Month: September 2013


School of Business Welcomes 11 New Faculty Members

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.


New Undergraduate Financial Management Major Introduced to Stamford Campus

The new undergraduate financial management major was introduced to the School of Business’ Stamford campus on Thursday, August 29. The first class includes 17 business students. The financial management major offered only at the UConn Stamford campus is specifically designed to prepare students for careers in corporate money management and investment. The curriculum is closely tied to professional financial services practice. It was developed in partnership with the Stamford Chartered Financial Analysts Society (SCFAS), and prepares students to take the first level of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams which leads to the CFA designation. The unique program will include support from the society with mentoring and introductions to the various financial institutions in the tri-state area.

The first class will graduate in May 2014.

Pictured: The financial management students along with Professor Katherine Pancak, Professor John Knopf, Program Manager Marlys Rizzi, Executive Director for the School of Business at UConn Stamford Jud Saviskas, and Finance Department Head Chinmoy Ghosh.


Student/Alumni Networking Event Marks the Start of a New Academic Year

The start of a new semester is an excellent time to strengthen connections and welcome in new students. That is just what happened at The Society Room on August 22 in downtown Hartford, as the UConn School of Business community welcomed in new students entering into the MBA, Master of Science in Financial Risk Management (MSFRM), and Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBAPM). Continue Reading


Doctoral Student Awarded as Promising Young Educator

Management doctoral student Nicole Jones received the Promising Young Educator Award at the Ph.D. Project Management Doctoral Students Association Conference, held August 7-9, 2013.

A peer and self-nominated award, the Promising Young Educator Award is given annually to the Ph.D. Project Management Doctoral Student Association (MDSA) member who has demonstrated teaching excellence during the current academic year. Jones, a third-year doctoral student, received an exceptional teaching rating. Students’ evaluation of teaching gave her a 5.0 of 5.0 in both the MBA course, Gender & Diversity, and undergraduate course, Organizational Behavior. Teaching evaluations are considered in the nomination process among other criteria including a statement of teaching philosophy, teaching role and scope of responsibilities, number of courses, number of students, student population, teaching awards received, and class syllabus.

Jones also recently passed the General Exam, a major milestone in the School of Business doctoral program. She is active in Ph.D. minority recruitment and in other Ph.D. initiatives such as the Planning Committee for the U21 Doctoral Research Conference in Business (DRCB), which was hosted by the UConn School of Business April 10-13, 2012.

The Ph.D. Project’s expansive network helps African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and Native Americans attain their business Ph.D., become business professors, and mentor the next generation. School of Business Dean John A. Elliott, then at the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College, was one of the inaugural inductees into the Ph.D. Project Hall of Fame in 2011.


Sulin Ba Named Associate Dean of Academic and Research Support

The UConn School of Business is pleased to announce that Professor Sulin Ba has accepted the new position of associate dean of academic and research support in the Dean’s Office of the School of Business, effective September 6, 2013. Ba joined the UConn faculty in 2002 as an associate professor in the Department of Operations and Information Management (OPIM) after beginning her career at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California (USC). She was promoted to full professor in 2011.

Professor Ba holds a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. She has a distinguished research record and works on health IT, various issues around online behavior, and on internal market mechanisms. Several of her papers have been recognized by best paper awards including Best IS Publication of the Year (2010) and MIS Quarterly Best Paper of the Year (2000). She was recently awarded the School of Business Research Excellence Award for her nationally and internationally recognized scholarship and long term impact on UConn research. She is the co-principal investigator (co-PI) on two National Natural Science Foundation of China research grants.

Ba has extensive international experience including associations with Fudan University, Universitat Mannheim, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and City University of Hong Kong. She has been active with the Connecticut Information Technology Institute (CITI) and Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) at the School of Business and has been involved in experiential learning for the last eight years. Recently, Ba led a team of Management Information Systems (MIS) students in developing a Microsoft SQL Server based Enforcement and Examination Tracking System for the Consumer Credit Division of the Connecticut Department of Banking. Her corporate engagements have included many Connecticut companies, nonprofits, and government organizations.


Business Law Faculty Takes Center Stage at Annual Conference

The Business Law Faculty in the School of Business participated in the 88th annual Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) conference, held in Boston, Massachusetts on August 6-10, 2013. The conference featured presentations, workshops, and panels, and hundreds of legal scholars from around the world gathered to discuss a variety of legal and pedagogical topics. Continue Reading