Getting the College Ready for Business

Barry Zoumas, the first Alan R. Warehime Professor of Agribusiness, uses his business savvy and experience to help students in the College integrate business concepts and ideas into their courses and projects.

Don't expect to be impressed by Barry Zoumas' office. Don't look for sumptuous leathers or dark, burnished furniture. There are no glittering chrome awards or brass plaques. There are no photos of the executive with this celebrity or that political heavyweight. And the view from his ground-floor office, while sunny, doesn't mesmerize or dazzle.

This shedding of corporate trappings may be a case of protective coloring. As the College's first Alan R. Warehime Professor of Agribusiness, Zoumas is a businessman in an academic's clothing, charged with "enhancing the College's commitment to the development of agribusiness leaders." The Warehime Professorship, which was endowed in 1989 by Alan Warehime, the late president of Hanover Foods, aims to inject real-world business sense into the College. So Zoumas doesn't let the trappings of his past business lives get in the way.

Those past lives include a career as vice president of science and technology at Hershey Foods Corporation, a stint as principal adviser to U.S. Aid for Agricultural Development in the Caribbean, and a post with the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). He's a Penn State Alumni Fellow and has served on the board of directors for several concerns, including the Penn State Research Foundation. After six months, Zoumas says his latest challenge "has been going well."

"I can't say it's been easy, but it's certainly been fun. It's a little challenging -- I don't feel as adept as I could, or that I have some of the detailed knowledge that I'd like. But my strength is bringing my business experience to the classroom or to what I focus on, and the faculty have been helpful. They appreciate that they have someone who's been in business and who brings that experience to the College."

What to do with the expertise he brings is an open question for Zoumas: as the first person in a brand-new position, he's taking the first steps into a largely untrammeled field. "I'm doing a lot of different things, and that's really what Mr. Warehime wanted," Zoumas says. "He wanted someone to integrate business concepts and ideas in a diversity of places in the College. Since I'm the first one in the position, I hope to set a model that people can build upon in the future."

Zoumas started by getting into as many classrooms as possible to lecture on specific topics or to talk about the business environment. "The students really surprise me," says Zoumas, who earned his master's degree and doctorate in nutrition from Penn State. "I haven't been involved in academics since I was a student here, and the ones that I see are much better prepared than I was as a student. They're much more sophisticated, and their social skills are much better than when I went to school in the '60s."

Zoumas also focuses on international agriculture, using his contacts to form a relationship between Penn State and the FAO, which is interested in having several major American universities designated as centers of excellence.

During spring semester, Zoumas co-taught a joint food science/ag economics course on product development issues, bringing industry specialists to the University. He also visits food processing companies around the state to find out what qualities they look for in student interns or employees. The industry verdict thus far: Penn State produces agribusiness students who are well-prepared for the workforce. "One of the few things that people would like to see our students become more proficient in is communication skills," Zoumas says. "In the business world, it's very important to be able to communicate your ideas both verbally and in writing. I think our students can strengthen these skills during their college careers if they understand how important they are in the business world."

Zoumas says recruiters also are looking for students with leadership skills. "They measure that by how active students are in clubs and extracurricular activities. Students should learn as many writing skills as they can, get involved in clubs, and try to become an officer if they can. This is what a lot of companies are looking for in our graduates."

Zoumas also participates as a mentor in the Penn State Gateways Program, which coaches University faculty through the process of turning their good ideas into successful start-up businesses. While he enjoys getting to use his entrepreneurial acumen, the fun part of his job, he says, is the students. "I enjoy the interaction with the students much more than I expected. And the students have been willing to really use me, which surprises me. They have no qualms about showing me their résumé and asking for help in structuring it, and that's kind of fun. I'll probably get more and more involved with students -- doing more teaching, spending more time in the classroom."

-- Gary Abdullah