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Alumni Weekend Honors for Volunteers, Faculty
October 2006
STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Four alumni who have mentored students, headed reunion committees, served on the Business School Alumni Association Board and the School's Advisory Council and Management Board, are the recipients of the 2006 John Gardner Award for service to the Business School. They are (pictured here, L-R) Larry O'Rourke, MBA '61; Cherrie Nanninga, MBA '76; Martin Urrutia, MBA '86; and Ellen Wood, MBA '86.
Also honored at Alumni Weekend in October was Garth Saloner, a faculty member who has met with alumni around the world to solicit opinions or share knowledge. He received the Silver Apple Award, given by the Alumni Association, to recognize faculty service.
O'Rourke set the tone for the ceremony when he quoted John Gardner, the founder of Common Cause and a former faculty member for whom the award is named.
He quoted Gardner from his 1960 book Excellence, saying: "'We don't know what skills may be needed in years ahead. That is why we must train our young people in the fundamental fields of knowledge and equip them to understand and cope with change; why we must give the critical qualities of mind and durable qualities of character that will serve them in circumstances we cannot even now predict.'"
"Isn't this just as good a reason why Stanford and the GSB are now embarking on the Stanford Challenge, embarking on a new curriculum, and building a new campus? This is one more cause I can believe in," said O'Rourke.
Urrutia, a resident of Mexico City, saw a mutual benefit for his country resulting from his volunteer work with the Business School, helping to recruit students. "In the years I was here we had 4 to 7 Mexican students. This year there are 14. This is an incredible intangible asset for my country in terms of the enterprises these people will create and the jobs and resources they will generate."
Nanninga said she never saw her work as volunteering but rather as something she enjoyed and benefited from, and Wood agreed, adding she had two rules for volunteering: "When called, serve. And, do what you love."
Like many previous Silver Apple recipients, Saloner, pictured here, right, receiving the Silver Apple award from Alumni Association Kimathi Marangu, MBA '93, the Jeffrey S. Skoll Professor of Electronic Commerce, Strategic Management, and Economics, said he realizes great value from his relationships with alumni. He said alumni entrepreneurs have been the subject of several cases used in his classes, and they and others attend classes to share their experiences with students. Others have served on panels to give feedback to students whose class projects are to create ideas for new businesses.
In heading the School's committee studying proposals to change the curriculum, committee members spoke to hundreds of alums around the world either in person or by phone.