Dance the Night Away

First EMBA scholarship awarded

By Anna Rzewnicki, Fisher College of Business

Grant Frazer, associate professor of veterinary preventive medicine at Ohio State, received the first President's and Fisher College of Business Scholarship for the college's Executive MBA (EMBA) program.

"This scholarship enables the University and Fisher College to collaborate on the development of current and emerging University leaders," said President Brit Kirwan. "It is very important that we identify individuals within our faculty and staff and provide them with the opportunities to advance their leadership skills."

Grant Frazer attends an EMBA class taught by Professor Jay Barney.   By Jo McCulty

The scholarship is open to University faculty and staff who meet the enrollment criteria and are nominated and supported by their deans or vice presidents. One scholarship is awarded annually.

A two-stage candidate review process includes an assessment of the potential impact of each nominee on the performance of the University and its leadership profile. The final review is conducted by a University committee that includes Kirwan.

Frazer joined the Ohio State faculty in 1991, was named associate professor in 1997, and currently works with Ohio's livestock producers as an Extension specialist in the area of reproductive veterinary sciences. He is treasurer of the American College of Theriogenologists -- veterinarians who work in the area of livestock reproduction -- and led the association's successful symposium on equine obstetrics last year. He chairs the association's scientific committee, serves on the AABP reproduction committee, and is executive director of the annual Ohio Dairy Veterinarians Conference.

Frazer said he feels the knowledge he gains through the EMBA will help him better serve his Extension clients, students and the University.

"Going into Extension means looking at the whole farm," he said. "I need to be able to talk to them in terms of costs and benefits" of preventive health in relation to final outcomes.

Although Frazer had been in private practice for seven years, managing a new artificial breeding center on a premier sheep and beef cattle ranch in his native Australia, and worked in clinical settings for another 13 years, he said he never had formal training in running a business. He would like to rectify that for Ohio State's veterinary students, who currently do have the option of taking a business course as an elective.

"Whether you are a doctor, a dentist or a veterinarian, you are a talented person who can save lives, but you probably would not have had many business courses in your academic program," he said. The recipient of three teaching awards, two at Ohio State and one at the University of Pennsylvania, Frazer said he hopes to incorporate the business principles he learns into his coursework for veterinary students.

Gaining that training will not only affect their own business operations but also can make a difference in how they relate to their customers. "Some 95 percent of our graduates become essentially small business owners," he said. Business management training should also prove useful in academic administration, he said.

Added Glen F. Hoffsis, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, "Business principles are very important to the College of Veterinary Medicine and, indeed, the veterinary profession. I am delighted that Dr. Frazer has been afforded this rare opportunity."

"We are very pleased to extend this opportunity for members of the University community to participate in the Executive MBA program," said Joseph A. Alutto, dean of the Fisher College of Business. "We also believe that Grant will bring a diversity of perspectives to the EMBA classroom from his work in veterinary medicine, agriculture and academics."

Fisher College launched its EMBA program in 2000, providing executives with eight to 12 years of significant work experience an opportunity to earn an MBA in a compact, intensive curriculum.

Applications for the scholarship for the next EMBA class, to begin in December, will be accepted from May 1 until Sept. 1. For details, contact Carol Newcomb, executive director of Fisher College's Executive Education Programs, at 292-0268, or visit http://fisher.osu.edu/exec/.