A curriculum in leadership

You don't necessarily expect to hear about college basketball in your typical MBA class. But Darrin Kass (far right) isn't really your typical MBA professor. Leadership is a big part of BU's MBA curriculum and Kass is fond of talking about basketball coaches to illustrate leadership styles.

BU's MBA program does some other things differently as well, such as going outside of the classroom and climbing a mountain to hone leadership and communication stills first-hand. The shots at right are  from a trip a couple of Septembers ago to Mount Katadihn in Maine.
(A documentary on the Katadihn climb can be found here.)



In the interview below (edited by BU student Audra Briggs), Kass talks about how leadership is important to business, why he loves basketball, and how students from all majors can benefit from an MBA.

PS: Another interesting point. When I was going to college, everyone would say, "Get some experience before getting a master's degree." Kass says that's no longer (if it ever was) true. Getting the MBA right after your bachelor's degree boosts your salary down the road. — EGF.

Finding connections

One of the things that Bloomsburg prides itself on is giving students opportunities to meet with 

successful graduates. A recent mixer for business students sponsored by the Zeigler Institute for Professional Development is a great example. BU alumni gave an evening to come back to Sutliff Hall and share their experience with dozens of students in an informal reception-style setting.

From a photographer's perspective, these events happen often enough in different colleges and departments that it could be easy to forget how special they are. Technical notes: This was shot with the Canon 7 and Tokina 16-50 without any sort of flash to intrude on the conversations.

The Canon 7 was also used to shoot the video interview with BU grad Ed Artim, who's a manager for Vanguard. Artim had come back to campus with a colleague in December to share insights with students. The video editing was done by BU student Audra Briggs.

Hands say so much

If you take Wikipedia's word for it, 93 percent of how we communicate comes from our body language, our expressions, and our tone of voice. Seven percent comes from the words themselves. From what I've seen, that's especially true in the classroom, where professors communicate so much through movement, intonation and particularly, gestures.

In the top photo French professor Nathalie Cornelius brings her hands to her ears, telling the students something very specific ... she's listening and it's their turn to talk. (I've frozen the moment here, but the consistency of this gesture and it's specific meaning makes the back and forth interaction both fun and fast.)

In the second photo management professor John Okpara's hands literally grab student's attention. (We recently had videographers on campus and they did a shoot in Okpara's class. Afterwords one of them said he would have liked to just sit and join the class.)

In the third photo exceptionalities professor Deborah Stryker naturally uses her hands to communicate in a sign language class ... but in this discipline, facial expressions take on great importance as well.

Even in traditional classrooms ... even without high-tech aids ... great professors engage students' senses. They use sight as well as sound. And gestures as well as words. The hands have a lot to say.
—EGF.

Mind your manners

One of the interesting aspects of Bloomsburg University's College of Business is the Zeigler Institute for Professional Development. Sure, this is going to read a bit like shameless marketing, but happily, it's happens to be true.

The Institute is created through an endowment from Terry Zeigler '76 and JoAnn Schultz Zeigler '77. The Zeigler Institute is all about cultivating the professionalism ... including the soft skills that aren't found in text books.

Like how to manage a formal dinner. Which fork goes with what? How quickly should you eat? And how do you manage spaghetti? In short, dining etiquette. And who couldn't use a refresher in that once in a while.

Through the Zeigler Institute, upper level business students get to experience a formal dinner guided by Maria Bauman, catering manager for Aramark at BU and a pro at all things in the dining room.

From a photographic perspective, this is a challenging event. There's just not much light to work with or room to move in. Food and dining photography is a specialty in its own right and it's not an area I'm especially practiced in (yet). But it was a lot of fun to watch.

The bottom photo is of the Aramark team working behind the scenes at a large event several years ago. Though it's just tangentially related, I included it because I think illustrates teamwork wonderfully and it's one of my favs.

Click on any photo to see them larger.

A place of business

Bloomsburg's renovated Sutliff Hall is in the process of reopening and it's gorgeous. Formerly, it was a low-slung building without a clear entrance that looked like an afterthought.

Now, besides being one floor taller, the building has a very clear visual structure that I think will help it function better as well. The interior is just as striking as the exterior.

One thing that sticks with you after a walk-though ... the geometry of the spaces is visually interesting, and also, I think inviting. Hallways have destinations, openning into public areas that can be used.

Most, if not all, of these photographs, were taken with the Tokina 11-16 with a variety of camera settings. The lens is unique in the speed of it's aperture and the manageable levels of distortion compared to lenses with a similar focal length. You will however, see elongation of foreground objects at the edge of the frame.


The campus has had a number of major additions and renovations over the past several years: including Hartline Science Center, Centennial Hall and McCormick Center. Each one is different, but they all work and the all complement each other. IMHO the university's planning and construction staff who work with the architects and contractors have really nailed them all.

From top to bottom: The exterior on a February afternoon at about 5:30 p.m.; blue data wires snake through the hall in front of the trading floor lab before being installed; the public space on the second floor; arched desktops in a tiered classroom smile at you.

— EGF

Click on any image to see it larger.

Speaking of business

In early October, Bloomsburg's College of Business hosted a two-day conference for undergraduates with more than 40 business graduates coming back to campus to offer career, and life, advice. The conference was part of the university's Zeigler Institute for Professional Development, funded by grads Terry and JoAnn Schultz Zeigler.

For the staff photographers, it was a lot of moving from room to room, trying to get all the speakers in action. It was tough to settle in a shooting rhythm. But this moment came toward the end of the conference: four partners or former partners of big-four accounting firms, sitting in classroom of accounting majors, taking all and any questions.

From left: Mike Kacsmar, partner, Ernst and Young; Mark Thomas, partner, KPMG; Chuck Chubb, managing director, WTAS LLC; and Tom Holly, partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers. Something you don't necessarily see every day on any campus. Walked away from this shoot feeling like we definitely punch above our weight.