Leaving His Mark
After 38 years at Rider University, Dr. Mark Sandberg is ready to make his next move, and he’s got plans. In fact, you can say they are set in stone. “I really want to learn Spanish, so I’ve already signed up for the RosettaStone program offered by Rider,” said Sandberg, an associate professor of Management and the dean emeritus of the College of Business Administration who will officially retire on June 30. “I’m planning to travel extensively throughout South America, including Argentina and Chile, so it’ll be useful, just as it is in many places now in the United States.”
But Sandberg, who will also visit Portuguese-speaking Brazil on his South American jaunt, isn’t focused on learning a new language in particular so much as learning more, period. And even after an academic journey that has taken him from the Ivy League to the dean’s office at Rider, he figures it’s never too late to broaden his horizons.
“I have a 102-year-old aunt who still lives alone and does her own taxes – she’s very independent,” he explained. “She teaches bridge classes twice a week, and plays eight times a week. I don’t care too much for cards, but if she can stay sharp that way, it got me thinking that I can still learn another language.”
Also on tap for Sandberg are Tai Chi classes and a healthy dose of theatre following a move to Center City Philadelphia. “I’ve been to about 20 shows there just during this academic year, so it’ll be good to be right there,” he said.
While he’s factored in plenty of entertainment following his retirement, Sandberg won’t stray too far from his professional roots, either, as he also plans to author a book on interpersonal-skills building, a study that is a natural extension of the work he has done at Rider. Sandberg founded DAARSTOC, or Developing Administrative Abilities and Resources Through the Synergistic Training in Organizational Competencies, in 1976, and in the time since, the innovative program has launched the managerial careers of hundreds of Rider students who hit the professional world with a leg up on their peers.
“Since the beginning, we’ve tried to find the best people we can and then take them as far as we can,” he explained about the program, which, as its name describe, aims to develop leadership and management skills. Students who reveal leadership tendencies and potential are identified during the interview process and, once they have been accepted into the program, begin an intensive, interactive training that goes beyond the reach of their textbooks. The selection process is competitive, as just five of 24 applicants were accepted into DAARSTOC this spring.
Sandberg’s understanding of leadership in corporate settings was honed during his own education, a bachelor’s degree in Marketing, followed by an M.B.A. in Organizational Development from Drexel University, followed by a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior focusing on Organization Development from Cornell University in 1971.
With only his dissertation still to finish, Sandberg arrived at Rider in August 1970. His initial faculty appointment also carried with it the relatively rare distinction of becoming the first assistant dean of what was then the Rider Business School.
“I had a corporate background already, having worked for Ford Motor Co. in pre-production control and for Strawbridge & Clothier as the associate head of the toy department from the time the Cherry Hill Mall opened in late October through the Christmas season, which is when two-thirds of the store’s sales were made,” recalled Sandberg, who also consulted for General Motors, RCA and U.S. Steel, of the real-world experience that made the young scholar appealing to Rider.
After two years, Sandberg moved to full-time faculty, a move, he says, spurred by the impression made on him by his students. “I think a lot of students come here unsure of their abilities, but you see them begin to believe in themselves, and they really do have talent,” he said. “That’s when they really take off, and I think a lot of that is a reflection of their professors. That made me want to teach.”
And so teaching is exactly what Sandberg did until 1987, when he was named the associate dean of the School of Business. Shortly after Rider was granted university status in 1994, Sandberg was elevated to dean of what had now become the College of Business Administration, a role he held until stepping down for health reasons in 2002.
Over the years, Sandberg held a number of key professional organization roles, such as serving as president of the Middle Atlantic Association of Colleges of Business Administration from 2000 to 2002. He has also been recognized by his students and peers at Rider for his exceptional work through the Lindback Award for Outstanding Teaching in 1975, the McCormack Award for the Outstanding Advisor on Campus for 1992-1993, and the Elliot Award for Rider’s Outstanding Administrator in 1993.
Through all his accomplishments, it seems likely that DAARSTOC will remain Sandberg’s legacy at Rider. For that reason, the program’s alumni will honor their mentor at the DAARSTOC Reunion on June 14, one of the keystone events of Rider’s annual Reunion Weekend on the Lawrenceville campus.
“The group’s earliest members are in their early 50s now, so I’ll be interested to see them again and how far they’ve come since Rider,” he said.
Sandberg says that DAARSTOC has been able to study and track the careers enjoyed by its alumni and that the results prove the merit of the program. “Joy Schneer and Carol Watson (both professors of Management and Human Resources) did an examination into these graduates and found that the students who came through the program went further in their careers faster than non-DAARSTOC students who did not have such training, and they also felt more positive about their work,” he said.
Though he is leaving, Sandberg says that DAARSTOC will remain in good hands under the direction of Dr. Eugene Kutcher, assistant professor of Management and Human Resources. “He’s got the base of skills and the all-important process skills – the understanding of interpersonal dynamics, and how this person interacts with that person – and he has heart. I know how much he cares about our students,” said Sandberg of his successor. “And he’s about the same age I was when I started DAARSTOC, so I know he’s got plenty of good years to give.”
