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Over 400 Attend Second Annual Business Career Expo

Posted on by Claire Hall

On a crisp October morning, more than 400 students and employers participated in the School of Business’ Second Annual Business Career Expo. The event, which was designed to complement the successful career fairs hosted by the UConn Center for Career Development, featured a multi-dimensional format designed to enhance personal connections between students and those employers who specifically seek School of Business undergraduate and MBA students.

Students were advised to come to the Business Career Expo prepared to talk about their personal passions such as sports, clubs, hobbies, musical interests, community service, and unique pursuits. Employers were invited to tell stories reflecting their company culture including team sports, community service initiatives, and distinctive company activities or efforts. Students were encouraged to understand the differentiators between companies and in return to highlight the differentiators between themselves and other business students.

In their introductory remarks, the School of Business Career Center (SBCC) team encouraged the crowd to think beyond traditional career fair conversations. “Our students are more than their GPAs, and our corporate partners have more to offer than job postings; we invite you all to find those compelling reasons for connecting here today,” announced Kathy Hendrickson, assistant director of the Undergraduate Business Career Center.

In order to encourage this unique dialogue and to highlight personal passions and talents beyond academics, the event was opened with a performance of the national anthem by the Conn-Men. The Conn-Men is a student a cappella group who performed at the inauguration of UConn President Susan Herbst, and has also recently won the UConn A Cappella Competition. Their inspiring performance launched the morning discussions in a manner which brought immediate energy into the room and the conversations. Employers Jodi Culberston, Northwestern Mutual, and Sean O’Connell ’83 (CLAS), ’92 MBA, GE, were just two of the participants who expressed enthusiasm and appreciation for the unique introduction to the day and the manner in which it immediately facilitated conversations with students.

The full agenda included an open forum in the Student Union Ballroom and 18 concurrent individual employer sessions. The event culminated at 1:30 p.m., when the Conn-Men returned for a half-hour performance for all students, employers, faculty, and staff of the School of Business who participated in the event. Meg Warren, assistant director of the MBA Business Career Center, concludes, “In terms of connecting students and employers in a personal way, the day was a resounding success!”


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Professional Business Fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi Welcomes First Faculty/Staff Member

Posted on by Claire Hall

The Psi Rho Chapter of Alpha Kappa Psi recently welcomed Kelly Kennedy, program manager at the UConn School of Business Career Center, into the fraternity as its first faculty/staff member. Alpha Kappa Psi was founded in 1904 at New York University on the principles of promoting institutions of business education, developing future leaders and fostering appreciation for higher ideals in business. Kennedy’s invitation to the Psi Rho Chapter at UConn was the result of her continued mentorship and resourcefulness to the group, and her dedication and support to School of Business students. Over 35 students gathered to welcome Kennedy into this unique, prestigious association of students, professors, graduates and professionals with a common interest in business.


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School of Business Welcomes 11 New Faculty Members

Posted on by Claire Hall

The University of Connecticut has embarked on an ambitious hiring initiative to expand its faculty and senior academic leadership across disciplines, investing in 500 tenure-track faculty positions over the next four years.

As a result of this initiative, the School of Business is delighted to welcome 11 new faculty members in the 2013-2014 academic year. These new faculty bring a diverse array of expertise and research interests to the school and our students, with specialty areas in accounting, finance, management, marketing, and operations and information management.


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Accounting Professor Receives National Educator Award

Posted on by Claire Hall

Richard Hurley ’94 Ph.D., professor of accounting at the UConn School of Business, received the prestigious National Educator Award from the Association of Government Accountants (AGA) on July 17. The award, which “was formally established to recognize an individual who has made significant contributions to educating and training government financial managers for more than two decades,” was presented to Professor Hurley at the Association’s Annual Professional Development Conference (PDC) training event in Dallas, Texas.

From the Association of Government Accountants (AGA):

“Dr. Hurley received this award in recognition of his vast contributions to the education and training of accountability professionals and students in advancing financial management. His presentations, courses and writings cover a wide range of accountability topics and his expertise as a practitioner and university professor is quite evident. He consistently receives excellent evaluations of his work and is well-respected in the field of government financial management. Dr. Hurley is a member of the AGA New York Capital Chapter.

Dr. Hurley has been a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the State of New York for 30 years and has also been a licensed Attorney in the State of New York for over 35 years and is licensed to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Tax Court.

He has written the fraud edge column for Fraud Magazine, which is a column devoted to fraud education for the benefit of academics and practitioners, and he currently co-authors a column entitled Global Fraud Focus.

He is also a member of the New York Society of CPA’s and is a member of the Forensic Litigation Services Committee of the State Society and a member of the Anti-Money Laundering & Counter Terrorist Financing Committee.

Dr. Hurley has written and presented in the field of accounting and security fraud and auditing issues related to fraud detection and prevention. Dr. Hurley teaches MBA courses in Financial Accounting and Reporting, Financial Statement Analysis, Forensic Accounting & Fraud Examination for UConn in Stamford, Connecticut where he has been a professor for 14 years.”

Professor Hurley will be giving several presentations this upcoming fall, speaking to three AGA chapters: Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; and Lincoln, Nebraska. He will also be speaking at the annual investigator’s conference for MetLife and John Hancock this coming October.


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Rajendra S. Shirolé Appointed New Director for the UConn Full-time MBA Program

Posted on by Claire Hall

After a global search we are pleased to announce that Rajendra Shirolé will be joining UConn on July 1, 2013 as the Director of the Full-time MBA Program. Rajendra has most recently been Director of the Kent MBA Program at the Kent Business School in Canterbury, UK.

In his Kent MBA Director role, which he has held since 2008, Rajendra has instituted innovative opportunities in cross-cultural research, teaching and learning, including ‘live’ case studies and engagement in corporate consulting for MBA students. He designed a policy and practice focused study program supported by EU based policy makers and global corporations including HSBC, Delphi, Cummins and Schlumberger. He passionately believes that MBA program content should facilitate learning in a creative environment focused on a global perspective, grounded in practical application, embedded with an approach to management decision making which incorporates issues such as managing resource scarcity and sustainability.

Rajendra’s career has spanned academia and industry in multiple disciplines, including management, software development, infrastructure design and international service delivery. His research interests are in IT outsourcing and he is currently working on a research project entitled, “The emerging role of hinterland networks in IT outsourcing service delivery – a vendor perspective.” Recently he has completed a highly commended project for the Kent County Council exploring the effective use of mobile technologies in remote working. As a consultant he has worked with global organizations in facilitating partner relationships and post-merger integration support. He has also directed substantial infrastructure projects in Eastern Europe, financed by the European Union. He has also been a visiting professor in corporate strategy at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.

Rajendra is looking forward to leading the UConn MBA Program and working with colleagues to engage students to be dynamic, creative problem solvers and supporting them to find efficient ways of turning complex challenges into robust opportunities for sustainable competitive advantage. His experience and perspective will be a substantial asset to us as we evaluate and move forward on changes to our MBA Program.


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Dr. Karla H. Fox Retiring from Faculty Position

Posted on by Claire Hall

After many years of dedicated service, Dr. Karla H. Fox will retire from her faculty position at the University of Connecticut on August 1st. She will be taking on the administrative role of Special Assistant to the Provost, effective immediately.

Dr. Fox has been a distinguished faculty member at the University of Connecticut since 1976. Most recently, she has served, with distinction, as Interim Dean of the School of Business, where she guided the School through an exciting year of growth. In her many contributions to the business school, Dr. Fox has served as the Executive Director of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, the Executive Director of the full-time MBA Program, and head of the Business Law Program. She also served the University as head of the Music Department in the School of Fine Arts from 2008-2010 and Associate Vice President for University Affairs from 1999-2004.

We thank Dr. Fox for her steadfast dedication and many valuable contributions to the School of Business and the University, and look forward to her continued contributions in her new role.

Dr. John Elliott, recently named the new dean of the University of Connecticut’s School of Business, will begin his tenure in mid-August. Dr. George Plesko, Associate Dean, will assume responsibilities in the interim.


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The Stamford Learning Accelerator Summer Launch

Posted on by Claire Hall

After an Open House held on April 25th for all UConn Stamford Faculty, Students and Staff, the new Stamford Learning Accelerator launched three student projects this summer during its Summer Orientation, less than one month later, on Tuesday, May 29th. Two projects are for the new International Business Accelerator (IBA) and one is for the formation of a new Student Advertising Agency in Stamford, in conjunction with UConn’s Digital Media Center.

19 students and six faculty mentors across multiple school disciplines such as business, chemical engineering, physics and economics are participating in the projects. While the student teams are based in Stamford, some students are participating from both the Storrs Campus and the Graduate Business Learning Center (GBLC) in downtown Hartford.  Students include undergraduates and graduates, as well as one Ph.D.  Faculty include Fred Carstensen Professor of Economics and Director of the  Center for Economic Analysis at UConn; Robert Johnson, Associate Professor in Residence of the Operations and Information Management Department; Dr. Richard Parnas, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Mike Roer, Adjunct Professor and President of the Entrepreneurship Foundation.

The International Business Accelerator is run under the direction of Dr. Tim Dowding, Professor in Residence of the Operations and Information Management Department in Stamford. The UConn Student Agency is the brainchild of Tim Hunter, Director of UConn’s Digital Media Center and Professor in the Schools of Business and Fine Arts. It is being run in conjunction with Brian Brady, Director of the Stamford Learning Accelerator and Instructor in Residence in the School of Business.

The first project involves creating a computer model to determine the optimal revenue generated from processing seaweed (macro algae) into a series of commodities like biofuels, fertilizers, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. In addition, since seaweed absorbs nitrogen from the water, this model will also estimate the commercial value of nitrogen removed from Long Island Sound based on the State of Connecticut Nitrogen Credit Trading Program.  The second project is for the development of a proposal to establish an EB-5 Regional Center at UConn Stamford as part of the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, which is designed to encourage foreign investment in U.S. companies in order to create jobs. The EB-5 Regional Center would be a joint venture between UConn and the Business Council of Fairfield County.

Finally, two full-time MBA students are working with Professors Hunter and Brady in developing the structure, operations model and branding for UConn’s own Student Advertising Agency, which will be working with both internal and external clients on a variety of digital and marketing projects.

The Stamford Learning Accelerator is actively looking for students to participate in projects for the Fall. Please contact Brian Brady, Director of the Stamford Learning Accelerator, at brian.brady@business.uconn.edu for details.

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Ackerman Scholars Announced

Posted on by Claire Hall

The Dean’s Council has reviewed the Ackerman Scholars at the University of Connecticut School of Business and made the following awards:

Appointed for the next two years (2012-13 and 2013-14) are:

Continuing in their second year are:

  • Sulin Ba, OPIM
  • Joe Golec, Finance
  • John Harding, Finance
  • Suresh Nair, OPIM
  • Rex Santerre, Finance
  • Zeki Simsek, Management

The Ackerman Scholar award recognizes significant and continuing all round academic productivity among the faculty of the School. It is awarded to faculty who are not already supported by Chair or Professorship appointments. The award is supported by the Ackerman Fund, the School and the departments. The purpose of the Ackerman Fund is to “grant a monetary reward to faculty members who have excelled in classroom teaching, curriculum development, research, outreach to business and state agencies.”


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USDLA Recognizes Professor Rosman at their 2011 International Awards for Distance Learning

Posted on by Claire Hall

The United States Distance  Learning Association (USDLA) presented its 2011 International Distance Learning  Awards in conjunction with the 2011 National Conference in St. Louis, Missouri.  These prestigious International Awards are presented annually to organizations  and individuals engaged in the development and delivery of distance learning  programs.

Andrew Rosman, Associate Professor of  Accounting, Director of MS in Accounting and Internship Programs and Executive  Director of Online Education for the UConn School of Business, with Roger Travis, Associate Professor of Modern and  Classical Language at the UConn College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, were  awarded the Bronze for Best Practices Awards for Excellence in Distance  Learning Teaching in the Online  Technology ~ Higher Education category.

Rosman and  Travis teamed to use game-based learning to teach students in the MS in  Accounting Program about professional skepticism. According to Rosman, they  were able to study “how individuals’ personalities and motivation toward a task  interact to form a lens within which they view the task situation and then  react.  The online gaming setting was an  ideal situated context for the confrontation between superior and subordinate  that could not have been created in a traditional face-to-face classroom  setting.”

“Each  year these winners raise the bar and exceed best practice expectations for the  industry as a whole and we are truly honored by their contributions to the  distance learning industry,” said Dr. John G. Flores, Executive Director  of USDLA. Dr. Denzil Edge, President of USDLA adds that “Through distance  learning, education, and training we can provide access to the world’s best  award winning opportunities for school children, connect higher education  students globally and transform the lives and careers of working adults. We are  truly on the edge of something great and these winners clearly demonstrate and  confirm the transformative powers of distance learning globally.”

The USDLA Awards were created to acknowledge major accomplishments in distance  learning and to highlight those distance learning instructors, programs, and  professionals who have achieved and demonstrated extraordinary results through  the use of online, videoconferencing, satellite and blended learning delivery  technologies.

About United States  Distance Learning Association (USDLA)

The United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) is a non-profit  association formed in 1987 and is located in Boston, Massachusetts.  USDLA  promotes the development and application of distance learning for education and  training and serves the needs of the distance learning community by providing  advocacy, information, networking and opportunity. Distance learning and  training constituencies served include pre-k-12 education, higher and  continuing education, home schooling as well as business, corporate, military,  government and telehealth markets.

Photo: Professor Andrew Rosman


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