Ohio University - College of Business - Recent News

Junior Executive Business Program promotes diversity and inspires minority high school students

Jennifer Hall - hallj3@ohio.edu — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

July 1, 2008

By Julia Marino, Marketing and Communications GA

The week of June 21 - 28 marked the success of the fourth annual Junior
Executive Business Program for Diverse Students, an eight-day collegiate
experience that helps prepare high-achieving minority high school juniors for
college life and successful careers in business.

Founded in 2004 with the
support of its sponsor Cardinal Health, the mission of the program is to expand
Ohio University's mission of diversity development under Vision Ohio by
recruiting and retaining minority students into the College of Business (CoB), as well
as to provide a fun and educational environment for the students to explore
their future. "This program allows our students to be multi-culturally
aware, which prepares them for the current workplace," said Director of
the program Beatrice Selotlegeng, who planned and coordinated the program along
with Kay Sutphin, administrative coordinator at the CoB.

Through the program, 14 soon-to-be high school seniors throughout Ohio attended
workshops on applying to college, securing financial aid, managing time and
succeeding in business. The week was kicked off on Sunday with the
team-building activity at Ohio University's Ropes Challenge Course and an
inspirational speech by John Rhodes, associate head coach for the Ohio
University's men's basketball team. Throughout the rest of the week, the junior
executives participated in various campus activities and prepared final
presentations.

Working as mentors for the junior executives were four CoB students who helped
guide the students by answering questions, showing them around Athens and
encouraging them through activities. Counselors Keith Mitchell, a senior
majoring in accounting, and Blair Ashley Young, marketing and pre-law junior,
were both part of the original group of junior executives. Both had said that
their experience ultimately helped them make the decision to study at Ohio
University. Now as a counselor, Young said that she tries to share with the
junior executives the "same passion for the project" that she had.
"I want them to realize how much they can take away with them," she
said. Junior Executive Chanelle Smith took away with her this very passion as
is testament in an e-mail thanking the College for the experience.
"I will take a lot of what I learned from [the counselors] with me for the
rest of my life," she wrote.

It is this example of mentoring that has contributed to the program's success,
said Selotlegeng. "Students will listen to other students," she said.
Another strong factor to its success, she added, is "the total commitment
and involvement of the faculty." Throughout the week, more than ten CoB
professors and staff members held workshops for the students.. The faculty and
staff were also there to show support along with the student's parents on June
28 when four teams of the junior executives gave their final presentations to
Cardinal Health on their ideal "drugstore of the future."

Adjoa Mensah, a senior at Reynoldsburg High School near Columbus, Ohio said
that her interaction with the CoB professors taught her that you have to
"work hard to earn what you want." Devaughn Exum, a senior at Bedford
High School near Cleveland, Ohio agreed. "These classes and speeches have
really opened my eyes...business is more
diverse than I thought it was. Also, it was
hands on, and I like to be involved," he said. "Coming out of the
College of Business, you're sure to know what you need for the real
world."

Photography by Christina Paolucci and Julia Marino

GCP helps foster first business communication project between Ohio Leipzig European Center and OU

Jennifer Hall - hallj3@ohio.edu — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

June 24, 2008

By Gina Beach, Scripps School of Journalism and Visual Communication Senior

The Ohio Leipzig European Center (OLEC), a cooperation and exchange program between Ohio University and the University of Leipzig, brought together Leipzig and Ohio University students on a newly-established joint business ethics project. Each spring and summer Ohio University students, accompanied by their professors, study in Leipzig through the OU Education Abroad Office. At the end of this past spring quarter, a team of OU students, two of them from the College of Business, and three University of Leipzig students worked together on a business ethics case study project as part of the College of Business PRCM 325j course taught by Dr. Theresa Moran, an instructor in the Department of Management Systems.

Moran relied on the CoB’s Global Competitiveness Program (GCP) connections in Leipzig to create a global learning experience for the Ohio University OLEC students. Dr. Helge Löebler, University of Leipzig Professor of Marketing and his colleague Markus Maier, have strong ties to the CoB’s GCP and enthusiastically arranged to develop this joint business ethics project with Moran.

Team projects are an integral part of the CoB business communication curriculum and with Löebler and Maier’s help, Moran reports that the OU students were able to add a unique global dimension to their course work. “Learning from and working with international students helps OU students develop skills essential for the global workplace,” she said.

Ohio University actuary science major and business minor, Rachel Barnette, who hopes to eventually work abroad, said that team began with the question: "What is business ethics?" From there, the team applied the principles that they had learned to three international case studies.

The Leipzig students benefited as well. “Projects like this one comply fully to the definition of marketing that is bringing people together so that they may enrich each other,’” said Maier. “Students extended their networks and some friendships became long-term, deep relationships. It’s also amazing to see the (language) improvements with the German students,” he added.

“You have to be able to work with people from different countries,” said CoB junior Katie Smith, a marketing and international business major. “This is a learning experience I couldn’t have anywhere else in any other program.”

Collaborations like this project are also resume and confidence boosters that can help students secure competitive jobs. The College of Business encourages its students to gain invaluable “global experience” as a critical way to building marketable skills.

A New Journey: The College of Business celebrates graduation

Jennifer Hall - hallj3@ohio.edu — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

June 18, 2008

By Julia Marino, Placement and External Relations GA

On June 14th, 411 College of Business (CoB) graduating seniors turned their tassels toward the future, greeting joyously the start of a new chapter in their lives. The commencement ceremony, held at Ohio University's Convocation Center, welcomed speaker Peter King, Sports Illustrated senior writer and NBC Sports analyst, and more than 3,000 total soon-to-be graduates who were brimming with hope and a bitter-sweet sense of parting.

After the doors opened to the sound of cameras and excited family members, several of the newly-christened CoB alumni made their way to a reception in the lobby of Copeland Hall, which was garnished with cake, punch and a giant ice sculpture carved in the shape of '08. Continue Reading

Photos by Julia Marino, Josh Armstrong and courtesy of Alyson Shupe

A New Journey: The College of Business celebrates graduation continued

Jennifer Hall - hallj3@ohio.edu — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The Power of Relationships

College of Business graduate Brandon Conrad stood by the sculpture
with his parents Bryan and Barbara Conrad of Medina, OH as they were
congratulated by Michael Bila, Assistant Dean for Student Services.
"I'm sorry, but I got a message and there appears to be a glitch with
your grade report," Bila joked. Brandon and his parents laughed as Bila
shook their hands excitedly. "You know, you really get to know the
faculty here," Bila said later. The environment gives faculty and
students the ability to work together to "respond to interesting ideas
and turn them into meaningful projects."

Like other CoB
graduates, Conrad, who received a dual degree in MIS and Marketing and
a minor in Communication Studies, gives credit to the relationships
that he has formed through the CoB for strengthening his professional
opportunities. "Any kind of business comes down to the relationships
you have," says Conrad, who is pursuing a career in business
consultancy.

Conrad formed many of these strong relationships
by getting involved both inside and outside of the classroom. Past
President of the Society for the Advancement of Management (SAM) and
member of the business fraternity Phi Gamma Nu, Conrad says that
getting involved has given him the chance to fine tune who he is as a
leader and as a professional.

"As a leader, you're always
teaching and you're always learning," he says. "It's great to be
surrounded by like-minded people. That internal drive becomes an
external drive for everyone else," he says of the friends that he has
made at the CoB. "We thrive off of each other...I can't picture being
anywhere else for my four years of college."

Beginning a New Journey

For
Conrad and most seniors, graduating also means leaving Athens, a place
they have come to call home for the past few years. "I knew it was
coming, but all of a sudden I realized it's tomorrow, and I can't
believe it," Conrad said the night before graduation.

Despite
this shock, Conrad had prepared by participating in a countdown to
graduation with his Capstone Marketing class taught by Dr. Chris
Moberg, Chair of the Marketing Department. "I treat the class like a
transition course. It is like a bridge between Ohio University and
their first job," Moberg says of the course he has alternatively titled
"Beginning a New Journey." In addition to covering cutting-edge
marketing strategies, he puts a strong emphasis on professional and
personal development. "I want them to think about the kind of person
they want to be when they retire," he said. "What are the things you
want people to say about you when you're 65? You can be both great at
your job and a good person."

This philosophy and the
connections that the CoB provides resonates strongly with graduating
senior Alyson Shupe of Medina, OH. A Business Economics, Finance and
Spanish major, Shupe has gotten involved in the College of Business by
working as the Placement and External Relations intern, an analyst for
the CoB's Student Equity Management Group, and as a leader in Connect.

It
was during her first day working for the College of Business Society of
Alumni and Friends that she met and began networking with an alumnus
who works for JP Morgan Private Bank. Through this connection, she was able to
develop a professional relationship that has now led to a promising
career, as she has accepted an Analyst position at JP Morgan in New York City. "It will be an adventure,"
Shupe said. "It makes you realize how important relationships with
people are."

Her advice for soon-to-be seniors: "Get out there
and network, network, network," she said. "Get involved...Get to know
alumni. Don't be scared to pass your resume around."

Homecoming

Like
Conrad, Shupe expresses her gratitude to the College for the
connections she has developed. "It is like a little family." she says.
"I have made so many wonderful friends. However, the College of Business emphasizes the importance of not only staying
grounded and getting to know the people around you, but also getting
out there and exploring your curiosity and getting to know what your
passion is."

And as for Homecoming, Shupe says that she is
already in the process of buying a plane ticket. Conrad, who described
the class of '08 as "driven, intelligent, fun and close," has made the
same plans. "I mean, we'll all still be Facebook friends ten years from
now," he said. "I plan on coming back for Homecoming."

Photos by Julia Marino, Josh Armstrong and courtesy of Alyson Shupe

Congratulations to MBA Program Spring Business Competition Winners

Jennifer Hall - hallj3@ohio.edu — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

June 8, 2008

By Maryam Ghaffari, IMBA Coordinator and Marketing Instructor

On May 15th and 16th, the Ohio University Full-Time MBA Program held its annual Spring Business Competition (SBC).

This year’s winners were:

First Place Team: Andres Lares, Christopher Nichols, Ines Salazar, Jeff Snyder

Second Place Team: Edward Achaab, Walter Crockron, Tony Petrello, Tiffany Ryan

Third Place Team: Joel Campbell, Jill Curtis, Jian Ni, Debbie Szalejko

All twelve teams that competed worked extremely hard on the Spring Business Competition (SBC). In addition to their classes, graduate assistantships, and consulting responsibilities via the Voinovich Center for Leadership and Public Affairs, the students spent a considerable amount of time the last five weeks consulting for four Southeastern Ohio organizations for the SBC. Each student was required to contribute a minimum of fifty hours for the competition. Each team averaged over 200 hours of hard work to make this year’s SBC a success.

The three main goals of the SBC are to provide quality consulting to organizations, to allow students to employ an entire year’s classroom knowledge and experience to help solve real world business issues, and to provide an opportunity for students to benefit from the expertise of distinguished business professionals who serve as judges to evaluate their work.

This year’s SBC was unique in that all three winning teams consulted for non-profit organizations. Debbie Szalejko (Third Place Team) summed it up very well: “The basis for our project was to add value to the client through a number of low-cost initiatives," she said. "Our project was unique in that the client's return on investment was not revenue-based. It focused upon intrinsic value added which was extremely hard to quantify!”

Students represent College of Business at Leadership Awards Gala

Jennifer Hall - hallj3@ohio.edu — Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

May 29, 2008

By Jacqueline Marie Miltner, Phi Gamma Nu President

It was a great night for the College of Business at Ohio University’s 25th Annual Leadership Awards Gala that took place on May 21, 2008. The Leadership Gala was a star-studded event, hosting over 400 people at the formal banquet. The night opened with a few words from notable speakers David Wilhelm, Founder of Woodland Venture Management, President Roderick McDavis and Dorothy Schey from University Advancement.

College of Business Students swept quite a few of the awards at the gala, a few notable of these the Outstanding Student Leader Award, which were picked up by Walter Williamson, a Human Resources Management major, as well as Senior Accounting major Christopher Diehl.

"The quality of the nominees, finalists and recipients was amazing and I feel privileged to have not only been a
nominee in such an outstanding class," Diehl said of receiving the award, "but to have also worked closely with several of those individuals was truly a wonderful and memorable experience."

Williamson, who is active in a number of student organizations including Student Senate, also expressed excitement and honor for receiving strong recognition for his participation on campus.

"It has been a pleasure to be involved in a variety of organizations, and for the chance to work with and create relationships with so many people," he said. "I sincerely know that I have taken advantage of all opportunities during my four years on this campus."

In addition to the Outstanding Student Leader Award recipients, the gala's the Outstanding Student Program Award was given to Phi Gamma Nu for its Skate for the Schools Program last winter.

Claudia Reagan, a member of Phi Gamma Nu’s Executive Board who was at the event, said, “This leadership award will only strengthen our fraternity and push our organization to keep pursuing bigger and better things, especially with events, which will help the community."

College of Business students were happily surprised last Wednesday night by winning the Pepsi Ohio University Campus Leadership Scholarships. Rick McKenney, a Junior Accounting and Finance major, won this award for his leadership roles in Phi Gamma Nu, International Business Society, Club Sports Executive Council, and the Men’s Crew team.

"Winning this scholarship is a big honor," McKenney said of the award. "I was happy just to be associated with the rest of the finalists.”

Chris Murnane, a Junior Finance and MIS major, was also awarded the Pepsi Leadership Scholarship because of his hard work with Delta Sigma Pi, Alpha Lambda Delta, and as an FEP mentor. Chris said that he is thankful for the opportunities he has had in these organizations. “They have taught me how to utilize my strengths and improve my weaknesses," he said.

MIS Students tackle consulting project for North Carolina client

Jennifer Hall - hallj3@ohio.edu — Fri, 23 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

May 25, 2008

By Colin McHale, SAM President and Junior MIS Major

Members of the winter quarter MIS 420 team named "3x Solutions" were given the task of completely redesigning the website for the Historical Society of Topsail Island in North Carolina. The past website had not been updated since 2004 and was not appealing to Topsail Island tourists. In order to gain a better understanding of the historical society and what they were looking for, four of the five members of the team traveled to Topsail Island for a weekend. While they were there, the students were able to tour the museum, learn about some of the history of the island, and take that information back with them to produce a brand new website.

Through good team leadership and research, the team was able to design a website that fully met the client's needs, both from a user and administrative perspective. Time management and good planning were key to finishing this project on time. The team included the following in the new website:

Database driven content

Open source calendar

Photo galleries with the ability to upload

Email capabilities

Access to the membership database

Ability to update directly from within the site itself

The members of 3x Solutions are: Colin McHale (Project Manager), Brandon Conrad, Amy Hemmelgarn, Allison Meyer and Chris Rigo. The finished product can be viewed at www.topsailhistoricalsociety.org

Finance Department recognizes outstanding students, alumni and faculty

Jennifer Hall - hallj3@ohio.edu — Mon, 19 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

May 19, 2008

By Alyson Shupe, Placement and External Relations Intern

On April 25, the Ohio University Finance Department held its annual awards banquet at the Baker Center Ballroom in Athens. Finance majors, finance department faculty and staff, members of the Finance Advisory Council, and College of Business administrators and alumni gathered to recognize students of exceptional achievement in the major, and present the awards of Alumni of the Year and Teacher of the Year.

Professor Neil Holden was named 2008 Teacher of the Year, an award for which the recipient is selected by a majority vote of senior Finance majors. J. Patrick Campbell (BGS '71) is this year's recipient of the Alumni of the Year award. Mr. Campbell is the president and COO of Grantham Education Corporation, and former COO for NASDAQ, Inc. and chairman of NASDAQ Investment Products. He is heralded as the creator of QQQQ – an exchange traded fund that tracks the NASDAQ 100. Prior to joining NASDAQ, Mr. Campbell completed a distinguished 25-year investment banking career as Senior Executive Vice President of The Ohio Company. He is a decorated United States Air Force Command Pilot and recipient of the Bronze Star.

Continued....

Management Information Systems professor recognized for service and excellence

Jennifer Hall - hallj3@ohio.edu — Sun, 11 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

May 11^th, 2008

By Alyson Shupe and Jennifer Hall

The International Association for Computer Information Systems (IACIS) selected Dr. Sean McGann, Associate Professor of Management Information Systems, as the 2007 recipient of its Ben Bauman Award for Excellence. Dr. McGann has earned this award through his demonstration of outstanding scholarship, service and great promise. His dedication to student achievement, development of the MIS curriculum, and many other recognizable accomplishments are just a few examples of why he is deserving of such a prestigious honor.

Here are some highlights of Dr. McGann's outstanding career achievements:

Worked with large ERP and Supply Chain System projects for five years with Andersen Consulting in Columbus, OH, founded a firm-wide mentoring program and served as project manager on a number of multi-million dollar engagements

Founded and became CEO of Pogonet Internet Solutions

Completed his OU MBA in 1994 and was inspired by former professors Valerie and Jim Perotti to pursue his PhD.

Spent one year as Visiting Professor with the MIS Department and was awarded the AITP Professor of the Year Award

Began his PhD studies in 2001, accepting a full scholarship to Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management in their Information Systems department

As a professor in the MIS department since 2003, spearheaded MIS curriculum reforms aimed at aligning the curriculum and industry, authored more than a dozen research manuscripts published in journals and conference proceedings, was Assistant Director of the Ohio University Integrated MBA Program, and served on a number of College and University committees

Currently serves as advisor to the Association for Information Technology Professionals (AITP) chapter and Chair of the Placement CIT Committee.

The Ben Bauman Award for Excellence recognizes faculty excellence and service. Candidates for the award include senior faculty with significant service to their profession, university and community. Professor Raymond Frost, MIS department chair, describes Sean as "an outstanding member of our faculty and a cornerstone of the department. We are very proud that one of our own was selected to receive this prestigious award. "

Please join us in congratulating Dr. McGann.

Pictured to the right: (Dr. McGann; IACIS Executive Director Robert Behling; Dr. Frost)

Related links:

http://www.iacis.org/

http://www.iacis.org/web/awards.html#bbae

http://www.cob.ohiou.edu/cms.aspx?cid=1416

New Beta Alpha Psi President Awarded FEI Scholarship

Jennifer Hall - hallj3@ohio.edu — Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

May 7th, 2008

By Dr. Ann Gabriel and Jennifer Hall

Kevin Springer, a junior Accounting and Business Economics major, received the Financial Executives International (FEI) accounting scholarship at the FEI Education Night on April 16th, 2008. The FEI scholarship is awarded based upon both scholarship and leadership. Mark LaMonte, the President of the Central Ohio FEI Chapter, presented Kevin with his award.

Kevin has a 4.0 GPA in Accounting and 3.8 GPA overall. This year he served as Internal Vice President of the Alpha Kappa Chapter of Beta Alpha Psi and took the lead in developing and implementing the Financial Literacy Blitz to educate Ohio University Students on personal finances. In addition, Kevin is active with the Ohio University Student Alumni Board was recently elected President of Beta Alpha Psi for 2008-2009.

FEI is the preeminent association for CFOs and other senior finance Executives. FEI's key initiatives are to provide forums for peer networking, alert members of emerging issues, advocate the views of financial executives and promote ethical conduct within the corporate finance industry.

Pictured left to right (Mark LaMonte, Kevin Springer)