Identifier,500001
Interviewee,Dr. Andrew Gross
Date,6/24/14
Interviewer,"John Horan, II"
Abstract,"Dr. Andrew Gross, a longtime member of the faculty at Cleveland State University(CSU), describes his various experiences and achievements throught his years as an academic. He touches on growing up a native of Hungary and surviving the Second World War along with five years of Soviet occupation. He then describes his education. He attended McGill University and Case Institute of Technology as an undergraduate, went on to Western Reserve to get his MBA, and finally received his PhD from Ohio State University. After graduating from Ohio State University he went on to take an appointment at Lehigh University before joining the faculty at CSU where he has been since 1968. He describes those early years and how he believed that CSU had a ""pioneering spirit"" that they have maintained. He has also taken several leaves of absence and sabbaticals over the years and he describes these adventures in great detail. He concludes by discussing the most important part of the university, its alumni. He thinks maintaining an extensive alumni list is extremely beneficial to the overall health and wellbeing of the university, keeping it strong for years to come."
Tags,"Budapest, Hungary, World War 2, McGill University, Ohio Edison, Standard Oil of Ohio, immigration, Canada, Montreal, University of Toronto, Case Institute of Technology, Predicast, Cleveland State University (CSU), Fullbright, fellowships, scholarships, communism, McMasters University, Australia, Monterray Institute, Olympics, Simon Fraser University, Ohio State, Western Reserve University, Monte Ahuja, James Nance, Freedonia group, faculty senate, alumni"
Special Notes,Minute 29 phone rings briefly
0,"Sound Checks, Introductions, he has been a professor at CSU since 1968; Born in Budapest, Hungary and survived World War II there"
1,"He spent time in the Budapest Ghetto, but was bombed out of 6 different apartments; The Russians liberated them from the Nazis and turned the country communist and his step-father decided it was time to leave the country - got a legal permit. They went to Canada; He did his first three years of engineering at McGill and then transferred to Case Institute of Technology"
2,"He worked for Ohio Edison (First Energy), Standard Oil of Ohio, Ohio Department of Highways; Went back to get his MBA at Western Reserve; Got a PhD in Economics - Marketing from Ohio State in 1968 then got a job at Lehigh University 1966-1968; Then got an offer to go to CSU in 1968"
3,Explains how he came back to CSU and the reasons why; The university was only 4 years old; got tenure in the 1970s been at CSU ever since except for numerous leaves of absence and sabbaticals where he has travelled the world
4,He grew up in a factory setting and his mother made detergent; He remembers the bunkers during the war; He grew up in a communist era
5,"Immigration was very difficult; The Hungarians had to toe the soviet line, but they eventually got the ability to move to Canada where he was expected to keep up his Hungarian, French, English, and Latin; Calls those years memorable years"
6,"He had an uncle in the United States, but that wasn't enough to come to the United States, but it was enough to come to Canada; Soon after arriving to Canada his stepfather died and his mother moved to Cleveland"
7,He transferred to follow his mother to Cleveland from McGill to CIT; The only reason they left Montreal was because of his mom's marriage; He started a firm in Cleveland with another man
8,"He describes beginning this company called Predicast; He describes his position in this company; the company was a market research and analyst firm; They did publications and research. The company was called Predicast from the two words ""prediction"" and ""forecast"""
9,Describes how they got that name - the painter wanted to charge by the letter; People thought that they were a foundry - they weren't they collected all of the published forecasts in the world and arranged them in a heirarchy
10,Continues to describe what Predicast did; Talks about how they were shipping tapes back and forth between here and California - online before there was an online
11,"Meanwhile, he was fulltime with CSU and taking leaves of absence at times; He went back to Hungary - 1st western marketing professor in Communist Hungary in 1971-1972 - describes his time there and his tight office; He did collaborations with the research institution which was no problem because it was government owned"
12,Describes his living arrangement with his wife and children - calls it wonderful; He also describes why he wanted to go back - passport said he couldn't go but also because of his ties and connections
13,This fellowship was a predecessor to Fullbright - IREX and he describes that; he went back on his first fullbright in 1989 and second in 1993; In the meantime he went back to McGill University in 1975
14,He went back as a visiting professor to McGill University - a lot of returning and revisiting; He firmly believes in spending a good deal of time in other parts of the world; 1988 He was visiting professor in New South Wales in Australia
15,"In 1982, he was a visiting professor at McMasters University describes how he got there; 1996-1997 he went to Simon Fraser University in Vancouver; He then came back for a year to CSU and then an unpaid opportunity arose at Monterray Institute of International Studies in California; Been around the world and around Hungary"
16,He also went to lecture in France as well; CSU has been very generous to him allowing him to take leaves; He has always been proud of CSU
17,Describes where he had the best experiences - 1975-1977 at McGill because of the Olympics in Montreal in 1976; But his Hungarian opportunities were also great
18,Describes the biggest differences between American students (specifically CSU) and students abroad - abroad they have a greater world view; But he thinks that is changing slightly with successful recruitment efforts in China and India; Says the quality is about the same
19,He loves the idea that CSU is proud of those who are first generation students and says that other universities he has visited has also shared that feeling
20,He describes a syllabus that he has created for his students and how he translates that in different cultural settings; He was allowed most times to lecture in English but in Hungary on his first Fullbright he was required to lecture part in English and part in Hungarian
21,"He lists what he thinks people ought to know - includes basic facts and figures, analysis, and synthesis"
22,In Hungary he encouraged students to ask more questions and loosen up; but he thinks that Hungary has changed for the better since the Soviets were removed; 
23,"Describes what he thinks are the most productive pieces of university work are, networking and socializing are included; Describes what used to be called Karl Marx University"
24,Mentions the towns and cities that he has lectured in while in Hungary; He emphasizes networking and establishing rapport with other intellectuals; He mentions books that he has co-authored - couldn't have happened without networking
25,"Relates a story about a seminar he spoke at during a meeting with ALCOA - he was not highly rated because he was too academic, one of the guys who criticized him needed a job after a while and he helped him - learn from failures and never burn bridges"
26,He does not think of himself as a pure ivory tower guy; He recalls the exam he took to get his license as an engineer - failed the first time but passed the next time
27,He worked for Standard Oil for two - three years and he helped move their pipeline divisionfrom St. Louis to Cleveland; then he worked for the state and there he decided to go back and get his MBA and that is where he met the future co-founder of Predicast
28,"He was going to go back to industry in 1962, but he got wind of the battelle memorial institute's fellowship at Ohio State to get his PhD; Had an offer from Cornell, but the position at OSU was a better financial choice"
29,He got his degrees from CIT and WRU before they were federated; He tells a story about how he went to Canada under a fellowship to begin his PhD (Phone Rings)
30,"The fellowship was for the University of Saskatchewan because they had a good market research division for the field he was looking to study; but because of governmental changes his fellowship dissappeared, but he fought and still went up and spent the year there and got funded"
31,He got the idea for his dissertation while he was in Canada; Describes how he has been very pleased with Canada
32,He came back to OSU finished and then got a job at Lehigh University; Talks about how he had to use 30 - hole punch card to do regression analysis
33,"He loved the ""pioneering spirit"" that CSU had in its early years - describes the trailers and barracks that existed as their offices and classrooms"
34,"He worked in both management and marketing; Says eventually they built a building called the ""Cage""which housed the school of business but before that was built the school of business was held in Rhodes Tower; now they are in Ahuja Hall"
35,"Revisits the ""pioneering spirit"" and then talks about presidents that he likes to recognize which include Michael Schwartz and Harold Anderson; He is very proud of CSU - respected"
36,"Talks about the accolades and programs of the business school - ""progressing, pioneering and still having fun""; talks about online courses but he prefers face-to-face"
37,"Describes the ""Cage"" architecturally and points out its flaws, and what it was originally supposed to house; ""mundane architecture"" but thinks that CSU architecturally has come a long way"
38,"He talks about Monte Ahuja and how he never had him, but he knows him casually; The term paper that Ahuja wrote at CSU turned into the backbone for his successful business"
39,Renamed the building from Nance College to Ahuja School of Business; lists other generous donors that were graduates of CSU
40,Talks about James Nance and who he was - CEO of a bank then chairman of the board of trustees and that is how he got the school named after him; Mentions that Fenn College was renamed but he doesn't like that because of the name recognition that Fenn had
41,Gives other reasons why he liked the Fenn name; cited an example to help his case that they should have hyphenated the name not dropped it
42,He thinks of himself as a big mouth and sent letters all over the place from Pres of CSU to CEO of Parker Hannefin (Donald E. Washkewicz who gave the money to rename the school) but to no avail
43,Repeats how he encountered Ahuja and other students that he taught that achieved great success
44,Talks about a parma-born graduate that was a big entrepreneaur and created heavy soles for shoes
45,Mentions another student who is of Middle Eastern origin; Mentions the Freedonia Group and how it was a successor to Predicast and how he helped to place students at that institution
46,Talks about his most successful student that he placed at the Freedonia Group - ended up co-authoring with this particular student - became a colleague; Maintaining a large network of alumni is paramount to his being
47,He works for Freedonia Group pro bono because he is about to use their anaylsis to further his own study; Mentions another co-author that he has worked with
48,Continues talking about this particular colleague - they went to Said Business School in Oxford University on request to lecture at a seminar
49,"Thinks the Oxford Invitiation was a highlight; He has been on the faculty senate for 25-28 years out of his 46 years at CSU - says that someone called him the ""consicous of the senate"""
50,"Describes the impediments to restructuring the university: Faculty, Adminsitration, Students, but those are also the factors that provide inspiration to keep moving; He always tries to keep things moving in the meetings - one accomplishment was to get alumni affairs and head of development to come infront of the senate and give a report"
51,Believes that keeping an up to date alumni directory is essential to the health of the university; this was personal for him because his daughter is an alumnae and was confused for someone else; likes to keep the directory up to date to garner more donations
52,Current topic of interest: Wolstein Center needs a new roof and how to do that - where to get the money
53,He hopes that he has encouraged fellow members to speak up but also to observe the time-limit; sometimes professors pontificate
54,"Talks about the student evaluation and how they are important, but alumni evaluations are more important; relates this to a view that the alumni are the most important stakeholders in the university"
55,Continues to point out the importance of alumni (got it from the University of Toronto)
56,"Thinks that CSU has reached out to the greater Cleveland and Northeast Ohio Communities, he is pleased to see it and agressively endorses that"
57,He is happy there and next summer he turns 80 and he may stay on; feels that CSU has been good to him and he has been good to it (established a scholarship). Thanks and END OF INTERVIEW
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