November 15, 2018
One of the most embarrassing things that has happened to Karl El-Mir, a senior in the School of Business and a forward on the UConn Men’s Hockey Team, is stepping on a hockey puck and taking a fall during warm-ups.Continue Reading
Carine Dumit, senior policy advisor at Tesla, was the keynote speaker at a recent event hosted by the UConn Net Impact Graduate Chapter. Her discussion focused on the electric vehicle industry and its role in creating clean energy. She said the most common questions among new customers are: What does an electric vehicle cost? And where can I charge it?
The program was in partnership with the Connecticut Sustainable Business Council and the Graduate Business Association and was attended by 40 MBA and MSBAPM students and professors. The Nov. 7 program was at the GBLC in Hartford.
November 1st marks one of the most important days in Poland. It is the annual national holiday All Saints Day, which is followed by on November 2nd with All Souls Day, also sometimes known as The Day of the Dead. This is an official public holiday so all schools, banks, businesses, and offices are closed. Special church services are held at the cemeteries to commemorate the saints and people lay flowers and candles on the graves of the deceased family members and friends. It is believed that these candles help the departed souls find their way through the darkness. The graves in Poland are very unique as families invest a lot of time and money to ensure that the grave for their loved ones are beautiful and grand.
This weekend was a very special one to me that created tremendous emotion within me and left me with a wonderful forever memory. I traveled to visit my grandmother in Lomza, Poland. Lomza is a small city a bit over an hour from Warsaw, the capital of Poland. I rarely have the occasion to see my babcia (polish word for grandmother) since we live across the Atlantic from each other, so when I asked her if I could visit her for the holiday weekend it sparked tremendous happiness within both of us. I have only had the chance to visit Poland in the summer months in the past, so I knew that this would be probably one of my only opportunities to celebrate of my passed family.
Preparation for November 1st sure is a process. My babcia was telling me about how the week leading up to it she spent her days cleaning all the graves and searching for the most beautiful flower bouquets and candles before all the shops were deserted of the items in order to complete her project of decorating the graves. When we arrived, there was a rush of crowds all scrambling to make it to the prayers hosted at the cemetery. It almost reminded me of a small carnival as there were flowers and candles being sold on every street corner, bread baskets for people to munch on, and even cotton candy for the kids. Not one grave went undecorated. As seen in my photo most graves have benches planted next to them so that family and friends could sit for a while and spend time with their beloved ones. As we traveled from one grave to another my babcia told me about the individuals and their history. It was incredible to be able to listen about my family’s past and to share a few tears with my grandma because these topics often go unspoken about.
In Poland, holiday meals are especially sacred and the family dinners were filled with specifically planned meals including bigos, pierogi, soups, and potatoes. Every day the table for breakfast, lunch and dinner was filled with freshly baked pastries, traditional polish cuisine, coffee and tea. It was incredible to see how much food I could consume in one weekend, as saying no to a grandmother’s food is especially hard! All the travelling I have done these past two months has been unreal, but this weekend was extra special.
Kasia Kolc
Student, UConn School of Business
Kasia Kolc is a senior studying Accounting. She is writing this blog as part of her scholarship from the Global Business Programs Office. Kasia interned at PwC, a Big 4 public accounting firm, this past summer. She had also interned in Wealth Management at Merrill Lynch and Janney Montgomery Scott. A fun fact about Kasia is that she was a girl scout in the Polish Scouting Organization for 10 years.
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November 14, 2018
UConn’s Student Managed Fund is one of the oldest, and most successful, experiential learning programs in the country, and will be featured in a special issue of Managerial Finance, dedicated to SMFs. Professors Chinmoy Ghosh, finance department head, Paul Gilson, and Michel Rakotomavo wrote an article highlighting the history, purpose, performance and the future of the UConn program, and the special features that have contributed to its success.
The UConn program was founded in 2000 and began operation during the 2002-2003 academic year. The total number of students active in the UConn SMF program this year now exceeds 40, and the size of the portfolio exceeds $4.5 million. Most years, the SMF teams outperformed the S&P 500 Index, and the projected long-term performance measured by the SMF benchmark is also superior.
The professors noted that a key objective of the program is to train students in asset selection and portfolio management with a methodical, disciplined approach to investment, with special focus on process, philosophy and style. Another important dimension of the program is to instill the virtues of financial prudence, diligence, team-spirit and professionalism.
November 13, 2018
The UConn Finance Department offers the top finance program in Connecticut and one of the best in the nation, according to College Factual.
UConn’s finance program was ranked No. 21 out of 389 schools nationwide, up five places from last year. This puts the program in the Top 10 percent of finance programs in the United States.
The UConn program was also ranked No. 1 in Connecticut, rising from second place last year.
“We are excited that the excellence of our program has been recognized by College Factual, and grateful for the hard work and dedication of our faculty, who prepare our students so well for their careers in finance,” said Chinmoy Ghosh, department head.
The publication, based in Troy, N.Y., is a leading source of college data analytics. Editors said that UConn features “superior outcomes for students earning finance and finance management degrees.” It also noted that average early-career earnings of UConn finance graduates are above $54,000, while mid-career earnings exceed $88,000, both significantly above the average.
Silicon Angle – If anybody wants a good job in technology these days, they’re going to have to get familiar with data analytics. Heck, a lot of jobs outside of tech are starting to demand some data literacy. Savvy schools are helping students pregame for the job hunt with courses that teach hands-on data analytics.
Alumnus Michael Koppel ’78, the former executive vice president and chief financial officer of retail giant Nordstrom Inc., and his family, have given a generous gift in support of students participating in an international, business-immersion program.Continue Reading
November 12, 2018
In Philip Dick’s “A Minority Report,” Tom Cruise walks through a mall where his character’s name is called out by a screen and he is addressed for an ultra-targeted Guinness ad.Continue Reading
November 9, 2018
On select Tuesday nights, senior Radhika Kanaskar pops on warm boots and a heavy coat, and prepares for her management information systems class at UConn’s Spring Valley Farm.Continue Reading