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UConn Graduate Programs Ranked Among the Best in the Nation

UConn Today – The University of Connecticut offers graduate programs across a wide variety of fields and disciplines that rank among the very best in the United States, according to rankings released Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report.

“We are proud to see our graduate programs recognized among the nation’s best in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings,” says Provost and Chief Academic Officer Anne D’Alleva. “This achievement reflects the exceptional dedication of our faculty, the talent of our students, and our continued investment in graduate education.”

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2025 HoF Student Honoree – Arianna Landesbaum

Ariana Landesbaum - 2025 Hall of Fame student Fellow
Earning a place in the 2025 Student Hall of Fame is a prestigious honor, one that Arianna Landesbaum has rightfully achieved.

Established in 1993, the UConn School of Business Hall of Fame recognizes alumni and current students who have demonstrated exceptional career success, industry contributions, and community engagement. Arianna embodies these qualities, making her selection as a Student Hall of Fame Fellow a well-earned recognition of her dedication.

Graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Analytics and Information Management in just three years, Arianna is now pursuing a master’s degree in Social Responsibility & Impact in Business. She views this achievement as both an “honor and a blessing,” crediting her success to the unwavering support of her family, professors, mentors, and peers. Throughout her time at UConn, she actively sought to make a difference through leadership, service, and academics, and now, her contributions are being officially recognized.

Arianna’s selection in this highly competitive process stems from her exceptional leadership, innovation, and commitment to social impact. As the former Vice President of Philanthropy for Alpha Chi Omega and an active participant in HuskyTHON, she left a profound mark on the UConn community. Her role in Alpha Chi Omega was particularly defining. She spearheaded efforts to raise awareness for domestic violence through initiatives such as “Walk a Mile.” Under her leadership, the event raised a record-breaking amount for the chapter and provided a platform for survivors to share their stories. Similarly, as a HuskyTHON leader, she helped her team set a new fundraising record for Alpha Chi Omega, raising over $42,000 for Connecticut Children’s Hospital. These experiences reinforced her belief that true leadership is about service, passion, and lasting change.

Arianna’s decision to pursue a master’s degree is driven by her passion for marketing, deep interest in business law, and lifelong commitment to philanthropy. She believes businesses have both the power and responsibility to drive positive change, not just through philanthropy but by embedding ethical practices into operations, marketing, and governance.

In her interview Arianna stated “This degree has shaped my professional goals by showing me that success in business isn’t just about financial growth. It is about making a meaningful difference in the world,”. This sentiment echoes Mahatma Gandhi’s words: “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Arianna has embodied this philosophy throughout her journey.

Her success is rooted in authenticity, a value instilled by her mother, who always reminded her, “Be yourself. Everyone else is taken.” She firmly believes that embracing one’s unique values, characteristics, and perspectives are key to making a meaningful impact. Her advice to students is simple: “Believe in yourself and pursue your goals with confidence.”

With her unwavering dedication and vision, Arianna Landesbaum has left an enduring legacy at UConn, and her impact on the world is only just beginning.



Managers Can Help Their Gen Z Employees Unlock the Power of Meaningful Work − Here’s How

UConn Today – Finding fulfilling and motivating work is a challenge for many people, but it can be especially difficult for those just starting their careers. And as Generation Z professionals – those born between 1997 and 2012 – increasingly seek personalized career paths, managers are tasked with helping employees find meaning in their roles while also meeting organizational goals.

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UConn’s Financial Literacy Course for High Schoolers Expands Our Mission to Serve the Next Generation of Business Students

At the School of Business, our main mission is to prepare our college students to begin or grow their careers and differentiate themselves in the workforce. But it isn’t our exclusive goal.
We also work with Connecticut high schools to ensure that our state’s aspiring youth have the foundation that they need to meet their business and financial goals, as well.

One of the programs I’m most excited about is the School of Business’ Financial Literacy Innovation Program, known as FLIP. The program began in 2019, serving just 20 students. This semester, it drew 140 students to Storrs on Saturdays to learn about financial decision making. The plan is to expand the program to Stamford starting in spring 2025.

The program began with the realization that many high school students were lacking financial knowledge, a problem that could easily derail their futures. Spurred on by the enthusiasm and generosity of our alumni, we welcomed several high schools to participate in the original program. Since then, it has continued to grow.

This year we’ve extended the program from just a spring offering to both spring and fall. We were able to serve some 280 students from more than nine high schools, including Bloomfield, Bristol, Hartford, Windham and Vernon.

One of the highlights of the program is that these high school juniors and seniors are being mentored by UConn business students, who can explain the real-world financial decisions that they make as college students living on limited budgets. Beyond that, they discuss everything from borrowing money to paying taxes to the cost of rent. They also talk about the cost of higher education and the return on investment, as well as the opportunity to start a business at an early age. All these lessons are extremely valuable, but more impactful when delivered by an older peer.

FLIP also introduces high school students to the experience of being on a college campus, something of particular benefit to first-generation students for whom this experience is very new.
Professor Nora Madjar, our associate dean for undergraduate programs, has been deeply invested in FLIP and recognizes the success of the program.

“These high schoolers are now more knowledgeable about bank accounts, credit cards, credit scores and taxes,’’ Nora said. “They are in a great position to manage their finances, and we ask them to share that knowledge with their family and friends as a way to ‘pay it forward.’ ’’

In the School of Business, we want to ensure that the students who come to us do so with eyes wide open and are fully prepared for the next two- to four- years of their growth and education. The FLIP program contributes to that readiness, and we know it makes a difference in the ultimate success of our graduates.

We appreciate the help and support of so many of our alumni and friends in executing this program and ensuring that our high school students are aware of the opportunities that await them.

 

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A Tradition of Generosity: Lawrence Handler ’67 (BUS) Reflects on 58 Straight Years of Giving Back to UConn

UConn Foundation – UConn has certainly seen big changes over the past 58 years, but at least one thing remains constant: Lawrence Handler ’67 (BUS) just keeps giving back. Handler made his first philanthropic gift in 1968 and as he says, “there’s been no reason to stop.”

In honor of National Philanthropy Month, Handler recently answered some questions about what inspires him to stay involved with his beloved University.

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Dean’s Report 2024

Deans Report

Sharing Highlights of a Successful, Innovative Year

The 2024 Dean’s Annual Report is just dropping, and I’m excited to share some of the highlights and accomplishments at the School of Business this year.

Throughout our 20-page report, you’ll find articles, photos, employment statistics, and evidence of the boundless enthusiasm of our students, faculty, alumni and staff. Some of you will receive it in the mail, but in the interest of saving trees and reducing cost, it is also available online.

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Mom Would Be So Proud

UConn Magazine – Working as the head of an investment management firm for 19 years, Steve Wilson found himself frustrated by the gender disparity he saw in the field. He wanted to hire women as investment professionals but struggled to find enough who were trained and qualified.

“I realized that colleges weren’t preparing enough women to enter the field,” Wilson explains. “I think it was a combination of a lack of awareness of career opportunities and perhaps, to some degree, self-selection — with too many fully qualified women thinking ‘I’m not good enough, so I’m not going to try’ or ‘It’s a hostile space, so why would I put myself out there?’”

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Voya Financial Colloquium – 2024

Left to right, Martin Mende, Gergana Nenkov, Anita Rao, and Michael Posner.

The Marketing Department at the UConn School of Business hosted its 12th annual Voya Financial Colloquium on the topic of “Social Responsibility and Impact in Business.” The event, held on Oct 25th, 2024, brought together researchers from diverse perspectives to discuss the role of business in economic, social and environmental sustainability.

“This year’s topic is near and dear to our hearts, as it dovetails with the soft launch of our new MS program in Social Responsibility and Impact in Business. In our program, we think of this as encompassing many areas – it’s not just environmental sustainability, but also economic and social sustainability, as well as fair labor practices, and more,” said UConn Marketing professor Christina Kan, who organized the event.

The colloquium featured four distinguished speakers – Professors Martin Mende, Gergana Nenkov, Anita Rao and Michael Posner – each of whom approached the topic from a different lens – including marketing and law – as well as different methodologies – including experimental and econometric approaches.

The colloquium fostered an energetic discourse between speakers and participants. Faculty and doctoral students from all over the UConn campus attended, including marketing, law and the Human Rights Institute. Also in attendance were guests from UMass and URI.

Below are profiles of the guest speakers and an abstract of their presentations:

Martin Mende, the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation Professor in Services Leadership at Arizona State University, provided an overview of multiple papers at the intersection of a sustainable future and financial inclusion. He first discussed how the United Nations (UN) 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can serve as a fruitful foundation for impactful marketing research, and the areas in which consumer research has made progress, as well as opportunities for future research. Second, he described how financial inclusion is critical for progress toward many of the SDGs. He presented insights from field studies on how mainstream banks can more successfully operate in banking deserts by increasing consumers’ perception of communal financial orientation. He also shared results from a series of studies on racial discrimination in financial loan services.

Gergana Nenkov is Associate Professor of Marketing at the Carroll School of Management, and Affiliate Faculty at the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, Boston College. Her presentation featured research on how to enhance environmental sustainability. While the “3Rs” of sustainable living – reduce, reuse, recycle – have been widely promoted, consumer practices that reduce consumption waste by extending products’ lifespan have more direct environmental benefits. Professor Nenkov shared research identifying strategies to extend product lifespans through encouraging consumers to: 1) reuse and 2) repair their products. She found that transformation salience (i.e., giving products a new life by transforming them) can be harnessed to increase the duration of product usage. She also shared insights that promoting repair behavior as a commitment to one’s products can be an effective communication strategy, especially among a brand’s loyal consumers, who are particularly inclined to upgrade rather than repair their branded possessions.

Anita Rao, the Beyer Family Associate Professor of Marketing at Georgetown University, explored how animal welfare labels impact consumer demand for fresh meat products in the German grocery retailing sector. Her research approach exploits the quasi-experimental variation in consumers’ exposure to the label to measure the impact on (i) choices of meat labeled with the highest animal welfare standard, and (ii) the change in the willingness to pay for meat associated with the highest animal welfare standard. Her findings reveal that the share of households’ meat purchases with the highest animal welfare standards goes up by 2.19 percentage points and the willingness to pay increases by 0.31 (EUR/500g) for the average German household after the label introduction. Altogether, her research speaks to the notion that consumers are actually willing to change their behavior when presented with accurate information on the conditions under which animals are raised.

Michael Posner is the Jerome Kohlberg Professor of Ethics and Finance at NYU’s Stern School of Business, and the Director of the Center for Business and Human Rights at the School, the first-ever human rights center at a business school. He offered a thought-provoking presentation on human rights in business. He noted that over the last 30 years, there has been increasing attention to the obligations of global companies to protect human rights in their business operations. Initially most companies drew the line at abiding by local laws in the places where they do business. Gradually many companies have come to realize that they need to do more. As the European Union starts to build a more ambitious global regulatory model, Professor Posner assessed the current state of efforts to promote human rights as a core business priority, especially for large multinational companies.


Camaraderie, Competition, National Pride: Watching the Olympics In-Person Is an Incredible Experience

I am recently back from two weeks in Paris at the 2024 Olympics. It seems a fitting topic for a Dean’s Corner column. The Olympic games are a big, growing business. They are marketed aggressively; depend on a global operations platform; engage in state-of-the art technology, from logistics to supply chain to fintech applications; demand sophisticated levels of communications, audio, and visual support; serve tens of thousands of customers and event attendees; and require massive security, both physical and cyber. They also exemplify invention and innovation. And like any successful business, they adjust to the market demand, adding and deleting various sports in response to global interest and changing norms.

A History of Olympic Competition

Inspired by the Greek Games held over 1200 years, from the 8th Century BC to the 4th Century AD, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was founded in 1894. The first modern Games were held in Athens in 1896. According to its website, the IOC selects the host city for each Olympic Games; supervises, supports, and monitors the organization of the Games; ensures that they run smoothly; and serves as the official governing body of the rules of the Games.

Throughout their history, the Olympic Games have been challenged by geopolitical and other disruptions. World Wars caused the cancellation of the 1916, 1940, and 1944 Olympics. Large-scale boycotts occurred during the Cold War, most notably during the 1980 and 1984 Games. The 2020 Olympics were postponed until 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions.

These were not the only issues: The story line is replete with countries not competing or not being allowed to compete. Only Australia, France, Greece, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom have participated in every Olympics in the modern era. This year, some athletes were not competing for their nation, but competed either as independent members of the Refugee Team for athletes displaced from their country, or as Neutral Athletes whose nationalities were excluded from participation (e.g., Russia).

This year’s competition marked only the second occasion that a city hosted the competition for a third time. In addition to this summer, Paris welcomed international athletes in 1900 and 1924. London also hosted the Games three times, in 1908, 1948, and 2012.

Paris pursued its bid for the 2024 Games in competition with Boston, Budapest, Hamburg, Rome, and Los Angeles. The U.S. Olympic Committee initially chose Boston over Los Angeles, Washington DC, and San Francisco to be the USA bid city. An opposition campaign cost Boston both local and IOC support, and the other candidate cities withdrew, leading the IOC to award the 2024 games to Paris and the 2028 Olympics to Los Angeles.

Hosting has been remarkably contentious, with many scandals involving bribes and lies. It is difficult to determine the actual costs and benefits of hosting. The costs depend on the existing infrastructure: How many new facilities must be built? How efficiently can they be built? Benefits include global visibility and robust local economic influence during the Games, but the net result is very hard to calculate. The reality is that hosting the Games can be a classic example of the “winner’s curse.”

Suppose you are among the leaders of a city that wins the opportunity to host the Games. As you wake up the next day, rational questions begin to flow: Did we overbid? Did we promise too much? Can we execute efficiently? Will the things we promised to build serve future generations efficiently and usefully? It occurs to me that these are questions not unlike those faced by growing businesses, corporations, and entrepreneurial start-ups alike, as they pursue strategies to scale rapidly.

The Council on Foreign Relations posted some work on these topics from which I conclude two things: The numbers are big, and the outcome hard to plan and deliver. The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio cost around $23 billion, 352% over budget; the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo cost about $14 billion, 128% over budget; and this year’s competition in Paris is expected to come in at $9 billion, about 115% over budget. TV revenues are significant, running about $3 billion, and the IOC keeps half.

The number of bidders who withdrew and the substantial red ink associated with recent offerings suggest that potential host cities are re-examining the costs and benefits. Although consistent, reliable, comparable numbers are hard to find, it is clear that many host cities have not met financial expectations and have been overly optimistic that they could control costs and deliver value with refurbished and new venues. Los Angeles hosted in 1984 and is believed to have realized $223 million in profit. Not surprisingly, the number of cities competing for future hosting opportunities then rose sharply, but subsequent host results were disappointing. Los Angeles had been a lone profitable host, able to negotiate attractive terms and rely upon many existing venues.

2024 Outcomes, Medals and other Bragging Rights

Each athlete has a different perspective. For some, it is enough to be there as an Olympian, while others seek a medal or perhaps to medal multiple times. For the countries, it is a similar quest. Can your nation win its first medal ever? Or surpass your archrival in medal count? Some competitions are based on number of gold medals won and others on the total number of medals awarded. This year, the USA has been remarkably successful, with 126 medals, the most of any country. That count included 40 gold, 44 silver, and 42 bronze.

While it is logical that a country’s success in the Olympics would be driven in large part by population, that is not the whole story. India is the largest country in the world today but is not a major factor in medal counts. The USA and China are large and rank first and second in medal count. Japan is 12th in size but third in medal count. France and Australia are outside the Top 20 countries by population but rank fourth and fifth in medal count.

It may be most important that a country has a substantial middle class that fosters athletic preparation, or a concerted focus on Olympic representation. For example, despite their sizes, Hungary (10 million) and Cuba (11 million) punch far above their weight because of deliberate government spending. Practice varies by country, but the days of amateur athletics are fading. Even in the USA, where there was long amateur history, medalists are now compensated: $37,500 for every gold medal; $22,500 for a silver; and $15,000 for bronze.

In Paris, more than 11,000 athletes participated in the Olympics, representing more than 200 individual Olympic committees. The USA had the largest team with 637 athletes. The host nation, France, was close behind with 596. While the USA and China fought for dominance in numbers of medals, a few countries (Albania, Cabo Verde, Dominica, Saint Lucia, and the Refugee Olympic Team) won their first medals in Paris. Saint Lucia and Dominica both won gold.

The Human Stories Are Often the Best

There are a few great stories coming out of Paris. In the javelin, Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, age 27, threw 92.97 meters, breaking the Olympic record. The field included two-time champion Anderson Peters of Grenada, and the defending champion Neeraj Chopra from India. Nadeem brought Pakistan its first medal in 32 years and its first gold since 1984. He came from modest roots, and his earliest javelins were not expensive, sophisticated devices, but junk eucalyptus branches. His weight training utilized iron rods, canisters of oil, and concrete—resourcefulness at its best. His community encouraged him by crowdfunding his earliest training and the cost of travel to competitions.

Regulation and Innovation by the Olympic Committee

The Olympics have long brought diverse perspectives and sports traditions to the global stage, which has, at times, fostered innovation at the Games. For example, new basketball rules prohibiting goaltending, instituting a shot-clock to speed play, and adding the three-point shot, were introduced elsewhere and then embraced by the Olympics. Scoring increased, the speed of the game was enhanced, and most people applauded the changes.

Strong supporting organizations create discipline for participants and are important to garner support from the Olympic committee. In 2024, breakdancing (or breaking) was introduced in Paris, but it appears it may not be supported in Los Angeles in 2028, in part because there is no global organization that sets the framework for judging excellence and establishing ground rules.

The Olympics have fostered experimentation, both introducing and terminating various sports over the years. Necessary elements for these experiments to succeed are a passionate audience for the sport, and a fervent, globally competitive environment that creates exciting competition. The IOC has approved flag football and squash as first-time offerings in 2028. Breakdancing and perhaps boxing will be out, but skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing will transition to permanent events in 2028. A few sports will return to the Olympic stage after years or decades away, including lacrosse and cricket. Neither sport has been in the Olympics since the early 1900s, but their return in 2028 reflects steady increases in global interest and competition.

You Can’t Put a Price on This Experience

Paris is a wonderful city, and we took advantage of the opportunity to spend a day in the Louvre and another in the Musee d’Orsay. Living in a rental in a neighborhood gave us a taste of Parisian living, complete with buying local bread, cheese, and produce each day. Some 40,000 volunteers helped guide us around the city.

Technological innovations made our experience better. Our smart phone was our friend, indeed our daily partner. Paris created visitor-friendly apps for finding the best path to each venue, combining bus and train options. Transit tickets were available by the ride or by the week. They sat side-by-side on our phones with the tickets for the various venues we attended. The purchase of those tickets began a year earlier and evolved over the subsequent year. We bought the event and the stage of competition we wanted, with prices increasing toward the final stage of the competition. We were privileged to see men’s and women’s basketball finals, women’s football finals, mixed-doubles archery finals, numerous track and field events, gymnastics, swimming, and more.

One of the ways that Paris made its bid affordable, and a reason it may have had a favorable financial outcome, was intelligent use of existing facilities rather than new construction. The Seine River was a challenge though. It was polluted, and the city’s sewage often overflows in bad weather. After a year of focused efforts to clean it up, the weather failed to cooperate, bringing a massive rainstorm on the night of opening ceremonies that necessitated delay of the scheduled swimming in the river. Nonetheless, the Seine played a huge role in the very wet opening ceremonies that were the first in Olympic history to be outside of a colosseum-style venue. And, of course, the Seine was a constant beautiful presence throughout the games.

Food was available at all venues, the typical “fast food” such as one finds at athletic events. Outside the venues there were excellent dining options that make France the world’s culinary envy, and reservations were not hard to get. Better dining options were likely to open at 7 p.m. and stay open late by most U.S. standards. We did not gain weight, not because the food was low calorie but because the venues led us to walk between stadiums, to and from transit and exploring other parts of the city.

I leave you with a final personal reflection about how truly exciting it was to be there, to celebrate athletes, to cheer for our country, and to meet people from around the world. You can’t put a price on that!

 

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