Department News

Articles about activities within the academic departments

These are ‘Best of Times, Worst of Times’ for Risk Managers

Posted on by Claire Hall
Thomas Sullivan '00 MBA
Thomas Sullivan ’00 MBA

When a major retailer had a security breach, and consumer information was compromised, it created a ripple effect at Stamford-based First County Bank.

First County Bank customers inundated their local branches seeking new debit cards, and many wanted replacements right away. The bank is able to produce about 1,000 new cards a day in-house, but has to contract out for bigger projects, said John Bonora, senior vice president and chief risk officer at the bank, and a 2011 graduate of UConn’s MSFRM program.Continue Reading

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

Work-Life Balance

Posted on by Claire Hall

Flexible Work Time Could be Salvation for Families–and an Advantage for Employers–So Why Do Companies, Employees Resist?

The typical two-income American family is stretched to the breaking point with responsibilities, and, for many, flexible work time would be helpful in finding a work-life balance, said Robert Bird, professor of Business Law.

“There are millions of people in our country under intense pressure,” said Bird, who is also the Northeast Utilities Chair in Business Ethics. “They are two-parent, working families taking care of children and/or elderly parents. Inflexible work schedules are making the stress even worse.”Continue Reading

Does SOX 404 Have Teeth?

Posted on by Claire Hall

A regulation that is supposed to provide a warning bell and greater transparency for investors is hampered by a lack of enforcement, according to new research conducted by accounting professor David Weber.

Professor David Weber

The School of Business has awarded one of its 2015 Best Paper Awards to Weber for his research titled, “Does SOX 404 Have Teeth? Consequences of the Failure to Report Existing Internal Control Weaknesses,” co-authored with UConn doctoral student Biyu Wu and Sarah Rice of Texas A&M. It will appear in the American Accounting Association’s premier journal, The Accounting Review.

Continue Reading

Pratt Mining Big Data

Posted on by Melissa Ferrigno

Hartford Business Journal – The concept of using large data sets to package information to customers started in the early 2000s with Google, which initially used systems to analyze data on websites to enhance its search engine performance, said Ramesh Shankar, associate professor of information systems at the UConn School of Business.

MSBAPM & Alteryx Data Challenge

Posted on by Anna Radziwillowicz

Alteryx has partnered with the MS in Business Analytics and Project Management program (MSBAPM) at the University of Connecticut School of Business to host a 2-week data challenge beginning on March 30, 2015. The competition focuses on leveraging the power and flexibility of the Alteryx platform along with skills gained in the MSBAPM program to solve the challenge. Students can submit projects as teams of up to four. Finalists will be invited to present their projects to a panel of distinguished judges, including Alteryx’s Chief Scientist, and various amazing prizes will be awarded.

More information about the data challenge can be found at the website:

MSBAPM Students are exuberantly forming teams to research about the Alteryx software, to understand the platform, how it’s used, and how the software aids analytics. Good luck to the participants!

TechnoEDGE 2015

Posted on by

UConn undergraduates are invited to sign up for the April 4th TechnoEDGE workshop. TechnoEDGE workshops are designed to provide students with technology training that focuses on reviewing, analyzing and formatting data for use in the business environment. A major component of the training is hands-on assignments, group projects and a capstone assignment, each designed to provide practical experience.

UConn School of Business
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Room 122 – Storrs campus
8:00am—3:30pm
Breakfast and Lunch is provided
Register on HuskyCareerLink under “Workshops”

TechnoEDGE is offered as a part of Travelers EDGE Professional Development Institute (PDI), a career readiness training program offered in partnership with Travelers Insurance.

Accounting, Finance Faculty Members Recognized for Outstanding Research

Posted on by Claire Hall

2015-03-20_facultyThe School of Business has awarded its 2015 Best Paper Award to professors David Weber, from accounting, and Jose Martinez, of finance, for their exceptional research articles that will appear in esteemed academic journals.

Weber’s research paper is titled, “Does SOX 404 Have Teeth? Consequences of the Failure to Report Existing Internal Control Weaknesses.”

“Picking Winners? Investment Consultants’ Recommendations of Fund Managers,” is the title of Martinez’s work. His paper also recently received a prize from the University of Cambridge and the Commonfund Institute.

“Both papers are to appear in very prestigious journals in their respective fields, The Accounting Review and Journal of Finance,” said Sulin Ba, associate dean of academic and research support. “The selection committee was particularly impressed by the public policy implications that came out of both research projects. These implications will have an impact on our society in the years to come.”

The competition was intense this year with 10 nominations, all papers accepted in top academic journals, Ba said.

“Dr. Weber’s paper, co-authored with Ph.D. student Biyu Wu, addresses the requirement that corporations and their auditors publicly disclose internal control weaknesses, which is one of the most contentious and costly provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act,” said Mohamed Hussein, accounting department head. “The study is important because it shows that the enforcement mechanisms surrounding internal control reporting are often ineffective and in some cases may even provide disincentives for compliance.”

“This paper is one of many research projects conducted by the UConn accounting faculty that addressed critical accounting and tax issues,” said Hussein, noting that UConn accounting faculty research has been cited in Congressional hearings and in the British Parliament.

Chinmoy Ghosh, department head in finance, said he is pleased with his colleague’s success.

“Within a very short period of time since arriving at UConn in August 2014, Jose has made a significant contribution in almost every aspect of the job. Acceptance of his paper by the Journal of Finance, the top journal in the discipline, brings tremendous visibility and prestige to the department and the school,” he said. “Very recently, his research has been recognized by a leading academic group in Europe. His style of teaching and knowledge drew great praise from the Risk Management students at both our Hartford and Stamford campuses.

“Jose has also shown great interest and objectivity in various academic issues currently under review by the department faculty. We are very pleased to have him as a colleague and look forward to many more productive years from him at the School of Business.”

The Best Paper Award is funded by the generous support of the Arnold M. Robin & Rochelle M. Robin Excellence Fund.

Related articles:

Professor Jose Martinez Earns Triple Recognition for Work on Dubious Investment Management

Professor David Weber Finds Lack of Enforcement Surrounds Key Provision of Sarbanes-Oxley Act

Picking Winners?

Posted on by Claire Hall

Professor Jose Martinez Earns Triple Recognition For Work on Dubious Investment Management

A four-year research project by UConn finance professor Jose Martinez found no evidence that recommendations by highly paid investment consultants to institutional investors subsequently outperformed the market.

Professor Jose Martinez

In his paper, “Picking Winners? Investment Consultants’ Recommendations of Fund Managers,” Martinez presents survey data from investment consultants with a combined share of 90 percent of the consulting market, and focuses on the recommendations consultants made for actively managed U.S. equity funds.Continue Reading

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