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Executive MBAs celebrate graduation

Aug. 17, 2006

You can’t blame Chris Vidrine for thinking graduation day might never come.

A sales engineer with ExxonMobil, Vidrine (MBA ’06) enrolled in the 18-month Executive MBA program in January 2003 but was forced to take a leave of absence in December of that year when he was called up for active duty with the U.S. Army, where he spent a year flying Blackhawk helicopters in Iraq.

He resumed the program in May 2005 only to see his matriculation interrupted yet again, this time by Hurricane Katrina. In the days that followed the storm, Vidrine, a helicopter pilot with the Louisiana National Guard, rescued hundreds of people stranded on rooftops across the city, even landing on the roof of Rosen House on the Tulane campus to airlift out neighborhood residents who had sought shelter in the high-rise dormitory.

“The most indelible images I have are of the old and young,” Vidrine says. “We lifted so many of the elderly to safety from the river levee in Chalmette to nursing homes around New Orleans, and I'll never forget the image of them shuffling to the aircraft while using walkers. We also lifted a multitude of children, most notably incubator babies from the top of Baptist Hospital before emergency power ran out. There is no one image but rather a continual blur of despair that lasted for days. The whole ordeal was heartbreaking, but I was happy I could help in such a needed capacity.”

Executive MBA classes could have been canceled for many months after Katrina, but thanks to the extraordinary efforts of Freeman School staff, classes resumed Nov. 4 on Tulane’s Elmwood campus. The quick post-Katrina start up enabled this year’s Executive MBA class to graduate as scheduled.      

“A lot of people didn’t think that after Katrina we could get back on track and graduate on time,” says Vidrine. “Instead of waiting six or eight months, we were able to get back into it quickly and get back on track. I think everybody really appreciated that.”

On Saturday, Aug. 12, Vidrine and the rest of the 2006 Executive MBA class received their diplomas, right on schedule, in a ceremony at McAlister Auditorium.

This year’s class included 32 graduates of the New Orleans program and 19 graduates of the Houston program. According to EMBA program manager Carol Spansel, four members of the New Orleans class withdrew in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but all four have either reenrolled or announced their intention to reenroll.

Delivering the charge to graduates at this year's commencement ceremony were class members Earl J. Dodd, who represented the Houston class, and Donal Rajasingam, who represented the New Orleans class.

Lynn Gillette, adjunct professor of strategy, received the Outstanding Teacher Award from the Houston class, and John M. Trapani, Martin F. Schmidt Chair of Finance and Economics, received the Outstanding Teacher Award from the New Orleans class.

In addition, Scott Hecker and Bradly Lowe received the Dean’s Service Awards; Dodd, Rajasingam and Prasanna Joshi received the Tulane Association of Business Alumni Awards; and Dodd and Joshi received the Allen R. Vorholt Memorial Awards.

“Any time you deal with a catastrophic event as a group, it creates a certain meaning,” Vidrine adds. “We had to overcome a lot, so I think that makes this special.”