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Message From
The Dean....
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It is hard to
believe that the 2007-2008 academic year is
coming to a close and we will be saying goodbye to the class of
2008. As the academic year winds
down, April is always filled with events and this April was no
exception. On April 6th, we
held our annual Student and Faculty Award banquet with over 275
students, parents, friends and faculty in attendance. This event, held in conjunction with the induction of 50
juniors and seniors into Beta Gamma Sigma (the national business honor
society) has become with graduation, one of the highlight events
of the academic year. I am
continually amazed at the academic, civic and professional
accomplishments of our students.
In addition, to the dozens of students with 3.8 and 3.9
GPA's, a sampling of resumes will reveal two athletes who were
academic All-Americans, a student who coordinated the
"Pink-Outs" at basketball games the last two years, the
student body president, a member of seven honor societies, and the
coordinator for the Relay for Life.
In the
newsletter, you will read about three of our top Finance students
who are members of the RAM Fund, the student-managed investment fund
that attended the Redefining Investment Strategy Education (RISE)
Symposium in Dayton,
Ohio. It is through your financial support
that we were able to send these students to the symposium. We hope that in the future we
can increase the number of students who attend. Our affiliation with the CFA as a
university partner institution and the Providence chapter of the CFA
continues to benefit our students. As a result of the scholarships
provided by the Providence
chapter, both Casey and Andrey
as well as three other students will be sitting for the Level 1
CFA exam in June.
In addition to
the faculty award recipients in the newsletter, four faculty
had their papers published or accepted for publication in the top
journals in their field: Assistant Professor Cynthia Blanthorne in Accounting, and Associate Professors
Dan Sheinin in Marketing, Tong Yu in Finance
and Seung Shin in Management Information
Systems.
On April 10th,
we held the inaugural Richard Vangeermeersch
Lecture. The panel discussion
"Reaching the Corporate Summit" featured Wendy Field,
Managing Director of UBS Investment Bank, Marianne Gattinella, Vice-President
of Corporate Human Resources for McGraw-Hill, and Deborah Ciolfi of Providence Investors. Hilda Allred, a former Assistant Dean
and Management Professor at URI and now a consultant to Fortune
500 corporations, moderated the panel session. The other major event this month was
an MBA networking reception held at the new Providence Renaissance
Hotel on April 23rd. The event featured Hasbro CEO, Al Verrecchia, who shared the impact an MBA had on his
career.
I hope you enjoy
reading our faculty, student and alumni spotlights and as always we would
love to hear what you are doing so that we can include it in our next
"What is Happening"
section. As always, I welcome
your feedback.
Wishing you all the best,
Mark Higgins
Dean and The Alfred J. Verrecchia-Hasbro
Inc. Leadership Chair in Business
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 Professor Judy Beckman
Dr. Judy Beckman currently divides her time as Professor
of Accounting and as Secretary-General of the Global University 8 Consortium
(GU8). As Professor of
Accounting, Dr. Beckman has taught financial accounting theory in the
Master of Science in Accounting program since 1994. Every year, Dr. Beckman brings her
students on the infamous trip to observe a meeting of the Financial
Accounting Standards Board (FASB)-where they learned that some folks
think accounting choices in revenue recognition amount to "putting
lipstick on a pig"!
(Perhaps some readers agree with that assessment.)
Dr. Beckman also teaches advanced financial accounting in
the undergraduate accounting program and continues to undertake
research in International Financial Reporting and International
Finance. She has recently
published two papers about German financial accounting and reporting
issues. One is a case study of
international financial reporting issues faced by SAP, the enterprise
software giant; the other is a broader study of accounting differences
among German accounting practices, U.S. GAAP, and International
Financial Reporting Standards, including assessment of market valuation
of differences inherent in those reporting systems. Since 2000, Dr. Beckman has
continuously authored a different type of publication, The Wall Street
Journal Accounting Weekly Review, an electronic newsletter published by
Dow Jones & Co. and distributed to more than 17,000 faculty.
In her role as Secretary-General of the GU8, Dr. Beckman
serves under URI President Robert L. Carothers who is currently Chair
of the GU8 Council of Presidents.
Information about the GU8 is available at http://www.uri.edu/gu8/. Led by the Council, the GU8 Consortium
is comprised of universities from across the globe with expertise in
Marine and Ocean Sciences, Global Logistics, Business, and Advanced
Technologies. Since taking on
the GU8 responsibility in June 2007, Dr. Beckman, along with Assistant
Secretary-General Melissa McCarthy of the URI Research Office, has
organized an Education Committee meeting at RMIT University in
Melbourne, Australia; a Global Logistics workshop at the University of
Hawaii, Honolulu; and a Marine Affairs Workshop at the University of
Rhode Island-all of which involve integrating business and scientific
research.
One exciting GU8 program
stemming from this interdisciplinary work, and led by Dr. Beckman, will
benefit the College's full time MBA program: summer 2008 will be the
inaugural year for the GU8 Global MBA and Leadership Program. Five URI
MBA students will undertake intensive study for two weeks in each of
the four GU8 universities: at
URI, they will study Advanced Topics in Global Logistics with Assistant
Professor Douglas Hales; at University
of Le Havre, French Retailing
and Supply Chain Management; at Xiamen
University, Communications;
and at Inha University,
Management Leadership and Creativity.
Dr. Beckman has divided her
time between a faculty and administrative role since 2003-2004, serving
as Chair of the Faculty Senate.
She was awarded one of 34 Fellowships nationwide through the
American Council on Education.
Under the Fellowship, Dr. Beckman spent academic year 2004-2005 in the Offices
of the President and Provost at the University
of Vermont then returned to
URI to serve as Associate Dean of the Graduate School
for two years. From
December 2005 to October 2007, Dr. Beckman co-chaired, with James
Kowalski of the Computer Science Department and Marilyn Barbour of the College of Pharmacy, a 100-person team from
URI which produced the accreditation self-study report submitted to the
New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) for the
University-wide accreditation. URI's accreditation was reaffirmed on February 28,
2008 by the NEASC Commission on Institutions of Higher Education. The web site supporting the team's
accreditation work is available at http://www.uri.edu/accreditation/
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Student Spotlight
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Cassandra
Nadeau, May '08
 Why I Came to URI
I grew up in Glocester,
RI and spent my summers
at the beaches in Narragansett. I was always aware of URI, but never
thought I would decide to go to school there. I always pictured myself
somewhere far away and warm, like Hawaii. However, during my junior year
of high school I visited the URI campus and immediately knew it was the
right place for me. When it came time to apply to colleges I only
applied to URI and one other school. I was accepted at both, but my
decision to attend URI was easy.
Experiences at
URI
During my four years at URI I accomplished more than
I ever imagined. Some of my accomplishments have been maintaining a
3.92 GPA, and during my junior year being inducted into Beta Gamma
Sigma. I am also a member of the Society of Leadership and Success,
which has helped develop my leadership and team work skills. Recently,
I received the President's Award for Student Excellence for Marketing,
The Washington Trust Co. Outstanding Senior Award, and nomination into
the Alpha Mu Alpha Honor Society of the American Marketing Association.
Internships
As a marketing major I knew I
wanted a career in sales. Last summer I searched for an internship that
would expose me to this field. I landed one with Radio Disney in Pawtucket, RI.
There I was able to work closely with their marketing and promotions
team and gain first hand knowledge and experience in sales. I also
gained experience in event planning, as I participated in many of their
summer events held throughout the state.
This spring semester I participated in an internship with
the American Cancer Society. I worked specifically on the Daffodil Days
campaign, promoting and selling
Daffodil Day products, while raising money to help eliminate cancer.
Not only was I was able to gain "real world" experience and
apply the knowledge and skills I learned in the classroom, I was able
to gain a sense of accomplishment from knowing I was helping raise
money for the fight against cancer.
Plans after Graduation
After graduation this May I hope
to land a job in pharmaceutical sales. It is a career I have had my eye
on since entering the College
of Business three
years ago. I also plan on returning to school to receive my MBA in the
near future. I am truly looking forward to the future and all that it holds
for me.
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Alumni Spotlight
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American Airlines, Vice
President of DFW
Airport Services
The College of Business is pleased to announce
that Marilyn DeVoe will be joining the
College's Business Advisory Council starting Fall 2008. Council
members participate in strategic review of the College's mission, plans
and programs, and offer guidance to the Dean. They serve as champions
on the College's behalf in the community and in the world of business
and government, and often serve as guest speakers in class.
Marilyn oversees business planning,
automation service policies and support for American Airlines' largest
and busiest hub operation at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
She first came to American
Airlines in 1977 and worked in the Finance Department in New York. She has held management positions in
Cargo, Flight Services and Human Resources. She served as Director of Customer
Service, Regional Managing Director for the Caribbean, and Regional
Managing Director of the West overseeing airports in Arizona,
California, Hawaii,
Nevada, Oregon
and Washington. Prior to her promotion she was Vice
President of Airport Policies and Procedures worldwide.
Marilyn and her husband Bill, are the parents of Brittany, who is enrolled
in the Master of Accounting Program at TCU and Jason, a student at Baylor University. During her spare time, she is a
volunteer for Safe Haven, a shelter for abused women and children and
also a mentor with Menttium 100 for business
leaders in Dallas/Fort Worth.
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What Happened To?
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 Dr. Hilda Allred
Having grown up in the land of
gumbo, red beans
and rice and cornbread, relocating to Rhode
Island to join the
faculty in the College of Business in 1974
was certainly a grand adventure for me. Great changes were occurring in
the 70s when CBA's Dean Weeks and faculty
moved forward to upgrade curricula and programs leading to the
College's first American Association of Colleges and Schools of Business
accreditation. That's what attracted me to URI-change, opportunity,
growth.
My teaching in the CBA was
primarily in business and organizational communication courses for
undergraduates and MBAs. The students were wonderful; they often worked
almost full time while attending the University.
As associate professor and then
later assistant dean (for the Executive-in-Residence program), I had
the good fortune of working with top executives and CEOs, some URI
graduates, who were brought onto campus to interact with our students,
faculty and administration. It was fantastic to associate with these
top executives. Perhaps it was that association that brought me to give
the private sector a whirl. With certain sadness about leaving the
students, I left my URI post in 1981.
For more than 15 years in vice
president or top director of human resources roles, I worked in several
leading companies ranging from high tech FORTUNE 500 Handy and Harman,
to Fidelity Investments in Boston, to VP in
high-growth, high-tech ADE Corporation that we grew organically and
through acquisitions, ultimately leading to a successful IPO.
Since moving to Arizona in 1998 (yes, we have rattle
snakes and coyotes), I have provided HR and change management expertise
to a high-growth technology-consulting firm and then as a consultant to
a major spin-off of Motorola which resulted in another successful IPO.
Other consulting projects have included large-scale change initiatives,
mergers and acquisitions, organizational effectiveness, strategy
planning, reengineering, succession and leadership model and
development, assessment and executive coaching.
As I write this, remembering the great opportunity to work
with the students, faculty,
staff and administration at URI, I also think of Abraham Lincoln's statement, "in
the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in
your years." I'd say I've had a lot of life in my years.
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Redefining Investment Strategy Education
(R.I.S.E) Symposium
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 By Andrey Vladyko
On March 26-March 29, 2008 a group of College of Business
Administration students attended the R.I.S.E.
Symposium in Dayton, Ohio,
hosted by the University
of Dayton.
Professor Peter DaDalt and three URI students,
Casey DeSormier, Corey Singer and myself,
represented our University at this special event.
The summit took place in the
arena at the University
of Dayton. We had
an opportunity to listen to a number of prominent speakers such as:
Patrick Dorsey, Jeffrey J. Diermeier,
President & CEO of the CFA Institute, Thomas R. Keene,
Editor-at-large of Bloomberg News, Georg Kell,
Executive Head for United Nations Global
Compact, Dr. Finn E. Kydland, 2004 Nobel
Laureate in Economics and many others. Christopher Gardner, the Owner
& CEO of Christopher Gardner International Holdings, was the
special guest speaker. He is the prototype for the movie "The
Pursuit of Happyness" starring Will
Smith. Christopher Gardner is a great motivational speaker with a
striking presence and a powerful charisma (he is pictured above with
us).
The University of Dayton
made it into history as being the first university to host the NASDAQ
closing. Casey DeSormier was one of the
students selected to be on stage when the nationwide broadcasting to
CNBC and Bloomberg channel went live.
All attendees participated in
the break-out sessions they selected during the registration
process. Finance professionals elucidated their investment strategies
and shared their level of expertise. We attended such sessions as: long
short portfolio strategies, equity analysis, wealth management and
others.
We had an opportunity to a take
a tour and have a dinner at the U.S. Air Force Museum. Many schools
participated in the nationwide portfolio competition and an award
ceremony was held at the museum for the winners. URI's
Student Investment Fund (Ram Fund) is planning to participate in this
competition next year.
Our group brought back many
positive thoughts from the R.I.S.E. symposium. Attending this symposium
helped us generate innovative ideas that will be implemented in the
Student Investment Fund. The
trip gave us a chance to get a glimpse of real competition - other
competent students from universities all over the world. This encounter motivated us to raise
our personal and professional standards and set higher performance
expectations.
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Vangermeersch Endowed Lecture A Success
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Reaching the
Corporate Summit
On April 10th, more than 100 students, faculty and staff
gathered to participate in a panel presentation by College of Business Alumni Deborah Ciolfi,
Wendy Field and Marianne Gattinella,
moderated by Hilda Allred. Topics such as strategies for success,
key URI courses that assisted in their career success,
and advice for students as they start to think about their careers were
discussed. A lively Q&A concluded the program.
The Vangermeersch Endowed
Lecture was established by Deborah Ciolfi,
with a gift honoring her former accounting professor Richard Vangermeersch, who retired in 2004 after 34 years
of teaching.
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Where Are
They Now?
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Where are
some of our CBA alumni?
Robert J Alvine '88 is President and General Manager at
Premier Subaru, LLC in CT.
Jennifer Balas, '98 is currently a marketing director
for Hoagland Longo, a law firm in New
Brunswick, NJ.
After working in magazine publishing and educational marketing, she
went on to receive her MBA at Rutgers University.
Ed Houde, '81 has been promoted to Vice
President, Domestic Tax at Hasbro. With over 22 years of experience at
Hasbro, Ed has been responsible for all areas of U.S.
tax compliance and accounting,
integrating several major acquisitions into tax reporting systems and
successfully managing all regulatory issues with Federal, State and
Local Tax authorities.
Doug Marcille, '79 is currently
the CEO and President of U.S. Gas & Electric, Inc., a leading
energy company that provides natural gas to commercial and residential
users in deregulated markets, and own and manage natural gas wells.
John Studer, MBA '03 has been
announced as March 2008's ideablob contest
winner. "No Sweat Apparel is a paradigm for social
entrepreneurialism. With the modest ambition of helping to solve the
Middle East crisis, No Sweat Apparel manufactures organic cotton
t-shirts in a factory in Palestine,
at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. Jewish owned and
operated, organized under a Muslim union, and produced in a factory run
by a Christian, the founders of No Sweat believe that mutually
beneficial economic incentives are a key component to helping resolve
the crisis in the Middle East. What's
more is that they are doing this in an eco-friendly way; the t-shirts
they produce are environment-friendly organic cotton." For
more information about the company (or to order a t-shirt), visit their
web site at www.nosweatapparel.com.
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URI Events
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May
6th- MBA
Information Session, 6 pm, URI Feinstein Providence Campus, room
242. Reserve your spot-email mba@uri.edu or call URI-5000
17th- URI Graduate Commencement
18th- URI Undergraduate Commencement
21st- 2008 Annual Conference for Nonprofit
Professionals
The Volunteer Center of RI in collaboration with the
RI Foundation, the United
Way of RI and Social Venture Partners is
holding a conference "Communicate! Collaborate! Successful Connections
for a Stronger Community" held
at the URI Kingston Campus, Memorial Union. Visit www.vcri.org or contact VCRI at 401-421-6547 for
details.
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For more details and future events visit http://www.cba.uri.edu/calendar/
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CBA News
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Student Wins
National Scholarship Award
Undergraduate
student Helen Zhang, is the winner of an
Academic Achievement Scholarship from the New England Roundtable of
the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals. Winners of this
award are exemplary students who significantly impress their
professors.
The funds are used to help
defray the costs of a supply chain education, and to allow the
student to take advantage of unique opportunities to explore the
field and practice of logistics in a manner considered personally and
professionally meaningful.
The New England Roundtable is an
organization of professionals who are interested in furthering their
understanding of supply chain concepts and practices and improving
their own supply chain management skills. Formed in 1972, it is one of
over 80 similar roundtables of the Council of Supply Chain Management
Professionals (CSCMP) around the world. The New England Roundtable
provides a continuing program of formal activities and informal
discussions designed to improve the understanding of the supply chain
process, promote the art and science of managing supply chain systems,
and foster professional dialogue and development about the
profession.
Outstanding Outreach 2008
Award
Jerri Paquin, Associate Director of the Research Center
in Business & Economics at the College of Business
Administration, received a URI
Outstanding Outreach Award in a ceremony held April 21, 2008. Jerry was
cited for her valuable contribution to
the College
of Business Administration.
When the
college established a major in Supply Chain Management, Jerri reached
out to that industry, meeting with leaders and attending industry
events to generate excitement for the URI program. Due to her efforts
in building a relationship with the American Society of Transportation
and Logistics (AST&L) an accrediting organization for the
transportation, logistics and supply chain management industry,
students graduating from the major will have an accredited
degree.
Jerri's
efforts at establishing a relationship with the Council of Supply Chain
Management Professionals has resulted in a scholarship for those in the
new major. She has been the Brown Forum for Enterprise liaison from the College
and is responsible for hosting the Forum's annual visits to URI.
Dr. Chen Re-Elected to
Board
Dr. Shaw K.
Chen, Associate Dean, has been reelected to serve a two-year term,
4/1/08-3/31/10, as a Vice President and Board member for Decision
Sciences Institute. Dr. Chen was also recently appointed to be a Public
Member Representative to serve on the Rhode Island Automobile Insurance
Service Plan's Governing Board.
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2008 Awards
Banquet
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The College
of Business held a Faculty
Student Awards Banquet on April 6th to honor outstanding students and
faculty in the College
of Business. Over
40 scholarships and achievement awards were given to students during
the event at the Quonset "O" Club in North
Kingstown.
Dean's
Excellence Awards were also awarded to the following faculty and staff,
for distinction that supports the mission of the College.
Undergraduate
Teaching:
Graduate
Teaching:
Dr. Ruby Dholakia
Research: Dr. Tong Yu
Service: Dr. Robert Comerford
Administrative
Support:
Outstanding
New Teacher:
William A. Orme Working Papers Series: Dr. Douglas Hales
Dean Higgins
awards Professor Ruby Dholakia an award for
distinction in Graduate Teaching.
Dean Higgins awards Professor Robert
Comerford an award for distinction in Service.
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Ph.D. News
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Friday April
4, 2008 was a great day for the Ph.D. Program. For the first
time in our history, two students defended their dissertations on the
same day!
Syagnik Banerjee
successfully defended his dissertation - Consumer Ubiquity or Anytime Anywhere Consumption: Scale
Development and Validation. His major professor is
Dr. Ruby Dholakia. He has accepted
a tenure track position of Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Michigan
- Flint.
Roger Blake
successfully defended his dissertation- Three Essays on Decision
Success Factors in Information Systems. His major
professor is Dr. Paul Mangiameli. He
has accepted a tenure track position as Assistant Professor of
Information Systems at the University
of Massachusetts - Boston.
Bogdan Prokopovych
was awarded a competitive CIIP Traineeship and Scholarship for the
2008 -2009 academic year and summer offered by The Coastal Institute
IGERT Project.
Ting Zhang has won the Netspar
Research Grant 2008 for a paper entitled Testing moral hazard and tax benefit hypotheses: evidence from
pension plan contribution and asset allocation.
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The Fund for URI
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Giving is an art, and like art, it brightens every day of
the year.
The
sculpture pictured above, entitled "Coming Together" was
created for the atrium of Ballentine Hall by the artist, Ann Sperry.
She describes her piece as intertwining strands celebrating the past,
present and future of the College
of Business Administration.
Dedicated
and generous alumni represent the past and the future. You have helped
create the very foundation of our College and are helping to shape the
future. The Fund for URI supports the present by providing
funding for student scholarships, faculty research grants, lectures,
career development activities and advanced technology.
Please share your generosity with
the College
of Business Administration
by making a gift through the Fund for URI at https://secure.ga1.org/05/fund_for_uri/
You make the difference!
For questions on the Fund for
URI, contact Michaela Mooney, Associate Dean of
Development for the College
of Business Administration
at michaela@uri.edu,
401-874-4716
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Pictures of
the Month
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Students and faculty from the University of Piraeus, Greece visit the College of Business
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Quick Links
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CBA Website
UPDATES
FOR NEWSLETTER? Contact:
University of Rhode Island
College of Business Administration
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