by jlansber | Nov 12, 2020 | Notes from the Dean
Interim Dean Tom Donley | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds
This academic year has begun unlike any we have experienced before at DePaul. Keeping our community safe—our first priority—compelled the university to substantially limit face-to-face classes, on-campus activities and residence hall living for students this fall and winter. All of our business courses are online, delivered in modalities that blend synchronous and asynchronous learning.
Our faculty have stepped up to embrace online teaching, and we are investing even more into faculty training and new classroom technologies to support the success of our students. These efforts build on DePaul’s decade of experience in online teaching and learning. Over the summer, 50 more of our business faculty members completed the DePaul Online Teaching Series, an award-winning program that teaches faculty best practices for engaging students in online classes. The college also has partnered with the university to upgrade our Loop Campus classrooms with teleconferencing and recording technologies that not only fulfill our immediate need to deliver courses safely and effectively online, but also better position us for the future by offering students more flexibility in how they learn.
Outside of the classroom, the university and our college have expanded remotely delivered career services and engagement activities for both students and alumni. Remote career coaching, webinars, networking events and a wealth of online resources are helping Blue Demons launch and advance their careers in a tough economy. This issue’s main feature focuses on how new graduates and seasoned alumni are building career resilience with this support.
For many of our students, this is an extraordinarily difficult time. The pandemic-driven recession has affected their ability to afford a DePaul education as well as their future job prospects. DePaul did not increase tuition this academic year, waived many fees, and increased financial aid, but there is still great need.
That’s why, as the college’s new interim dean, I am making fundraising for scholarships and strengthening student career mentoring top priorities this year. We’ve made a good start with several recent generous gifts from alumni and foundations. You can join in supporting students by giving to the recently launched Now We Must: The Campaign for DePaul’s Students. I also encourage you to give back by mentoring our students and connecting them to internships and careers.
Another important issue we are addressing involves DePaul’s long-standing commitment to foster diversity, inclusion and equity. To support this commitment, I am working with faculty and staff on our college’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee to expand the presence of underrepresented groups at all levels, from students to faculty, staff and administration.
We face many challenges this year, but our commitment to the DePaul mission remains strong. With your support, we can make this academic year one we will all can be proud of.
Be well.
by jlansber | Nov 12, 2020 | College News
Alumnus Joe Adams
Recent generous gifts from DePaul alumni and foundations are supporting student success and faculty excellence at DePaul’s business college.
RSM US Foundation and RSM US LLP employees, including alumni, made a matching gift totaling $1 million to establish two RSM fellowships at the School of Accountancy & MIS. Joe Adams (BUS ’77, MBA ’79), RSM managing partner and CEO, spearheaded the fundraising effort. The fellowships support efforts to attract and retain outstanding accounting faculty. Associate Professor Mary Mindak has been appointed as the first RSM Fellow.
The estate of the late Lyndell C. Ayres Jr. (BUS ’59) gave nearly $500,000 to the college. The gift will make an immediate impact this year as scholarship awards to students who are experiencing economic hardship due to the pandemic.
First Midwest Bank has provided a $500,000 gift through the First Midwest Charitable Foundation to the John L. Keeley Jr. Center for Financial Services, which provides co-curricular programming for finance students. Over the next five years, the gift will allocate resources to diversify the Keeley Center’s student cohorts through outreach, targeted programming, scholarship support and internship placements at the bank.
by jlansber | Nov 12, 2020 | Features
Richard H. Driehaus enjoyed answering questions from students who competed in the simulated stock portfolio competition that he sponsored for DePaul finance students. | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds
My DePaul education, as both an undergraduate and through the graduate school of business, was an important factor in how my career and life have evolved. I commend the university for creating an environment that not only excels in education, but does so in a benevolent way.”
— Richard H. Driehaus
In 1970, Richard Driehaus was one assignment away from earning his MBA at DePaul. He had been taking some time off from business school when his DePaul economics professor, William A. Hayes, called to remind him that he was only one paper away from graduating. Driehaus submitted a paper about his ideas on growth investing—a philosophy that served as the driving force behind what would become his multibillion-dollar, Chicago-based investment firm Driehaus Capital Management.
Driehaus, an internationally recognized investment pioneer and prolific philanthropist who started his work life as a newspaper delivery boy on the South Side of Chicago, died on March 9. He was 78.
A DePaul Triple Demon and Life Trustee, Driehaus grew up in a bungalow in the Brainerd neighborhood of Chicago. He earned his undergraduate business degree in 1965 and his MBA in 1970. In 2002, the university bestowed an honorary doctoral degree upon him.
“Richard was an inspirational member of the DePaul University community who devoted so much of his life’s focus to the university and our students,” says DePaul President A. Gabriel Esteban, PhD. “His pragmatic approach was forged in his Catholic values, education at neighborhood parochial schools and his strong family life. His inquisitive mind, relentless determination and unquenchable desire to learn led him to unparalleled levels of success in the investment management industry, which in turn spurred his outsized effect on countless individuals and organizations as a philanthropist.”
Driehaus’s devotion to DePaul and long-standing partnership with its business college led him to donate $30 million to the college, which was named in his honor
in 2012. The record gift supports the recruitment and retention of top business faculty members.
“My DePaul education, as both an undergraduate and through the graduate school of business, was an important factor in how my career and life have evolved,” Driehaus said at the college naming ceremony. “I commend the university for creating an environment that not only excels in education, but does so in a benevolent way.”
Driehaus shared his investment philosophy as a guest speaker at the college in 2014. | Photo by Jeff Carrion
Throughout his life, Driehaus generously dedicated his time and resources to support DePaul’s Catholic, Vincentian mission and the university’s business and arts programs. In 1993, he endowed the Driehaus Center for International Business, which oversees the college’s international business degrees and study abroad seminars. In 2002, he established the innovative Driehaus Center for Behavioral Finance and endowed the Driehaus Chair in Behavioral Finance. He regularly supported the annual galas hosted by The Theatre School and the School of Music. In 2018, he contributed to the establishment of the Dennis H. Holtschneider Chair in Vincentian Studies.
Driehaus also made a difference in students’ lives by funding scholarships for MBA students and a yearlong simulated stock portfolio competition for finance majors. He relished inviting student competitors to Driehaus Capital Management’s historic, castle-like headquarters in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood, where he answered their questions about the market and careers in finance.
“Students really enjoyed interacting with Richard,” says Lee Diamandakis (BUS ’01), who helped facilitate several of the annual investment competitions as a DePaul adjunct professor of finance and senior vice president of institutional sales at Driehaus Capital Management. “The competition is as real-world as it can get, and the students appreciated the opportunity to learn from Richard about the investing philosophy he first developed 40 years ago.” Several winners were offered internships at the firm, Diamandakis adds.
DePaul President A. Gabriel Esteban, PhD, praised Driehaus as an inspiration to the DePaul community.
Recognized as one of the most influential investment managers of his time, Driehaus also was a major force in the cultural and civic life of Chicago. He supported a wide range of local, national and international initiatives, and cared deeply about creating and sustaining thriving urban environments, particularly in Chicago.
A dedicated preservationist, Driehaus bought and restored the Nickerson mansion in Chicago and opened it to the public as the Richard H. Driehaus Museum in 2008. He established the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Award for Architectural Excellence in Community Design, which recognizes superior buildings in low-to-moderate-income neighborhoods in Chicago. His philanthropy also has advanced the missions of various arts organizations, created economic opportunity for low-wage earners and supported investigative journalism for government accountability.
Never forgetting his roots, he loyally supported his high school, St. Ignatius College Preparatory School; his grammar school, St. Margaret of Scotland; and the School Sisters of Notre Dame.
The DePaul community plans to celebrate Richard Driehaus’s life and lasting legacy. More details will be shared when plans have been finalized.
By Elizabeth Clements and Robin Florzak
by jlansber | Nov 12, 2020 | College News
Business College Refreshes Curricula
The business college introduced new programs this fall and is revising others to make its curricula even more current. A new entrepreneurship major in the Bachelor of Science in Business (BSB) program debuted in September, as did a business minor for nonbusiness majors. Core classes in the BSB are also being revamped to provide a greater focus on business analytics. Other new programs include a revised MBA program that emphasizes analytics and experiential learning, an online MBA in hospitality leadership and an MBA in business analytics.
College Recognized in Rankings
The business college recently received rankings that recognize the quality and achievements of its entrepreneurship program and the diversity of the college’s graduates. Poets & Quants, an online news source for prospective business students, ranked the college’s entrepreneurship program No. 40 in the world for MBA students. Diverse Issues in Higher Education’s “Top 100 Degree Producers” recognized DePaul business programs in 54 categories of its annual survey, which ranks the top 100 colleges nationally by the number in each academic discipline.
Academic Departments Merge
The college’s finance and real estate departments have merged administratively to create the Department of Finance and Real Estate. The merger helps the college meet reaccreditation standards and provides students with more opportunities for cross-disciplinary study. Degree programs and centers associated with the two disciplines remain unchanged. Thomas Berry (MBA ’77), a longtime finance faculty member who also served as associate dean, was appointed chair of the merged department.
by jlansber | Nov 12, 2020 | Alumni Profiles
Alumna Bushra Amiwala, seen above with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, is part of a wave of women making their voices heard in politics.
I think a lot of us just didn’t think that this kind of change would be possible for someone who had a particular background.”
— Bushra Amiwala (BUS ’20)
Two years ago, Bushra Amiwala’s (BUS ’20) candidacy for the Cook County Board of Commissioners captured the attention of national media outlets and won her a place in the PBS docuseries “And She Could Be Next.” In one scene, the documentary shows Amiwala addressing a room full of young volunteers in a small Skokie, Ill., restaurant.
“If I get elected,” she says. “I would be the first Pakistani Muslim woman to ever hold office in the United States.” At 20 years old, Amiwala lost her election to longtime incumbent Larry Suffredin. A week after her loss, Suffredin invited Amiwala to breakfast and encouraged her to run for the Skokie Board of Education.
“He said, ‘You can’t let this movement and mobilization that you had go to waste. You have to keep going,’” she says. She took his advice, and in 2019, Amiwala was elected to the board and is currently serving a four-year term. “Skokie has had such a profound impact on me and my education and upbringing, and it was my way to give back to the community that has done so much to shape who I am,” she says. Amiwala’s win made her the youngest Muslim elected official in the country.
Since 2015, the number of women of color who have run for office and been elected has increased dramatically—up 40% in Congress and up 38% in state legislatures, according to a report released by the Women Donors Network. In August, U.S. Senator Kamala Harris was nominated as the Democratic vice-presidential candidate. She was elected as the first woman and the first Black and Asian American vice president of the United States.
Bushra Amiwala, 22, serves on the Skokie School District 73.5 Board of Education.
“I think a lot of us just didn’t think that this kind of change would be possible for someone who had a particular background. Now they are stepping up to the plate and realizing, yes, there is space for us in the political realm if we choose to get up and do something about it,” says Amiwala, who began working for Google as a large customer sales associate following graduation in June. “I do want to make sure it’s not just a token type thing, that it’s not just the identity politics behind it, that they truly are the best to represent their communities right now in this time.”
During Amiwala’s first election run, which placed her and other women candidates on the cover of Time magazine, she noticed a trend in news stories documenting her campaign. During interviews, journalists rarely asked about her ideas as a candidate and instead focused on her identity as a Pakistani Muslim woman.
Amiwala says she has combated the stigma attached to identity politics by reclaiming her own voice when she can. “It’s being very intentional about what I choose to put out there and how I choose to amplify my own voice,” she says. “It’s speaking out against every instance where I do sort of feel like my identity and what I look like is at the forefront instead of my actual policy ideas or change I hope to bring forth.”
By Jaclyn Lansbery | Photos courtesy of Bushra Amiwala
