RICHARDSON, Texas (Aug. 23, 2005) – The Leadership Center at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) has received a $200,000 grant from Wachovia Bank to fund the center’s 2005-2006 Excellence in Leadership Speakers Series. The center is part of UTD’s School of Management.
The Excellence in Leadership Speakers Series features prominent leaders, scholars, government officials, business executives and others who share their experiences with UTD students, faculty, staff and others from the Dallas community.
As part of this year’s series, four-star Gen. Tommy Franks will speak on the UTD campus on Thursday, Oct. 27, and later that evening deliver a dinner address, titled “Leadership, Management… and the Difference,” at 7 p.m. at the Westin Galleria in Dallas. The second speaker in the Wachovia-sponsored series, well-known business leader and author Jim Collins, is scheduled to give a lecture on April 4.
Gerald Hoag, director of The Leadership Center at UTD, applauded Wachovia’s donation and stressed that it would give a significant boost to the center in achieving its goals of promoting ethical, moral leadership. Hoag noted that the appearance of speakers of the quality of Franks and Collins directly relates to the center’s mission.
“The vision behind The Leadership Center at UTD is the premise that leadership qualities and skills can be learned and improved through a systematic program of classical teaching combined with real-life experiences, imparted by people who are recognized as outstanding leaders. Wachovia’s generosity is making it possible for UTD and Dallas area residents to have an opportunity to learn from the experiences of these two highly respected known leaders, Gen. Tommy Franks and Jim Collins,” Hoag said.
Pete Jones, president of Wachovia’s Dallas-Fort Worth region, said the UTD center’s Excellence in Leadership Speakers Series provides an excellent opportunity for the company to achieve its goal of helping every community where it does business become a “vibrant, safe, economically thriving place for people to live, work and play.
One of the nation’s largest providers of financial services to retail, brokerage and corporate customers, Charlotte, N.C., -based Wachovia established its first six locations in Texas, including one in Dallas, before the end of 2004. Through 2008, Wachovia plans to open 200 branches in Texas – in Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, Houston and San Antonio.
“We consider The Leadership Center at UTD an excellent place to invest our time, energy and resources because leadership is a subject very close to our company’s core,” Jones said. “Wachovia is committed to developing its current and future leaders as fully as possible.
UTD School of Management Dean Hasan Pirkul, Ph.D. noted that it is through gestures such as Wachovia’s donation that business schools are enabled to better serve the needs of the corporate world.
“By supporting efforts to build better business leaders, Wachovia is making a positive impact that will have results far into the future. The events of the last several years have shown that there is a clear need for leadership. Some leaders in business have failed spectacularly. Many corporations have changed CEO’s, some multiple times. That points to the importance of the issue of leadership and the need for its further study. Through this donation, Wachovia is demonstrating its desire to be part of the solution for this important issue in American business today,” Pirkul said.
More information on the Excellence in Leadership Speakers Series can be obtained at http://som.utdallas.edu/leadership or by contacting Hoag at 972-883-4235.
About the UTD School of Management
Based on publications in the top 22 business journals spanning all areas of business, The University of Texas at Dallas School of Management faculty ranks 37th in research productivity among business school faculties nationwide, and U.S. News and World Report ranks the school’s Cohort MBA program among the top 64 full-time MBA programs in the nation and among the top 35 at public colleges and universities. The School of Management is the largest of UTD’s seven schools, with an enrollment that has doubled over the last eight years to more than 4,400 students. The school’s new 204,000-square-foot building features classrooms with state-of-the-art audio and visual equipment, wireless connectivity, video-conferencing facilities, a computer lab, faculty offices, meeting rooms and an executive education center.
About UTD
The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor, enrolls more than 14,000 students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the university’s website at www.utdallas.edu.
About Wachovia
Wachovia Corporation (NYSE:WB) is one of the largest providers of financial services to retail, brokerage and corporate customers, with retail operations from Connecticut to Florida and west to Texas, and retail brokerage operations nationwide. Wachovia had assets of $511.8 billion, market capitalization of $78.2 billion and stockholders’ equity of $47.9 billion on June 30, 2005. Its four core businesses, the General Bank, Capital Management, Wealth Management and the Corporate and Investment Bank, serve 13 million household and business relationships, primarily through 3,126 offices in 15 states and Washington, D.C. Its full-service retail brokerage firm, Wachovia Securities, LLC, also serves clients through 699 offices in 49 states and five Latin American countries. Our Corporate and Investment Bank serves clients primarily in 10 key industry sectors nationwide. Global services are offered through 33 international offices. Online banking and brokerage products and services also are available through Wachovia.com.