Veritas, Vol. 40, No. 03, November 1997

              Veritas
November 1997
Volume 40 • Number 3
For the Faculty and Staff of the University of Miami
McLamore Executive Education Center is state-of-the-art
The recently completed
James W. McLamore Executive Education Center at the School of Business Administration is designed to prepare all types of professionals to face todays business challenges. Wliile the Executive Education Program began last summer, the new state-of-the-art facility is expected to spur the program’s growth.
“Our vision is to become a premier executive education facility by the year 2000,” says Noel (Bud) L. Robyn, director of the McLamore Executive Education Center.
The two primary missions of the center, according to Robyn, are (1) to provide leading-edge executive education and leadership development programs for business leaders and professionals, and (2) to help executives build and maintain a competitive edge, improve their management skills, and enhance their performance. This will be accomplished through customized, one-day to week-long classes taught by the business school faculty, along with the top-notch facilities designed with the executive in mind.
The center features two executive lecture facilities, six breakout discussion rooms, a hill dining area, and support facilities to handle up to 80 executives.
Standing proudly at the unveiling of the late James W. McLamore's bust in the Executive Education Center are his widow Nancy N. McLamore (second from right), Director Noel L. Robyn (right), daughter-in-law Lori and son Sterling Whitman McLamore (left).
"Our vision is to become a
premier executive education facility by the year 2000."
“There’s also a translating booth that allows training in Spanish, Portuguese, and English as a simultaneous translation package,” says Robyn.
The business school is currendy forming partnerships with companies that have a local presence. “By targeting companies in South Florida, we have a tremendous competitive advantage, because there are no cumbersome transportation costs,” says Paul Sugrue, dean of the School of Business Administration.
Providing a service to elite companies in the corporate world will allow the School of Business Administration to establish relationships with corporate America while reaping great profits to reinvest back into the school. “The program also gives us a chance to enrich our faculty, as they develop real-world experiences by understanding what is demanded by executives in the business world today,” says Sugrue. “That helps them improve the relevance of the material they teach to our other students.”
An example of specialized programs offered to professional groups are the certificate programs in Health
Management and Managed Care and Capitation, which materialized through a joint venture between the School of Business and the School of Medicine. “We’re training physicians in the business of medicine,” says Robyn.
The need for the center was first recognized by Sugrue. “Every leading business school in this country is involved in executive education,” says Sugrue. “Our school is emerging as one of the premier business schools in this country, and the center is consistent with that image.”
The center began as three floors of shelf space above the Storer Auditorium. Commitments from Burger King co-founder David Edgerton and the Burger King Franchise Owner’s Association made possible the conversion of the first level of space into the center. The late James W. McLamore, co-founder of Burger King and former chairman of the B oard of Trus tees at the University, was a long-time supporter of the University. “He has a very long history of helping the School of Business, so it was very appropriate that the facility was named for him,” says Sugrue.
“The James W. McLamore Executive Education Center is a fitting tribute to a great leader,” says President Edward T. Foote II. “Jim McLamore in his quiet way would be a little embarrassed but also thrilled that in his name, executives will continue their education at the University he loved and served so very well.”
Outreach program trains international professionals
For decades students have
traveled from far and wide to get a top-notch education at the University of Miami. Nontraditional international students are now jumping on the bandwagon, as the University is fast becoming a premier training center for nondegree-seeking students.
The Center for Addiction Studies and Education within the School of Continuing Studies is one division of the University emerging as an international training site. Over the years, the center has been involved various times in delivering programs designed for the particular need of local, national, and international communities. Its solid reputation for training substance abuse professionals has gained the attention of not only South Floridians, but the nearby Latin American community as well.
Just recently, 20 Argentine mental health professionals and government officials traveled to the Coral Gables campus for a week-long intensive course in substance abuse training.
This collaboration between
Argentina and the center was first devised when Claudio Cabrera, executive director of the Center for the Study and Treatment of Drug Dependency in Argentina, sought resources in the Miami area that could provide substance abuse training to specialized groups from Argentina. His visit to the Miami Coalition led him to the center s senior faculty member, Doris Amaya.
A certified addiction professional and lecturer at the University, Amaya helped found the center and was more than familiar with delivering this type of course work in Spanish-speaking countries.
After the training needs of Argentina’s mental health professionals were assessed, the center sent two faculty members to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in late May of 1996. There they held a two-day conference for 300 to 400 Argentine mental health professionals.
“The colloquium was designed to showcase UM training, but delivered in Argentina to facilitate greater attendance,” says Louise Sevilla, director of the center and of Collegiate Studies within the School of Continuing
Studies. “With nearly 400 participants, the conference was considered to be an international outreach event.”
The success of the conference prompted a group of Argentines to travel to Miami in September for a course titled Assessment and Treatment Planning.
“They were all very impressed with the University of Miami and proclaimed they had learned a great deal from the experience,” says Amaya. “I am proud that UM was a part of it, and that I was part of it.” The success of the first class was demonstrated by the students’ positive feedback on the material, the campus, and all of its facilities. “When they saw the international flavor of the English program, several of them expressed an interest in coming back to study English,” says Amaya.
Doris Amaya cornerstones
(left) and Louise Sevilla (right) are the of the University's outreach program.
While other Argentine groups will return in November and January for more training, other programs may branch out from this effort. “We hope this collaborative effort has set a precedent,” says Sevilla. “There is great potential internationally for many different types of training that the University may offer.”