Month: March 2012

Students Compete at National Collegiate Sales Competition

Posted on by Claire Hall

On March 2nd-5th students Michael Ferrone, John Sulzicki, Chris Czarnowski, and Lauren Basist and Faculty Advisor Bill Ryan represented UConn at the annual National Collegiate Sales Competition held at Kennesaw State University in Atlanta, Georgia. The NCSC is comprised of 65 colleges and universities from across the country. Over 20 companies sponsor the competition, each hoping to attract students interested in working for them upon graduation. The competition consists of multiple rounds of one-on-one selling with a “buyer,” and judging based on successful execution of a professional sales process that includes building rapport, effective needs identification, presenting targeted solutions, overcoming objections and effectively “closing the sale.” These techniques are taught in the Professional Selling and Sales Management & Leadership classes offered by the UConn Marketing Department as part of the Program for Sales Leadership.

Pictured from left to right are; Michael Ferrone, John Sulzicki, Bill Ryan-Faculty Advisor, Chris Czarnowski, and Lauren Basist.

Ph.D. Student Teaching Awards

Posted on by Claire Hall

On March 22, the Ph.D. students and coordinators for the five Ph.D. concentrations met at Willington Pizza for a “BUS Ph.D. Student Night of Appreciation,” where we celebrated student accomplishments during the last year.

At this event, we announced the winners of the school’s 2012 Ph.D. student teaching awards.  Each of the five Ph.D. program concentrations gave a teaching award to a qualified student in their concentration.  The coordinators of the five concentrations (John Phillips – ACCT,  Joe Golec – FNCE,  Lucy Gilson – MGMT,  Bill Ross – MKTG, and Jan Stallaert – OPIM), along with the program director (Gary Powell), then decided as a group which of the winners of a teaching award in a concentration would receive this year’s School of Business teaching award.Continue Reading

Annual Faculty Awards

Posted on by Claire Hall

At the beginning of this month, the Teaching and Research Committee met and evaluated nominations for the annual Faculty Awards.  A total of nine winners, a runner up, and two honorable mentions were awarded.

Under the Research category the winners are Sarah Rice and David Weber for Best Paper.  Their paper is titled “How Effective is Internal Control Reporting under SOZ 404? Determinants of the (Non-) Disclosure of Existing Material Weaknesses.” Continue Reading

MSBAPM/Swiss Re Networking Event

Posted on by Claire Hall

On Thursday March 22, 2012, the MS in Business Analytics and Project Management (MSBAPM) held its second MSBAPM/Industry Networking Event in the Graduate Business Learning Center (GBLC) in downtown Hartford, co-sponsored with Swiss Re, the leading global reinsurance company, based in Zurich. Swiss Re was represented by Michael O. Van Dusen PMP, Director, Operations, Business Engineering, Swiss Re America Holding; Peter Langan, Xinwei Zhang, and Patricia Quinn. Several faculty and staff from the Operations and Information Management (OPIM) department and students from the MSBAPM program also attended.

After a meet and greet, the executives gave an overview of Swiss Re and the Business Engineering (BEN) group, which does internal consulting projects for the firm. Projects may involve process improvement, change management, etc., and can range in size from one million dollars to several hundred million dollars. The executives then ran a small teamwork and collaboration game to illustrate the importance of communication and teamwork in projects. The winning team was thrilled to receive Swiss chocolates as a reward! The executives then resumed discussion on project work and ended the talk with an overview of salary and job prospects for students trained in project management. Everyone had a good time.

Picture: Swiss Re Exec. Michael O. Van Dusen speaking.

US News Ranks UConn’s MBA Program 31st among Public Institutions

Posted on by Claire Hall

The University of Connecticut MBA Program rose several spots in the US News & World Report’s 2013 Best Graduate School Rankings.

“It’s always flattering to be considered among the best graduate business programs in the country,” said Michael J. Deotte, director of the full-time MBA Program. “Positive rankings such as this, however, merely reflect our steadfast commitment to affordable, quality graduate management education.”

UConn’s full-time MBA Program ranks 61st (31st among public business schools);  the part-time MBA Program ranks 52nd among part-time programs.Continue Reading

John A. Elliott Named Dean of UConn’s School of Business

Posted on by Claire Hall

John A. Elliott has been named the new dean of the University of Connecticut’s School of Business. Elliott has been the Vice President and Dean of the City University of New York’s (CUNY) Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College since 2002, where he also holds the Irwin and Arlene Ettinger Chair in Accountancy.  Baruch is home to the largest business school in the United States with 80% of its 18,300 undergraduate and graduate students majoring in business.

“John is a highly successful sitting dean who has had a distinguished scholarly career and clearly understands academic and educational excellence at the highest levels,” said UConn President Susan Herbst. “His experience and background at these prestigious institutions are exactly what we look for in our senior leadership.”

Elliott brings with him substantial experience as a faculty member and administrator. Prior to his arrival at Baruch College, he served as a professor of accounting at Cornell University’s Johnson School of Business beginning in 1982 and later served as Associate Dean of the school from 1996 to 2002. While at Cornell, he chaired the Johnson School’s Global Task Force as well as task forces on strategy and marketing and also directed its doctoral program.

He has been a visiting professor at the University of Chicago and, before earning his doctorate, held faculty appointments at Central Washington State College, Saint Lawrence University and the University of Maryland.  He also worked in the private sector at Arthur Andersen and Westinghouse.

“We are delighted that someone of John’s caliber will be leading UConn’s School of Business,” said UConn Provost Peter Nicholls. “His charge is to ensure that the upward trend of the school continues nationally and, as importantly, globally, through strategic growth and achievement. Our School of Business, its faculty and our students must be on the cutting edge of this ever-evolving field.”

“The UConn Business School’s trajectory is compelling and the future offers many opportunities,” said Elliott. “I am delighted to join a vigorous, ambitious group of faculty, staff, students and alumni as we embrace that future. President Herbst and Governor Malloy have put education in the forefront of the economic development of Connecticut and the Business School will play a key role in realizing that vision.”

Elliott has authored numerous publications in his field as well as serving at the editorial boards of several distinguished journals including The Journal of Financial Statement Analysis (1995 – 1999), The Accounting Review (1984 – 1987, 1989 – 1995), Accounting Horizons (1994 – 1995) and The Journal of Accounting and Public Policy (1983 – 1985).

He earned his B.S. in Economics from the University of Maryland in 1967, an MBA from Maryland in 1972 and his Ph.D. in Accounting from Cornell University in 1982.

He will begin at UConn in August.  His salary will be $390,000. His immediate family includes: his wife, Laura Philips; son, Jesse Elliott; daughter, Dawn Elliott; her husband Marc Guerissi and grandsons Jack and Nick.