Did the students really learn something useful and interesting and is there any evidence of that learning?
- meaning,  did someone get a job and make some $$$

"It's been about a semester since I have left your [MGTD06] class and have not  stopped apply all that I have learned into my work term position here  at Microsoft.  Every day I look at reports on page views, click  throughs, for a campaign page and everything ties back to the things  that I've been taught in D06.

I have been really inspired by your teachings on e-commerce/web  marketing as, I find now that internet marketing is the most efficient  and resourceful method of marketing that yields the highest ROI  compared to any other vehicles."

Angie Lim
Vice President of Communications (2007)
Management and Economics Students' Association (MESA)
University of Toronto Scarborough 

Wade B. a UTM student (in 3rd yr) was in MGD 415 and CCT 322. Together with a student from the St. George campus, Wade won a business plan competition and the price was SEVeral thousand dollars.

The pic to the right shows Wade (the blonde haired guy) with his partner, holding the cheque.
The women on the left is Sun-Jeng [Associate President of  U  of T Enterprise Creation Association]

Alicia, (in 3rd yr Feb 2007) was in MGT C44, Int'l Business in Sept-Dec 2006 has been selected to go to Japan in Sept 2007 to study at Keio University

Hi Prof. Richardson,
I hope you're doing well, and that you're having as much fun in your
current Int. Biz class as you did with us. The entire application process was  not a walk in the park, because Japan is the most competitive program  to get into. However, a very good note for any aspiring students at  the Scarborough campus, the exchange office is demanding more students  from outside St. George campus!...

Alicia is also involved in www.aiesec.org, the world's largest student organization and serves as
Cultural Support Network @ UTSC, Vice President of Finance
Educational Program Supervisor

FYI AIESEC is a French acronym for "Association Internationale des Etudiants en Sciences Economiques et Commerciales"

Keio is one of the top 5 universities in Japan, founded in 1858 it has a reputation for being very international.

Angelo S. was in MGT C44, Int'l Business Jan-Apr 2006. Graduated from UTSC, and is now a full-time military officer in the Canadian Armed Forces, having previously served in the Toronto Scottish regiment while a UTSC student..

2nd Lt. Angelo emailed to say
I attended your course in International Business last year. Since then I have joined the CF as an intelligence officer and currently hold the rank of 2LT.  I am currently undergoing XXXXXXXX training  at XXXXXXXX.  Am looking forward to my first tour in country XXXXXX. I hope everything is well with you in Toronto.

Prof. Richardson emailed back to say
I am very pround of your accomplishments - I wish more people would see the value of serving their country, it is a very noble and honourable pursuit and you deserve compliments for choosing a challenging path. 

XXXX's put in by WTGR in consideration of operational security sensitive information.

cap badge of the Torscots
 

"Miss Tani Iffat" was in MGT C44, Int'l Business Jan-Apr 2007. At the time (March 2007) she was a finalist in Miss World Canada  www.missworldcanada.com.

Tani's press release, which she offered to be listed herein, states,  www.missworldcanada.com/contestants/2007/official/tani/index.htm
Miss Tani Iffat a resident of Downtown Toronto and a Co-op Management student of the University of Toronto Scarborough has been selected as the 2007 representative of the Toronto Region for the national competition. This young lady aspires to one day become the first ethnic woman prime minister of Canada. Upon graduation she plans to work with humanitarian non-profit organizations as an activist on the world stage. She is currently a Big Sister in her community, a Foster Parent, and an Amnesty International Canada supporter.
Tani was also a contestant in the Miss Universe Canada competition in Aug 2006

Prof. Richardson emailed back to say
I hope you win, and I'd be very pleased to have a C44 grad be the Prime Minister - especially if you came back as a guest speaker.

Hi Prof. Richardson,

Just wanted to say hello. I have always taken interest in your web site and still visit it from time to time to see what links and new things you have on there. I really enjoyed your course ... the purpose of this e-mail was to say hello. Did you end up getting another bike? 
 

I am currently working as 2nd level support and supervisor for a helpdesk at IBM Canada Ltd. Great opportunity which allows me to pursue a career in management.

All the best          -Ari F. (was BCS 555 in 2002)

Dear Prof. Richardson,
How are you doing? Robert Lee, your former student at Seneca College taking MRK410  Right now (2005), I'm working in Guatemala at a Manufacturing company  that exports clothes to the U.S. Thank you for teaching me E-commerce. It is useful in what I'm  doing right now. I can show them how to become number one in the search engines. 
Robert emailed in 2006 - he is now in Vietnam, continuing to be involved in cool business opportunities

Thank you once again Mr. Richardson, Yours Truly, Robert L. in MRK 410 January-April 2004

I just wanted to email firstly, because you were one of the few profs to tell it like it is and who actually knew his stuff.   I remembered you always asked "did you learn something valuable?" after each class and that was a great thing, b/c I took a lot from just one course with you.  After I graduated I decided to take a trip around Asia. Both my sisters are working in different parts of China (Shanghai and Guangzhou), so I decided to go there and see them.  I've already been to Thailand 2x in the past 2months, Hong Kong, and other parts of China. Right now I'm trying to find work here in Shanghai.  Anyway, being away from school I realized I'm begining to forget a lot of the stuff I learned so once in a while I find your  website "witiger" really, truly, helpful.  Ok, so enough of inflating your head..hehehe.

Hope everything with you is great sir!!!!  I look forward to hearing from you!
regards,     Amy E.".

Hi Professor Richardson,

Now that I've been working for a few years now, and have had the benefit of visiting Europe and Asia in my travels, I just want to send you a note to let you know how insightful your class was in helping me to see opportunities in our new, global economy. 

Visiting Shanghai as a tourist, compared to taking in the city with an eye for business and the dynamics that go on in the background between multi-nationals and governments, and to see how that impacts the economic lives of people on both sides of the Pacific is starkly different.  Your International business class helped me to strip away the neon lights of Nanjing Road, and see it for what it really is, the combination of commerce and culture that is shifting the playing field and rules of business by which we are governed.  This new economic reality hit me with great impact, but having learned the pieces and hearing your anecdotes in class, helped me to better decode and refocus the picture. 

More and more it is becoming evident to me that, not just companies, but business people like you and me have to realize that to you have to go global, or risk not going at all. 

So, just wanted to send you a note to let you know how impactful and educational your class was for me.  It was one course, but it was one that equips its students with the building blocks for career building in the new, international economy.  For your knowledge and sharing, as well for your mentorship and friendship, I thank you.
Paul S.

Paul was a student in MGTC44, and then the T.A. for two semesters afterwards. He presently (Jan 2006) serves as Segment Manager, Most Valuable Customer Segment, Consumer and Small Business Cards Management, CIBC, Card Products

I'm not sure if you will remember me.  I took your International Business 
class at U of T from Jan -Apr 2003.  I remember you saying in class one day that you like it when students keep in touch with you and I remembered your class a couple of weeks ago as I was telling a colleague that it was probably one of the best classes I took at UTSC.  Anyways, I just wanted to say hello and let you know that you really do teach a wonderful class and I hope everything is well with you. 

I just finished my first year of law school at U of T.  I am directing my studies towards an international perspective but haven't quite narrowed it down yet.  Your class definitely opened my eyes and sparked my interest in international studies.  Thanks for a wonderful semester!
Warm Regards,  "
 

Darshana P. J.D. Candidate (2007)  University of Toronto, Faculty of Law

.

Prof Richardson,
How are you?!
Well, I'm in Paris now. I landed on Sept. 11 and will be here for 2
semesters- eventually gaining all the required credits I need to
graduate from the University of Toronto. Its beautiful here- its been
29 degrees and sunny for most of the last week. People here are
friendly (if you speak french) and the food is amazing. These people
really know how to live. Life here is enjoyable thus far. I have an
intensive french class every evening until September 29th and I start
class on October 2nd. My school - La Sorbonne (University of Paris 1)
is probably the most beautiful school I've ever seen in my life.It's in
the heart of the Latin quarter.  The architecture is amazing here.
there a so many statues in the school of famous graduates - including
Victor Hugo, Louis Pasteur, and Joseph Louis-Lagrange( Lagrangian
multiplier from economics!) to name a few. Lecture rooms here are made with wood from what seems to be centuries ago. there are even huge paintings on the walls of these class rooms. As if that wasn't
distracting enough- the women here are gorgeous- each and every one of them! Currently I live in an international village full of students from all over the world. I live in the Canadian house which has about 150 rooms. There are many Canadians here.  Buddy next door is a corporate lawyer who works on Bay Street. 

Best Regards, Vikram Deshmukh (Paris)

I got it! Mr. Farrar, the Chair of the Selection Committee just called me and congratulated me for being the first Dellandrea Award Recipient! I am beyond excited. This would not have been possible without your kind support. Again, thank-you so much. I do not have words to express my gratitude."

The University of Toronto Alumni Association (UTAA) launched the
Jon S. Dellandrea Award for International Students in 2005. 
see  www.alumni.utoronto.ca/events/awards/Dellandrea_2006.pdf
 

Eliza J. MGT C44 student was the first winner of this prestigious $25,000 prize. Eliza was an enthusiastic student in C44 (Sept-Dec 2005), and originally comes from the Latin American country of Panama. During her time at USTC she "represented" well Latin American interests and her enthusiasm and hard work as a student was appreciated.

"Just wanted to say hi after some time. I took your MRK410 class (e-commerce) with Michael Williams. I wanted to drop a line and say that your class was one of the best classes I had in all my time in Seneca.

I'm working for this new growing Canadian company called Storage Spot Canada. I'm part of their Marketing department. I could mention their website optimization and co-linking with other businesses, Google Ads Projects, Create Timelines and Public Relations, basically a lil bit of everything...what I do is market research and based on the research, I propose Projects and Recommendation Plans for the company, which are then presented to the Board of Directors and the Owners of the company.
I was working on our website optimization, hopefully the updates will be done soon, since I propose the ideas and then they are sent to our creative team.
Hope you are doing great, Take care professor. 

Carlos U.
Storage Spot Canada  www.storagespot.ca

"Amanah Tech Inc. provides Web Hosting solutions to clients in North America as well as the Arabian Gulf, specializing in shared/dedicated hosting, collocation and video streaming."

Sara emailed to say she is having fun applying what she learned in class. 
Email Update Dec 2005

Just a short time after he finished the course Brad emailed Prof. Richardson to say "I'm currently on my co-op work term right now. I am working for a small plastics import/export company... One of the tasks I just completed for the company was a promotional web 
page featuring their newest product."

- great job Brad
- looks very nice and serves as a good example of what you can learn, and end up doing

Seriously, I think no matter where you work, whether its for a big corporation or your own business, you can not avoid the impacts of globalization and international business.  Understanding the effects of this growing global world, will help in making key strategic decisions for the future of your business. I would recommend this course any day, and learning from Prof. Richardson is an added benefit, he makes it enjoyable."

Sharon C.
BCS Communications & Industrial
Sector Financial Analyst
IBM Global Services

My name is Jamie G. and I was in your MGTC44 class from January 2004-April 2004.  I just wanted to write you a little 'thank-you' note.  I am currently a fourth year business student and I am ashamed to admit, before attending your class, I rarely picked up a newspaper to read the business section.  A lot of my professors used to insist that we read the newspaper daily, however, we were never tested on our knowledge.  Therefore, I didn't see the use in picking up a newspaper. 

After completing your course, I became accustomed to reading the Business section in the Toronto Star.  This year, in my International Economics class (ECMC62), I found myself relating the concepts that I learned to events that I read about in the newspaper.  Even before a job interview that I had today, I read the newspaper before going in.(By the way, in the interview, I brought up your class when I told them that I learned that foreign investment might be a good thing for the company!!!)

So I just want to say thanks for stressing the importance of reading up about current events.  I think UTSC is a great school, but since first year, my head has been buried in textbooks and I had no clue about what was going on around me. After your class, I find I can now apply concepts learned in class to things that are going on around me.  I know most students usually write to ask questions or complain about a mark, but I think its important to let some (not all) professors know that they have had an impact on one's education.

Thanks again, Jamie G.
contacted Jamie in October 2005, he added

I'm working full-time at Petro-Canada now (you may not remember, but I wrote my final exam essay on PC!). Anyways, good luck with the new classes!  And once again, thank you for all the "REAL" world knowledge!  It comes in handy!!

I was a former student of yours (UofT BBA Class of 2003), and I just wanted to let you know how much I learned from your course, and how much it has helped me in my career thus far.  In your MGTD06 course, we talked a lot about working for Japanese companies, and little did I know all your insight would truly pay off.  I'm now working as a Product Manager for Consumer Products at Sharp Eelctronics Of Canada Ltd.  I must admit that your course not only helped me secure this job, but actually helped me excel at it. 

When devising real life marketing strategies for our Sharp products here in Canada, I constantly refer to your site as a reference and guideline on how to develop my marketing strategies.  Thank you once again for all that you have taught me, and keep up the good work.

Regards, Kevin

Kevin A.
Sharp Electronics of Canada Ltd.
Product Manager & Analyst, Consumer Products Division

Sincerely,
  Shuai Jason S.

The product is pretty cool - Jordan has developed this way of having emails on a page protected from the "harvesting" software that can lead to spam. When you subscribe to this service you get a little application to use that protects you emails. I hope he makes a million.