Parents also are helping write a school curriculum for computer study and a grant proposal to Microsoft. Having the student consultants' perspective is very helpful, Gram said. They can really look at the people factor of a problem very quickly, whereas I sometimes only look at a problem from a process standpoint. O'Connell, who is concentrating in finance and has a job with Koch Industries Inc. in Wichita, Kan., after graduation, said he was inspired to take TQS because he thoroughly enjoyed Kropp's Total Quality Management course. Social work students said they learn from the business students, too.
Business students bring different skills to the table.
Ross added that seeing how a real school works is different from reading a textbook case. I think it's going to be a great learning experience. This experiential learning combined with a commitment to community service is exactly the kind of learning Stuart I. Greenbaum, Ph.D., dean of the business school, endorses. He and his wife, Elaine Greenbaum, Ph.D., who volunteers as a member of the TQS planning team, helped create the TQS program at Northwestern University with Chicago public schools before coming to Washington University in 1995 and inspiring the St. Louis version. It trains public school leaders in ways to utilize quality management techniques to identify and to address issues within the school environment, and it offers Washington University students a practical consulting experience through which they can enhance their leadership, communication and presentation skills.