Norman Radow

March 8, 2002
All Boards Day
Kennesaw State University

Speaker: Norman Radow
Attorney and Real Estate Developer

Radow biography

We are all here today because we share two things: An unbridled commitment to higher education; and the drive to act on our commitment in tangible ways, giving up our time with family, or our disciplines or practices in order to further a greater goal that we each embrace.

I hold a juris doctor degree from New York Law School, class of '81. At law school, and at the SUNY College in Plattsburgh, New York, the campus life's blood was the student body. But the heart that moved and excited that blood were the foundations, boards, and ordinary professors-not that any professor could be ordinary-that provided the impetus for change, encouraged students to reach for expanded goals, and offered the mechanism to motivate so many to improve their lives.

As an undergraduate, my career path and my Weltanschauung--or world view--were nurtured by individual professors who worked tirelessly to improve what I was and helped me become what I am. These professors were encouraged by a college leadership that promoted professional volunteerism, and by a Foundation that not only funded those programs that students and faculty needed most, but encouraged us by having its trustees give their time and expertise to improve campus life.

In my law school, the dean was a noted legal scholar, and a friend of the president of the United States. He always seemed interested in the students, and our school was usually abuzz with stories about the government commissions he served on or the academic articles he was writing, which received nation-wide attention because he was read by the president's administration. While I never spoke to him personally, the Dean's energy, commitment, and leadership were felt by all students.

At Kennesaw we are a larger and more diverse community. It is not one man or one woman who pumps the blood that provides our institutional organs with sustenance; it is each of you. And while many of your accomplishments will be harder to recognize, or count on your fingers, there are palpable examples of real change and forward thinking that have emanated from this room, that have changed this campus, the lives of our students and the greater community, all for the better.

I'll mention two powerful examples of how you have made a great impact at Kennesaw in just the past year. First, the Community Advisory Board of the College of Health and Human Services has done a truly extraordinary thing. They have honored the 30-year working partnership our college has with WellStar Health System and established the WellStar Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program. Every day, we read in Georgia of shortages of nurses, people who give critical and expert care to our mothers, our fathers, and our children. And because of the Community Advisory Board, we are teaching, training and inspiring a new generation of nurses to meet the needs of a growing state thirsting for good medical care.

Our students have benefited by this program, as has our entire community. To underscore how your hard work is perceived, last night, on a plane coming home from New York City, I sat next to a graduating nursing student from our university. Her name is Lauren. She was well aware of the new Nurse Practioner Program, and excitedly explained how it would help so many future students. Lauren did not know that the Community Advisory Board even existed, but she recognized the importance of the final product your hard work has inspired. It is the appreciation of the Laurens of our campus, the hospitals and ordinary folk whose lives are made better, that is the ultimate reward for what we do.

Another significant program was also formulated by people in this very room. The Coles College Board of Directors has done a superb job positioning our university in the state as a cutting edge institution providing important tools to our students and the business community.

The Coles board has done so much for Kennesaw State. This year alone it has implemented the Center for Professional Selling, a brainchild of a board bent on eradicating the notion of the sales profession as a pariah in business. This new center will dispel the mocking view of the salesperson as the proverbial Professor Harold Hill, an unfortunate designation that goes hand in hand with poor training or a lack of understanding of the product or buyer.

I know this from experience. I own hotels and develop condominiums. I can deliver the same product with similar marketing for the exact same price, but a change in a sales team or the training of an existing one, can provide demonstrable results. But the problem is it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to find a trained salesperson. Hence, I am personally excited about this new discipline, and the business community has taken note of it.

Kennesaw has made an indelible mark on our community by being innovative and providing sophisticated and daring programming, creating a growing niche in the educational market. You can all be proud of what our boards have done and continue to do to ensure Kennesaw becomes a pre-eminent institution of higher learning.

So the boards we work on give us an opportunity to meet with our peers, improve our disciplines, and map out the future of the institution we admire.

As a long-time Cobb County resident, I watched the university grow, but from the outside. While not involved, I wondered out loud why Kennesaw did not have student housing. I wrote a letter to the County Commission chairman in support of a zoning request to construct housing near the campus, and I copied Michael Coles. While the proposal died, Michael called me. I knew him only in passing but Michael invited me to lunch where we discussed the college, and his ideas for higher education in the state. Michael's commitment was real. You could touch it and feel its truth. And his vision of a national university offering a superior rigorous academic curriculum, coupled with an acculturated campus life, were just the words I needed to hear.

I broke the cardinal rule. By writing to Michael Coles and then agreeing to have lunch with him, I was already a volunteer even before I realized it.

When I joined the Board of Trustees of our Foundation, and later its Executive Committee I was pleasantly surprised. The board was not comprised of older men who fit in a meeting or two between rounds of golf. Instead, I met successful professionals and entrepreneurs who were on the board because they cared. Period. I know it sounds self-servingly altruistic, but it's true. I was immediately sucked into a whirlwind of activity, and I was amazed that so many business people took so much critical time out of their companies or professions to offer the leadership to create a new paradigm for Kennesaw State University. I was inspired by them.

After trying to assist the university in building needed parking decks for over two years, Michael Coles came to a Foundation meeting and said we have got to take this over and make it happen. The campus is stagnating without parking, he implored. Within days we met with the chancellor's office, learned about fast tracking, and decided to throw the concept of student housing into the mix because we all knew it was needed. If we were going to do it, Michael said, let's do it big!

So, Michael, Jake Sanchez, Tommy Holder and myself along with the entire Executive Committee and staff went to work. We identified the legal structure, worked out financial arrangements with the college, and conducted a fast track request for proposal. We received 15 proposals very quickly. We narrowed them to three a week later and had all three developers make presentations to our committee. Cecil Phillip's proposal was enthusiastically received, and he suggested we purchase Campus Quarters as part of the bond issue. We further sought the acquisition of the nine homes that we are all familiar with.

So in a little over three months we defined a project: Two parking decks, nearly 1,000 student beds, and more land for growth. We received fast track authority from the Board of Regents, worked out the legal and financial arrangements with the university, and conceived and designed a master plan for our new on-campus student community. Five months later we closed on the bonds, the land and the existing residences, awarded all the development and construction contracts, and commenced construction, immediately.

As a result of our initial work, and the tedious job of supervising a $62 million dollar development, we will have our projects completed by the end of summer-ahead of schedule, and well below budget. We are now focusing our attention on improving the aesthetics of these developments and creating marketing tools to fill them.

We believe that the opening of on-campus student housing-state of the art living quarters with private rooms and baths, high speed internet access, and its own town center and plaza-will redefine our institution beyond our immediate understanding.

Kennesaw has grown and thrived because of the incredible effort each of you has made to provide cutting-edge academic programs. But now, with the infrastructure to lure students regionally and nationally we will attract better students from more diverse geographic and cultural backgrounds that can make our university one of the finest state schools, provide our community with the best talent, and offer us the opportunity to take the ultimate pride in a very special place.

What's more, our model is being emulated around the state, which is another first for Kennesaw. And finally, all this is being done while creating a profit center for the Foundation and the University in order to offer more scholarships and funding for academic programs.

These extraordinary changes occurred because one man said, "We must do something," and others committed to our community rose to the challenge. As with each of your boards, there is so much the Foundation does behind the scenes that is not well known. But, I assure you the Foundation is here to assist you in making this place we all support even more special.

There is a prayer in the Jewish liturgy that underscores the importance of your work to the college community. The translation goes something like this:

"And for all who devotedly involve themselves with the needs of the community, may God reward them. He should remove sickness from them, heal them, and remove their sins. God will bless them and may they prosper in all their worthy endeavors."

The point of the liturgy is that what you do every day matters. It is appreciated. From this Cobb County resident and member of the Board of Trustees, I say AMEN to this prayer, and offer to you the appreciation of the Foundation and the community.

In sum, Kennesaw will continue to thrive and grow because of each of you and your dedication and commitment to do even more. The Foundation will do all it can to encourage and promote your success.

Thank you for all you do for this wonderful institution.

Top