Management

Dr. Rowena Ortiz-Walters Selected as Dean of School of Business and Economics

Posted on by Pamela Costa

The State University of New York at Plattsburgh issued the following news release:

The chair of management in the School of Business and Engineering at Quinnipiac University is the new dean of SUNY Plattsburgh’s School of Business and Economics.

Dr. Rowena Ortiz-Walters, a professor of management at the Hamden, Conn., university, accepted the position March 30 with the intent of being on campus this summer.

“Dr. Ortiz-Walters is a perfect choice to lead our School of Business and Economics,” said Dr. James Liszka, provost and vice president of academic affairs. “Her qualities as administrator and scholar, and her outreach to communities, are sure to benefit SBE and our Plattsburgh businesses and organizations.”

Ortiz-Walters was selected from a field of outstanding candidates, said President John Ettling. The national search was chaired by Dean of Library and Information Technology Service Holly Heller-Ross.

Ortiz-Walters received a Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut, an MBA from Technology Management University of New Haven and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from theUniversity of Connecticut. Her works appear in such scholarly publications as “The Journal of Organizational Behavior,” “Journal of Vocational Behavior,” and the “Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship.”

Her interests include examining mentoring relationships as a career developmental tool for women and racial minorities, issues of diversity in the workplace, and the entrepreneurial ventures of racial minorities and women. Ortiz-Walters is a founding member of Quinnipiac University’s B-WISE — Business Women in Search of Excellence — initiative and a member of Connecting Women, a School of Business Advisory Board committee. In addition, she has served as an advisory board member for a study of gender diversity for the Harvard Medical School and is co-founder of the Center for Women and Business at Quinnipiac.

“We are delighted that Dr. Rowena Ortiz-Walters has accepted the position as dean of the School of Business and Economics,” Ettling said. “I would like to thank the committee and the search firm that produced some excellent candidates. We are fortunate and look forward to her arrival on July 1.”

As dean of the SBE, Ortiz-Walters will oversee 38 full-time faculty members and an undergraduate enrollment of more than 1,000. The school offers bachelor’s degrees in 11 programs and minors in 10 programs. SUNY Plattsburgh received accreditation in 2002 from the AACSB International — the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business — the premier accrediting agency for schools of business. Ortiz-Walters will oversee the accreditation processes, ensuring that the SBE exceeds AACSB standards.

No stranger to AACSB, Ortiz-Walters was a senior leadership team member at Quinnipiac during its most recent maintenance visit by the AACSB reviewers. As such, she was responsible for meeting with the Continuous Improvement Review Team to discuss AACSB standards issues.

Ortiz-Walters said she, too, is “delighted to be joining the SUNY Plattsburgh academic and business community.”

“Many aspects of the school are attractive to me, including a strong faculty with terminal degrees, a strong international and first-generation student presence and an investment in new facilities,” she said. “This is an exciting time in the history of the school, and I look forward to supporting its success as the next dean.”

Contact: Gerianne Wright, Assistant Director of Communications, 518/564-2090, news@plattsburgh.edu

Have the Skills But Not Getting Promoted? Your Lack of Confidence May Be Sabotaging Your Career

Posted on by Claire Hall

Could you give a speech in front of a room of strangers? Would you have the courage to run for elected office? Could you ask for a raise—and stand a good chance of getting it?

Those were some of the questions that executive coach, lecturer and author Barbara Roche asked more than 100 people during a program titled, “Women, Wisdom and Worth.” Continue Reading

Business, Law Students Collaborate During UConn’s First Joint Negotiation Competition

Posted on by Claire Hall

The University of Connecticut School of Law hosted the first UConn Law School-UConn Business School Joint Negotiation Competition last month.

The event fostered professional achievement and collaboration among the students, with four MBA students continuing on to a regional competition at Villanova University in April.Continue Reading

UConn MBA Students Win First Prize in APICS Business Case Competition

Posted on by Claire Hall

A team of four UConn MBA students were awarded First Place and Grand Champions in the APICS Northeast Business Case Competition in Albany, N.Y., last month. This is the fourth time that a UConn MBA team has been awarded top honors.

The winning team members are first-year MBA students Jason Harris, Akhilesh Kumar, Jared Siraco, and Yogendra Bhosrekar. As a result of the win, the team will next compete in the Global APICS Competition which will be held in Las Vegas in October. Continue Reading

The Cornell HR Review Invites Essays from Undergraduate and Graduate Students

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The Cornell HR Review is proud to announce its 6th Annual Student Essay Competition, sponsored by Shell, Dell and GE! They encourage submissions from all students pursuing a graduate or undergraduate HR-related degree—including labor relations, industrial/organizational psychology, and business.

Prizes for the competition are: $1000 for first place, $500 for second, and $250 for third. Winning essays will be published in the HR Review. Additionally, winners will be invited to attend the Cornell Human Capital Symposium in Fall 2015—an excellent opportunity to interact with some of the world’s top HR executives.

Essays must address one of three prompts and be between 1,000-1,600 words.  All submissions are due by April 14, 2015.  

For complete information, visit 6th Annual Essay Competition (2015)

School of Business Retirees Gather for Business, Friendship

Posted on by Melissa Ferrigno

2015-03-03-retireesgatheringAddressing a gathering of retired- and almost-retired UConn faculty, School of Business Dean John A. Elliott urged them to use their expertise to help mentor junior staff and graduate students.

Dean Elliott thanked those congregated for their years of service to the School of Business, their willingness to act in an advisory capacity to him and to newer faculty, and recognized them as a vital connection to some of the School’s most illustrious alumni.

Rob Hoskin, Harry Johnson, Keith Johnson, Lin Klein, Jeffrey Kramer, Richard Norgaard, David Palmer, Murphy Sewall, James Sfiridis, Susan Spiggle and Crayton Walker were among those assembled, with their significant others, at the beautiful Mansfield home of Richard Norgaard and Karen Zimmer. Dean Elliott’s charming wife, Laura Philips, also attended the first formal gathering of retired faculty on Dec. 7.

Other important purposes of the meeting were to reinforce contacts among lifelong colleagues, share memories and enjoy each other’s company.  Attendees enjoyed a catered, champagne brunch, entered a drawing for door prizes and shared stories of those who could not be present that day but wished to be remembered to all, such as Karla Fox who was in New York at the birth of her fourth grandchild.

One interesting discovery is the creative outlets in which some retirees are engaged.  Michael Lubatkin has just published a scholarly book, but focused more in the area of philosophy than in management.  Dick Kochanek has been painting for a number of years and his artwork has evolved such that he is currently receiving accolades at juried shows.  Rob Hoskin has honed his skills as a craftsman and produces beautiful objects in wood.

Among those who could not attend is Steve Messner.  His daughter would love to deliver any notes and well wishes, so please write to Steve in care of: Stephanie Brown, 144 Woodleaf Drive, Winter Springs, FL 32708.

Planning is underway to host a Spring 2015 event on the Storrs campus. More information will be provided soon.  Those wishing to remain in touch should contact Cynthia H. Adams, Professor Emerita from the former School of Allied Health, at cindyadams930@gmail.com or 860-230-8951.

Photos from the gathering can be viewed here.

Moving Beyond Crisis Mode: Successful Corporations Merge Short-Term Goals, Long-Term Strategy, Expert Says

Posted on by Claire Hall

In a corporate world that is obsessed with immediate results, there is still plenty of need for long-term, strategic thinking, said David Souder, a management professor and the academic director of UConn’s Executive MBA program.

In a lively presentation, which touched on everything from light bulbs to major league baseball, Souder told 40 business executives that a progressive company must always strive for a balance between short-term goals and long-term strategy. Souder outlined four steps to bringing long-term goals into focus.Continue Reading

Doctoral Student Margaret Luciano Wins Scholarships for Work on Employee Dynamics in Hospital Patient “Handoffs”

Posted on by Melissa Ferrigno
Margaret Luciano
Margaret Luciano

Margaret (“Maggie’’) Luciano, a doctoral candidate at the UConn School of Business, has been awarded two scholarships in recent months recognizing her achievements in the field of organizational behavior.

The Society for Industrial/Organizational Psychology’s (SIOP) Lee Hakel Graduate Student Scholarship recognizes achievement in a graduate career and is intended to assist doctoral students in the field of industrial and organizational psychology with the costs of carrying out their dissertation work. She received the award in January.

It is the second recognition for Luciano, who, late last year also received an award from the Society for Human Resources Management for her dissertation proposal. She was selected as one of four promising researchers.

Her dissertation research focuses on understanding and improving cross-unit coordination between hospital units, and the dynamics between such groups.

She has investigated patient “handoffs’’ as they move from surgery to a recovery room. During baseline assessments, upwards of 20 percent of these handoffs were found to be lacking in one or more important ways, jeopardizing patient care.

“Margaret’s dissertation is a stellar example of cutting-edge applied research,’’ said John Mathieu, professor of management and Luciano’s adviser. “Conceptually, Margaret tests theoretical questions concerning the integration of employees’ individual differences and how they combine to perform interdependent actions. Practically, she devised and implemented a work process improvement which essentially orchestrated how different parties should function during these handoffs.’’

“Her dissertation represented a serious organizational change for the hospital, involving everyone from top management to the nurses and doctors performing the handoffs. Her field experiment revealed that her intervention reduced the percentage of problematic handoffs to approximately 4 to 5 percent—a 75 percent decrease from baseline,’’ Mathieu said.

Both the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Society for Industrial/Organizational Psychology (SIOP) awarded her competitive research grants on the basis of her proposed work. The criteria for both awards are that the work should advance both the science of human behavior in organizations, while also advancing practice and human welfare, Mathieu said.

Her research on these and related topics has appeared in the Journal of Applied Psychology and other peer-reviewed journals.

Luciano will join the management faculty at Arizona State University after completing her doctoral program at UConn. She earned her bachelors degree in psychology in 2009 and her MBA in 2010, both from Clark University in Worcester, Mass.