Department News

Articles about activities within the academic departments


Ask the Experts – Best Car Insurance Companies

Wallethub – Which do you think is a better indicator of a good car insurance company: low rates or good customer reviews?

Shopping for insurance is really a multi-step process. Low rates are an attention-getter. They will stop and attract a shopper but will not automatically convert a shopper into a customer.


UConn SPAC Conference Will Address the Hottest Topic in Financial Markets

IMage of conference attendees applauding, SPAC conference logo is inset.
(istockphoto.com)

The UConn School of Business will host a half-day conference on Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs), which are seeing a dramatic spike in interest in the financial and investment communities this year.

“This is the topic of the year in the financial markets,” said Professor Yiming Qian, the Toscano Family Chair in Finance at UConn. “SPAC is not new, but was not popular until last year. Before 2020, the annual numbers of SPAC IPOs were in one or two digits. In 2020, however, the number jumped to 248 (compared to 165 traditional IPOs). The number for 2021 already exceeded 500.” Continue Reading


Retired Professor Offers $100K Matching Gift to Save Veterans’ Entrepreneurship Program

UConn Today – United States Marine Corps veteran Tony Audette builds custom motorcycles for celebrities, business titans, and other enthusiasts who want a bike that’s unlike any other. His exclusive motorcycles sell for upwards of $130,000.

After two years in business, Audette Motorcycles, in Canton, is thriving. Audette credits much of his business knowledge and expertise to the School of Business’ Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans (EBV). The startup accelerator steered him away from several costly business mistakes, he said.



Q&A: A Tax on Billionaires’ Assets?

UConn Today – If President Joe Biden’s proposed multi-trillion dollar economic and climate package can get Congressional approval, one key factor hangs in the balance: how to pay for it. One option is a “wealth tax’’ that would be levied on the assets of billionaires.

UConn accounting professor Steve Utke studies the implications of tax changes. He recently spoke with UConn Today about his work.


Supply Chain Disruptions Create Shortages of Goods Just in Time for the Holidays

UConn Today – For weeks, the media has been warning us to shop for the holiday season now or risk being shut out of the hot-gift market. Equally troublesome is finding a new car to buy, as many dealerships have limited inventory. Even that American staple, our beloved chicken wings, have been in short supply recently.

To make sense of all this, UConn Today spoke with School of Business assistant professor Tao Lu, of the Operations and Information Management Department. Lu researches supply-chain management, transport logistics, sharing economy and socially responsible operations. We asked him about the backorders, delays and consumer-goods shortages.




‘Propelling Change Forward’: School of Business’ Equity Series Tackles Compelling Workplace Topics

UConn Today – In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement and other calls for social change, there’s a tremendous appetite for knowledge and guidance among business professionals, students, and alumni in a vast variety of industries.

“In the midst of this social revolution I thought, ‘How can we at the School of Business make a difference and bring these issues to a wide audience?’’ says business law professor Robert Bird, who has organized a four-part speaker series on diversity and equity topics.


UConn’s Popular In-Person Career Fairs Returning After Pandemic-Induced Hiatus

UConn Today – Like so many other aspects of life, the COVID pandemic has upended the process of searching for internships and full-time jobs for many current and graduating UConn students.

But there’s good news on the horizon: For the first time in two years, UConn is able to return to in-person career fairs – albeit with many health and safety precautions – while continuing to offer the popular virtual fairs, on-demand resources, and other online programming it expanded during the pandemic.