CHICAGO, IL -- The world of sustainable design and the one-of-a-kind gift phenomenon have now taken on another partner: up-and-coming design students. There are 21 Columbia College undergraduate students who have been selected to present their sustainable, or “green,” gifts at The Chicago Market: Living and Giving – a gift and home accessory trade show at The Merchandise Mart, January 19-22, 2008.
“I didn’t know what to expect when I asked the students to submit sketches of their designs,” said Brooke Sagalowsky, Buyer Relations Manager for The Merchandise Mart. “Their ideas and their skills just blew me away. Consumers want to be part of the sustainable design movement and we wanted to give these students a chance to make the business connection of a lifetime.”
This is the first student exhibition at The Merchandise Mart’s Chicago Market and Columbia College is the only participating educational institution. After researching various schools, the show’s organizers decided to focus on Columbia because of the school’s strong product design program.
“Once we received such positive feedback from Columbia, we decided to pursue only their students,” continued Sagalowsky.
“It is a great opportunity for student work to actually get picked up for production,” said Kevin Henry, product design faculty at Columbia.
The student product and gift designs will be exhibited alongside professional vendors at the Living and Giving Show. Some of the potential buyers looking for items to stock their shelves are Wickes Furniture, Walter E. Smythe Furniture, The Great Indoors, Hallmark Stores and Crate and Barrel.
Of the 21 participating students, one will be chosen by a panel of design experts to receive a $1,000 prize as part of the Merchandise Mart’s Beckman Competition. The Beckman Competition jury is comprised of four industry professionals: ASID Illinois President Hilary Sopata; Chicago Home magazine editor Jan Parr; Home Décor Buyer magazine editor Jim Carper; and local Chicago designer Mick Santiago. The Beckman winners will be announced on Monday, January 21.
The Merchandise Mart is located at 222 Merchandise Mart Plaza. The Chicago Market: Living and Giving event is only open to registered wholesale buyers.
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CHICAGO, IL -- On January 2, veteran political reporter and Columbia College professor Suzanne McBride and her colleague, reporter and teacher John O’Neill, will be packing up a dozen students and crossing the Illinois border into Iowa for a hands-on educational experience.
“Covering the Iowa Caucuses," is one of Columbia’s special “J-Term” courses in which students can engage in intensive elective credit courses during the three-week break between fall and winter terms.
While some Columbia students will stay on campus to participate in an in-depth study of the representation of “Zombies in Popular Culture” and others will travel to Shanghai to learn about that city’s history, art and culture, McBride and O’Neill’s students will build their journalism and photography skills in an on-the-ground experience engaging with Iowa voters in Bettendorf.
Participating Iowa Caucus students will take their laptops, cell phones and digital recorders and make like real reporters as they meet local county chairs and grass-roots Iowans to produce stories, photos and blog entries that focus on the political priorities and decision-making processes of America’s Heartland voters.
On Wednesday, January 2 at 9 a.m. the class will meet on the Columbia campus to review their story assignments and discuss strategy. The schedule has the group arriving at the Bettendorf Holiday Inn by late afternoon that day, just in time to interview two local political leaders. Their field reporting continue to Thursday, January 3, when the caucuses will be held. They return to Chicago late Saturday night and reconvene on campus at 9 a.m. Monday January 7 for debriefing.
“We wish we could have taken this course when we were studying journalism,” says McBride. “These students will be developing practical skills that they can use years from now, whether they become political reporters or simply want to be engaged citizens.”
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CHICAGO, IL – Raymond Spencer (57), CEO of the Capgemini Financial Services Strategic Business Unit, has been named to the Columbia College Chicago Board of Trustees, announced college President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D.
Spencer was Chairman and CEO of Kanbay International, Inc. prior to that firm’s acquisition by Capgemini. As founder of Kanbay, he led the organization from its inception in 1989 to become a publicly-traded global company with over 7500 associates located in 14 cities in eight nations. The company was ranked number nine on BusinessWeek’s annual “Hot Growth Companies List, 2005.”
Before founding Kanbay, Spencer focused on world-wide rural and community development through his 20-year association with the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA), a United Nations-recognized private voluntary organization. During that period, Spencer resided in India for six years, establishing the Indian division of ICA. He later held numerous leadership roles in ICA’s Chicago headquarters.
With over 30 years of experience in the areas of management, planning, finance, team building and leadership, Spencer has worked with many multinational and Fortune 500 clients.
Spencer has received numerous honors for his visionary approach to global enterprise and leadership. He was most recently named a Laureate in the Computerworld Honors Program, which distinguishes innovators around the world whose visionary use of information technology produces and promotes positive social change. He was inducted to the Chicago Area Entrepreneur Hall of Fame in 2003 and was named Ernst & Young Illinois Region Entrepreneur of the Year 2005. Spencer is a member of the Advisory Board of the Cross Atlantic Technology Fund, a board member of the Information Technology Association of American and a member of The Economic Club of Chicago.
Spencer was born in Adelaide, South Australia and attended law school at the University of Adelaide.
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