Long Distance Education

By Dollie Elliott

For 25 years, the Spears School of Business Study Abroad program has been supporting students in traveling the world to gain international experience and understand different cultures while earning class credit.

Since its inaugural Summer in London program in 1991, the Spears School has sent nearly 2,400 students on 100 faculty-led trips to 25 countries on seven continents. More than 1,400 students have participated just in the past five years.

The program is now under the direction of the Center for Advanced Global Leadership and Engagement (CAGLE). Roger and Cindy Cagle, who were instrumental in the creation of the center with a generous gift, were present when the CAGLE was launched in 2014.

During the CAGLE Scholarship Reception in 2015, the Spears School honored Stephen J. Miller, professor emeritus in the Department of Marketing. He and James M. Jackman, professor emeritus in the Department of Economics and Legal Studies, led business students on that first study abroad trip in 1991.

“The Spears School’s study abroad programs have grown so quickly due in large part to the university’s initiative with support from the provost’s office. Along with support from the Cagles and scholarship funding both on a university and a college level, the number of our students receiving scholarships has increased by more than 25 percent, doubling since 2013,” says Jose Sagarnaga, director of the CAGLE in the Spears School. “Study abroad has become a priority to Oklahoma State University as well as to many business schools around the world.”

In the past few decades, globalization has opened up many opportunities for students in pursuit of better career prospects. Employers seeking globally minded graduates find international experience impressive.

That is exactly what Pat Dorr, professor emeritus in the OSU School of Accounting, discovered when he began leading students to London in 1992. The trip to England was one of the first and most popular study abroad trips the business school organized.

“We would return to Stillwater, and students would think more broadly and learn more effectively,” says Dorr. “That was bound to be beneficial for everyone — to the students and their future employers. Studying abroad gives the student international experience that makes them more appealing to employers.”

Dorr led OSU business students on the three-week-long Summer in London program to Regent’s University for more than 20 years.

“We would be in London and take a walk through the park, and we’d hear 10 different languages spoken in just one short walk,” says Dorr. “When you live at a college (Regent’s University) for a few weeks where people are from countries around the world and you’re exposed to so many different cultures, it’s going to broaden your thinking.”

Dorr fondly remembers the class visiting Drapers’ Hall, a large trading guild in the center of London built in 1831. “Drapers’ Hall staff would bring us an accounting ledger that dated back to 1407,” says Dorr. “They just let us flip through it, every student holding something that was 600 years old. What a memorable experience.

“Experiences like that heightened my relationships with my students; it was one more thing we could share,” says Dorr. “I was immersed in this learning environment, right along with the students. It made teaching more fun and more effective, and the students enjoyed it. It also broadened my cultural experience. It had the same impact on me as it did our students.

“In 1998, I remember being down in the Regent’s College pub with the entire class. Everyone was watching the semifinals of the World Cup, and England was competing. Everyone in the pub was yelling at the top of their lungs, ‘Come on, England!’” says Dorr. “England would score, and you would think we were English, we were cheering so loudly. The students just got so immersed in the culture.”

The OSU group also visited Oxford University and the University of Cambridge, as well as Stonehenge. “We did so many fun things, even living at Regent’s University for a few weeks was exciting and interesting,” he says.

The popular professor has kept in touch with many of his former students throughout the years. “Almost every student that I’ve spoken to that went on our London trips has been back to Europe several times,” says Dorr. “That’s the kind of impact studying abroad can have on a person.

“I’ve had students who went to London with the program, fell in love with London and have gone on to work for public accounting firms like Deloitte in London after graduating from OSU,” he says. “We launched that interest for a multicultural environment, and that’s part of what I’m proud of. These students become world travelers, and we started it.”

Today, Dorr and his wife, Kathy, still plan their vacations to visit Regent’s College during the same time the OSU group is there.

Dorr earned both his bachelor’s (1969) and master’s (1970) degrees in accounting from Oklahoma State. After graduating, he was hired as an internal auditor at OSU before entering the U.S. Army. After the Army, he returned to Oklahoma to work for KPMG in Tulsa. Dorr looked forward to a career in accounting education when he decided to get a doctorate in accounting at the University of North Texas. He was soon recruited to join the OSU faculty by his mentor and legendary School of Accounting professor, Wilton T. Anderson, in 1977.

Kathy was Anderson’s administrative assistant when the pair got married during their senior years at OSU.

The Dorrs are passionate about community service in Stillwater, helping launch several nonprofit and community events including the Mission of Hope, a shelter for the homeless, and the Love Feast, which provides free meals to the community three evenings per week. Dorr also started tutoring programs for low-income children, and founded and directed the annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner, which recently completed its 31st year. Kathy helped create the Christmas Store, which allows low-income families to acquire presents for their loved ones. Kathy also currently serves as the business manager for Elite Repeat, a resale store that has given more than $2 million to local agencies over the last 12 years.

“Because of my love for teaching and my students, I got a fire in my belly for the study abroad program. And because of my involvement in the community, I talked about the program everywhere I went,” says Pat Dorr. “Many people from the community have helped provide study scholarships.”

Dorr was also a longtime faculty adviser for the OSU chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, an international honorary organization for accounting students. The organization helps connect students with future employers and helps students learn the value of service to their communities.

“I wanted my students to be exposed to the diversity of people around the world, and the study abroad programs helped us accomplish that objective. But I also wanted them to learn community service and how to reach out to others who may come from different backgrounds,” says Dorr.