New school’s open house Sunday
Of the St. Louis American
Chigbo Ofong, the first dean of Harris-Stowe State University’s business administration program, says “the challenge” is what brought him to St. Louis.
Ofong will join HSSU President Henry Givens Jr. and other dignitaries at 2 p.m. Sunday to celebrate an open house at the new Anheuser-Busch Business Administration School. It is located at 5707 Wilson, near the intersection of South Hampton and I-44. The “South Campus” is the first HSSU satellite site.
The campus has been opened for classes since the start of the fall 2005 semester, and Ofong said he would recruit “great academicians to get the respect for this school.”
“I see the potential for great progress here,” Ofong said. “I think this is a program that is sensitive to the needs of our people.”
He said he is building a top-rate curriculum and faculty “because I am looking for the ultimate in accreditation – the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International accreditation.”
“We want the best,” he said of the prestigious accreditation held by the nation’s finest business schools.
Hiring Ofong is already being hailed as a coup for Givens and the university.
As the chair and associate professor of management at Rust College in Holly Springs, Miss., Ofong introduced 11 new business courses within the business division and helped to increase enrollment of business students by 46 percent.
He served as the associate professor of management at Savannah State University’s College of Business Administration, where he taught courses in international management, global business issues, economics, entrepreneurship and labor-management relations. He has also been a faculty member at the University of Maryland and Howard University School of Business.
He graduated cum laude, with an undergraduate degree from the University of Buffalo in New York in 1975 before earning a master’s degree in international relations, with an emphasis in international economics/management and international law and organizations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in 1978. In 1982, he received his Ph.D. in international relations, also from John Hopkins.
Bob Virgil, a partner with Edward Jones, reviewed Givens’ choice for dean and calls Ofong “a great appointment.”
“People I’ve talked to are very high on the new dean, and for the right reasons. The school needs a strong leader, and he looks to be the right person,” Virgil said.
Virgil said the business school “has an important role to perform.”
“A strong business program (at Harris-Stowe) would be welcomed by companies in St. Louis,” he said.
Ofong praised Givens for “being so progressive in his outlook.”
“Just look at the history of this school. I want to help build this business school from scratch and add on to Dr. Givens’ historic legacy,” Ofong said.
Givens said the university “is lucky to get (Ofong)” and said his five-year strategic plan for growth will be presented at the open house.
“The program is going to be fantastic,” Givens said.
“This school is going to help more African Americans participate in the current development boom in St. Louis and in the future.”
The new South Campus and business program’s original sponsors were the Anheuser-Busch Foundation, Edward Jones, Maritz Corp., Mallinkrodt and the Enterprise Leasing Foundation.
The only unfortunate part of Sunday’s open house will be the absence of the late Ray Holman, an influential civic leader and Harris-Stowe supporter.
The retired chairman and chief executive officer of Mallinkrodt was killed last Friday when his motorcycle veered off Highway K into a creek embankment in Franklin County.
“He was one of our first and biggest backers,” Givens said.
But Holman was obviously not alone in his enthusiasm for the new facility and business school.
“The entire city has been very supportive,” Ofong said.
