Author: Claire Hall

EBV Program Welcomes Veterans for 2013 Bootcamp

Posted on by Claire Hall

Kicking off the annual week-long Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV), the UConn School of Business welcomed this year’s incoming class of veterans at a dinner reception on Friday evening, October 4.

Following a welcome from Michael Zacchea ’12 MBA, EBV program manager, keynote speaker Dawn Halfaker inspired the crowd by sharing her story. A decorated war hero and entrepreneur, Halfaker is a former Military Police Officer in the United States Army who commanded a military police platoon in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. She was subsequently wounded during a combat patrol near Baghdad in 2004, earning a Purple Heart and Bronze Star for her service. Halfaker is now president and chief executive officer of Halfaker & Associates, LLC, an award winning professional services and technology solutions firm founded in 2006, and employs more than 100 people including a workforce of almost 50 veterans.

Entertainment for the evening was provided by UConn a-cappella group, Conn-Men.

About the EBV

In 2010, UConn’s School of Business was honored to become one of eight members of the EBV Consortium of business schools and universities. The EBV program offers cutting edge, experiential training in entrepreneurship and small business management to post-9/11 veterans with disabilities resulting from their service to our country.

The School of Business is proud to participate in this very special program that helps give back to individuals who have sacrificed for our country. EBV demonstrates the power of entrepreneurship in our communities by fostering an essential route for job creation and economic vitality.

To date, the UConn EBV has helped 42 veterans open 45 businesses, and to place another eight veterans in full-time jobs.

Pictured: Dawn Halfaker, Michael Zacchea, Justin Nash ’14 MBA, a 2012 EBV graduate and founder of Veteran Construction Services, and School of Business Dean John A. Elliott. (Photo courtesy of Lynn Luczkowski, L2 Communications)

School of Business Welcomes 11 New Faculty Members

Posted on by Claire Hall

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

Posted on by Claire Hall

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

Posted on by Claire Hall

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

Posted on by Claire Hall

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

Posted on by Claire Hall

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

Posted on by Claire Hall

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

Marketing Department Fall 2013 Newsletter Now Available

Posted on by Claire Hall

Education takes many roads! In January, Professor Bill Ross led an MBA group to Lyon, France, and in June, Professor Robin Coulter led the Executive MBA Class of 2014 on their trip to Beijing, China (see the photos here). Both trips were filled with enriching academic and cultural experiences.

We are pleased to share these with you in our latest newsletter, along with exciting updates from our undergraduate, graduate, and Ph.D. programs here in Connecticut.

>>Access the Fall 2013 Marketing Department Newsletter (PDF)

In this issue, you’ll read about our undergraduate students who developed a promotional and advertising campaign for the Honda Civic sedan and graduate students who tackled marketing challenges for The Palace – Stamford Center for the Arts and News America Marketing.

You’ll find that we are also looking forward to some exciting research: Professors Hongju Liu, Nicholas Lurie, and Joseph Pancras received prestigious Marketing Science Institute grants for their proposals on mobile marketing.

View the full newsletter here to learn more. We are looking forward to a great 2013-14 academic year!

Marketing Professor, CIBER Director Receives AMA Global Marketing Award

Posted on by Claire Hall

Professor Subhash Jain, Marketing Department, has been selected by the Board of the American Marketing Association Global Marketing Special Interest Group (GlobalSIG) to receive the AMA Global Marketing SIG’s 2013 Significant Contributions to Global Marketing Award. This eminent award recognizes a marketing educator for a lifetime of significant contributions to the field. The key criterion is the achievement of a record that has influenced the advancement of global marketing and thought.

Jain, director of the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) at UConn School of Business, was commended for his research, teaching, and service contributions that have helped disseminate global marketing knowledge across the globe. The award was presented by Secretary of the Global Marketing SIG, Professor Frank Franzak of Virginia Commonwealth University, at the Global Marketing SIG Member Reception. The reception was held on Saturday, August 10, 2013 at the Boston Marriott Copley Place in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of the American Marketing Association 2013 Educators’ Conference.

Pictured: Professor Frank Franzak, Virginia Commonwealth University, Marketing Department Head Robin Coulter, UConn, and Professor Subhash Jain, UConn.

Accounting Professor Receives National Educator Award

Posted on by Claire Hall

Richard Hurley ’94 Ph.D., professor of accounting at the UConn School of Business, received the prestigious National Educator Award from the Association of Government Accountants (AGA) on July 17. The award, which “was formally established to recognize an individual who has made significant contributions to educating and training government financial managers for more than two decades,” was presented to Professor Hurley at the Association’s Annual Professional Development Conference (PDC) training event in Dallas, Texas.

From the Association of Government Accountants (AGA):

“Dr. Hurley received this award in recognition of his vast contributions to the education and training of accountability professionals and students in advancing financial management. His presentations, courses and writings cover a wide range of accountability topics and his expertise as a practitioner and university professor is quite evident. He consistently receives excellent evaluations of his work and is well-respected in the field of government financial management. Dr. Hurley is a member of the AGA New York Capital Chapter.

Dr. Hurley has been a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the State of New York for 30 years and has also been a licensed Attorney in the State of New York for over 35 years and is licensed to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Tax Court.

He has written the fraud edge column for Fraud Magazine, which is a column devoted to fraud education for the benefit of academics and practitioners, and he currently co-authors a column entitled Global Fraud Focus.

He is also a member of the New York Society of CPA’s and is a member of the Forensic Litigation Services Committee of the State Society and a member of the Anti-Money Laundering & Counter Terrorist Financing Committee.

Dr. Hurley has written and presented in the field of accounting and security fraud and auditing issues related to fraud detection and prevention. Dr. Hurley teaches MBA courses in Financial Accounting and Reporting, Financial Statement Analysis, Forensic Accounting & Fraud Examination for UConn in Stamford, Connecticut where he has been a professor for 14 years.”

Professor Hurley will be giving several presentations this upcoming fall, speaking to three AGA chapters: Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; and Lincoln, Nebraska. He will also be speaking at the annual investigator’s conference for MetLife and John Hancock this coming October.