Author: Claire Hall

‘Leadership is Stamped All Over Her DNA’

Posted on by Claire Hall

Businesses Should Encourage Mentoring for Women, Minorities Says Alumna, SUNY Plattsburgh Dean Rowena Ortiz-Walters ’96, ’05 Ph.D.

A photo on the wall in Rowena Ortiz-Walters’ office shows her spunky 5-year-old daughter nestled happily between her two big brothers, a big, mischievous grin on her face.

“Leadership is stamped all over her DNA. She’s feisty, competitive, strong and confident,” Ortiz-Walters says about her youngest child. “I don’t want that to ever be stripped away from her. I want my daughter, and all young women, to have powerful female role models.”Continue Reading

Election Day Game-Plan

Posted on by Claire Hall
Dean John Elliott speaking from a podium.
Connecticut Secretary of State Denise Merrill and UConn School of Business Dean John Elliott (Av Harris/CT Office of the Secretary of the State)

School of Business to Offer Mandated Training, in Convenient Locations, for State’s 338 Registrars

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill and UConn School of Business Dean John A. Elliott today announced a partnership that will bring formal training and education to the state’s 338 Registrars of Voters for the first time in election history.

“Up until now there has really been no formal way to train new registrars,” Merrill said. “It’s been almost a buddy system, where a new registrar will seek advice from an experienced one and ask how to do the job.”Continue Reading

New Book Explores School of Business’ Ascent

Posted on by Claire Hall

Proceeds from Rob Hoskin’s 75th Anniversary Manuscript to Fund Scholarships

While delving into his family’s genealogy in 2010, UConn Accounting Professor Rob Hoskin realized the value of keeping track of one’s history, both big and small.

For the last five years, in addition to tracing his own roots, Hoskin has explored the vast and ever-changing history of the School of Business, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this academic year.Continue Reading

No Butts About It

Posted on by Claire Hall
Lisa Bisaccia ’85 MBA, speaks to over 300 graduate students. (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)

Lisa Bisaccia ’85 MBA, CVS Executive, Discusses Decision to Yank Tobacco from Store Shelves

Selling cigarettes had long been a point of contention for executives at CVS pharmacy, who felt that the sale of tobacco contradicted the company’s mission to promote good health.

But with CVS consumers spending roughly $2 billion a year on cigarettes, other forms of tobacco, and add-on merchandise, the decision to abandon sales was not one that any retailer could make lightly.Continue Reading

Tulane President Stood Up to Hurricane Katrina—and Won

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Alumni Profile: Scott Cowen ’68

When Tulane University President Scott Cowen bid farewell to the Class of 2005, he had no idea that in just four months, everything the then-171-year-old university embodied would be in jeopardy.

When Hurricane Katrina, the historic and catastrophic Category 5 hurricane, made landfall in New Orleans, and the levees could no longer contain the water, parts of the Tulane campus became a lake. The Big Easy was in shambles. Continue Reading

1941-2016: School of Business Celebrates 75th Anniversary

Posted on by Claire Hall
UConn School of Business 75th Anniversary logo overlayed on a collage of different photos related to higher education.
UConn School of Business 75th Anniversary

If Laurence J. Ackerman, the first dean of the UConn School of Business, could see how the small program he created has grown into an educational powerhouse, no doubt he would be pleased.

The School, then known as the School of Business Administration, started in 1940-1941 with fewer than three dozen students. Its formation was nestled between two seismic events in American history:  The Great Depression and the beginning of U.S. involvement in World War II.Continue Reading

John Mathieu Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Posted on by Claire Hall
Portrait of John Mathieu.
Management Professor John Mathieu (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)

Improving High-Stress Outcomes Drives Mathieu’s Research

Professor John Mathieu is the recipient of a national lifetime achievement award recognizing his exceptional research, teaching and mentoring in the field of group dynamics.

The Joseph E. McGrath Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Study of Groups is given to an individual whose work has shown an enduring commitment to advancing the interdisciplinary science of team behavior, dynamics, and outcomes.Continue Reading

A New Perspective

Posted on by Claire Hall

2016 EMBA South Africa Trip group photo.

A Week in South Africa Proves Life-Altering for EMBA Students

When Executive MBA (EMBA) students Julia Winer and Srinivas Loke travelled to Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa, this summer, as part of their curriculum, they expected to learn about the country’s history, culture and business challenges.

What surprised them both was how profound the experience was, and the way it changed their perspectives on life and business.Continue Reading

What’s the BIG Idea?

Posted on by Claire Hall

Six Finalists from UConn’s ‘Innovation Quest’ Impress Angel Investors

Kyle Mahoney ’18 just finished his freshman year at UConn, but already he has created a therapeutic massage device that he believes will be a retail blockbuster.

Mahoney and his business partner, Chris Brown ’15, were among six teams recognized as the best entrepreneurial ventures in UConn’s highly competitive Innovation Quest. Continue Reading

Broadening Their Horizons

Posted on by Claire Hall

Students Give High Grades to Summer Business Certificate Program

When she graduates from UConn next year, senior Nicole McDonald ’16 wants to use her communication-design major to make the world a more beautiful place.

But she also wants to be able to negotiate a fair contract with clients and have knowledge that will help her if she decides to start her own company.

“If you want to have a career in art, you really have to understand business,” said McDonald. But because her art classes are offered in three-hour blocks, she had trouble squeezing in the business courses she wanted.Continue Reading