UNews - chairperson

Abbondànza is all about abundance

trevor.kenney — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:24:08 +0000

For the past 11 years, Faculty of Fine Arts professors, staff, students and a local restaurant have joined forces for a good cause – fine arts student scholarships.

The 11th annual Abbondànza, an evening of gourmet food, fine arts and fun fills CoCo Pazzo Italian Café on Saturday, Jan. 28 at 6 p.m.

"We are pleased to participate in this exciting event," says Tony Rose, CoCo Pazzo co-owner. "It is unlike anything else that goes on in this city!"

Chef Ken Kain, left, and CoCo Pazzo co-owners Tony Rose and Rocco Suriano with the Abbondànza Culinary Trophy.

The festivities include a unique menu highlighting the cuisine of various regions of Italy prepared by CoCo's expert chefs coupled with tasty music, works of art and humour provided by the Faculty of Fine Arts. Guests get to vote in a most unusual way for their favorite course and the evening ends with the presentation of the Abbondànza Culinary Trophy, which hangs prominently in the restaurant for the rest of the year.

"Abbondànza is Italian for abundance and we have received an abundance of support from the community, for which we are grateful," says Doug MacArthur, Abbondànza committee chairperson. "To date, 34 students have received scholarships totaling $26,000. All the donations go directly to the Abbondànza Endowment fund that will continue to support students far into the future."

Tickets for the event are priced at $125 each and include a $60 income tax receipt.

There are very few tickets left for the event. To book yours, call Katherine Wasiak at 403-329-2227.

This story first appeared in the December 2011 issue of the Legend. If you'd like to see the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Abbondanza

trevor.kenney — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 18:22:32 +0000

For the past 10 years, Faculty of Fine Arts professors, staff, students and a local restaurant have joined forces for a good cause – fine arts student scholarships.

The 10th Anniversary of Abbondànza, an evening of gourmet food, fine arts and fun fills CoCo Pazzo Italian Café on Saturday, Jan. 29.

"We are pleased to participate in this exciting event," says Tony Rose, CoCo Pazzo co-owner. "It is unlike anything else that goes on in this city."

The festivities include a unique menu highlighting the cuisine of various regions of Italy prepared by CoCo's expert chefs. Music, works of art and humour are all provided by the Faculty of Fine Arts.

Guests get to vote in a most unusual way for their favourite course and the evening ends with the presentation of the Abbondànza Culinary Trophy, which hangs prominently in the restaurant for the rest of the year.

"Abbondànza is Italian for abundance, and we have received an abundance of support from the community, for which we are grateful," says Doug MacArthur, Abbondànza Committee Chairperson.

To date, 29 students have received scholarship totaling $22,000.

"All the donations go directly to the Abbondànza Endowment fund that will continue to support students far into the future."

Tickets are $125 (include $60 income tax receipt). There are a very few tickets left for the event, and for more information, call Katherine Wasiak at 403-329-2227.

Scholarships get a boost from CoCo Pazzo

trevor.kenney — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:26:50 +0000

Fine arts professors, students and a local restaurant have once again joined forces for a good cause – fine arts student scholarships.

The 9th annual Abbondànza, an evening of gourmet food, fine arts and fun fills CoCo Pazzo Italian Café on Sunday, Feb. 28, beginning at 6 p.m.

"We are pleased to participate in this exciting event," says Tony Rose, CoCo Pazzo co-owner. "It is unlike anything else that goes on in the city."

The festivities include a unique menu that highlights the cuisine of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy's most northeastern region. Prepared by CoCo's expert chef, the food combines with tasty music, works of art, and humour provided by the Faculty of Fine Arts.

Guests vote in a most unusual way for their favorite course and the evening ends with the presentation of the Abbondànza Culinary Trophy, which hangs prominently in the restaurant for the rest of the year.

"All the funds raised go into an endowment for student scholarships in art, music drama and music," says Doug MacArthur, Abbondànza committee chairperson. "Abbondànza is Italian for abundance and we have received an abundance of support from the community, for which we are grateful."

Tickets are priced at $125 (include $60 income tax receipt) apiece with only a very few remaining available. To purchase tickets, contact Katherine at 403-329-2227.

Cooper tells WorldCom fraud story

trevor.kenney — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:37:25 +0000

Cynthia Cooper brought a corporate giant to its knees and now she's filling seats by telling her story.

Known internationally as the WorldCom whistleblower, Cooper and her team of internal auditors launched a 2002 investigation that uncovered $3.8 billion in fraud — the largest corporate fraud in history at that time. The journey she took in first finding the fraud, and then getting it out in the open is part of Cooper's presentation today (12 p.m. to 1 p.m.) in the Students' Union A & B ballrooms.

"It's an absolutely fascinating story about how she and her team became aware of the issue and the effort she had to go through to get anybody to pay attention," U of L Assistant Professor of Management Dr. Carla Carnaghan says. "She initially couldn't get the board of directors to pay attention, couldn't get more senior people in the hierarchy to pay attention and several people tried to tell her to stop looking. She really had to fight to bring this to light."

Carnaghan has seen Cooper speak in the past and says her story and its presentation is riveting.

"I think this appeals to anybody who's interested in ethics, who's interested in corporate-social responsibility or the issue of how one person can make a difference," Carnaghan says. "I think she's just a fantastic example of someone who worked hard to make a difference and worked hard to correct a wrong that she saw."

It was 2002 when World-Com, an American telecommunications behemoth was caught painting a false picture of financial growth and profitability to prop up the price of its stock. Cooper and her team of internal auditors brought the fraud (the company's total assets had been inflated by an approximate $11 billion) to light, resulting in a host of firings and resignations, the company filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the eventual conviction of WorldCom co-founder and chief executive officer Bernard Ebbers on fraud and conspiracy charges.

As Cooper speaks today, the world's financial picture is grim and business ethics are a key topic of conversation.

"There may well be other people who have to do similar things and step forward," Carnaghan says. "What she did took a lot of courage, and I think it's a wonderful human interest story."

Cooper, along with fellow corporate whistleblowers Sherron Watkins (Enron) and Coleen Rowley (FBI), was named one of Time's 2002 Persons of the Year.

"I've definitely encouraged all my students in accounting theory to go to this presentation," Carnaghan says. "I've mentioned it to all the faculty too because I just think it's an absolutely fascinating story."

Tickets for the Cynthia Cooper event, part of the CMA Alberta Leadership and Innovation Speaker Series, are free and available at the Career Resources Centre (B610).

GET THE FACTS

• Cooper currently serves as the Chairperson of the Louisiana State ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Center for Internal Auditing Advisory Board and the Mississippi State ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Executive Advisory Board

• A mother of two, Cooper was featured as one of 25 influential working mothers in the November 2004 issue of Working Mother

• Ebbers, the WorldCom co-founder and CEO, was born in Edmonton. He is currently serving a 25-year prison term for his role in the fraud and conspiracy

• WorldCom is now identified as MCI, Inc. Formerly known as LDDS and then LDDS WorldCom, it merged with MCI to form MCI WorldCom and then just WorldCom prior to filing for bankruptcy protection in 2002. It emerged from bankruptcy as MCI, Inc. and was purchased by Verizon Communications in 2006Dr

Cooper to tell WorldCom fraud story

trevor.kenney — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 17:38:19 +0000

Cynthia Cooper brought a corporate giant to its knees and now she's filling seats by telling her story.

Known internationally as the WorldCom whistleblower, Cooper and her team of internal auditors launched a 2002 investigation that uncovered $3.8 billion in fraud — the largest corporate fraud in history at that time. The journey she took in first finding the fraud, and then getting it out in the open is part of Cooper's Jan. 29 presentation (12 p.m. to 1 p.m.) in the Students' Union A & B ballrooms.

Carnaghan has seen Cooper speak in the past and says her story and its presentation is riveting.

As Cooper speaks today, the world's financial picture is grim and business ethics are a key topic of conversation.

"There may well be other people who have to do similar things and step forward," Carnaghan says. "What she did took a lot of courage, and I think it's a wonderful human interest story."

Cooper, along with fellow corporate whistleblowers Sherron Watkins (Enron) and Coleen Rowley (FBI), was named one of Time's 2002 Persons of the Year.

Tickets for the Cynthia Cooper event, part of the CMA Alberta Leadership and Innovation Speaker Series, are free and available at the Career Resources Centre (B610).

GET THE FACTS

• A mother of two, Cooper was featured as one of 25 influential working mothers in the November 2004 issue of Working Mother

• Ebbers, the WorldCom co-founder and CEO, was born in Edmonton. He is currently serving a 25-year prison term for his role in the fraud and conspiracy

UNews - chairperson

Abbondànza is all about abundance

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