Jakoubek to receive CIC award
Jane Jakoubek, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty, has been selected as the 2009 recipient of the Council of Independent Colleges Chief Academic Officer Award, in recognition of her contributions to colleagues at private colleges and universities.

The award will be presented Saturday, Nov. 7, at the CIC’s annual Institute for Chief Academic Officers in Santa Fe, N.M. Other CIC awards presented that day will be the Academic Leadership Award and the Award for Academic Excellence.

The CIC cited Jakoubek for being instrumental in preparing new chief academic officers for their work through her service to the CIC New Chief Academic Officers Workshop and her work as a mentor. She has helped strengthen private institutions around the country through her leadership of CIC Department Chair Workshops.

Prior to coming to Monmouth College in 2006, Jakoubek was vice president and dean of academic affairs at Hanover College, where she developed and implemented an academic vision plan, initiated off-campus programs and promoted staff professional growth. Earlier in her career, she was professor of psychology, department head, associate dean and academic grants officer at Luther College.

Jakoubek is in her 13th year as a consultant-evaluator for the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association. She has made presentations on academic and administrative topics to the Annapolis Group Deans meeting, the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, the American Conference of Academic Deans, the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts and the CIC Institute for Chief Academic Officers

A 1973 summa cum laude graduate of Franklin College in Indiana, Jakoubek earned both her master’s degree and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Arkansas.

NBA's Ainge speaks to business class
Lester Hudson, a rookie point guard on the NBA’s Boston Celtics, probably thinks that his biggest moment last week was an appearance on national television during his team’s 118-90 victory over the Chicago Bulls. Hudson played 10 minutes and scored the first three points of his NBA career.

But little did Hudson know of another highlight a day earlier, when he was the central point of discussion during a class at MC. Students in “Business in Context,” a political economy and commerce course that is team-taught by professors Mike Connell and Don Capener, learned about the Celtics’ business concerns and were treated to a half-hour conference call with the team’s general manager, former NCAA and NBA star Danny Ainge.

“Conference-call capabilities in the class allow our students to talk directly with business leaders, alumni and entrepreneurs,” said Capener. “We feel it’s a unique and innovative learning tool.”

Earlier in the semester, the class heard from Dave Babcock, director of player personnel of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks, a low- to mid-level team in terms of spending and on-court performance. Learning about the Celtics from Ainge – which was facilitated in part by Capener’s time at the NBA star’s alma mater, Brigham Young University – allowed the students to contrast the Bucks to the Celtics, one of the major spenders in the current NBA market.

“We’ve found students successfully learn more important and complex theories about business if we put them into the context of sports,” said Capener.

Hudson became a topic of discussion when a list of the Celtics’ player salaries was displayed. The NBA has a cap in place, allowing its teams to spend $57.7 million for player salaries. Additionally, it has a higher cap of $69.9 million, and teams that exceed that figure are charged a $1 tax for each $1 they’re over. While the Bucks came in below the tax cap, the Celtics blew past it, spending more than $84 million to sign its players for the 2009-10 season. Players such as Paul Pierce and Ray Allen (both $19.8 million) and Kevin Garnett ($16.4 million) helped the Celtics win the 2007-08 NBA championship, but their high contracts have also resulted in the Celtics paying more than $14 million in taxes this season.

When it came time to make their final roster cuts recently, the Celtics found Hudson to be a more attractive option than NBA veteran Mike Sweetney, a former first-round draft choice (No. 9 overall) of the New York Knicks. Sweetney was set to earn more than $2 million, while Hudson is paid the rookie minimum.

“The rookie has the advantage of value, because the rookie minimum is half of the veteran minimum,” explained Ainge, who added that finances weren’t the sole factor in the decision to keep Hudson.

“We evaluated him and made the determination that we want to take time to develop him, understanding that he won’t get much playing time right away,” Ainge said of the former Tennessee-Martin standout. “We like who he is as a person. Mike Sweetney is a better NBA player right now than Lester Hudson, but we needed to keep another point guard.”

After the call ended, Connell explained to the class a little more about the Celtics’ gamble to exceed the salary cap. They needed to not only sell out all regular season home games but draw revenue from seven home playoff games to guarantee a profit. In each of the last two seasons, they were able to do that, but an injury to Garnett last year almost cut their playoff games to four, which would have caused them to fall far behind in their revenue.

“It’s a high-risk, high-reward strategy,” he said of Boston’s business model.

Connell contrasted the Celtics’ approach to what worked for the Tampa Bay Rays in baseball. The Rays reached the World Series in 2008 with a collection of high-value players – players who had lower salaries but who performed close to the level of higher paid stars.

Community concert series features brass
The 2009-2010 Maple Leaf Community Concert Series continues on Thursday, Nov. 12, with the Brass Roots Trio. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Kasch Performance Hall of Dahl Chapel and Auditorium.

A French horn, trumpet, flugelhorn and piano sounds like a small orchestra when the Brass Roots Trio is in concert. Their symphonic sounds melt into sultry jazz, decadent tango and Baroque brilliance.

Admission to this year’s Maple Leaf Community Concert Series events on campus is free with a Monmouth College I.D.