Street smart: University Professor teams with marketing entrepreneur to advise students on business

Clearwater, FL, Feb. 9, 2006 – With college literacy statistics on the decline, one can get quite depressed. But apathy is not the road Dr. Dianne Welsh chooses to take. At The University of Tampa, she combines coordination of experiential learning with textbook theories to turn out some of the most well rounded entrepreneurs to date.

Starting Friday, February 17, she is hosting an Inc 500 series at which she will interview Florida’s 2005 Inc 500 winners-the entrepreneurs of the fastest-growing privately held companies in the nation. The series will be held at the Reeves Theater, second floor of the Vaughn Center at The University of Tampa, from 8-9:30 a.m. and is open to the public for a $10 fee that includes a continental breakfast.

Joy Gendusa, CEO of PostcardMania, will start off the morning with an in-depth yet informal Q A period of just how she grew her business from literally nothing to a multimillion-dollar corporation in seven years. What’s notable about her business style is her ability to train young adults with very little or no experience into top-notch executives who manage her 100+ employees.
The Washington Post reports that reading proficiency of college graduates has declined in the past decade, while the Associated Press noted a marked 50 percent of students at four-year schools lacked the skills to perform complex literacy tasks. Whether America is ninth among the industrialized nations in its education standards today is true or not, one cannot just sit back and do nothing about it.
When things change for the worse, Joy Gendusa says it is time to go back to what was previously working.

Most of what I do is common sense, Gendusa says, but common sense sometimes needs to be taught.Dr. Welsh seems to have a program that focuses on practical application combined with textbook knowledge. I think that’s brilliant!

Dr. Welsh is a recognized scholar in international franchising and international entrepreneurship.

Our program is experiential, so that (students are) learning from real business people in the community, said Welsh. Gendusa will meet privately with the UT Entrepreneurs Student Organization following the public event.

Real business people, real business solutions – that’s what the Florida Entrepreneur Program is all about. The other two Florida-based companies that will be highlighted in the Inc 500 series are Movex and Apartment Express Corporate Housing on March 24 and April 21, respectively.

About Joy Gendusa: Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania (www.postcardmania.com) in 1998, her only assets a computer and a phone. By 2005 the company did over $12 million in sales, employed over 100 people and made Inc. Magazine’s prestigious Inc 500 List as the one of the 500 fastest growing companies in the nation. PostcardMania is a full service postcard direct mail marketing company which includes graphic design, printing, mailing list acquisition and mailing services with free marketing advice. They help small businesses all over the country to expand through the use of direct mail marketing techniques.

About Dr. Dianne Welsh: Not only is Dr. Welsh the James W. Walter Distinguished Chair of Entrepreneurship and a professor of management at The University of Tampa, she is the co-editor of comprehensive volumes on global franchising, including two volumes on international franchising in emerging markets and two on industrialized markets. From 2000-05, Dr. Welsh founded and directed the programs in entrepreneurship at John Carroll University in Cleveland while fostering partnerships with local business and outreach efforts. She also is the owner of Family Business First International, a strategic planning firm specializing in entrepreneurial leadership and employee reward systems. She can be reached at dwelsh@ut.edu