By Christy Larsen
Summer Forty-Niner
Mike Walter, Business Administration
Dean at Cal State Long Beach, speaks at a chamber of commerce dinner. |
|
Dr. Mike Walter,
Cal State Long Beach’s dean of the College of Business Administration,
officially became chairman of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce for 1999-2000,
during the 108th Inaugural Celebration.
“I welcome the opportunity |
to contribute to the community,”said
Walter at the event held at the Westin Long Beach on June 23. “My role
as chairman is a meaningful example of the university’s outreach to the
greater Long Beach community.
“Business and social trends begin in California
and spread across the nation,” he said. “Much of that begins in Southern
California in general and in Long Beach in particular. When we have
a dream in Long Beach, it soon becomes the nation’s reality.”
Outgoing Chairman Mark Gray spoke of Walter’s
business, administrative and community service experience, which, he said,
qualified him for this position.
Long Beach Mayor Beverly O’Neill also expressed
a vote of confidence for Walter.
“I have met very few people who have infiltrated
so many areas in leadership roles as Mike Walter,” O’Neill said.
“He has a mild manner, but he’s strong. He does his homework and
is
well prepared, whether it’s as administrator of his school or president
of the chamber.”
Walter thanked CSULB, President Robert
Maxson and Provost Karl Anatol for their support in his speech.
“I think [having Walter as chair] is just
awesome,” Maxson said. “It’s the highest compliment the school of
business could get. We all share in his pride.”
Walter has been dean of the business school
for six years, Maxson said.
CSULB’s business program ranks among the
10 largest programs in the country, Maxson said. Seventeen percent
of incoming freshmen choose the college of business as their major,
he said.
About 20 percent of CSULB’s President’s
Scholars, who are recruited valedictorians from California high schools,
come to the university to study business, Maxson said.
Reina Magpale, one of CSULB’s President’s
Scholars, said the pledge of allegiance at the gala. She was the 1997 valedictorian
of St. Anthony’s High School in Long Beach. Her major is communications
with a dance minor.
“We’re extending beyond academic boundaries
by having a representative of our school on the chamber of commerce,” Magpale
said.
Zachary Wheat, another CSULB President’s
Scholars, said the invocation.
The area chamber also presented 14 awards
to businesses and individuals for outstanding civic contributions.
The Chair’s Award was presented to the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific
as the company that made the biggest impact on Long Beach last year.
More than 650 business leaders attened
the event.
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