SDSU

THE IB GLOBE

THE FRIENDS OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS NEWSLETTER

FALL 1997 ISSUE
Vol. 3, No. 2

THE IB GLOBE is published each semester, mailed to all "Friends", and appears on this Home Page.
The Friends of IB currently has 303 members.

In This Issue:

IB Welcomes Its New Chair

A Message from Our New Chair

IB Alumni Profiles

The 1997 International Business Alumni Survey Results Are In!

IB Welcomes Its New Chair

As a youngster growing up in inner-city Chicago, Steve Loughrin- Sacco used to drive with his father to deliver janitorial supplies around the city. The boy would watch in awe as his father interacted with customers in their different languages. "I thought, 'What a cool thing to be fluent in so many languages,'" says Loughrin-Sacco, 45. "I found out later that he wasn't fluent but was often insulting his customers without knowing it!" Nevertheless, that first exposure to languages proved important to his later choice to study, and eventually teach, French. In fact, language was perhaps his saving grace in high school.

"I always got Ds and Fs in math and science classes," he says. But he excelled in language courses, from Latin to French to German. He tells of how he was allowed to take German his senior year at the Catholic high school rather than the requisite science course, just so that he would graduate and leave the school. "I was a problem student in high school, so to speak," Loughrin-Sacco says, chortling at the understatement.

Raised in a poor neighborhood in a blue-collar Italian-American family, Loughrin-Sacco says he was the first in his extended family to go to college and one of the first to graduate from high school. "It's kind of a miracle of God that I'm not in jail!" he says.

Though primarily a midwesterner, Loughrin-Sacco has strong ties to San Diego that stem from spending summers here living with his mother during the mid-1960s. Ironically, SDSU refused to admit him to college at the time. "I've been interested in San Diego State since 1970, when I applied and was turned down," he says.

So it is with a twinkle in his eye that he returns to teach at his would-be alma mater. In addition to teaching French courses, Loughrin-Sacco is also the Co-Director of the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER), as well as Chair of the International Business Program.

Dr. Loughrin-Sacco holds a Ph.D. in Foreign Language Education from Ohio State University, an M.A. in Teaching from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.A. in French from Western Illinois University. He was formerly director of the Center of International Studies and Programs at the University of Toledo, chair of the Department of Modern Languages at Boise State University, and spent eight years as a professor of French and ESL at Michigan Technological University, and five years as a high school teacher and coach in the state of Illinois.

He is particularly enthusiastic about his upcoming work with CIBER, a U.S. Department of Education-funded center that sponsors workshops, seminars and more to disseminate information about international business to the business community.

"San Diego State is really forward-thinking compared to most schools," he says. And he wants to take the program even further, to reach out to businesses even more to help them examine their needs and to provide assistance and expertise.

"State universities cannot be cloistered monastaries," he says. "Most universities are still very parochial and not very international in their approach. SDSU is way ahead in that respect."

Dr. Loughrin-Sacco lives in Alpine, with his wife, Rita, and their three children, Richard, Alexander and Rachel.

and now....
A Message from Our New Chair

Dear IB Alums:

As the new Chair of the IB Program, I'm honored to have this opportunity to write to you. I've been here for almost four months as Chair and am impressed with the quality of our alumni, majors, faculty, and curriculum, without neglecting to mention our staff. SDSU's IB program is not only the largest program of its type in the nation, but arguably the best. You have a lot to be proud of.

My goal as Chair is to work within the system that has been implemented by Al Branan, Mike Hergert, David Earwicker, and others. I truly believe in the saying: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I'm excited to be part of this program and hope to make it even better through my dedication, hard work, and talent.

I would like to discuss with you one of our many projects we are working on for this fiscal year. One of our goals is to develop even closer ties between you and us (IB students, faculty, staff). The SDSU IB alumni group is a small one because IB is a "young" major. Having a small alumni group means we can be a close-knit group unlike most alumni associations. Creating a close-knit community of current and future IB practitioners will make SDSU's nationally known IB program even stronger.

Generally, universities write their alumni to solicit money. What I'm asking for is your willingness to share your IB expertise and your human resource connections. Sometimes, the sharing of expertise and connections is even more valuable than money. Concerning your IB expertise, we are always looking for guest speakers in our classes and in workshops sponsored by the SDSU CIBER. Your IB expertise creates a balance between "book learning" and the real world. Your expertise strengthens our CIBER's mission to serve as a national resource in international business. What type of expertise can you share with your IB cousins here at SDSU or with business practitioners in the San Diego area? How about your knowledge of international finance, business practices in Latin America, NAFTA or the European Union, import-export procedures, etc.? How about discussing careers in IB with our students?

In addition, your connections are sorely needed to help place our current IB majors in internships and jobs. If you know of openings in your company or in other companies, please contact us. Even though we have an 85% placement rate, your contacts can help us get that rate as close to 100% as possible. The SDSU CIBER is expanding its services to regional companies. If your company needs on-site foreign language and intercultural training, please contact us. We are also in desperate need of tuition and study abroad scholarships. If you know of philanthropic individuals whose interests are in international business, please pass along their names. If you're willing to contribute financially to our campaign to establish a scholarship program, please contact us. You can name a scholarship if you contribute a significant amount of money. How much is "significant?" IB majors have told me how helpful it was to receive even $250 toward tuition or study abroad.

As for us, we will be actively pursuing scholarship funding from foundations and corporations regionally and nationwide.

Don't forget that we're always here to help you in whatever way we can. Take care and keep in touch.

-------Steve

IB ALUMNI PROFILES

MITCHELL CUEVAS - 1991 (Spanish/Europe)

I graduated in May 1991 and soon thereafter I took a "leap of faith" and journeyed to Spain in search of employment. After a few frustrating months of job searching and offering private courses in English, I got lucky. I acquired a position with John Ryan International, a marketing firm. In this company I assisted with setting up marketing programs, researched potential clients and developed a database. The work was both exciting and challenging and allowed me to improve my Spanish while gaining valuable work experience. After about a year at John Ryan I returned to the USA because of difficulties in obtaining a permanent Spanish work permit. [Note: Be aware that it is quite difficult to get a European work permit if you have only a US passport.] Soon after returning to California I began working for RJR Nabisco in a Sales/Marketing capacity. My responsibilities covered marketing and sales for a particular geographic area. I developed specific marketing plans and product mix combinations which would specifically appeal to the Latino markets of Orange County. After about three years with RJR I determined that the best way to further my career and become more international would be to earn an MBA. Because of my international focus I applied, and was accepted to London Business School, one of the top schools in the world (there is another SDSU grad here as well, though not IB). Since joining the program I have done a semester exchange in Brazil (learning Portuguese) and had projects in 4 different countries. There are over 52 nationalities represented at LBS and the international exposure and contact network that I've developed here is not only invaluable, but it will last a lifetime. I have just recently finished the program in London and have accepted a position as a Senior Consultant with Ernst & Young in the Sao Paulo, Brazil office. My activities there will revolve around assisting large companies develop corporate strategies and how they can use technology to become more competitive, in both the local and global economies. I am always open to contact, so feel free to e-mail me at: mitchell_cuevas@bigfoot.com

HEATHER HAGAN - 1994 (French/Europe)

I work for a small Japanese communications firm in Tokyo - P.Y. International - whose main activities focus on research and management training. In the research division, for example, foreign companies and institutions in need of up-to-date information on the small and medium enterprise environment in Japan will ask us to research and translate current available data and provide them with reports on market access, deregulation and direct investment. The management training section offers seminars on management issues and work improvement skills to employees of large Japanese companies such as Sony and Yamaha. As the firm is small I feel I have many opportunities to learn from a wide range of duties. My day to day work activities often vary. I might find myself working on the presentation and lay-out of a report. Sometimes I do rewriting from translated Japanese. Other times, I assist in the management training programs as a facilitator. As I am the only foreign employee at my office, each and every day offers a unique opportunity to share and learn from my Japanese environment. My colleagues and I get a lot of laughs out of trying to understand each other sometimes. Speaking Japanese on the telephone can be a real challenge! I enjoy the fact that the firm is small because I have a lot more opportunity to input my ideas and receive immediate feedback. I came to Japan in the summer of 1994 on a 'cultural adventure', not realizing I would be here almost three years later. Taking with me a few contacts of publications in California, I started to write free-lance about my experiences in Japan. As writing was not enough to pay the high cost of living in Tokyo, I had to find another job. The fact that I had worked as a facilitator for the American Language Institute at SDSU helped me land a teaching job in Tokyo, teaching ESL to Japanese business people. It was through this teaching job that I met my current employer. I feel the fact that I had business, teaching and writing backgrounds helped me get the job. I was hired almost immediately and have been working for P.Y. for a little over two years now. Working in Japan has been a great experience and I hope to stay another year after which I would like to try to work in Europe. I continue to write free-lance and am always looking for new publications to write for. I study Japanese, attending classes twice a week. I have become a great amateur fan of "Kabuki" theater (an ancient form of Japanese musical theater in which all the roles, both male and female, are played by men). I enjoy visiting new places around Asia and in Japan during my vacations, especially the famous Japanese 'On-sen' hot spring resorts.

RAINA WALLACE - 1994 (Spanish/Latin America)

After graduation, I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, searching for job opportunities. While looking for "a real job," I went to a temporary employment agency. The agency located a temporary position at AirTouch International doing data entry. Once I got my foot in the door, I had the opportunity to network with other people in other departments of the company. One of the Program Managers was looking for an assistant and I happened to be in the right place at the right time. I am now a Program Manager at AirTouch, a wireless communications company. The division in which I work pursues licenses in other countries to operate cellular businesses. In order to be granted a license, we must submit an application, a 100-500 page document that tells the government why they should grant us the license (instead of our competition) and how we will implement our new business. The process of applying for a license is extremely complex and requires the expertise of many departments throughout the company. Additionally, it requires expertise of local companies with which we usually partner because they have extensive knowledge of the country and its politics. As Program Manager, I am responsible for overseeing the process, making sure that each department is completing the required tasks, and delivering that information to other departments who depend on it to get their job done. Furthermore, the foreign governments give us a deadline for applying, so all of the steps in the process require advanced planning in order to meet the deadline (otherwise we are disqualified). That planning, and then the management of that plan is the role that I play on these projects. Additionally, I ensure that the project budget is not overrun. Some of the perks of the job are the accumulation of frequent flier miles and the subsidization of a cellular phone. AirTouch is truly a dynamic place to work.

HELEN YAPURA - 1994 (Spanish/Europe)

During the summer of my junior and senior year at SDSU, I went to work in Switzerland through the Foothill College International Exchange Program. I highly recommend this experience to any student looking to work overseas during their career. For 2-1/2 years I have worked in the international department of CACI Products Company, a local developer of simulation software in a combined sales and administrative position. Simulation software is software that businesses use to evaluate how specific changes will effect their business. Before new technologies are implemented, businesses will use simulation to see if these changes will achieve desired results. A few areas where simulation is being used include: insurance companies and banks, computer networks, transportation (train and flight paths, etc) military planning and manufacturing.

CACI contacted me by finding my resume in the San Diego chapter of the World Trade Center, so I encourage everyone who is looking for a job to use this resource. I now work at the offices of our reseller in Genova, Italy. My objective is to increase our product sales in Italy, improve communication with CACI offices, and foster overseas relationships with third party integrators to our software. CACI works very hard to maintain relationships such as these in the U.S, and we would like to further improve these OEM relationships overseas. A new goal will be to position our Italian partner, CO.S.MO.S s.r.l. as the consultancy arm of CACI in Europe in order to take advantage of EU mandated projects, in addition to those offered by local governments.

I look forward to broadening my work experience with new and interesting challenges while in Italy, and thank the IB dept. at SDSU for their excellent instructors and undergraduate program. To all my former class mates and professors, or anyone with questions about this experience please drop me a line at helen@caciasl.com

Now Available: SDSU International Business T-Shirts. White or Grey. All proceeds go toward the IB Scholarship/Study Abroad Fund. Send size & color preference with a check for $22.00 (includes shipping) to SDSU International Business Program.

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