At the beginning of this month, the Teaching and Research Committee met and evaluated nominations for the annual Faculty Awards. A total of nine winners, a runner up, and two honorable mentions were awarded.
Under the Research category the winners are Sarah Rice and David Weber for Best Paper. Their paper is titled “How Effective is Internal Control Reporting under SOZ 404? Determinants of the (Non-) Disclosure of Existing Material Weaknesses.” Continue Reading
On Thursday March 22, 2012, the MS in Business Analytics and Project Management (MSBAPM) held its second MSBAPM/Industry Networking Event in the Graduate Business Learning Center (GBLC) in downtown Hartford, co-sponsored with Swiss Re, the leading global reinsurance company, based in Zurich. Swiss Re was represented by Michael O. Van Dusen PMP, Director, Operations, Business Engineering, Swiss Re America Holding; Peter Langan, Xinwei Zhang, and Patricia Quinn. Several faculty and staff from the Operations and Information Management (OPIM) department and students from the MSBAPM program also attended.
After a meet and greet, the executives gave an overview of Swiss Re and the Business Engineering (BEN) group, which does internal consulting projects for the firm. Projects may involve process improvement, change management, etc., and can range in size from one million dollars to several hundred million dollars. The executives then ran a small teamwork and collaboration game to illustrate the importance of communication and teamwork in projects. The winning team was thrilled to receive Swiss chocolates as a reward! The executives then resumed discussion on project work and ended the talk with an overview of salary and job prospects for students trained in project management. Everyone had a good time.
Picture: Swiss Re Exec. Michael O. Van Dusen speaking.
The University of Connecticut MBA Program rose several spots in the US News & World Report’s 2013 Best Graduate School Rankings.
“It’s always flattering to be considered among the best graduate business programs in the country,” said Michael J. Deotte, director of the full-time MBA Program. “Positive rankings such as this, however, merely reflect our steadfast commitment to affordable, quality graduate management education.”
UConn’s full-time MBA Program ranks 61st (31st among public business schools); the part-time MBA Program ranks 52nd among part-time programs.Continue Reading
John A. Elliott has been named the new dean of the University of Connecticut’s School of Business. Elliott has been the Vice President and Dean of the City University of New York’s (CUNY) Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College since 2002, where he also holds the Irwin and Arlene Ettinger Chair in Accountancy. Baruch is home to the largest business school in the United States with 80% of its 18,300 undergraduate and graduate students majoring in business.
“John is a highly successful sitting dean who has had a distinguished scholarly career and clearly understands academic and educational excellence at the highest levels,” said UConn President Susan Herbst. “His experience and background at these prestigious institutions are exactly what we look for in our senior leadership.”
Elliott brings with him substantial experience as a faculty member and administrator. Prior to his arrival at Baruch College, he served as a professor of accounting at Cornell University’s Johnson School of Business beginning in 1982 and later served as Associate Dean of the school from 1996 to 2002. While at Cornell, he chaired the Johnson School’s Global Task Force as well as task forces on strategy and marketing and also directed its doctoral program.
He has been a visiting professor at the University of Chicago and, before earning his doctorate, held faculty appointments at Central Washington State College, Saint Lawrence University and the University of Maryland. He also worked in the private sector at Arthur Andersen and Westinghouse.
“We are delighted that someone of John’s caliber will be leading UConn’s School of Business,” said UConn Provost Peter Nicholls. “His charge is to ensure that the upward trend of the school continues nationally and, as importantly, globally, through strategic growth and achievement. Our School of Business, its faculty and our students must be on the cutting edge of this ever-evolving field.”
“The UConn Business School’s trajectory is compelling and the future offers many opportunities,” said Elliott. “I am delighted to join a vigorous, ambitious group of faculty, staff, students and alumni as we embrace that future. President Herbst and Governor Malloy have put education in the forefront of the economic development of Connecticut and the Business School will play a key role in realizing that vision.”
Elliott has authored numerous publications in his field as well as serving at the editorial boards of several distinguished journals including The Journal of Financial Statement Analysis (1995 – 1999), The Accounting Review (1984 – 1987, 1989 – 1995), Accounting Horizons (1994 – 1995) and The Journal of Accounting and Public Policy (1983 – 1985).
He earned his B.S. in Economics from the University of Maryland in 1967, an MBA from Maryland in 1972 and his Ph.D. in Accounting from Cornell University in 1982.
He will begin at UConn in August. His salary will be $390,000. His immediate family includes: his wife, Laura Philips; son, Jesse Elliott; daughter, Dawn Elliott; her husband Marc Guerissi and grandsons Jack and Nick.
The National Black MBA Association Westchester/Greater Connecticut Chapter (WGC) named the University of Connecticut School of Business the 2012 Educational Institution of the Year. This award recognizes different organizations and businesses for their successful efforts in encouraging the development of African American students. UConn has provided commitment and resources towards both the programming and membership initiatives in relation to the WGC’s outreach to the high school, undergraduate, and graduate community in Westchester County and Greater Connecticut.
Last summer the Office of Diversity Initiatives (ODI) at the UConn School of Business hosted the National Black MBA Association’s Leaders of Tomorrow (LOT) 10th Annual National Business Case Competition. The case competition, held on the Storrs campus, challenged high school students all across the country to excel at the highest levels of analysis, public speaking, strategic planning financial analysis, marketing, and management. After being trained by members of the National Black MBA Association, Inc., the teams analyzed a graduate school Harvard-style business case. They then presented recommendations, forecasts, and implications before judges from the highest levels of business and academia. The winning teams received thousands of dollars in scholarship prizes.
The University of Connecticut continues to show its support of the WGC and its dedication to helping encourage higher education in the youth of our community. The Office of Diversity Initiatives enhances the School of Business’ outreach to high-quality student applicants and prospective faculty through its initiatives with high schools, colleges, universities, and minority business/professional organizations. ODI’s goals include outreach and service excellence. This is accomplished by increasing the admissions of high-quality minority students at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the School of Business, and by providing scholarships, fellowships, mentors and role models to help foster high retention rates and success within the University of Connecticut and the School of Business.
The School of Business Executive Education Business Mastery Program for Public Service Professionals held its certificate ceremony at the Graduate Business Learning Center (GBLC) in Hartford on December 15. Dr. Robert Bird, Associate Professor in UConn’s Marketing Department, welcomed honorees, friends and family, distinguished guests and program faculty and staff. He also shared experiences from his course module, Introduction to Employment Law. Dr. Karla Fox, Dean of the School of Business, addressed the group with congratulatory remarks. Other distinguished guests attending the ceremony and assisting Dean Fox with the distribution of certificates included: Department of Transportation Commissioner James Redeker; UConn Director of the Institute of Material Sciences, Dr. Harris Marcus; State Health Care Advocate, Victoria Veltri, JD, LLM; Department of Public Health Deputy Commissioner, Lisa Davis; Department of Social Services Operations Manager, George Chamberlin; Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Developmental Services, Joseph Drexler; and Chief of Quality and Planning, Department of Children and Families, Fernando Muniz.
In closing the ceremony, Dr. Lucy Gilson, Associate Professor in UConn’s Management Department, remarked that she recently brought her MBA change management class to the GBLC to hear Governor Malloy give a speech stating that Connecticut is, “open for business,” and “we are going to compete.” In this speech Governor Malloy outlined a number of changes that the state had made and was in the processes of making to encourage, support, and facilitate business as well as attract new companies and industries to our state. More specifically however, he talked about how we needed to reposition Connecticut to attract and keep current industries. He also discussed how UConn could work in tandem with the state to meet these goals. “Tonight, I believe we are taking a big step toward achieving this goal,” noted Professor Gilson. “The business mastery program which tonight’s honorees have completed helps to insure that our state employees have the managerial tools necessary for us to compete” she added.
Certificate recipients honored included: Bruce Bourgoin, Department of Transportation; YoungHee Chudy, UConn; Patricia Dunn, UConn/Department of Social Services; Africka Hinds-Ayala, Office of Health Care Advocacy; David Madonna, Department of Public Health; Elieen McMurrer, Sharon O’Neill and Wayne Seidel, Department of Developmental Services; Tricia Morelli, Department of Social Services; Cristina Pereira, formerly of Department of Transportation; Marc Petruzzi, Department of Public Safety; Ilia Stranko, Department of Children and Families.
The two-course Public Service Professionals Certificate Program offers Introduction to Management and Introduction to Employment Law & Government Processes. Participants either earn 4 undergraduate or 3 graduate non-degree credits per course. To date, 59 participants have completed the program from agencies and departments, throughout the State. By providing customized educational opportunities to public service professionals, the program enhances participants’ skills, while benefiting State agencies and the residents of the State of Connecticut. Our alumni have credited the program with networking and promotional opportunities as well as the development of advanced management skills. Testimonials on the value and benefits of the program can be found at: www.business.uconn.edu/publicservice.
Pictured (top right): Business Mastery Program for Public Service Professionals 2012 Certificate Recipients, Dean Karla Fox, Faculty and Staff. Pictured (above, left to right): Dr. Robert Bird, Professor of Business Law; Dr. Lucy Gilson, Professor of Management; Mary Palmer, Program Manager; Nancy Brouillet, Adjunct Instructor.
Dr. Kramer Awarded Chapter Award by the CT Chapter of American College of Health Care Administrators
Dr. Jeffrey Kramer, Director of Programs in Healthcare and Insurance Studies, was honored by the Connecticut Chapter of the American College of Health Care Administrators at their Annual Holiday Luncheon held on Friday, December 2, 2011. Professor Kramer received a Chapter Award for his many years of service in promoting the profession of long-term care administration, and especially for mentoring the numerous individuals who currently serve as Administrators in Connecticut’s nursing homes.
Professor Kramer received his BA, MBA, and Ph.D all from UConn. He specializes in the study of managed care and long term-term health care organizations. He also has served as a key investigator for utilization review programs, a study evaluating the performance of managed care organizations, and a study examining the effects of deregulation of private pay rates in long-term health care facilities.
Photo: Dr. Jeffrey Kramer
On November 18th, 2011, at the Widener University in Chester, PA, Pi Sigma Epsilon, held their National Speakers Competition. Armando Jimenez, a junior studying business management with a concentration in entrepreneurship at the University of Connecticut, and a member of the Epsilon Omega Chapter on campus, won first place in the national competition. Jimenez said that he went out for the competition because he enjoys public speaking, it sets him apart from his peers, and it allows him to influence diverse audiences.
Jimenez gave a 6-minute speech discussing the “9 Realities of Life.” The speech touched upon realities and truths that go overlooked in our daily lives. Through the sharing of personal experiences and information that Jimenez learned from others he was able to mention points relative to career, academia, and personal realities. Jimenez said, “the purpose of my speech was to bring awareness to my peers about some of the things we (as a society) do not pay close attention to.”
Jimenez gave his speech to a panel of professional and peer judges and placed first. He won a Pi Sigma Epsilon national convention package to Indianapolis, IN, in March, where he will have the opportunity to emcee a keynote presentation at the week-long event.
Photo: Armando Jimenez giving his speech
The University of Connecticut School of Business team won the 2011 Travelers IT case competition. The competition is held annually by the Travelers IT Leadership Development Program that pairs talented college students with realistic business scenarios. It is a great opportunity for students to showcase their technical and business abilities, and helps demonstrate the importance of strong research, teamwork, and presentation skills.
This year’s team included Dr. Wei-Kuang Huang, Associate Professor in Residence, Operations and Information Management Department, as the faculty advisor and the following students:
The participating schools for this year’s competition included University of Minnesota (Carlson School of Management), Central Connecticut State University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Quinnipiac University, Metropolitan State University and UConn. This year’s topic of the competition dealt with Agile software development and project management. During the three weeks prior to the competition, the team put forward tremendous amounts of effort and time discuss issues, researching solutions, and rehearsing their presentation.
On Friday, November 18, 2011, the team presented their final work along with other participating schools in front a panel of 7 judges. Our students, being poised and prepared, came out on top, representing UConn with great pride. This is the third time UConn won the Travelers IT case competition in the past four years.
*Justin participated in the first two weeks but was unable to continue due to medical constraints.
On Thursday, Nov 17, 2011, the MS in Business Analytics and Project Management (MSBAPM) held its first MSBAPM/Industry Networking Event in the Graduate Business Learning Center (GBLC) in downtown Hartford, co-sponsored with The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. In addition to several faculty from the Operations and Information Management (OPIM) department, several top executives from The Hartford were in attendance. These included Ruben Fechner, VP Commercial Lines; Sundar Subramanian, AVP Commercial Lines; Nitin Korgonkar, Director IT Program Management; Chris Ross, Director IT Program Management; and Betty Davis, Director IT Program Management.
The event started with a wine and cheese networking hour, followed by a very interactive presentation by all the executives from The Hartford, led by Mr. Fechner, on The Hartford’s approach to project management. Students were told how The Hartford focuses on the customer (both end customer and business sponsor) in a DMAIC/Six Sigma process that hones in on Critical to Quality (CTQs) characteristics of products and processes right from the project initiation phase to project completion. The emphasis is single-mindedly on on-time, on-budget, to-scope and ROI on all their projects, and the project team would not hesitate to pull the plug on projects that do not perform on all these metrics. The presentation was peppered with questions from the audience with all the executives joining in to share their experiences in answering each question. The Hartford team then talked about what makes a good Project Leader, not just a project manager, someone who would inspire, be decisive, be detail oriented and analytical, be accountable and be a good communicator. They were not looking for someone to merely be a “project reporter,” since that information can easily be gathered from Earned Value analysis. The presentation ended with Mr. Fechner saying that products can be copied by competitors, but project management skills in the team cannot be easily replicated, and therefore can be a competitive advantage.