional curiosities are both satiated by knowing they can use this information in their future careers. Having honors students reinvigorates me as both a lecturer and researcher, as they often ask questions that motivate me to learn and research more to satisfy their inquisitive minds.
The most important thing I learned in school was that your education is never done. College is not the end of your education but merely the start to intrigue you to seek and learn more. While at some points your “formal” in-class education ceases, students should realize that the people who are most successful in whatever careers they pursue, embrace life-long learning as both interesting and required. Being that we are in the information age, to be most successful in ones future line of work will require one to continually monitor the external environment, learn best practices from competitors, and to stay well read on articles related to your profession and industry. With that mind, it is hoped that students select majors and careers in which they are sincerely interested in constantly learning and seeking new information to improve themselves and their performance.
The most interesting object in my office is my collection of various soccer-related art and memorabilia. Since I was in Germany with my family in 1974 to celebrate when the host nation won the World Cup, I have been a fan of the “beautiful game.” I have had the good fortune to see in person German soccer legend Franz Beckenbauer’s (Der Kaiser) last match, to be in Germany to watch with family and friends the World Cups in 1982 and 1990 (when Germany won it again!), attend matches in Dallas for the World Cup in 1994 and travel to France for the Coupe de Monde in 1998 to watch the opening day parades and watch matches with thousands of fellow fans in the fan zones.
