A great manager requires three things, according to Randall Doll, Lead Faculty of Leadership and Management. The first is having the ability to provide a crystal clear set of goals, priorities and duties for those they are responsible for. Secondly, one must attempt to create a healthy, conducive work environment for all team members to be successful within. Finally, a great manager spends time every day building relationships with those they are responsible for. He refers to this as “relationship capital.”

“When a manager is not achieving pre-determined levels of performance it is many times related to a lack of connection with those they oversee,” he says. “Employees know when a manager cares, and when they sense that, they will follow them to the ends of the earth.”

Doll would know. He’s spent his career in leadership and management roles. Even while completing his bachelor’s degree from Wichita State University, he was busy working full time as a fitness center manager.   

“I didn’t have time to attend graduation,” he says. “It was several months before I was able to go in and get my diploma.”

For the past 30 years, Doll has been involved in private industry as either an owner or manager of businesses in retail, manufacturing, land management and commercial properties. By the age of 30 he held management positions in Fortune 500 companies, including PepsiCo Corporation/Pizza Hut, located in New York and Wichita. It was during that time that Doll realized the value of earning his master’s degree.

“I realized the Fortune 500 world was getting more competitive,” he says. “Increasing my skill set, education and experience base became critically important.”

As Doll worked toward earning his M.A. in Business & Management from Webster University, located in St. Louis, Missouri, which he completed in 1995, he developed an interest in teaching. His instructors not being academics but practitioners left a lasting impression on him.

“They would work full time in their chosen profession and then teach part time, delivering their real world experience alongside standard textbook instruction,” he said.

Deciding to follow in the footsteps of his mentors, since 2005 Doll has stayed busy teaching courses in the business and leadership curriculums at Professional Studies while owning Doll Real Estate, LLC and serving as President & CEO of Capital Partners Group LLC; the latter of which is a training & development firm that works with small to mid-size businesses. He also recently finished serving as a board member for the Kansas Department of Wildlife Parks & Tourism, a cabinet level agency appointed by the Governor. He currently serves on the national board of directors for American Ag Credit, which is the seventh largest agricultural lender in the nation, located in Santa Rosa, California. He even embarked on what he says was his biggest career risk when he successfully ran for the Butler County Commission, for which he served two terms from 1999 to 2007.  All of his experiences, he says, give him the knowledge and "street cred" for teaching.

“I like teaching the graduate level courses in business as they allow me to bring in more of my business and political experiences to the classroom,” he says. “I think students appreciate and benefit from these real world applications.”

Doll plans to continue sharing his devotion for effective leadership and management in teaching courses such as BQM301, LEAD510 and BSAD490 where he believes he can train others to be successful leaders for the future. When he’s not working he enjoys spending time with his wife and daughters at their ranch outside Wichita where they garden, hike, raise free range chickens and oversee their farm and ranch operations.

WICHITA, Kansas – The new Center for Corporate Learning, launched by Southwestern College, will offer its first course in September.

The course will consist of seven facilitated sessions where human resource professionals can prepare for their Professional in Human Resource (PHR®) or Senior Professional in Human Resource (SPHR®) certification exams. Both certifications, through the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI®), demonstrate that HR professionals have mastered best practices. All PHR®/SPHR® certified professionals are therefore better prepared for program implementation and tactical/logistical orientation at their organizations.  

The Center for Corporate Learning (CCL) was established to embrace partnerships between Southwestern College and business and industry. Along with the PHR®/SPHR® examination prep course, CCL also offers quality training programs designed specifically for individual organizations.

The PHR®/SPHR® preparatory course will focus on the Bodies of Knowledge, the foundation of the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI™) exam. They include business and management strategy, workforce planning and employment, human resource development, compensation and benefits, employee and labor relations and risk management. The preparatory course benefits small business owners, managers with HR responsibilities and those wishing to increase their HR knowledge base.

The seven-week course, which will be taught by local, experienced professionals, runs from September 12^th through October 24^th. The classes are conveniently held on Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Southwestern College Professional Studies campus at 2040 S. Rock Rd. in Wichita. The cost is just $950 per person and includes printed and online materials. Those interested in registering can visit https://secure.jotformpro.com/SouthwesternCollege/cclregistration.

WICHITA, Kansas – Southwestern College Professional Studies in Wichita, Kansas and American Business and Technology University have announced the signing of an articulation agreement that will make for the easy transition of credits for ABTU students wishing to further their education at Southwestern College.

Students who have either earned their A.O.S, A.A., A.S. or A.A.S. degrees at ABTU, or are within six credit hours of completion, will be eligible to apply to Southwestern College’s bachelor’s degree programs. Graduates with B.A.S. degrees from ABTU are eligible to enter any of Southwestern College’s master’s degree programs.

Southwestern College allows for the transfer of up to 64 credit hours to prevent learners from losing credits or repeating courses already completed. The articulation agreement will also provide a gateway for active and inactive military members to easily transition into earning their bachelor’s degree.

“We are excited to provide a bridge for their students to continue their education and we look forward to working with them for many years to come,” said John Hudson, director of Educational Partnerships at Southwestern College.

Located in east Wichita near McConnell Air Force Base, Southwestern College Professional Studies provides flexibility with six-week, online courses that allow students to balance time between work and their families while they further their education. Southwestern College offers 16 undergraduate and nine graduate degree programs.

Wichita, Kansas – The accreditation for Southwestern College’s RN to BSN program will be good for another 10 years.

The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) accredited the nursing program in September 2014. After its on-site evaluation, the CCNE Board found the program met all four accreditation standards and there were no compliance concerns.

“Being recognized by CCNE as having an outstanding nursing program that is in compliance with all regulations is extremely important,” said Amber Pyatt, director of the RN to BSN program. “I am very happy to receive notification that our program was approved for another 10 years by CCNE. There is a lot of hard work and effort that is put in by all members of an institution for an accreditation site visit. It is reassuring to know that all of the hard work paid off in the end.”

The RN to BSN program offers flexible, six-week online classes to registered nurses looking to earn their Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. Leaners can complete their degree in as few as 14 months.

Another on-site evaluation for accreditation will take place in the fall of 2024 by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, One Dupont Cir., NW, Suite 530, Washington DC 20036, phone - 202-887-6791. http://www.aacn.nche.edu/ccne-accreditation.