Spring 11 MASTER.indd - Thunderbird Magazine

class notes
… William W. Morgan ’58 is
celebrating 10 years of marriage
with his wife, whom he met in
Vietnam. He is enjoying spending
time with his two children, ages
9 and 6, as well as working on
more books to follow up the
six he has published. … Jerry
Mahoney ’58 is hunkered down
in northern New England with
wife and cat, promoting his novel
“Jake’s Run,” tending a small
fl ock of Shetland sheep as well
as a few chickens, and wondering
(as he does every winter)
why he ever left the Caribbean.
… Bennett Cole ’58 retired in
1997 as associate professor of
Spanish at Florida Southern College.
He now lives in New Castle,
Delaware, near his children,
grandchildren and one greatgrandchild.
During his retirement,
Cole has proudly published two
novels with a third one awaiting
publisher’s judgment. Learn more
at bennettcole.wcpauthor.com.
… Pieter Vos ’58 lives in Sun
City West, Arizona. He is active in
Rotary International, which takes
him to Guatemala for two weeks
every year for a Mayan literacy
project. He and his family also
drive to Mexico twice a year to
enjoy their time-share in Puerto
Vallarta. … Philip Hoffman ’58
and his wife, Eileen, started a 66-
day cruise around South America
on Jan. 5, 2011. On the trip,
they planned to visit the Amazon
forest and Antarctica. Hoffman
retired as director of public affairs
for the Region 5 offi ce of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency
in Chicago in October 2008. …
Bob Laport ’58 is long retired in
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, after
a career in international banking.
Laport and his wife, Geri, enjoy
reading, golf and cheering on the
Tarheels. … Dean Huelat ’58
T-bird leads new Nordic
climate change center
Alove of travel grew
into a quest to
learn the language
of nature for environmental
scientist Michael
Goodsite ’08, Ph.D., director
of a newly funded center that
helps Nordic businesses and
other organizations adapt to
climate change.
“The evidence is talking to
us,” said Goodsite, who grew
up in Tucson, Arizona, in
a family of medical professionals.
“Nature is talking to
us. Scientists like myself are
trying to interpret the language
so we can objectively
present to everybody what it
is saying.”
The quest for knowledge
has taken Goodsite from Arizona
to the Arctic and many
places in between. He earned
an Executive MBA in Thunderbird’s
European program
in 2008 and then put his
business skills to work with
the formation of the Nordic
Centre of Excellence-Nordic
Strategic Adaption Research
(NORD-STAR).
The center links natural
scientists, political scientists,
economists, management
educators and business
professionals in a virtual network
that covers Denmark,
Finland, Iceland, Norway
and Sweden.
NordForsk, a public organization
that supports Nordic
initiatives, announced a
five-year, $5.2 million grant
on Oct. 18, 2010, to fund the
center. Goodsite will lead the
center at the National Environmental
Research Institute
at Aarhus University in Denmark,
where he is a professor
of atmospheric chemistry,
climate change and global
processes.
Thunderbird Professors
Mary Teagarden, Ph.D., and
Andreas Schotter, Ph.D., will
collaborate with Goodsite
at the center, providing their
expertise in global business
strategy. Through the research
partnership, Goodsite will
function as a Thunderbird
Michael Goodsite ’08 visits Thunderbird Professor Mary Teagarden,
Ph.D., during a campus visit Oct. 22, 2010.
visiting professor.
“Climate change is a
global science,” Goodsite
said. “Where there is global
science, there is global business.
This interaction is one
of the reasons I have been
so interested and pleased to
come back to Thunderbird.”
While many climate
change scientists see business
as part of the global warming
problem, Goodsite takes the
opposite view. He said business
leaders and entrepreneurs
looking for competitive
advantages are driving
sustainable innovation.
“MBAs will figure out how
to operationalize and finance
the changes needed to
build global prosperity in a
world threatened by climate
change,” he said. “If it makes
sense and they can do it, they
will. And if that helps the
environment, it is a great day
for all of us.”
DARYL JAMES
60 spring 2011