Paloma Mendoza (BUS ’20) (in beige sweater) got her foot in the door of advertising firm FCB during a class visit. (Photo courtesy Andy Clark)
DePaul helps business alumni stay career competitive
Like many Class of 2020 graduates, Michael J. Smith had to pivot his career plans last spring because of the pandemic-driven economic downturn. Smith was looking forward to joining KPMG as a tax data and analytics associate in June. But on the eve of earning his master’s in business analytics, Smith received word that KPMG was delaying start dates for new hires until January 2021.
Despite the setback, Smith remained confident because he knew he had a strong ally to help him navigate his next career step: DePaul. DePaul business students and alumni “have access to a tremendous amount of resources” that support career searches and advancement, says Smith, resources that include personalized career coaching.
Michael J. Smith (BUS MS ’20) received personalized career coaching to land an analytics position in the spring.
Smith asked the Kellstadt Career Management Center (CMC), which helped him land the position with KPMG, for assistance in finding an interim data analytics role until his new start date. A CMC career coach helped Smith “identify the right opportunities for me and network with a purpose,” he says. “I broke my strategy into three steps: create an elevator pitch, analyze the market and identify my target companies and audiences.” Smith identified industries that would need data analysts, even in a tough economy. With election season in full swing, he added political parties to the list.
The strategy paid off. Smith was hired as deputy state data director for the Republican Party of Wisconsin in July. The position was a perfect fit for his need to deepen his data analytics experience before beginning his assignment at KPMG, which remains committed to bringing him on board in 2021. “I feel extremely honored and valued during such uncertain times.”
Since the pandemic hit in March, the CMC, which supports graduate business students and alumni, and the DePaul Career Center, which serves undergraduate business students and alumni, have been expanding their resources to help Blue Demons stay competitive in a dramatically altered labor market. The centers offer alumni remote career coaching, webinars on job search strategies and online networking, as well as a wealth of web-based resources, including Handshake, a comprehensive career services portal that provides job and internship listings, as well as information about career events.
One of the DePaul Career Center’s newest initiatives is a job search club for alumni and new graduates “to talk about challenges people are facing and share goals and questions,” says Karyn McCoy, the center’s assistant vice president. “It’s a way to let people know they are not alone.” McCoy also recommends the CMC’s new skills labs created to help graduates think about upskilling, as well as the Alumni Sharing Knowledge (ASK) Network as a nexus for alumni to share career insights.
Paloma Mendoza (BUS ’20) | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds
At the business college, faculty, departments and centers are stepping up to connect students and new graduates to career leads through an extensive network of alumni and industry connections. Certificate and graduate degree programs are also available for alumni to build career resilience, especially if they have been out of school for a while. “We encourage alumni to return to refresh their skills and see our college as a resource for growth throughout their professional life,” says Interim Business Dean Thomas Donley.
Business faculty—and their contacts in Chicago’s business world—offer a fruitful networking resource. Paloma Mendoza (BUS ’20) got her foot in the door at the global advertising firm Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB) in July with the help of Andy Clark (MBA ’87), the sports business program director.
Mendoza became interested in advertising agency work as a student in Clark’s sports sponsorship marketing class, which visited FCB’s Chicago office to discuss Super Bowl ads with executives last winter. In the spring, when she learned that FCB was offering virtual account management internships, she applied. “Mentioning Professor Clark’s name and my class experience visiting FCB definitely helped,” she says. Mendoza landed the coveted internship, which pairs her with a FCB account director mentor and puts her into consideration for future job openings.
“She did a fantastic job of following up with FCB and secured a very tough-to-get internship, especially in this environment,” Clark says. “I think Paloma’s story represents the very best of what a DePaul education offers.”
Alumnus Omar Ortiz prepared for a promotion by earning a DePaul marketing strategy certificate.
For alumni who are midcareer professionals, DePaul certificates and graduate degrees have become an attractive option to advance their careers in a competitive market. “At least 35% to 40% of our students are DePaul alumni or family members of alumni,” says Jurate Murray (MBA ’02), associate director of the Kellstadt Marketing Center, which offers a wide range of advertising and marketing certificate programs for professionals to refresh their skills.
Omar Ortiz (BUS ’17), marketing manager for Neighborhoods.com, completed the center’s content marketing strategy certificate program online in March to prepare for a recent promotion. “I thought it’d be a great idea to further sharpen my skills and solidify myself as an expert,” he says.
Upskilling for Andrew Catanese (BUS ’14), club and theatre ticketing manager for C3 Presents, meant enrolling in DePaul’s MBA in hospitality program this fall. Offered entirely online, the program gives Catanese the flexibility to continue working remotely from Austin, Texas, for C3, a nationwide concert promoter. “I’ve been out of school six years, and I think that’s a big gap as far as new techniques,” says Catanese, who hopes to run his own music venue in the future. “I am excited to further my education in the hospitality program.”
Incoming Interim Dean Thomas Donley | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds
DePaul University Interim Provost Salma Ghanem has named Thomas Donley Interim Dean for the College of Business, effective July 1.
Prior to his appointment, Donley, a professor of economics, held a series of administrative roles in which he helped shape the business college’s academic programs and operations,
as well as DePaul’s faculty governance. He will succeed Misty Johanson, who steps down June 30 to return to the School of Hospitality Leadership as a senior faculty member after a year’s leave.
“In his 30 years at DePaul, Tom has consistently demonstrated dedication to delivering an excellent education to our students,” Ghanem says. “From his leadership roles on Faculty Council to his international business expertise, Tom will be an effective advocate for continuing the business college’s success during this time of transition.”
As an associate dean for Driehaus since 2018, Donley oversees the college’s academic operations and manages its international program strategy, which includes graduate business programs in Bahrain and more than a dozen international business study abroad seminars annually. In his previous role as special assistant to the dean, he assessed academic unit performance to position the college for success.
“As interim dean I plan to focus my leadership on developing new market-driven programs and technology-enhanced course delivery modes that meet the needs of today’s students,” Donley says. “I also look forward to leading our college’s efforts to be reaccredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.”
Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Donley joined DePaul’s faculty in 1990 and was promoted to professor of economics in 2002. He served from 2007 to 2016 as chair of the Department of Economics, where he established the Master of Science in Economics & Policy Analysis and its innovative fellowship program in Washington, D.C. DePaul presented Donley with its Spirit of DePaul Award in 2015.
As interim dean I plan to focus my leadership on developing new market-driven programs and technology-enhanced course delivery modes that meet the needs of today’s students.”
Donley served as president of the DePaul Faculty Council from 2004 to 2006. In this role, he updated the council’s faculty representation model and initiated a revision of the Faculty Handbook.
Donley’s research expertise is in applied microeconomics and econometrics, with a focus on labor markets and wage inequality. He teaches courses in microeconomics, macroeconomics and public economics, and has received college teaching excellence awards.
He earned a PhD and Master of Science in Economics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where his dissertation examined family income inequality. Donley also holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
“As associate dean overseeing academic operations, Tom has done an excellent job of guiding our college department leadership,” Johanson says. “I am confident that under his leadership, the college will advance in the achievement of its strategic goals.” The Office of the Provost expects the dean search for the Driehaus College of Business to begin in the 2020-21 academic year.
Kellstadt is revising its MBA program and developing new MBA concentrations that are expected to be offered this fall.
Decision-making in all industries is increasingly data-driven, creating more career opportunities for business graduates with analytical skills.
To prepare professionals to take advantage of these opportunities, the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business has revised its MBA program for this fall and is introducing new programs that emphasize analytics.
“The revised MBA curriculum has a greater focus on data analytics and innovation in business, and it is designed to be completed in 18 months for most students,” says Robert S. Rubin, associate dean for graduate and professional education programs at DePaul’s business school. “All courses in the program have been updated to ensure relevancy and promote learning of technology-based tools.”
A new MBA concentration, the MBA in Business Analytics, is also being offered this fall. It will equip students with advanced skills for analyzing business data to identify meaningful trends and recommend actions to capitalize on these trends. “These in-demand skills can be applied to positions across business functions, including those in operations, finance, management and marketing,” Rubin says.
Kellstadt also is developing an MBA in Healthcare Analytics, which it plans to add to the curricula soon. This concentration will equip students with the ability to analyze and act on data in the fast-growing health care industry, Rubin says. “Students in this program will learn how to use data to determine how business, health and public policy interact and what implications this has for health care organizations.”
All courses in the revised MBA program are being updated to ensure relevancy and promote learning of technology-based tools.”
— Robert S. Rubin, associate dean for graduate and professional education programs
Another degree that will debut this fall is the Online Executive Master of Science in Human Resources. “Human resources is another field growing in stature as the job market compels organizations to find highly skilled HR leaders who can execute effective strategies for talent development in changing times,” Rubin says. “We’ve designed our executive master’s degree program in collaboration with human resource industry experts to prepare professionals for these opportunities.”
The Executive MS in Human Resources targets professionals who have at least seven years of experience. Classes will be offered online accompanied by three in-person sessions that allow students to network with classmates, professors and industry leaders. Students can complete the program in 15 months.
Marianne Markowitz (MBA ’92) CEO, First Women’s Bank
When I think about the impact DePaul had on my life and career, I also go back to networks. DePaul expanded my perspective, my skill set, but perhaps most importantly, my network— a network I continue to leverage and grow today.
Marianne Markowitz (MBA ’92) is leading the launch of Illinois’ first new commercial bank in a dozen years. Called First Women’s Bank, the innovative, Chicago-based institution will serve small and midsize businesses and individual depositors, with a focus on women’s banking needs. Markowitz brings experience as the former Midwest regional director of the Small Business Administration to her role as bank CEO. In this interview, she shares why she is passionate about this groundbreaking bank startup, which is scheduled to open this year.
What motivated you to establish First Women’s Bank?
There is a well-documented and addressable gender gap in lending, but no one is addressing it. Women are starting businesses at two times the national average, yet they receive just 16% of conventional business loans. Our mission is to help bridge that gap, help grow the small-business economy and advance the role of women within it. That’s incredibly motivating to me!
What’s unique about this venture?
Everything! We’ll be the first de novo bank in Illinois in more than a decade and the only bank with a strategic focus on women in the nation. We have built an incredible team, and we’re guided and supported by a talented and experienced board. People are drawn to our mission to grow the economy and advance the role of women within it. The support we are receiving and the excitement this launch elicits continue to surprise me. It’s truly the opportunity of a lifetime.
What are the current challenges and opportunities facing small businesses in Chicago and beyond?
Historically, one of the biggest challenges facing small business was access to capital; now it’s about access to the right capital. Because larger banks tend to focus on larger, more profitable middle-market companies, the service levels for small businesses have suffered. As a result, a new crop of fintech ventures have emerged to fill the gap with fast cash. There are lots of providers offering immediate capital with opaque terms.
Small businesses are signing up for these loans without fully understanding the aggressive repayment terms, which can sometimes be predatory in nature. In addition, there are fewer trusted advisers to guide small businesses to the best capital solutions to meet their needs. While capital is one piece of the puzzle, a strategic network that can provide access to information, technology and marketing opportunities can be as powerful as capital. We intend to provide access to innovative capital solutions and connect our clients to networks of opportunity to help them achieve their goals.
How did your upbringing and education lead you to a career in business and public service?
I was raised in a working-class community, and I saw firsthand the achievement gaps that exist when there are few paths to consider and no networks to leverage. I’m a very commercial person, so I was drawn to business early on, I think, in part, because I saw so many different possibilities. That was exciting to me, and that ultimately led me to DePaul for my MBA and a career in finance.
A pivotal moment in my career came when I joined the 2008 Obama campaign as chief financial officer. It was the first time I had the opportunity to marry my skills with my passion and values. Once you experience leveraging the skills you’ve worked so hard to build with what matters to you most, then you are no longer working—you’re living your values. And that’s how I feel about the work we are doing at First Women’s Bank. We’re building more than a bank. We’re creating a platform that will allow small businesses, corporations and individuals to demonstrate their commitment to gender equality and women in leadership.
How did your DePaul education shape your career and life?
DePaul had a fantastic banking and trading focus. At the time, I was working on complex trading instruments, so it was great to go to school at night and immediately go back to work the next morning and apply what I was learning. It was at DePaul that I focused on banking for the first time. In fact, we had a project where we had to design an innovative bank from scratch, and my team designed a mobile bank. I’ve thought about that project a lot as we prepare to launch a mobile bank. The technology is dramatically different, but the fundamentals are not.
When I think about the impact DePaul had on my life and career, I also go back to networks. DePaul expanded my perspective, my skill set, but perhaps most importantly, my network— a network I continue to leverage and grow today.
What advice do you have for recent DePaul graduates?
My advice is to leverage the broad network that DePaul offers. Broaden your perspective, look beyond your current job or area of study. Look up, look across, look around at the many paths that DePaul can help lead you down. See your professors not only as teachers, but as advisers for your future. And find a way to marry your skills and experience with your passion.
Alyssa Westring has been researching work-life balance for 18 years, since before she became a parent.
Now an associate professor of management in the Driehaus College of Business and a mother of two, Westring thinks a lot about the advice her mother gave her when she was growing up. You can have it all, she told Westring. You can have a career and be a go-getter and do anything you want to do.
“In college I was surrounded by incredible, driven women who wanted to have careers but who also wanted to have a family and a life, and I saw my generation, my peers, confused and worried about how they were going to make both happen successfully,” she says. “I started to wonder: how do we create a life where we can have career success but also be parents, be healthy and be involved in our communities?”
This question took Westring to graduate school, where she studied organizational psychology and researched anticipated work-family conflict—how people think about future challenges they might face in their careers and family lives and how that thinking influences their career choices.
“I was doing exciting research, but I wanted it to help people and not just live in an academic bubble,” she says. “That’s when I reached out to Professor Stewart Friedman at the University of Pennsylvania. He was doing groundbreaking work at the time bridging leadership development and work-life integration. I started working with him on his research and have been working with him ever since.”
Westring has served as director of research at Friedman’s company, Total Leadership, for more than 15 years, conducting research on leadership principles and how they can apply to all aspects of life, not just careers. Their work together recently culminated in the co-authoring of “Parents Who Lead: The Leadership Approach You Need to Parent with Purpose, Fuel Your Career, and Create a Richer Life.” Published in March 2020 by Harvard Business Review Press, the book takes the fundamentals of effective leadership and applies them to working parents.
“It’s essentially a guidebook,” Westring explains. “We created a framework for how to take a leadership approach to being a working parent and how that can enhance your performance at work, your parenting at home and make you happier and healthier all around.”
The book includes research and stories about working parents—single, dual-career, one working full-time and the other part-time—and provides activities and exercises that engage readers in implementing the book’s tools for daily life. “A lot of the advice parents find or receive about work-life balance is based on the personal experiences of other people. I wanted to give advice based on research,” Westring says. “I feel I have a unique voice as a mom who has access to important research that can benefit busy parents.
“Stew [Friedman] and I are parents at different phases in our lives, and we are from different genders and generations, which all contributes to making this a well-rounded book for empowering both mothers and fathers.”
Westring has these three leadership tips for working parents—and anyone else—to thrive in their careers and at home:
1. Create a shared vision with your parenting partner.
We know from decades of research that good leaders have a vision for the future that’s based on their values. Talk to your co-parent, whether a spouse or another person helping you raise your child, and get on the same page with them about what you want your life to look like over the next 10 or 20 years. Your personal life and professional life don’t happen in a vacuum—one will always affect the other—so think about the values-driven choices you’re making and how those choices will bring you toward a future you want.
2. Communicate your vision with people who can support you.
A good leader always gets people excited about their vision. Once you determine your vision, communicate it to the people around you so they can support you. If you can’t get people on board with what you’re aspiring to do, you will work twice as hard to get where you want to be, and that’s if you get there at all. Building a community of support will help open doors for you, push you when you need that extra push and keep you accountable to
creating the life you want to lead.
3. Don’t be afraid to try new ways of doing things.
Good leaders know that one size does not fit all when it comes to finding the best route to success. If one route isn’t working for you, experiment with new ways to achieve your goal. Don’t give up or get discouraged. Cultivate a mindset of “keep trying” and eventually you will come across a way that matches your values and helps you feel more successful in life.
By Nadia Alfadel Coloma
Steve Kelly, associate professor of marketing and director, Kellstadt Marketing Center
Mary Beth McCabe (MBA ’82) remembers learning a lot from the business case studies written about real brands—including EKCO kitchenware—that she tackled as a student at DePaul.
“We had to create our own product promotional characters, and our group created the character Ernie Ekco for some cooking products,” she recalls. The exercise helped her connect theory to practice and provided a useful framework for her to develop marketing strategies at work.
Today, McCabe, an associate professor of marketing at National University in La Jolla, Calif., and the owner of Sun Marketing in San Diego, develops business school case studies about marketing issues facing real companies. She was inspired to become a case writer by one of her DePaul teachers, Associate Professor of Marketing Steve Kelly, and the annual case competition he created, the Jacobs & Clevenger Case Writers’ Workshop.
This fall marks the 25th anniversary of the workshop co-sponsored by the Kellstadt Marketing Center, which Kelly directs. It started when the workshop’s original co-sponsor, the Direct Marketing Association, approached Kelly seeking strategies “to get more people interested in the field, which wasn’t being taught,” Kelly says. The workshop is now co-sponsored by Jacobs & Clevenger, a marketing agency co-founded by Ron Jacobs, past president of the Chicago Association of Direct Marketing.
Students often come to school with no idea of what they want to do. It’s usually their experience with companies—reading cases about them and then interning in that field—that helps them find their career interest.”
— Steve Kelly, associate professor of marketing and director, Kellstadt Marketing Center
The workshop is scheduled to convene at the annual Marketing Management Association (MMA) Educators’ Conference in Providence, R.I., in September. As he has done for every workshop, Kelly has lined up representatives from companies located in the host city to share information about their marketing issues with professors at the workshop. It isn’t difficult to find companies willing to participate, Kelly says, even though they get nothing in return. “These companies love to give back to the classroom.”
After the conference, the participating professors will turn the company’s presentations into case studies that challenge business students to develop solutions to the real-world situations described by the companies. Then, Kelly and DePaul marketing staff member Jessica Sanborn (BUS MA ’19) will arrange for the cases to be peer-reviewed by 20 or so professors, including DePaul faculty members. The three top-rated cases will be presented at next year’s MMA conference, where new cases will be developed. Kelly and co-editor Susan K. Jones, a marketing professor at Ferris State University in Grand Rapids, Mich., publish the cases in the biennial “IMC Sourcebook: Readings and Cases in Integrated Marketing Communications,” which professors across the country use in their classrooms.
Cases developed in the workshop bring contemporary business issues to life for students. One award-winning case co-written by McCabe, for example, puts students in the shoes of marketing executives at the electric carmaker Tesla by asking them to develop strategies for managing demand that outpaces production.
Kelly, who will celebrate his 45th year on DePaul’s faculty in June, says he enjoys managing the competition because case studies have a positive impact on students. “Students often come to school with no idea of what they want to do,” he says. “It’s usually their experience with companies—reading cases about them and then interning in that field—that helps them find their career interest.”
James Valentine, a clinical professor of finance in the Driehaus College of Business and executive director of the Driehaus Center for Behavioral Finance, created a financial literacy course two years ago to help underprivileged communities in Chicago.
Students in James Valentine’s “Exploring and Sharing Financial Literacy” course aren’t just learning the fundamentals of financial literacy, they’re teaching it to community-based organizations in Chicago who want to share these skills with their communities.
A visit to one of Valentine’s fall class sessions revealed students and community leaders gathered in groups around the classroom, engaging in topics that ranged from how to create a budget to managing personal finances to techniques for improving individual credit scores. During the quarter students also met with leaders at their organizations to facilitate the lessons, deepening the hands-on learning experience for the students, who were all undergraduate finance majors.
Valentine, a clinical professor of finance in the Driehaus College of Business and executive director of the Driehaus Center for Behavioral Finance, created the course two years ago. “I wanted to utilize my finance teaching skills to help underprivileged communities in Chicago,” he says. “I’m happy I found a way to do that through DePaul, to provide this opportunity to our students.”
The coursework is heavily based on the University of Illinois’ All My Money: Change for the Better extension program, a train-the-trainer financial management program that is also offered through the State of Illinois.
Students spend the first four weeks of the course learning the foundational elements of financial literacy and principles of small group facilitation, and the remaining weeks teaching financial literacy content to the community leaders. In the process, students get to learn, apply and teach theories from behavioral finance, personal finance and adult learning.
“The DePaul University Steans Center [which supports community-based service learning] connects me with community-based organizations who are interested in receiving financial literacy training,” explains Valentine. “So far, we’ve had anywhere from five to nine CBOs participate in each course.”
The financial literacy kits that community-based organizations (CBOs) receive as part of their training, including handouts and facilitator guides, are funded by the Steans Center and the Driehaus Center for Behavioral Finance.
I wanted to utilize my finance teaching skills to help underprivileged communities in Chicago. I’m happy I found a way to do that through DePaul, to provide this opportunity to our students.”
— Clinical Professor of Finance James Valentine
Cody Cotton, co-founder of A Greater Good Foundation, was one of the CBO leaders who participated in the fall 2019 course.
“We’re a youth mentoring non-for-profit that provides social and emotional learning skills to high school and college-aged kids throughout the West and South Sides of Chicago,” shares Cotton. “It’s been extremely valuable to my organization and the youth we serve to receive this training from DePaul. And it’s helped me on a personal level, too. This class brought me a lot of self-awareness about my own habits and behaviors when it comes to finances.”
Ryan McCormick (far right) is a senior who took the class “Exploring and Sharing Financial Literacy” in fall 2019.
Ryan McCormick, a senior who took the class in which Cotton participated, says “it felt rewarding to be a part of a class that benefits the community.”
“It was an enlightening experience to realize how so many people don’t have the knowledge or skills they need when it comes to financial planning,” Ryan says.
Another positive outcome of the course was a translation project Valentine initiated with the help of the Department of Modern Languages at DePaul. “Many CBO leaders expressed the need to have the financial literacy handouts translated into Spanish since many of the under-resourced communities that need this information are Spanish-speaking,” explains Valentine. “We just wrapped up the process of translating these handouts during winter quarter, so they are available for those communities that need a Spanish version.”
“Exploring and Sharing Financial Literacy” is typically scheduled twice a year for finance majors at the Driehaus College of Business, but Valentine hopes to eventually make it available to all students at the college, especially since it meets DePaul’s experiential learning requirement. “For students who can’t afford to study abroad or aren’t fortunate enough to obtain an internship, this course provides a perfect opportunity for them to engage in experiential learning, meet that requirement, and all through a course offered in their college.”
By Nadia Alfadel Coloma | Photos by Kathy Hillegonds
Donald M. Ephraim (BUS ’52) | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds
Donald M. Ephraim’s path to becoming a successful agent for on-air talent began with a humble job as a stock boy at a grocery store near his home on the South Side of Chicago. He used the money he earned to enroll in DePaul, becoming the first in his family to graduate college.
“My sister had married a DePaul graduate who had studied accounting,” he recalls. “Back then, I wanted to be a lawyer practicing tax law. I thought having an undergraduate degree in accounting would be helpful, and then I would get a law degree. My brother-in-law spoke highly of DePaul, and that’s where I applied.”
Ephraim excelled at DePaul and passed the CPA exam by special permission at age 20, even though Illinois law required test takers to be 21. He added a JD to his CPA after completing law school at the University of Chicago. “I lived at home during my entire college career, both undergraduate and law school,” says Ephraim. “My parents could not afford to send me to college, so I paid for all my college and law school on my own.”
After graduation from law school, Ephraim served in the army and then worked at an accounting firm and law firms before striking out on his own as an accountant-attorney providing tax and estate planning. His career path changed when former Chicago Bears wide receiver Johnny Morris came to him as a client.
“Johnny called me after I did his estate plan and said he had received an offer from WBBM-TV to come on air during football season to do Sunday night post-game commentary,” Ephraim says. “He wondered if I could negotiate his contract. I told him I’d never done that before, but I would like to try. Johnny was so pleased with the result, he talked about it to everyone. All of a sudden, clients just started coming in, and pretty soon I was a major rep in terms of television, radio and newspaper people.” Ephraim’s client list included film critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, news anchor Bill Kurtis, sports announcer Jack Brickhouse, Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne and many others.
Having to fund my own education, I’ve always been interested in helping students fund theirs. I hope to inspire the students in the business school to achieve their best grades through this award.”
— Donald M. Ephraim (BUS ’52)
After decades of success, Ephraim turned his law firm over to two of his sons. “I’m in my give-back phase now,” he says. He actively supports education, arts and culture organizations near his Florida home, including the Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival and the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County. He also gives generously to DePaul through the Donald M. Ephraim Family Endowed Excellence Award, which provides a monetary prize for the highest-achieving DePaul business students at the end of their junior year.
“Having to fund my own education, I’ve always been interested in helping students fund theirs,” he says. “I hope to inspire the students in the business school to achieve their best grades through this award. The awardees with whom I’ve spoken are terrific students who really apply themselves and have great futures.”
DePaul’s commitment to educating students from all backgrounds also motivates Ephraim to give. “One of my very warm feelings for the university is the fact that when I started, there were quotas for Jewish students limiting attendance at most other universities,” he says. “DePaul had no quota. That to me was wonderful and endearing and something for which I have enormous respect, and I want to honor that spirit by giving back.”
Learn more about how the Ephraim Endowed Excellence Award helped alumna Catherine Conrad (BUS ’19).
This year the U.S. Census Bureau began the monumental effort of counting the population of the country, starting in January with a remote village in Alaska. This undertaking takes place every 10 years, but the Bureau is active every year, collecting an enormous body of data via monthly surveys to get an ongoing pulse on various issues, including employment and unemployment, healthcare, household size and incomes, to name a few. So why is this data collection important, from an economist’s perspective?
Professors in the Driehaus College of Business shed some light on how they use census data in their research and teaching.
“As a macroeconomist, I use census data all the time for the analysis of unemployment,” shares Mike Miller, associate dean and economics professor in the college. “Analyzing the number of people in and out of work helps us measure production and the size of the economy. The census is so important because it’s what we economists use to figure out this information.”
William Sanders, emeritus professor who taught in the Department of Economics for more than three decades before retiring in 2019, is an expert on urban economic development and education economics. He used census data extensively in his research to study the correlation between household location and educational attainment in Chicago metropolitan areas, including how private school options in Chicago affect academic achievement for various demographic groups.
“The census provides a large sample of households that enables us researchers to statistically estimate the effects of numerous factors like education and demographic characteristics on a large number of outcomes like employment, wages and income,” says Sanders.
The college’s Institute for Housing Studies, meanwhile, regularly engages in research around housing affordability, housing finance, homeownership, sustainable neighborhood redevelopment and other emerging trends—all of which rely heavily on census data.
As part of their work, the institute produces an annual report called the State of Rental Housing in Cook County that tracks changing rental demand, the supply of rental housing, and how these dynamics affect access to affordable rental housing for Cook County’s lowest income households.
“The census is really the only publicly available data source that allows us to understand current and changing economic and demographic conditions at the neighborhood level,” explains Geoff Smith, executive director of the Institute for Housing Studies. “This type of information is critical for understanding the changing nature of housing demand. We even used it in our work supporting the development of Chicago’s most recent Five-Year Housing Plan.”
Census data also finds its way into DePaul business classrooms—and not just economics courses. Associate Professor Suzanne Fogel, who teaches in the Department of Marketing, has created census assignments in her Precision Marketing course. “One of the assignments is to have students compare two zip codes, write consumer profiles of each, and recommend five products for each area that would be a good fit, but wouldn’t be right for the other area, and five products that would be a good fit for both,” explains Fogel.
Fogel’s assignments teach students how to pull data from the census at very detailed levels and how to put together a coherent profile from disparate data. “Students also learn the limitations of relying on demographic data for marketing, instead of things like product purchase data, market research data and other sources,” she says.
The 2020 Census operations will continue through the remainder of the calendar year, and it has never been easier to respond; individuals can complete the census either online, over the phone or by mail. And what about the April, 1, 2020 Census Day? It’s not a deadline, it’s merely a reference date to inform the U.S. Census Bureau of where you live as of April 1. So if you haven’t filled out the census yet, you can still do so. Just visit 2020census.gov.
Emily Greenbaum (BUS ’16), at left, with Kenzie Mocogni (BUS ’19), at Verde Events in Chicago’s West Loop. | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds
Emily Greenbaum (BUS ’16) lives in Chicago, but her career over the last four years has taken her to places where she never thought she’d have the opportunity to work.
During one busy season, she traveled from Lisbon, Portugal, to Louisville, Kentucky, to Orange County, California, within a span of just three months. An event manager for Verde Events in Chicago, Greenbaum directs all aspects of event planning for clients around the world, from company meetings of 20 to conventions of 2,000 people.
“To think this all started with me submitting my résumé for an internship just four years ago,” she reflects. “I had never heard of Verde before interning there as a senior at DePaul, and I would have never been so confident about this being a career path for me if it weren’t for the other internships I had experienced prior to Verde.”
Approximately 60% of undergraduate students from the Class of 2018 reported completing at least one internship during their time at DePaul. In the business college, that number is 69%, according to data from the university’s Career Center. DePaul’s current strategic plan emphasizes the importance of increasing the number of students participating in internships. The aim is to have 85% of students complete an internship by 2025—an ambitious goal backed by the university’s unique experiential learning requirement for undergraduates.
Students can fulfill this requirement in a variety of ways—studying abroad, participating in service learning or working in leadership positions on campus—but an internship experience remains the most effective tool for career exploration, preparation and success. The ultimate goal: ensure students are equipped with the hands-on professional experiences they need to immediately contribute to and succeed in the workforce.
“Our business students in particular understand the importance of internships because there are career and internship courses built into the college’s curricula that don’t exist in the other programs,” says DePaul Career Center Assistant Vice President Karyn McCoy. “Internships are vital because they can help you expand your professional network, figure out what you do and don’t want to do, make connections between theory and practice, and even set you up for full-time employment. It’s a win for students and a win for organizations, who are constantly working to increase their internship to full-time conversion rate.”
Alumni Connect Business Interns to Careers
Kenzie Mocogni (BUS ’19) | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds
When you look outside the windows of the DePaul Center on the Loop Campus, you see the heart of Chicago’s downtown and business community. There are major companies at every turn, and more than 100,000 DePaul alumni living and working in the metro area. This easy access to the hub of the city and a vast alumni network allow DePaul students to take advantage of internships year-round, and not just during summer months.
Event manager Greenbaum, who studied hospitality leadership, did her first internship as a freshman. “The experience made me realize that marketing, my original major, was not for me,” she says. “When I switched my major, I spent a lot of time exploring the hospitality industry through internships. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, so I pursued as many opportunities as I could so I could decide.”
After six internships, Greenbaum found her niche in corporate events when she worked at Verde during the winter and spring of her senior year. She was offered a full-time job that spring, just before graduating.
The School of Hospitality Leadership requires its undergraduate majors to complete two internships in order to graduate. Students must also take the school’s internship course, which helps them make the most of their internship experience, and a career management course that covers topics like business etiquette, interviewing and résumé writing.
Internships are a crucial part of hospitality education at DePaul because the school works closely with industry professionals to find out what employers are seeking when they recruit graduates. The curriculum is designed around those needs, which turn out to be a solid business foundation and hands-on experience.
“In Chicago, we’re in a hospitality lab, so students can do internships anywhere,” says Shelley Gibbons, assistant director of student development at the School of Hospitality Leadership. “The industry is huge and spans the globe— you have hotels, restaurants, catering, travel, events—so we push students to do the things we are teaching them so they can understand the nature of the business and graduate with real experience.”
The school maintains close partnerships with employers to bring career-readiness programs to students year-round. From career and internship fairs to information sessions and speaker series, students receive regular exposure to the hospitality industry and are encouraged to engage with these opportunities.
We push students to do the things we are teaching them so they can understand the nature of the business and graduate with real experience.” — Shelley Gibbons, assistant director of student development at the School of Hospitality Leadership.
Every week, for example, the school has brought in a different organization for an all-day event called “Branding Day,” which is an opportunity for companies to talk about their brand and get to know the students. Most importantly, it’s a chance for students to network, familiarize themselves with a variety of businesses and learn about job and internship opportunities.
“It’s a great way to meet people from different companies in the industry and learn about the various paths a hospitality career can take you,” shares Kenzie Mocogni (BUS ’19), who works at Verde Events with Greenbaum. “I also appreciated being able to build confidence in my networking skills.”
Mocogni was a freshman in the School of Hospitality Leadership when she met Greenbaum, then a senior, in the student Event Management Club.
“I saw something of myself in her,” Greenbaum says. “We ended up developing a friendship and keeping in touch after I graduated.”
Mocogni appreciated the support. “It was fantastic to have someone a few years ahead of me give me guidance and perspective as I was navigating my career path,” Mocogni shares. “When I was preparing to graduate, she told me Verde was expanding their team, and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to apply.”
Both Mocogni and Greenbaum currently serve as mentors in the school’s mentoring program, which pairs industry professionals to current students to help facilitate career connections.
Forging Business Connections Beyond Chicago
Michael Berger (BUS ’18)
Another mentor in the business college is Michael Berger (BUS ’18), a graduate of the School of Accountancy & MIS and its Strobel Honors program for top accountancy students. When Berger was 14, he visited New York City for the first time with his family, and he remembers telling his mother, while looking up at the tall buildings, “I’m going to live here one day.”
Fast-forward to the present, and Berger is a senior audit assistant in the New York City headquarters of Deloitte, where he manages and performs audits for private equity and hedge fund clients. He got his foot in the door at Deloitte through an internship at the Chicago office during his junior year.
“I was a freshman when I realized how important networking is, especially in accounting,” Berger says. “I took the time to talk to my professors about career paths and opportunities, and listen to their insights and experiences. I even sought out DePaul’s Alumni Sharing Knowledge network.”
The summer of his sophomore year, Berger started a yearlong internship at a startup fitness company. “The hiring manager at the startup was a former Strobel Honors student from DePaul, so he had gone to the accounting department looking for interns.”
A year later, that same DePaul alumnus introduced Berger to a partner at Deloitte after Berger expressed his growing interest in audit. The connection led to an internship there, where he worked full time while taking the accounting internship course.
“The internship at Deloitte really solidified for me what I wanted to do,” Berger says. “I loved the work and what I was learning. It felt like technical training, while the internship course taught me a lot of soft skills and helped me understand what I was learning in the workplace through a wider lens. Doing both at the same time gave me the full experience of what it’s like to be a working professional in accounting.”
It feels very rewarding to help someone who’s in the position I was in just a few years ago.” — Michael Berger (BUS ’18), senior audit assistant at Deloitte
Berger was offered a full-time position at Deloitte after completing his internship, and, staying true to his dream of living in New York City, he asked if he could transfer to an office on the East Coast. Today, Berger mentors accounting students at DePaul by phone and email, and even helped one of his mentees join the Deloitte audit team in New York.
“It feels very rewarding to help someone who’s in the position I was in just a few years ago,” he says. “I definitely plan to mentor DePaul students for as long as I can.”
Recently, Berger found another way to stay connected to DePaul by joining the university’s New York Alumni Chapter, which has around 2,500 members.
“What makes accounting at DePaul unique is definitely the pipeline,” says Brian Maj (LAS ’13, MBA ’16), senior program administrator at the School of Accountancy & MIS. “We partner heavily with industry professionals to bring educational opportunities to students, and then when students graduate, they are eager to give back as alumni in the same way.”
The School of Accountancy & MIS offers a variety of career resources and events that involve connecting students directly with employers. The weekly executive-in-residence program, for instance, allows students to meet with an accounting manager or executive for a one on-one career conversation. The meetings are only 30 minutes long and are meant to be informal to encourage students to ask questions openly.
“Many students use the time to get insight about different firms or what employers are looking for in an ideal candidate. And sometimes they even get internship leads,” Maj says. “Creating those touch points is critical to helping students build their networks and understand the industry, and their options within it, on a deeper level.”
From Marketing Intern to Professional at PepsiCo
Crystal Hernandez (BUS ’18) | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds
DePaul’s business college began engaging industry professionals to create internship opportunities for students more than 30 years ago, in the Department of Marketing.
“Back in the 1980s, I had so many marketing agencies coming to me asking if I could refer students to help them with their projects,” says Steve Kelly, associate professor of marketing and founder of DePaul’s marketing internship program. Kelly also helped kick-start the University Internship Program at DePaul’s Career Center, since his program in marketing was the only one at DePaul at that time.
“I realized that in order for students to secure jobs after graduating, they needed to get in the door first, while they were still students. Internships are the best way to do this,” he says. Today, Kelly manages a robust internship program for marketing students that encompasses more than 900 employer connections. He also designed a marketing-specific internship course that teaches students to apply what they’re learning to their internships.
“One of my biggest takeaways from the course was really understanding what skills and strengths I was bringing to the table,” shares Crystal Hernandez (BUS ’18). “It made me reevaluate my skill sets, identify knowledge gaps and come up with an action plan to close those gaps.”
Hernandez interned at PepsiCo the summer following her junior year. She was sent to Arkansas to work on e-commerce projects pertaining to one of PepsiCo’s biggest clients, Walmart. “Being in a relatively smaller office in Arkansas allowed me to understand on a more intimate level PepsiCo’s brick-and-mortar business and how they play within the e-commerce space,” she explains. “It gave me a well-rounded background and foundation for my full-time work afterwards.”
By the time school started again in September, Hernandez had received a full-time offer from PepsiCo to work on the e-commerce team in New York. “It was reassuring to know that my hard work was noticed during my internship,” Hernandez says. “However, I had personal reasons for wanting to stay in Chicago, so I discussed my options with PepsiCo’s HR, and they worked with me to find an opportunity here in the city.”
Students learn about internships and full-time career options from industry representatives at the School of Hospitality Leadership’s “Branding Days.” | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds
To expand students’ internship and experiential learning opportunities, the business college’s 2024 strategic plan calls for strengthening the college’s connections to its alumni and the Chicago business community. Misty Johanson, dean of the Driehaus College of Business, says these links are essential for students to succeed in the business world, while also helping businesses succeed with DePaul talent.
“Alumni have always played a vital role in paving a path for the next generation of DePaul business graduates,” Johanson says. “Whether serving as mentors, engaging with them on campus or hiring DePaul students as interns or full time after graduation, alumni are a great resource for making connections with organizations, both in and outside of Chicago.”
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