Bank profits rebound as loss set-asides ease

Banks across the U.S., including the Eleventh Federal Reserve District, appear to be recovering from the financial crisis that began in mid-2007. The news is welcome because a healthy banking sector spurs economic growth by providing financing for businesses to expand investment spending and for consumers to purchase goods and services. ; Data for 2010 show strong profit growth, with banks across the nation rebounding from a net loss in 2009 and those in the Dallas-based Eleventh District almost doubling their profits. There was also good news regarding asset quality: Problem loans are starting to moderate. And there are indications that the banking industry has grown more efficient, supporting more operations at lower cost. ; However, concerns linger about the sustainability of profits because the recent improvement can be attributed almost entirely to a reduction in what banks set aside to cover future loan losses. Banks refer to this as their provision expense, and it usually falls as asset quality improves. But there is a limit to how far it can decline and contribute to profitability.Business conditions ; Profit

Sensitivity to Diversity in the Workplace

Since the early 1990s, the construct of diversity training has been diligently examined as it relates to managing a diverse workforce. Employers have been faced with the daunting task of figuring out how groups of dissimilar people can work collaboratively in the workplace without incident. Differences have to be addressed in the arena of gender, race, sexual orientation, age, and religious views without prejudice, so that we can form more cohesive work groups in the labor force. In an effort to deconstruct negative attitudes and ideals towards differences, we must explore, with employees, differences that may cause friction in the workplace. In order to create a more informed and politically correct worker we must give that worker the necessary tools to understand their environments. This is where diversity training will play a major role in helping employees learn about each other in a setting that is safe and free of judgments

The construction of selected diversity issues in the reporting of three rape incidents: a discourse analysis of two Gauteng newspapers

A research project submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of M.A. (Diversity Studies), in the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, February 2015This research project aimed to explore how the way in which rape is reported in two Gauteng daily newspapers is indicative of underlying social assumptions about broader diversity issues in South Africa. The reason that this research was undertaken was linked to the public uproar about rape which was witnessed in India in 2012 and the subsequent social issues that were brought to the fore. The manner in which the newspapers in India reported on incidents of rape shifted as well after this incident. This was the point of departure for the discussion which took place in this research project. The newspapers which were used in the research project were The Star and The Sowetan. Newspapers which, according to their readership data, although not exclusively, are read by either a middle to upper-class black or white population group. The methodology which was used in this project was thematic analysis within the social constructionist framework. The reason for this choice of methodology is because it allows the researcher to determine the themes that are used in the analysis process. The framework of this methodology is not fixed. This allows for meaning to be derived from the context in which the data is analysed. The news stories which were analysed were the rape of Baby Tshepang and the rape and murder of both Anene Booysen and Eudy Simelane. The most telling aspect that arose in this research was the racialised lens through which themes emerged in the analysis and the meaning that this then fixed on these themes. From within this lens, the intersectionalities of class, gender and sexuality derived meaning. This research concluded that through the manner in which newspapers report on stories of rape underlying social assumption about broader diversity issues are perpetuated

Walley School Community Arts Center Feasibility Study

The Walley School community arts center initiative began in the fall of 2011 as a joint project between the Town of Bristol and Roger Williams University’s School of Architecture. Shortly thereafter, the Gabelli School of Business was asked to development a business case for the project. Four students in the course “Management 439: Business Planning” took on the Walley School as their team project for the semester. The business case study was developed in conjunction with the Town of Bristol, the initiative’s steering committee, Roger Williams University’s Community Partnerships Center, the School of Architecture and the School of Construction Management. After a year of student work and public workshops, the conclusion has been made that it would be programmatically, architecturally and financially feasible to reopen the Walley School as a community arts and education facility for the Town of Bristol

Placing Women's Voices in the Centre of a Strategy for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse: Speaking from Our Strengths

The premise for this paper is both basic and profound: survivors of child sexual abuse have the knowledge, experience, and perspective to lead in the efforts to stop it. It describes a draft strategy to prevent child sexual abuse, placing survivors at the core of the plan, that was generated at a two day gathering for female survivors of childhood sexual abuse.La prémisse pour cet article est à la fois fondamentale et profonde : les survivantes d'abus sexuel d'enfant ont la connaissance, l'expérience, et la perspective pour guider les efforts pour l'arrêter. L'article fait la description d' une ébauche de stratégie pour prévenir l'abus sexuel sur enfant en plaçant les survivantes au centre du plan, qui fût élaboré lors d'une rencontre de deux jours de femmes survivantes d'abus sexuel d'enfant