Graduate Programs

MSBAPM/Swiss Re Networking Event

Posted on by Claire Hall

On Thursday March 22, 2012, the MS in Business Analytics and Project Management (MSBAPM) held its second MSBAPM/Industry Networking Event in the Graduate Business Learning Center (GBLC) in downtown Hartford, co-sponsored with Swiss Re, the leading global reinsurance company, based in Zurich. Swiss Re was represented by Michael O. Van Dusen PMP, Director, Operations, Business Engineering, Swiss Re America Holding; Peter Langan, Xinwei Zhang, and Patricia Quinn. Several faculty and staff from the Operations and Information Management (OPIM) department and students from the MSBAPM program also attended.

After a meet and greet, the executives gave an overview of Swiss Re and the Business Engineering (BEN) group, which does internal consulting projects for the firm. Projects may involve process improvement, change management, etc., and can range in size from one million dollars to several hundred million dollars. The executives then ran a small teamwork and collaboration game to illustrate the importance of communication and teamwork in projects. The winning team was thrilled to receive Swiss chocolates as a reward! The executives then resumed discussion on project work and ended the talk with an overview of salary and job prospects for students trained in project management. Everyone had a good time.

Picture: Swiss Re Exec. Michael O. Van Dusen speaking.

US News Ranks UConn’s MBA Program 31st among Public Institutions

Posted on by Claire Hall

The University of Connecticut MBA Program rose several spots in the US News & World Report’s 2013 Best Graduate School Rankings.

“It’s always flattering to be considered among the best graduate business programs in the country,” said Michael J. Deotte, director of the full-time MBA Program. “Positive rankings such as this, however, merely reflect our steadfast commitment to affordable, quality graduate management education.”

UConn’s full-time MBA Program ranks 61st (31st among public business schools);  the part-time MBA Program ranks 52nd among part-time programs.Continue Reading

Business Mastery Program for Public Service Certificate Ceremony

Posted on by Claire Hall

The School of Business Executive Education Business Mastery Program for Public Service Professionals held its certificate ceremony at the Graduate Business Learning Center (GBLC) in Hartford on December 15. Dr. Robert Bird, Associate Professor in UConn’s Marketing Department, welcomed honorees, friends and family, distinguished guests and program faculty and staff. He also shared experiences from his course module, Introduction to Employment Law. Dr. Karla Fox, Dean of the School of Business, addressed the group with congratulatory remarks. Other distinguished guests attending the ceremony and assisting Dean Fox with the distribution of certificates included: Department of Transportation Commissioner James Redeker; UConn Director of the Institute of Material Sciences, Dr. Harris Marcus; State Health Care Advocate, Victoria Veltri, JD, LLM; Department of Public Health Deputy Commissioner, Lisa Davis; Department of Social Services Operations Manager, George Chamberlin; Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Developmental Services, Joseph Drexler; and Chief of Quality and Planning, Department of Children and Families, Fernando Muniz.

In closing the ceremony, Dr. Lucy Gilson, Associate Professor in UConn’s Management Department, remarked that she recently brought her MBA change management class to the GBLC to hear Governor Malloy give a speech stating that Connecticut is, “open for business,” and “we are going to compete.” In this speech Governor Malloy outlined a number of changes that the state had made and was in the processes of making to encourage, support, and facilitate business as well as attract new companies and industries to our state. More specifically however, he talked about how we needed to reposition Connecticut to attract and keep current industries. He also discussed how UConn could work in tandem with the state to meet these goals. “Tonight, I believe we are taking a big step toward achieving this goal,” noted Professor Gilson. “The business mastery program which tonight’s honorees have completed helps to insure that our state employees have the managerial tools necessary for us to compete” she added.

Certificate recipients honored included: Bruce Bourgoin, Department of Transportation; YoungHee Chudy, UConn; Patricia Dunn, UConn/Department of Social Services; Africka Hinds-Ayala, Office of Health Care Advocacy; David Madonna, Department of Public Health; Elieen McMurrer, Sharon O’Neill and Wayne Seidel, Department of Developmental Services; Tricia Morelli, Department of Social Services; Cristina Pereira, formerly of Department of Transportation; Marc Petruzzi, Department of Public Safety; Ilia Stranko, Department of Children and Families.

The two-course Public Service Professionals Certificate Program offers Introduction to Management and Introduction to Employment Law & Government Processes. Participants either earn 4 undergraduate or 3 graduate non-degree credits per course. To date, 59 participants have completed the program from agencies and departments, throughout the State. By providing customized educational opportunities to public service professionals, the program enhances participants’ skills, while benefiting State agencies and the residents of the State of Connecticut. Our alumni have credited the program with networking and promotional opportunities as well as the development of advanced management skills. Testimonials on the value and benefits of the program can be found at: www.business.uconn.edu/publicservice.

Pictured (top right): Business Mastery Program for Public Service Professionals 2012 Certificate Recipients, Dean Karla Fox, Faculty and Staff. Pictured (above, left to right): Dr. Robert Bird, Professor of Business Law; Dr. Lucy Gilson, Professor of Management; Mary Palmer, Program Manager; Nancy Brouillet, Adjunct Instructor.

MSBAPM and The Hartford Networking

Posted on by Claire Hall

On Thursday, Nov 17, 2011, the MS in Business Analytics and Project Management (MSBAPM) held its first MSBAPM/Industry Networking Event in the Graduate Business Learning Center (GBLC) in downtown Hartford, co-sponsored with The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. In addition to several faculty from the Operations and Information Management (OPIM) department, several top executives from The Hartford were in attendance. These included Ruben Fechner, VP Commercial Lines; Sundar Subramanian, AVP Commercial Lines; Nitin Korgonkar, Director IT Program Management; Chris Ross, Director IT Program Management; and Betty Davis, Director IT Program Management.

The event started with a wine and cheese networking hour, followed by a very interactive presentation by all the executives from The Hartford, led by Mr. Fechner, on The Hartford’s approach to project management. Students were told how The Hartford focuses on the customer (both end customer and business sponsor) in a DMAIC/Six Sigma process that hones in on Critical to Quality (CTQs) characteristics of products and processes right from the project initiation phase to project completion. The emphasis is single-mindedly on on-time, on-budget, to-scope and ROI on all their projects, and the project team would not hesitate to pull the plug on projects that do not perform on all these metrics. The presentation was peppered with questions from the audience with all the executives joining in to share their experiences in answering each question. The Hartford team then talked about what makes a good Project Leader, not just a project manager, someone who would inspire, be decisive, be detail oriented and analytical, be accountable and be a good communicator. They were not looking for someone to merely be a “project reporter,” since that information can easily be gathered from Earned Value analysis. The presentation ended with Mr. Fechner saying that products can be copied by competitors, but project management skills in the team cannot be easily replicated, and therefore can be a competitive advantage.

All-Intern Team Places Second in Case Competition at Walmart

Posted on by Claire Hall

This past summer, Vipul Chawla, a 2nd year UConn MBA candidate, interned at Walmart and had the opportunity to participate in a case competition that was conducted across the Walmart corporate office.  The business case competition was hosted by the New Professionals Advisory Council, and is the first one to ever take place. Continue Reading

MBA Students Interned at Walmart

Posted on by Claire Hall

This past summer, two of UConn’s MBA students had the opportunity to intern at Walmart. Seniors, Vipul Chawla and Roxie Sieu, spent their summer at the Walmart headquarters. They had an amazing learning experience working with Bill Simon, President and CEO of Walmart.

Photo: Bill Simon with interns, Vipul Chawla and Roxie Sieu.

Categories:
MBA

2011 ACFE Educator of the Year Award Recipient

Posted on by Claire Hall

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (AFCE) is proud to recognize Dr. Richard Hurley with the 2011 ACFE Educator of the Year Award for his outstanding contributions in fraud examination and curriculum development.

Dr. Hurley developed and teaches an MBA course in “Forensic Accounting and Fraud Examination” at the University of Connecticut at Stamford. He is currently developing a course in “Accounting and Securities Fraud.” He authored the “FraudEDge” column from 2008–2010 and is currently the co-author of the “Global Fraud Focus” column.

The MS in Accounting Kicks Off Another Banner Year

Posted on by Claire Hall

The MS in Accounting Program at the University of Connecticut School of Business welcomed over a hundred new students last week. This new class converged on Storrs for the week- in-residence class, “Understanding the Responsibilities of an Accounting Professional,” and infused the campus with their enthusiasm and learning. The students left excited about starting summer classes next week.

The popularity of this program reflects the growing reputation and demand for this acclaimed online program. Out of 133 admitted for the current semester, 123 accepted the admission offers with four deferring until next year. The incoming class represents 44 different undergraduate universities from 17 states and the country of Lebanon. 54% of the students come from undergraduate programs other than UConn.

The School of Business would like to extend congratulations to the Accounting Department, especially Andy Rosman, Marg Sweeney and Linda Petrofsky, for recruiting another outstanding MS in Accounting Program class.

AACSB Extends Accreditation to the UConn School of Business

Posted on by Claire Hall

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the accrediting agency for bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs in business administration and accounting, has extended the accreditation for the undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degree programs in business offered by the University of Connecticut through 2016.

The peer review team report notes that the University of Connecticut is to be commended on the following strengths and effective practices:

  • Experiential Learning – Experiential learning gives students hands-on experience with real business problems in business settings and allows the students to network with professionals in the participating companies. Experiential learning has several components including internships and the accelerator labs where students work with companies on projects.
  • Management and Engineering for Manufacturing – This is a joint degree between the School of Business and the School of Engineering that allows engineering students to learn cost accounting, valuation and capital budgeting skills.
  • Graduate Learning Business Center – Located in the heart of downtown Hartford, UConn’s Graduate Business Learning Center is a state-of-the-art facility with the latest technology and is also home to the MBA and Executive MBA programs as well as the SS&C Technologies Financial Accelerator.
  • STAR Accounts – Since 2008, each faculty member has been given a Supplementary Teaching and Research (STAR) Account, with funds for each faculty member to spend on any teaching or research activity and travel. Over the past year, more internal grants have been awarded through an open competition process for research and teaching development.

The School has continuously been accredited by the AACSB since 1957.

AACSB Accreditation is known, worldwide, as the longest standing, most recognized form of specialized/professional accreditation an institution and its business programs can earn. AACSB Accreditation Standards are used as the basis to evaluate a business school’s mission, operations, faculty qualifications and contributions, programs, and other critical areas. AACSB accreditation ensures students and parents that the business school is providing a top-quality education.

As of April 2011, 620 member institutions hold AACSB Accreditation. Overall, 38 countries are represented by AACSB-accredited schools. Only 10 percent of all U.S. colleges of business have all of their programs – accounting, business, undergraduate and graduate – accredited by AAACSB.