February 7, 2008

Springfield, OH—Interested juniors came to Carnegie today in hopes of getting some ideas for their Senior 2009 Management Portfolio. This first of three portfolio forums gave juniors some valuable insight from a few distinguished portfolio seniors: Jon Fox ’08, Rob Loeffler ’08, Allison Walker ’08 and Tricia Wendt ’08. Each spoke on what it was like when they were putting together their portfolios, the decisions they made, and how they chose their oral portfolio presentation topic.

     Lots of advice was shared, but here are some samples. Fox encouraged juniors to get started early, especially on those parts of the portfolio like their biographical paragraph, their resume, and their I-skills resume.  Loeffler encouraged them to be creative in the oral presentation, staying with the management theme but looking for a different twist in order to stand out.  Wendt encouraged them to look at their summer experiences for elements, indicating how she had used a summer economics class to create one of her elements especially for the portfolio.  And Walker suggested that they look at work experiences; she built one element around her position as a sales and catering office assistant in a hotel and another on her experiences as student manager of the Wittenberg Student Center.  All the seniors encouraged students to work hard to produce a distinguished portfolio so they could make their presentation to the business practitioner panel. “The outsiders’ perspective is definitely worth the extra effort,” claimed Wendt.

Rob Loeffler, from Perrysburg, OH, is a senior management major with international business concentration and an East Asian Studies minor. Loeffler worked in the advancement department at Wittenberg where he managed roughly 40 peers in raising over $300,000 annually for Wittenberg, coordinated student-run programs for the community service office, and assisted with various issues arising in the international education office. While studying, Loeffler served as a marketing intern for Metal China, Inc., a globally competitive supply-chain management firm.

Patricia Anne Wendt is a senior management major with a finance concentration and political science minor from Hudson, Ohio. Wendt participated during her summer of 2007 in the Local Government Management Internship Program in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. She performed a special assessments project that dealt with assessments of sidewalks, curb and gutter, water mains, sewer mains, etc., as well as preparing bargaining numbers and ordinances for the City of Chippewa Falls. Wendt is a member of the Tau Pi Phi honorary society.

Jonathan Fox is a senior management major from Urbana, OH. Fox has served as a purchasing and sourcing intern for the German-owned Rittal Corporation, a leading enclosure manufacturer with offices in over 70 countries. In addition, he has served on Rittal’s Activities Board which planned and hosted events for the plant’s employees. During his time at Wittenberg, Fox has served as a residential advisor in South Hall and he was two-time varsity letter winner on the intercollegiate baseball team.

Allison Walker, from Columbus, Ohio, is a Wittenberg senior majoring in Management with a concentration in Marketing and International Business. Walker currently works as a student manager in the Student Center where she assists the administrators, manages the Information Desk and its employees, and closes the building after hours; she also works as a faculty assistant to one of the Management Department professors where she has primary responsible for maintaining the department’s website. Walker is also a member of the Wittenberg Class of 2008 Cabinet, where she serves as Class Treasurer, and a member of the Varsity Track and Field team.

     Professor Pamela Schindler, who served as host of the forum, showed those in attendance how to access portfolio guidelines on Moodle and cited the critical dates that students needed to know. She also pointed out some distinctions with this year’s portfolio: this year’s distinguished candidates will be submitting their portfolios not only in a physical binder but also on CD as a PDF file.  “We are looking for a way to give practitioner judges a little more time with the portfolios than they had this year. They wanted to get to know the seniors whose portfolio presentations they will hear.  The PDF portfolio for distinguished candidates will be sent electronically to their practitioner assessors about one week before their presentation.” Also, distinguished candidates will deliver their presentations on the Monday before Thanksgiving, also a change from last year.

     Every senior must complete his or her department’s senior assessment process. Management majors submit a portfolio of their best work since declaring a major.  Each fall seniors present their portfolios to Management professors and those seniors who submit a physical portfolio that is deemed exceptional present the oral component of the portfolio process to business practitioners.

      For those juniors not in attendance, if you have any questions, ask any senior or your faculty adviser to get started.

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