USD Magazine Spring 2011

USD MAGAZINE 4 AROUND  THE PARK ome people enjoy visiting museums or monuments while on vacation. Others relish amusement parks or quirky roadside attractions. David Pyke is partial to factories. “My family jokes that we just go from factory to factory when we travel,” the School of Business Administration dean says with playful indignation. “That’s not exactly true.” It’s not entirely false either. Pyke’s interest was first piqued on his own childhood vacations

FACTORY MAN SBA Dean Pyke is al l business [ i n t r e p i d ] by Nathan Dinsdale S

There are two mementos, how- ever, that hint at his appreciation for the tangible machinations of the business world. One is a miniature replica tractor given by a colleague who’d visited a John Deere production facility. The other is a still photograph taken from an “I Love Lucy” epi- sode — involving Lucy’s ill-fated tenure at a candy factory — that Pyke routinely uses in his signature factory physics lecture. Convincing people that there’s “something kind of fun” about assembly lines would seemingly be a hard sell, but Pyke’s appreciation for the immediacy—and intrica- cies—of a bustling factory is illus- trative of the intrepid spirit that led him to USD in the first place. “I love being in an environment where people are constantly ask- ing hard questions and trying to

when his family would occasional- ly tour a paper-making factory or a Spalding plant churning out base- balls by the thousands. “It’s something that was kindled early on,” he says. “I just loved watching the process and seeing how things were being made.” Pyke’s office is a full-scale dio- rama of elegant academia — immaculate desk, large orderly bookcase, shiny plaques, awards and diplomas placed with tasteful restraint — all lofty hallmarks of a life of the mind.

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