UNews - Mike Madore

Dhillon School of Business students benefit local non-profit as part of experiential learning project

trevor.kenney — Wed, 28 Mar 2018 16:10:32 +0000

The Lethbridge Therapeutic Riding Association is getting a helping hand from students at both the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge and Lethbridge College.

The No Horsin’ Around Culinary Cook-Off is a collaborative event initiated by the Integrated Management Experience (IME) program at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s Dhillon School of Business and second-year culinary students at Lethbridge College. All proceeds from the event will benefit programming at the Lethbridge Therapeutic Riding Association.

“What a fantastic opportunity to bring students from two separate post-secondary institutions together for one cause; supporting The Lethbridge Therapeutic Association and the work they do with disabled children in the community,” says Mike Madore, IME program director. “Experiential learning and social responsibility are important aspects of the educational experience and through this initiative, students get to apply the theory they’ve learned in the classroom to a real-life experience that benefits the community.”

The evening, which begins at 5 p.m. on Friday, Apr. 6, 2018 in Lethbridge College’s Garden Court, features a four-course meal prepared by second-year Lethbridge College culinary students. Guests will also have the opportunity to vote on competing appetizers and then participate in a silent auction. Tickets, priced at $100 each, are available now through Apr. 3 by visiting http://www.ulethime.com/.

Each year, students enrolled in IME at the Dhillon School of Business get the opportunity to use the theoretical aspects they learn in class to solve a business problem for a local charity by developing and executing a fundraising event. A total of 17 students are working together on the No Horsin’ Around Culinary Cook-Off, coordinating the project through management, marketing, finance and logistics teams.

"The IME program has taught me a lot about multitasking, group work and constantly communicating with internal and external stakeholders,” says Kaleigh Watson, part of the IME group’s marketing team. “I've learned so much about how I work within a team and how to adjust for different work styles.”

Watson adds she is excited about what the event will do for the Lethbridge Therapeutic Riding Society.

“I'm looking forward to seeing all of our hard work pay off, to see our event come together and the impact of our efforts. It's truly been an experience of learning core management skills through meaningful application.”

Since its inception in 2000, students in the IME program have raised more than $200,000 towards community initiatives.

Perseverance pays off for Patel

caroline.zentner — Mon, 30 May 2016 20:01:33 +0000

When Priscilla Patel first came to the city in 2009 to begin her studies at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, she saw land, lots of land, in fact, more land than buildings. And the buildings — most of them single-storey, were so unlike the highrises in her native Malaysia. The bustling neighbourhoods of her homeland were replaced by far more sedate streets.

She, her three siblings and their mother, Malti, left Penang so Priscilla could study new media at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, qualifications she would need for her dream job of being an animator at Pixar. Her father, Ashok, stayed behind in Malaysia to run the family’s textile business. The family became aware of the U of L through a Study in Canada event. Even so, her first sight of the Lethbridge landscape was a shock.

“I remember calling my dad up right away and telling him ‘You’ve got to book me a plane ticket; I need to come home now,’” she says. “I remember him saying ‘Just try it out for a month. If you don’t like it, you can come back.’”

Seven years later, she’s graduating (with distinction) with her second degree from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge. Along with a Bachelor of Fine Arts she earned in 2013, she will soon add a Bachelor of Management to her credentials.

“I’m glad I took the risk. I’m very thankful for my family because, without them, I wouldn’t be here. To have an education and to have so much support, not many people get that,” she says. “The Faculty of Management, I think that was my biggest support. I made friends with many of my student colleagues and professors. I don’t think I could have found that social network anywhere else and I’m very thankful for that, and for having profs who encourage students to come talk to them about anything.”

Priscilla found her way to the Faculty of Management after completing an internship in the marketing department at Lethbridge College. Even though she was passionate about graphic design, her supervisor, Carmen Toth, saw that she was also a people person. Toth suggested she consider marketing and, after a year of working as a general clerk at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library, Priscilla heeded the advice.

“I loved it,” she says of her time as a management student. “The first class I took was Marketing 2020 with Mike Madore. As soon as I got in that class, I said ‘Yup, this is it. This is where I belong.’ I’m very grateful because I experienced a real connection with my professors in the Faculty of Management.”

While each of the professors she encountered in the program played a role in helping her attain her degree, it was Madore and Dr. Mike Basil who especially motivated her to always do her best, she says. Priscilla credits the faculty with helping her learn presentation skills, how to handle pressure, manage a team and multi-task.

“If you ask any of my peers who started the program with me, they would tell you I was shy and I wouldn’t want to present,” she says. “If you ask my professor about the case analysis I presented last semester she’d say ‘I would never have known.’ Giving presentations boosts your self-confidence and makes you want to do the best you can. They always say you want to learn how to sell yourself. If you can’t sell yourself, no one’s going to want to listen to you because time is money.”

She, under Basil’s supervision, also did an independent research study investigating the predictors of celebrity effectiveness in advertisements.

“I found out that I love marketing research, collecting and analyzing data and being able to test my hypothesis,” says Priscilla.

Priscilla continues to work at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library and has taken on a special project for the summer, reviewing teaching materials in the Faculty of Education’s Curriculum Laboratory. Once the project has wrapped up, Priscilla hopes to begin her first career position and she’s ready to go wherever that might be.

When Priscilla crosses the stage and receives her parchment at Friday’s convocation ceremonies, her thoughts will be with her father, who won’t be able to attend. While he planned to join his family in Canada much sooner, economic circumstances have delayed his departure. Ashok hopes to be in Canada within a couple of years.

“I’m graduating with distinction and I want to make my dad proud. I want to tell him ‘I actually did it, taking six classes for three semesters. It paid off,’” she says, wiping away a few tears.

Bowling event nets IME class donation to Harbour House

trevor.kenney — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 15:56:02 +0000

The Integrated Management Experience (IME) class at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge donated $1,510.55 to YWCA Lethbridge’s Harbour House women’s shelter following the successful completion of its annual fundraising initiative.

The chosen project, that encompassed two management modules over the course of two semesters, saw the group organize, market and then execute a charity bowling event. YWCA Lethbridge CEO Jennifer Lepko says the students have made a considerable contribution to the organization.

YWCA CEO Jennifer Lepko says that while the money raised is crucial, the enhanced profile of the YWCA and Harbour House through the project is as important as anything. Here

“It has been an amazing experience,” she says. “The students put their heart and soul into it and are really giving back to the community. I don’t know if they really understand the impact they make.”

Lepko says that while the money raised is crucial, the enhanced profile of the YWCA and Harbour House through the project is as important as anything. The YWCA Lethbridge and District serves more than 6,000 men, women and children every year.

“We were able to share the YWCA with more people, which is very important for us because people need to know what we do,” says Lepko. “These funds will go directly to Harbour House. We have a 24-bed facility but we could use way more. We unfortunately have the fourth-highest turn-away rate in the province. We don’t have enough physical space (beds) to meet the needs of our community. Especially right now, in the economic crisis we are experiencing, we’re turning away more than 2,000 people per year.”

Davis Weber, a third-year general management student from Athabasca, says the IME project gave him insight about the YWCA and its place in the community, and allowed him to apply his classroom skills.

“As students we sit here and do a whole bunch of things academically and then being able to apply that and organize an event to go forward and help a non-profit is really cool,” he says. “This was a real situation where there is real pressure and a real event to put on so it was a great learning experience.”

The southern Alberta community and its support of non-profit enterprises impressed Alex Glydon, a third-year accounting major from Strathmore.

“The biggest thing I learned was how generous people are,” he says. “It’s a rough time out there right now and we got a lot donated in terms of silent auction and prizes. It was great to see that.”

IME now turns its focus to next year’s class project, which will benefit Special Olympics.

“It’s such a valuable program in the sense that we have the opportunity to extend our reach into the Lethbridge community, and the skillsets IME students acquire can be leveraged when they enter the workforce,” says IME Director and Faculty of Management professor Mike Madore. “They obtain practical project management skills in advance of going out into the workplace. Students must work in a team environment, which is really important as they will work in teams once they enter the workforce.”

IME up and running with new director at the helm

trevor.kenney — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 19:44:07 +0000

For the first time since the program’s introduction, the Faculty of Management’s Integrated Management Experience (IME) is under new stewardship.

Management professor Mike Madore is now at the helm of the highly regarded experiential program, taking over after 15 years of leadership by Dan Kazakoff. Madore is energized by the opportunity.

“The entire crux of the program is giving students the opportunity to use what they are learning in the classroom in an applied fashion, in a real-life situation,” he says. “That is something I’ve always tried to incorporate in my classes. As early as I can, I try and get students out using the theory they’re being taught in class and applying it in a real business setting.”

Mike Madore's IME class will be focussing its efforts on assisting Harbor House this year.

Madore has been at the U of L since 2003, first as a sessional instructor and then, for the past eight years, as a full-time educator. Previously, he taught at the secondary school level as well as for several other post-secondary level institutions.Madore also has experience as a business consultant and worked as a commercial lender with BMO for four years. The focus of the IME program, which is built on a solid foundation of community engagement, theory and practice, mirrors his philosophy on the role of the Faculty of Management in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and southern Alberta as a whole.

“I really think it’s important that we have a strong connection with the local business community, and I’ve always looked at ways to try and engage the community,” he says. “It’s really a win-win when you can involve students with the business community. They get an opportunity to work on real problems that businesses are struggling with and the businesses benefit because they get consulting advice from students who are being educated with the latest expertise.”

IME involves students enrolling in two management modules, Mgt 3091 and Mgt 3092. In the first semester, Madore meets with representatives from a selected community organization and gains an appreciation for a challenge they are facing from a managerial perspective – essentially a business case problem the students work to solve. The second semester sees the students coordinate a sponsorship activity that raises funds for the selected entity.

“In the short term, I’m not going to move away from that model too much because I like the concept,” says Madore. “One thing we’re trying to do with the students is add additional factors, such as social media, and take advantage of that to promote IME not only a little more internally here at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ but outside to the general public as well.”

This year’s chosen organization is YWCA’s Harbor House. Madore says that as the program continues to evolve, he’d like to keep the focus on non-profit organizations that simply do not have the funds or expertise to manage their affairs as efficiently as possible.

“Many non-profits don’t have big budgets and are run on a volunteer basis,” he says. “As IME continues to evolve, I’d like to capture some of the lesser known non-profits in the Lethbridge area and give them an opportunity.”

With a cohort of just 22 students this year, Madore says he’d like to see that number climb back to its capacity of 36. He can’t overstate the value it brings to their educational experience, and with the majority of students who participate in IME in their third year of study; it creates meaningful pathways into the business world.

“IME allows students to flex some of the theory that they have captured in class in a real world setting,” he says. “At the same time, we’re a liaison or bridge to the community and the non-profit sector. We want to make sure we do the best we can for our partners in the community.”

To learn more about IME, visit the program’s website at ulethime.com or contact Madore at 403-329-2439 or michael.madore@uleth.ca.

Chillin' 4 Charity benefits United Way

trevor.kenney — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 17:40:12 +0000

More than 60 people are scheduled to jump into an ice-cube-filled pool of freezing water on Thursday, all in support of the United Way.

The U of L's JDC West team — a hardy and enthusiastic group of Faculty of Management students who participate in the Jeux du Commerce Games a national Canadian business competition — are once again hosting Chillin' 4 Charity, a few hours of frozen frivolity to support the United Way of Lethbridge and Southern Alberta.

Students, U of L administration members and faculty jumpers — including Faculty of Management Dean Bob Ellis, VP Academic Andy Hakin, faculty member Mike Madore, and Assistant Management Dean Richard Perlow — will hit the water beginning at 11 a.m. at a large patio on the south side of the Students' Union Building. The event is expected to last until 2 p.m.

Over the past five years, their efforts have resulted in more than $50,000 in support to the United Way.

Chillin' 4 Charity originated at the U of L in 2006, and is now part of many JDC-sponsored events across Western Canada.

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