SPU SCHOOL OF BUSINESS WINS NATIONAL AWARD...

Sound the trumpets and let the celebration begin!

Seattle Pacific University’s School of Business and Economics (SBE) has been recognized as the #1 best-administered business school in the nation in the 2005 edition of “The Best 143 Business Schools.” This volume, published by Random House under the Princeton Review imprint, rates Seattle Pacific’s MBA/ISM graduate program higher than all of the rest of the biggest and the best.

The book states, “The School of Business and Economics at SPU is distinguished by its dedication to mission and vision. Students say, ‘The school does a good job of staying close to its Christian vision and integrating it into their studies.’”

More than 11,000 students were surveyed for the publication, including graduate students in SBE’s MBA and MS-ISM programs.

… and Welcomes a New Instructor: Dr. Ryan LaBrie

“Wow, this stuff is cool!” remembers Ryan LaBrie, thinking back to 1990 and his experience in SPU Professor Elaine Weltz’s database class. “This is where I wanted to make my mark — to help people understand and use networking and database technologies to make the world a better place.” Today, LaBrie looks back on that epiphany with satisfaction, noting the subsequent success of the Internet and of companies like Amazon.com. “I feel pretty good about the life decisions I’ve made and the field I have chosen,” he says.

Newly appointed to the position of associate professor of management and information systems, LaBrie has come full circle in an impressive journey. He worked at Microsoft from 1990-2000 with what he describes as “probably the largest collection of the smartest people that I have ever had the pleasure of working with.” He jokingly adds, “Still not sure why they let me in, but it sure was a privilege to work there.”

But LaBrie proved his abilities, pursuing a second degree at SPU — an MS in ISM — even as he continued at Microsoft. It taught him “how one could integrate formal education with work life.”

At Microsoft, LaBrie worked with the Microsoft Access team, participated in its 1992 release at COMDEX, and traveled around the world training users, an adventure he calls “awe-inspiring.” He worked his way from being a development support engineer to a team manager in the Enterprise Knowledge Management organization. “There I was able to have global impacts with my work, which was very satisfying. It was my job to bring all of the technical sales, support, and consulting employees of Microsoft (some 4,000-5,000 at the time) together for a week each year to prepare them technically for our future products and services. It was an awesome responsibility, with huge exposure, risk, and effort. The satisfaction of a job well done at the completion of one of these events was most rewarding.”

The allure of a Ph.D. drew him away from Microsoft, all the way to Arizona State University. The transition was not easy. “It wasn’t because the coursework of the Ph.D. was too hard… but rather it was the frustration with the endless, slow-moving bureaucracy. Once I was able to move beyond this issue life got a lot better.” His dissertation, The Impact of Alternative Search Mechanisms on the Effectiveness of Knowledge Retrieval, was called “an important contribution to the area of document management” by the chair of ASU’s Information Systems Department.

What led LaBrie back to SPU? “SPU is home. [My wife] Jennifer and I have four degrees from this institution, we got married across the street in the First Free Methodist Church, and our first child, Rachel, was dedicated in that church. The people here are family; we’ve spent more than half our lives associated with this place, what a great opportunity for us to give back to a place that has given us so much.”
He’s also thrilled to become a part of SPU’s faculty, to join the ranks of those who inspired him. “Ten years from now I’ll be … reminiscing about what it was like to live in Moyer Hall in the 80’s and impacting students’ lives like those before me impacted mine.”

LaBrie hopes to dispel students’ misconceptions about the role of managers. “Managers are not evil trolls meant to cause you grief; they are people trying to do the best job they can, just as you are trying to do the best job you can. Managers make mistakes just as often as individual contributors make mistakes. Remember that, and remember grace.”

He also emphasizes that change is a constant in the world of information systems. “Technology changes … fast. If you’re not comfortable managing change, you’re in the wrong field. To get ahead in information systems management, you have to ‘Work hard, play hard.’ There is a lot of competition in this field because it rewards well. But if you don’t stop to play from time to time you’ll burn out. Playing hard can actually help you work harder, in that you come back refreshed and ready to tackle new challenges.” For LaBrie, “playing hard” involves traveling with his family, remodeling his home, and golf. “If I’m not at SPU, and not asleep, it’s pretty much guaranteed that I’m doing one of those three things.”

If he could go back and teach his younger self a couple of lessons for the road ahead, he’d point out two things: “The skills, issues, and general dynamics that you encounter with all those ‘team projects’ in business graduate programs are invaluable training for those that choose careers in management. I wish I would have spent more time realizing the importance of those tasks during my time in the master’s program. Second, take the time and network with your peers and develop deeper than working relationships with your classmates. I wish I would have actively developed more relationships with my classmates in the business school. Building a larger network of friends and associates will lead to unforeseen interactions in the future … that I’m sure of.”

He may have come full circle, but learning, and passing along what he learns, continues to drive him. “I passionately love transferring skills and knowledge to others. Without a doubt I believe the subjects I teach will have a definitive impact in my students’ careers should they choose to work in any field that utilizes information technology.”