This article first appeared in the UConn Business magazine, Volume 4, Issue 2 (Spring 2014)

Faculty & Staff

Sudip Bhattacharjee, associate professor of OPIM, was invited to serve as a member of the 2014 Selects Committee for the premiere INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics and Operations Research held March 30.

Assistant Professor Paul Borochin and Professor Joseph Golec, both of the finance department, presented “Using Options to Measure the Full Value-Effect of an Event: Application to the Healthcare Reform Act” to the University community on February 7. 

Mark DeAngelis, assistant professor-in-residence of business law, presented “Using Music and Humor to Engage Students” at the Business Educator’s Conference in San Diego, CA on March 6 and 7.

On April 3, Professor Ram Gopal, department head of OPIM, was honored as the Distinguished Ph.D. Alumnus at SUNY Buffalo’s School of Management annual Ph.D. Showcase celebrating professional accomplishments and excellence in research.

Subhash C. Jain, professor of marketing and director of UConn’s Center for International Business Education & Research (CIBER), recently retired.

Xinxin Li, associate professor of OPIM and Ackerman Scholar, received the Best Reviewer award for 2013 from Information Systems Research.

The Interdisciplinary Workshop Series on Creativity featured Roni Reiter-Palmon, Isaacson Professor of I/O Psychology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha on February 17, UConn’s Travis Grosser, assistant professor of management, on February 24, and Nora Madjar-Nanovska, associate professor of management, on March 13.

Professor and ING Global Chair Bill Ross, along with co-authors Professor Joseph Golec and Hang Thu Nguyen (Michigan State University) received the Best Paper award in the Branding Track at Winter AMA 2014 for their paper titled, “Acquisition Value Creation: The Role of Marketing Relationships in Uncertain Environments.”

Programs & Initiatives

The UConn School of Business debuted at #42 in the 2014 “Best for Vets” ranking by the Military Times.

In February, the business school approved the newly redesigned Business Data Analytics undergraduate major, formerly known as Business and Technology.

In March, the State of Connecticut’s Office of Higher Education granted STEM designation for UConn’s MS in Financial Risk Management (MSFRM).

The UConn School of Business Accounting Department is launching an online Accounting Certificate Program (ACP) in fall 2014. The 4-course, graduate-level sequence provides a deeper understanding of accounting and also satisfies prerequisites for admission into UConn’s MSA program.

Students

Marking UConn’s first time participating in the prominent Rotman International Trading Competition (RITC), the representing team captured third place in the Quantitative Outcry Case. Making up UConn’s team were Brian Asselin ’14 MSFRM, Chad Belanger ’14 MSFRM, Matt Dyer ’14 MSFRM, and Tejas Patel ’14 MSFRM.

On March 27, students Jaimin Bhatt ’15 MBA,  Xiaoying Gan ’15 MBA, Ashish Kumar ’15 MBA and Carlo Rivieccio ’15 MBA won first place in the inaugural MBA Case Competition with client partner Global Brigades.

For the second year in a row, UConn MBAs won first place in the APICS Northeast Supply Chain Business Case Competition held February 7-8 in Albany, NY. The winning “Grand Champion” team, comprising Jaimin Bhatt ’15 MBA, Mohit Ganotra ’15 MBA, and Bhupender Singh ’15 MBA, will represent the Northeast District in the APICS International Student Team Competition scheduled for October in New Orleans.

On April 5, UConn MIS undergraduates Tyler Campbell ’14, Dan Marquis ’14 and Yue Zhu ’14 won second place (after host Minnesota) at the CoMIS Business IT Case Competition. Other participating schools included Arizona, Arizona State, Emory, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan State, UT-Austin and UT-Dallas.

Ashish Kumar ’15 MBA received the Best Presentation award at the 2014 Illinois MBA Strategy Case Competition held February 6-8. Ash, along with team members Tugba Onder ’14 MBA, Pornpong Lueang-A-Papong ’14 MBA, and Sheila Marshall ’15 MBA, competed against teams from University of Illinois, University of Minnesota, Purdue/Krannert, SUNY/Buffalo, Iowa State, Baylor, Washington University at St. Louis, and Hong Kong University of Science & Technology.

Joshua Lagan ’14, one of the Top 10 Student Sports Business Leaders in the country, received the BIG Initiative award at the Michigan Sports Business Conference (MSBC).

Xinyue Li ’14 MSFRM and Debolina Das ’14 MSFRM were selected for the 2014 PRIMA Student Scholarship awards for outstanding academic performance.

The UConn CFA Research Challenge Team consisting of Kamran Momenzadeh, Pornpong Lueang-A-Papong ’14 MBA, Jon Singsen and Jeff Makray ’15 MBA, was victorious in completing the research challenge for the local Hartford region and advanced to the Americas Regional finals.

Tingyu Zhou ’14 Ph.D. is the first beneficiary of the recently established Jou Family Scholarship Fund.

Alumni

John Fodor ’85 (CLAS), executive vice president, sales & distribution, The Capital Group/American Funds, was named the 2012-13 Outstanding Alumnus for his exceptional support of the marketing department, including the recent establishment of the Fodor Family Scholarship Fund.

Events

The School of Business co-hosted the 100 Women in Hedge Funds education session, “How the FBI Investigates Insider Trading,” featuring FBI Supervisory Special Agent David A. Chaves, at UConn Stamford on January 15.

On January 29, Jen Shirkani, CEO and president of Penumbra, presented a seminar to students and faculty on emotional intelligence (EQ) and how it contributes to success in the workplace.

The fourth annual Ph.D. Student Speaker Series welcomed Derek Avery, professor of human resource management at Temple University’s Fox School of Business, on February 10, to present “I’ll take the white one: A closer look at customer discrimination,” and John Campbell of Harvard University on April 14 presenting “Monetary Policy Drivers of Bond and Equity Risks.”

On February 11, the third annual UConn Innovation Quest (iQ) program kicked off. Designed to foster creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship across campus, iQ features students with new ideas for products or services competing for cash prizes up to $15,000.

On April 4, the marketing department hosted the 2014 ING Global Colloquium, Social Media Insights: Implications for Digital Marketing & Analytics. Speakers and their presentations included: Nicholas Lurie (University of Connecticut), “Going Mobile: Characteristics and Perceived Value of Mobile Word of Mouth,” Wendy Moe (University of Maryland) “Social Media Intelligence: Behaviors, Biases and Brand Tracking,”  Sarah Moore (University of Alberta) “Material Words: Explaining Language in Word of Mouth,”  and Olivier Toubia (Columbia University) “Improving Penetration Forecasts Using Social Interactions Data.”