ÐÔ°®ÌìÌÃ

It is definitely spring in San Antonio: the temperature is in the high 90s! We just completed a very productive time with our executive students to kick off the summer session. The on-campus students are in the midst of their residency search. This year, we have a large number of organizations offering our students an incredible array of residency experiences. Of course, these students are nervous, but also very excited and thankful that they are afforded such great opportunities to apply and expand the things they are learning in the classroom to real life settings. The HCAD faculty are very excited to be part of this and to see where the students ultimately land.

We are in the process of recruiting the next class for our executive HCAD program. If you have an up-and-coming leader in your organization, please consider pointing them to our program. It is designed to allow students to work full-time and complete the same degree that our on-campus students earn. For employees at Baylor Scott & White, Texas Health Resources, CHRISTUS, HCA, Lifepoint, CHS, Ascension, or Tenet, ÐÔ°®ÌìÌà has agreed to a 25 percent tuition discount. Please take advantage of this opportunity! For more information, please contact me (eschumac@trinity.edu), Amer Kaissi (akaissi@trinity.edu), or Sharon Hubenak (Shubenak@trinity.edu).

Our on-campus students competed in the Cleveland Clinic’s case competition again this year (a competition where any team from an MS-HCAD/MBA program can register). The Cleveland Clinic sends out the case via email on a Thursday afternoon, teams work on the case over the weekend, and they send their proposal on Monday morning. The judges then select the top 16 teams and invite them to Cleveland to present to their leadership. Of more than 50 submissions, three of the teams invited were from ÐÔ°®ÌìÌÃ. Thanks to very generous contributions from alumni to the HCAD annual fund, our students were able to attend and be fully funded. All three teams did a great job in the competition, presenting and defending their strategic recommendations to the top leaders of the Cleveland Clinic.  

The biggest news within the HCAD program, however, is about Mary Stefl, Ph.D. After 34 years at ÐÔ°®ÌìÌÃ, Stefl has decided to retire from teaching. She will still play an active role with ÐÔ°®ÌìÌÃ’s Division of Alumni Relations and Development, and we are very grateful for that. All of the HCAD faculty owe her a huge debt. I have had the pleasure of working closely with her for the past 16 years and as a result of that relationship, I have grown tremendously as a teacher, researcher, and leader. It is difficult to overstate the impact she has had on the program, the university, and the field of health management education. While we will miss her, we are excited for our future. One of the best signs of effective leaders is that when they depart, their organizations continue to thrive without their day-to-day presence. This is definitely true for Stefl. We hope that you can join us over Alumni Weekend in October 2018 where, on top of recognizing our annual Duce and Momentum Award recipients, we will honor Stefl and the impact she has made on us all.

Part of what makes teaching in the HCAD program so rewarding is the culture that we have been able to create. We are a very collaborative faculty who are student-focused. Everything we do is focused on making our students the best leaders possible. What keeps us centered, however, is our connection to you—our alumni. The faculty has the great privilege of seeing the direct impact of what we do on campus by interacting with you through your careers. By observing the difference you make in your organizations and in the communities you serve, we are inspired to make sure we keep our focus on our students. We rely on you to keep us up to date and relevant with what we are bringing to our students. Therefore, it is important that you stay connected with us so that we can continue to provide the highest quality education to our students–which, in turn, keeps the value of your degree as high as possible. So, thank you for all that you do, and please keep us updated about what you are doing.

Edward J. Schumacher
Professor and Chair