The Daily Campus – Having an idea and turning it into something real is the premise behind the world’s greatest achievements, from jets that fly around the world to electric cars. At the second Innovation Quest workshop at the University of Connecticut School of Business lounge, students began to make some of their ideas into a reality.
Management
Back By Popular Demand
B-School Offers 10-Credit Summer Program for Non-Business Majors
For the second year in a row, the School of Business is offering a 10-credit summer business program for undergraduate, non-business majors who want to gain valuable business knowledge and expand their marketability.
The seven-week UConn Business Fundamentals Program includes the following three-credit courses: Legal and Ethical Environment of Business, Managerial and Interpersonal Behavior, and Business Information Systems, plus a one-credit course on Workplace Readiness.
The program runs from Continue Reading
Gilson on Leadership Conference
SNY – Kerith Burke interviews UConn business professor Dr. Lucy Gilson about the Geno Auriemma UConn Leadership Conference.
Venture Capital Increases a Startup’s Chances of Issuing Stocks or Finding a Buyer
LSE Business Review – An ultimate challenge for technology entrepreneurs is the need for capital to continue to innovate, sustain, and commercialise their innovation. The considerable risks associated with the technological feasibility, business model credibility, and product or service viability severely limits access to capital, yet angel investors and venture capitalists fill this need by investing in startups in exchange for an equity stake in the company. Does private equity, in fact, provide value-added services by influencing startup innovation and commercialisation beyond mere capital infusion?
UConn Launches 5th Innovation Quest
Students, Teams, Ideas Soaring to New Levels, Mentors Say
Graduate nursing student Samantha Nesbeth wants to find a way to use genetics, instead of hair transplants, to help men and women regrow thinning hair.
“When you lose your hair, you see yourself as a different person,” said Nesbeth. “You don’t know who you are without hair. It can be disabling and depressing. Your hair is part of who you are,” said the Meriden native, who is planning a career as a nurse practitioner specializing in dermatology.Continue Reading
Student-Athlete Strong: Morgan Tuck
UConn Today – UConn’s student-athletes are often lauded for their on-field or on-court achievements, but there’s an equally important – often unseen – dimension to the student-athlete. UConn Today is publishing a series of profiles to highlight the academic prowess of these student-athletes. Follow along as we profile two athletes each month, and provide an inside look at the academic pursuits of these high-achieving student-athletes.
Morgan Tuck ’16 (BUS)
Courage and Expertise
Executive MBA Grads Reconnect at Hartford Event, Say UConn Education Bolstered Their Careers
Joe Connolly ’06 MBA, the vice president of administration and chief experience officer at St. Mary’s Hospital in Waterbury, earned an MBA degree through UConn’s Executive MBA (EMBA) Program because he thought greater financial knowledge would enhance his career. It did.Continue Reading
On the Ball
Bottom row from left: Edward Leardi, John McLaughlin, Matthew DeLeon, Jeffrey Noonan (Courtesy of Jason Mraz)
New Student-Led UConn Consulting Group Investigates Ways to Make Basketball Fans Love Games Even More
When UConn Athletics noticed a decline in basketball sales, they began to look for new ways to get fans into games. They introduced new package ticket deals, created the ‘Top Dog’ Program, and brought in the UConn Consulting Group (UCG) to help them further analyze UConn and the college basketball industry.
Primarily made up of undergraduate business students, the UCG is a competitive experiential learning group that pursues real-life (work) experience through select consulting projects. Each semester, the group takes on a new project and works to add value to a client’s strategy and operations while letting students develop skills that are, at best, extremely difficult to learn in a classroom.
The UCG worked with UConn Athletics through the fall 2015 semester to identify ways to improve the game-day experience for fans. They began by performing an in-depth analysis of UConn basketball and the different elements that have dramatically shifted the college basketball industry in recent years, such as conference realignment and technological advances. They also conducted extensive research, reaching out to more than 20 comparable universities, reading more than 50 academic research papers and articles, conducting three surveys and analyzing the results of some 1,800 respondents.
Throughout this process, the UCG identified key elements of success, as well as best practices from other universities that could be incorporated at UConn. At the end of the semester, the UCG presented its final recommendation to UConn Athletics.
“The UCG has gone above and beyond this semester to help UConn Athletics be the best it can be,” said John Seagrave, assistant director of marketing for UConn Athletics. “They have given us a lot to think about moving forward and we really appreciate all the work they did to help us out.”
The consulting group was created by Justin Lee ’15 as a way for UConn students to make an impact on their community. An accounting major, who discovered a passion for management consulting, Lee began by reaching out to alumni in the consulting industry and, with the help of Paul Millerd ’07 and Ezra Okon ’10, was able to form the UConn Consulting Group. UCG started with seven members and two alumni advisers, but has since grown to 13 members and four advisers, with more growth on the horizon.
“UCG has grown faster than I ever imagined,” said Lee, who is still an adviser. “The quality of students, and [their] passion to succeed will drive the group to be a premier organization at UConn. I cannot wait to see the group grow.”
Although the UCG has only completed two projects to date—UConn Athletics and a previous engagement with the UConn Foundation—it has experienced overwhelming success, and more importantly perhaps, has made a significant impact on the members.
“UCG has helped me with everything. My communication and technical skills have improved dramatically and it’s all I talk about in interviews,” said Katie Cavanaugh, a junior who is currently leading a project for a financial services startup. “Plus, UCG’s network of undergraduates and alumni advisers is arguably the best on campus. It really is an exceptional group and an incredible opportunity for UConn students.”
In the coming months, UCG will begin working with two start-ups—one based in Connecticut, the other in New York City. The projects will include detailed analyses of things such as revenue growth, cost/benefit of strategic partnerships, valuation, and overall business plan evaluation.
“The UCG is expanding to two projects next semester, allowing us to further our impact even more,” said Stephen Porcello, managing director. “I am very excited about the future and the numerous ways we will continue to grow and develop, and enhance our impact within the UConn community.”
The UCG is currently looking to recruit new members. If interested, please send an email with your resume to uconnconsultinggroup@gmail.com and a representative will get back to you with further details on the recruiting process.
Better Catalytic Converter: A New Tool for Emission Control
UConn Today – Two UConn researchers have developed a technology that promises big improvements on one of the most common and important emission control tools used to protect the environment: the catalytic converter.
With help from UConn’s NSF program, Accelerate UConn, the pair are now well on their way to commercializing their new technology
NSF Program Helps UConn Entrepreneurs Get Started
UConn Today – Imagine that due to your family medical history, you had an almost 100 percent risk of developing cancer in your lifetime. Now imagine that you discovered this fate before you even started high school. Today that is the reality for many patients with classic familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), a hereditary colon cancer syndrome.
A team of researchers at UConn Health is exploring ideas for novel approaches to prevent FAP and other inherited colorectal cancer syndromes, and they’re getting out of the lab to do it with help from the University’s new National Science Foundation Innovation Corps Site, Accelerate UConn.