The genesis of our new C.H. Sandage School of Business goes back in time nearly as far as Graceland itself. A boy was born in 1902 on a dirt-poor farm 13 miles southwest of Lamoni. After attending the same one-room schoolhouse for nine years, his all-consuming desire for knowledge led him to the Graceland Academy (high school) at age 15. He came with a small suitcase of tattered clothes, and one pair of badly-worn shoes.
Charles H. Sandage would spend six years at Graceland, paying room and board by milking cows, hoeing corn fields, carrying water buckets to dorms, kitchen duty, painting and finally, managing the bookstore - he made it profitable for the first time. He pushed wheelbarrow loads of cement during the hot summer of 1919 for the foundation of what would become Briggs Hall. He left Graceland in 1923 with his four-year high school and two-year college degrees. He left Graceland as an intelligent, poised, inspired young man, and his thirst for knowledge was stronger than ever.
Charles went on to a brilliant career as innovator and teacher in the field of business and advertising education. His life and times would fill a hefty book. In fact, they did: Roads to be Taken (1993), his autobiography. At the major universities where he learned and taught, his market research and entrepreneurship theories became doctrine for an evolving field of study. As a professor and Chair of the Marketing Department at Miami University of Ohio, he wrote his own curriculum. These imaginative lessons would later comprise his many books, some used as college business and advertising texts for decades (the many editions of Advertising Theory and Practice being the most well known). His landmark research work in surveying farm families, gauging farm trends, and then
consulting with agribusiness giants and advertisers, grew to become an industry standard. His renowned Farm Research Institute was located in Champaign/Urbana, Illinois, where he lived. He taught at the University of Illinois for 20 years. Charles Sandage is considered "the father of American advertising education."
(Above, Andy Simpson, left, Director of the Sandage Center for the Study of Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, and Associate Director Justin Akers, hold the framed photograph of Charles Sandage that hangs in the Center office. Behind them are trophies won by our National Champion SIFE team. At right, Charles Sandage.)
In Charles' honor, with funds provided by The Sandage Charitable Trust, Graceland has announced formation of the C.H. Sandage School of Business.
Together with Charles' beloved wife Dorothy (married in 1924), daughter of Graceland's longest-serving president, George N. Briggs, the Sandages carved a life built upon spiritual growth, buoyed by a zeal for new experiences and grounded in a love for community and family. Their son Allan was born in 1926. He has become perhaps the greatest astronomer of his time, a product of Dorothy's passion to teach him about all "natural" things, and Charles' deep-seated work ethic and unquenchable thirst for the next new idea.
Charles' nephew Duane Sandage (pictured on the left with Graceland President John Sellars) serves us now as a portal into his uncle's life and work and dreams. Charles and Dorothy (and also Elizabeth, who Charles married after Dorothy's passing) never forgot Graceland. The Sandage Charitable Trust was set up in 1985 and has championed many new ideas, among them the establishment of Graceland's Sandage Center for the Study of Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship (the Center). Charles' close relationship with GU President Emerita Barbara Higdon led to the creation of the Center and all that it has become. Duane cut the ribbon last year at dedication ceremonies for the Center's beautiful new offices in the MSC, funded in great part by the Trust. To honor Charles after his death, there was always an empty chair reserved for him at Trust meetings. Duane grew up on farms in the Lamoni area but he did not attend Graceland. He studied at Iowa State University and for a time taught vocational agriculture in high school. He has been married to his wife Alpha for 60 years.
(Below, faculty of the C.H. Sandage School of Business, pictured outside the hallowed confines of Briggs Hall.)
Duane is a self-made, successful businessman from Ames, Iowa who has specialized in selling, managing and appraising farmland, creating motivational seminars, and many other endeavors. He owns and operates The Sandage Companies. Since "Charlie" (as Duane calls him) passed away in 1998, Duane has managed the Trust, with a board comprised of Elizabeth Sandage, and three entrepreneurs who had warm, personal friendships with Charles: Van Dukeman (President and CEO of the innovative banking firm, First Busey Corp. - he spoke at the Center's annual Entrepreneurial Roundtable); Stanford "Tank" Sholem (entrepreneur, retail marketing counselor, author and long-time confidant to Charles); and Murray Wise (Chairman and CEO of the Westchester Group., an agricultural asset management firm, who managed The Sandage Companies' office in Champaign, and became Charles' friend). All three view Charles' dedication to hard work and ethical behavior as keys to business success. Elizabeth has championed Charles' work for 35 years and has always been a good friend to Graceland. Duane said, "These Trust members have shepherded Charlie's legacy. We owe a lot to them."
Graceland's National Champion Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team is the working arm of the Sandage Center. The SIFE team has secured Graceland's position on the world map of business education and entrepreneurship. In a show of mutual admiration, SIFE Director Andy Simpson thanks Duane for his "personal mentoring," and Duane said, "Andy Simpson has a big heart."
Duane captured this moment in history when he said, "It is unbelievable how the resources Charlie generated, and the seeds he planted at Graceland, are coming together at this time, in this place, in this way. It is just awesome." The Trust is now dissolved. Combined with previous gifts, it has provided Graceland with a total of $5 million, funds that will secure a bright future for the C.H. Sandage School of Business.
(At left, faculty of the new school of business pictured in the Higdon Administration Building: from left, row one, student Chelsea Carter; Carrie Melcher, Accounting; student Jan Gray; row two, Linda DeBarthe, Accounting and Business Administration; Alexandria Casey, IT; row three, student Abe Forth; student Meghan Atkinson; Jeff McElroy, Business Administration; row four, Rob Poulton, Economics; Kevin Brunner, IT; Kerry Gale, Business Administration; row five, Max Pitt, Business Administration; Paul Beck, Economics; Justin Akers, Associate Director of the Sandage Center.)
"This is Charles' dream realized," said Graceland President John Sellars. "We now have the opportunity to develop a flagship program. Soon, parents will dream of their children graduating from the C.H. Sandage School of Business." President Sellars has named Dr. Steve Anders, long-time GU educator and Dean of Faculty, as Dean for the new School of Business. Dr. Anders said, "The Sandage family's influence can be seen everywhere at Graceland: SIFE, the new Center offices, the Sandage Study Room in the F.M. Smith Library. We have been blessed by this visionary family." Duane said Anders is the right person to "gather a great faculty and lead the school to national prominence."
"Those who live with a spiritual base believe things happen the way they should," Duane said. "Members of The Trust have been pleased with how Graceland has used these resources. We believe this is what is supposed to happen, and we believe now is the time." He cited the significant business and higher education experience of both President Sellars and VP for Institutional Advancement Kelly Everett as a reason why "the time is right."
Barbara Higdon said, "In essence, Graceland now becomes The Sandage Trust. We will champion especially Charles' strong belief in ethical behavior in business."
The school's core values, stated in Graceland's agreement with The Trust, are to be entrepreneurial spirit, honesty, hard work, teamwork, respect and humility. These values were the building blocks of Charles' work, and his life.
It is doubly meaningful that the Sandage School of Business will come to life within the confines of venerable Briggs Hall. Both Charles and Dorothy are surely smiling about that. Briggs is named for Dorothy's father. Charles literally helped lay the foundation of Briggs Hall nearly a century ago. And now his legacy helps lay the foundation for what is destined to become a school of business worthy of his name. (Dorothy and Charles are pictured from the 1923 Acacia.)
