college of Business and Public Administration
Karen Dill Bowerman, dean

Fall 2004

Good Vibrations

The aura of Karen Dill Bowerman was shining bright in early August. Just four days on the job, the new dean for the business college stole away from her office to mingle among university advancement division staff and managers as they held their annual work retreat. It was during lunch that guest speaker Katherine Wysocki, a psychologist, author of the book “Your Personal Coach” and one who had a talent for reading auras, mentioned as she spoke that Bowerman’s energy vibrations were in particularly good supply — confirmation that the College of Business and Public Administration was going to be in good hands.

Those who’d met Bowerman at the retreat and those who’d interviewed her for the job already had an inkling. After accepting the post and well before arriving at Cal State, the former associate dean of Fresno State University’s Craig School of Business was already plotting a course for her new academic charge. She began by tackling CSUSB’s lengthy and recently completed Western Association of Schools and Colleges report as well as reading an Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business assessment of the university’s business college.

The AACSB had recently renewed Cal State’s accreditation status. The reports, she says, showed that “the faculty and students are already deeply involved in the community, and there are many more opportunities for the college to foster business growth in the Inland Empire.”

No less bright than Bowerman’s personal qualities are her professional credits. At Fresno she had been a professor of management and human resources management since 1979. She also has been a member of the California Awards for Performance Excellence Board of Governors, has published several instructors’ guidebooks and video cases for human resource management textbooks, and has offered expert testimony in the areas of human resources and management. Bowerman, who took over from Norton Marks, the CSUSB professor of marketing who had been serving as the college’s interim dean, earned her bachelor’s degree in political science/speech in 1969 from Wichita State University. Her master’s degree in interpersonal relations came from Kansas University in 1970 and her doctorate came from Texas A&M University in educational administration in 1979.

“Understanding others’ dreams for our college is critical,” says Bowerman. “Our visions and goals often gel when we write them down and invite feedback.” So key on her agenda for now is to listen. She’s meeting with students, professors, alumni, administrators and, naturally, she adds, people in the community.

Essentially, Lou Fernandez, vice president and provost for CSUSB, had spied in Bowerman the same vim as had the lunchtime speaker at the August advancement retreat. “Dr. Bowerman brings with her an enthusiasm, vitality and vision that I feel will be a tremendous asset to the College of Business and Public Administration,” he had said when the university hired her.

“I’m a positive person and like to be surrounded by others who are positive,” Bowerman says. “Maybe that approach to life leads to energy and enthusiasm. We all have days that are more rough than others, but when we realize what a blessing life is, being positive comes naturally.”

Enron: A Fine Example of Poor Judgment

The rash of revelations on fraudulent or questionable bookkeeping methods by top management in major U.S. companies is the backdrop for a new course being offered at Cal State San Bernardino.

The ethics in accounting class examines the effects on investors, businesses and government when companies deliberately mislead by manipulating their financial statements, how companies “cook their books” and the role of corporate management, auditors and financial analysts in hiding the truth, said CSUSB lecturer Steven Mintz, who developed the course for accounting and business students. The course’s goal is to instill a strong sense of ethics in CSUSB business students.

“Our hope is that they will resist pressures imposed by some in top management to be a ‘team player’ and possibly become part of the kinds of scams and cover-ups that have brought down all too many U.S. companies,” Mintz said.

The class was developed in response to those revelations and the financial repercussions – in some cases ruin – seen by shareholders and company employees. Many have watched their company stock holdings, investments and retirement funds drop to next to nothing.

The “financial shenanigans” by companies such as Global Crossing, Enron, Adelphia and WorldCom have triggered stock price declines of literally 99 percent in all of these cases, Mintz said. The revelations of those business dealings led to Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan warning Congress that the corporate financial scandals threaten the nation’s slowly mending economy.

Quick Takes

If Klaus Brasch is a biology professor at Cal State San Bernardino, why did he receive an award from the U.S. Small Business Administration? It’s because Brasch champions innovation. The organization has honored him with its 2004 Research Advocate of the Year award. The executive director for research, development and technology transfer at CSUSB since 1998, Brasch has promoted not only research and innovation on campus, but also in the community. His expert advice, particularly to companies owned by minorities and women, has supported the products of many of these small businesses. Brasch was one of 10 awardees honored by the Santa Ana office of the Small Business Administration.

In a class offered for the first time this past spring, students are learning the ins and outs of sports marketing, including merchandising, promotions and ticketing. They’ve worked with such events and organizations as the PGA Charity Classic golf tourney, the Inland Empire 66ers and Motocross desert racing.