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School of Business featured news

‘We’re Starting to Have Our Voices Heard’

Posted on by Claire Hall

Military Flag

Senator Blumenthal Attends UConn Roundtable on Veteran Employment; Seeks Ideas, Concerns, Suggestions

Their livelihoods couldn’t be more diverse—from farming to aerospace to cleaning services—but their message was the same: help us and help our fellow veterans find, keep and create great jobs.

That was the message that some 70 people delivered to U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) during a roundtable discussion Thursday, Jan. 7. Hosted by UConn’s School of Business, the focus of the event was how Congress can further support veteran hiring and veteran-owned businesses.Continue Reading

In Memoriam: Mark P. Coville ’79

Posted on by Claire Hall
Mark P. Coville at the 2013 Hall of Fame (UConn School of Business)
Mark P. Coville at the 2013 Hall of Fame (UConn School of Business)

Alumnus Mark P. Coville ’79, a 2013 inductee into the School of Business Hall of Fame who maintained a strong affinity for his alma mater, passed away on Dec. 10, 2015, after a two-year battle with leukemia. He was 58.

Coville was a managing director in BlackRock Inc.’s trading and liquidity strategy group and had a long and successful career in financial services. He graduated from UConn in 1979 with a degree in finance.Continue Reading

‘For the Love of the Game’

Posted on by Claire Hall
John 'Jack' Veiga (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)
John “Jack” Veiga (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)

Retired Management Professor Jack Veiga Still Winning Awards, Challenging Misconceptions

Retired professor of management John “Jack” Veiga was thrilled when his research paper won a major award—doubly so to be honored in a field that isn’t his specialty.

Veiga and his colleagues examined why some people become highly proficient with new, large-scale application software packages while others fail to master even the most elementary applications. The paper was named one of the five Best Information Systems Papers of 2014 by the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) Senior Scholars.

“While I have won awards for my research before, being honored for interdisciplinary research that is outside my field is particularly gratifying,” Veiga said.

When asked why he is still working so hard, after retiring from UConn in 2009, Veiga had a clear explanation.Continue Reading

Dan Toscano ’87

Posted on by Claire Hall

School of Business Alumnus Chairs UConn Foundation Board; ‘Let’s Be the Best… That’s What it Means to Come to UConn’

When alumnus Dan Toscano ’87 talks about the need for more scholarships to help UConn students, he speaks from the heart.

“I had some very discouraging moments when I was a student here and the tuition was due and I didn’t quite have it pulled together yet,” he recalled during a recent interview. “My wife, Tresa, and I had to fight to get through college financially. I remember those days vividly. I don’t want to see anyone else go through that.”Continue Reading

Reverse Stress Testing

Posted on by Claire Hall

Finance Professor Wins Best Paper Award for Creating Insightful, Novel Method of Risk Assessment

Finance professor Yaacov Kopeliovich and his RiXtrema research team colleagues have won the 2015 Peter L. Bernstein Award for Best Paper for their work titled, “Robust Risk Estimation and Hedging: A Reverse Stress Testing Approach.”

The article originally appeared in the Journal of Derivatives in May 2015. It was selected by a three-person review committee and was chosen from a pool of nominations from 11 top financial journals. The judges looked for an original or new approach to the field or subject of study; surprising and/or insightful results or implications; and both practical and academic relevance.Continue Reading

I Thought We’d Never Be Able to Do It

Posted on by Claire Hall
2015 CIBER Case Challenge Participants
Participants in the 2015 CIBER International Case Competition pose in front of the Jonathan the Husky statue on the UConn Storrs campus.
(Quian Callender/UConn School of Business)

Students from Different States, Nations Collaborate to Solve Real-World Problem during UConn’s CIBER Challenge

“I thought we’d never be able to do it,” UConn marketing major Stacia Smart recalls thinking when she heard that she and a team of other college students, all strangers, would have just 24 hours to solve a vexing sustainability problem for a major corporation.

Not only did Smart and her “Quadruple Threat” team develop a possible solution, including a new product idea for Unilever, but they took second-place in the UConn CIBER International Case Challenge this fall.Continue Reading

Professor Timothy Folta Leads Corporate Strategy Conference in France

Posted on by Claire Hall
Tim Folta (Courtesy of University of Strasbourg)
Tim Folta (Courtesy of University of Strasbourg)

When does it make sense for corporations to expand by adding additional products or businesses to their portfolio?

The topic was the subject of a three-day international conference last month in Strasbourg, France, titled, “Corporate Strategy and Resource Redeployment,” which was organized by UConn Management Professor Timothy B. Folta.Continue Reading

Distinguished Fellow Award

Posted on by Claire Hall
Professor Ram Gopal
Professor Ram Gopal, recipient of the Information Systems Society’s Distinguished Fellow Award (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)

Professor Ram D. Gopal Noted for Intellectual Leadership, Stewardship, Impactful Research

Professor and OPIM Department Head Ram D. Gopal has received the prestigious Information Systems Society’s Distinguished Fellow Award, recognizing his intellectual leadership, stewardship and impactful research.

“This is like winning the ‘Nobel Prize’ for information systems,” said Gopal, beaming after collecting his award on Nov. 2 at a conference in Philadelphia.Continue Reading

Four Internships, Three Research Jobs, and Two Majors

Posted on by Grace Merritt
Katie Cavanaugh
Katie Cavanaugh (Christine Buckley/UConn CLAS)

Scholarship Allows Student to Stretch Academically

Katie Cavanaugh ’17 only just started her junior year, but she has already done four internships and held three research positions. Oh, and she’s double majoring in political science and management information systems.

Cavanaugh has never held back academically. She is grateful for the scholarships she has gotten from UConn because they have allowed her to stretch.

“What the scholarships say to me is ‘we want you to focus 100 percent on yourself as a student and, really, as a professional,'” she says.

Continue Reading

The $5 Challenge

Posted on by Claire Galvin

Aspiring Entrepreneurs Use Money to Make Money

In his “Risks and Rewards of Entrepreneurship” course, management professor Timothy Folta gave student groups $5 and told them to use it as start-up cash for a new business. The project was designed to spur creativity around new business ideas.

Students had one week to brainstorm ideas, but once they received the cash, they had only two hours to make as much money as possible.

Interestingly, the group that made the most money did not even use the start-up funds.Continue Reading