This week several AIM program students, Dr. David Krause, and John Lohre visited NYC

Matter, Endl, Krause and Hildebrand in NYC

On Tuesday, May 24, Dr. David Krause (AIM program director), John Lohre (Marquette adjunct instructor), Brady Endl (MBA student), Tim Hildebrand (AIM ’11), and Ethan Matter (AIM ’11) trekked to New York City to present their research to the board of directors of a large foundation. During the course of the semester the students completed a detailed analysis of the foundation’s portfolio (consisting of stocks, bonds, and alternative asset holdings). They also evaluated the foundation’s investment performance over the past five years and offered various recommendations to the board of directors.


Dr. David Krause said, “This was an excellent project for the students – it was totally aligned with the subject matter that we covered this semester in the AIM program. The students did an outstanding job and were great representatives of Marquette University. Our visit to NYC could not have gone better.”

Keyes Dean Linda Salchenberger has created an advisory group, the Dean’s Council of Excellence, to assist in long-term planning. The mission of the Council is to assist the Dean and the College of Business Administration’s leadership team in the development and execution of key strategies for growth and innovation.


One of the key strategies of this group - which consists of prominent global business leaders and Marquette alumni - is to expand the number and quality of ‘real world’ applied learning opportunities for the students. The recent trip that Dr. Krause and John Lohre conducted with the AIM students clearly meets this goal. By working on an independent investment audit of a large foundation, the students were able to apply the concepts and knowledge they learned in AIM during the spring semester. 

Dr. Krause stated, "John Lohre and I have talked to Dean Salchenberger about this assignment and she was delighted that the students were able to participate in this applied learning project. She strongly supports and encourages more opportunities like this for our students within the College of Business Administration."


The Dean's office is interested in creating more applied learning projects for students at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Peg Bernhard, the COBA's director of external relations said, "It is our intention to examine the scope of each potential applied project and match it to the learning objective, create a project charter, develop a timeline, and present the results of the project to the client while meeting the needs of the project sponsor/client during a one semester timeline. Dr. Krause and his students' recent work with the NYC foundation sounds like an excellent example of the type of applied learning projects we are seeking."

A future story that will go into more detail about this assignment is in the works which will likely appear in an upcoming issue of the Marquette Business Magazine. Dr. Krause said, “This was a very rewarding project we worked on this semester. Ethan, Tim and Brady had an amazing opportunity to meet for several hours with a very distinguished board of directors to present their findings and recommendations. They did an outstanding job and it is possible that we might be asked to return next year for a follow up.”


The students – along with Krause and Lohre – had an opportunity to participate in a distinct applied learning environment. Dr. Krause concluded, “It's applied activities such as this that help our students to excel, learn, lead and serve society. We’ll definitely plan more of these "projects" in the future. Thanks to everyone involved in the activity and best wishes to Tim and Ethan as they begin their new jobs this summer.”