Philip Morris USA has donated more than $2.2 million to the combined campaign for VCU’s new School of Business and the School of Engineering’s Phase Two facility. Each has received $1 million in cash. The Engineering School also will receive $225,000 in equipment.

“We value VCU’s collaborative approach to preparing a highly qualified work force and its contributions to the economic transformation of the city….,” said Michael E. Szymanczyk, chairman and CEO of Philip Morris, in a Richmond Times-Dispatch interview.

Here is a summary of the School of Business Campaign reported by the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs.

Through the end of December, public and private support for The Campaign for the School of Business exceeds $38 million towards the $47 million goal. We have reached 81% of our goal.

Lyn McDermid

SIX SIGMA AND IT NEXT TECH TUESDAY SUBJECT

On February 21, Lyn McDermid, CIO, Dominion will be the speaker at Tech Tuesday, from 7:30 AM - 9:00 AM VCU School of Business, 1015 Floyd Avenue, Room 1132. She will discuss Six Sigma and IT

Six Sigma is an overall enterprise improvement methodology that uses data to monitor, control, and improve operational performance by eliminating and preventing 'defects' in products and associated processes. Six Sigma emphasizes producing better, faster, and lower cost product and services than the competition and stresses breakthrough improvement, for improved bottom line results. Lyn will explain how and why Six Sigma is important to IT and IT plays a crucial role in Six Sigma success. For further information contact Maureen Carley at (804) 8287074 or mecarley@vcu.edu

http://www.networkworld.com/yourtake/2002/0401yourtake.html#CIO

VCU 12th Annual International Business Forum: “ The Changing Face of Risk: Impact on the Global Business Environment”

Tuesday, February 28, 3:00-5:30 p.m. in the VCU Student Commons, Commonwealth Ballroom. Reception to follow.
The over-arching geopolitical paradigm of the past – the “Cold War” is gone. World-wide technological and information diffusion has changed our world, and has presented us with never before seen opportunities and challenges. Both come with significant risks ranging from the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, regional conflicts, demographic time-bombs, environmental degradation, potential pandemics, super-empowered “bad-guys” and associated economic and financial risks that could change the global commercial system as we know it today. The VCU 12th Annual International Business Forum will explore these and other risks and their potential impact on the global business environment.

Erik Peterson	William Parrish

Panel of experts to include: Erik R. Peterson - Senior Vice President at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS); William H. Parrish – VCU Associate Professor, L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, and VCU Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Planning Programs; Phil Anderson – Vice President for Washington Operations, Lucent Technologies - Bell Labs; Dr. Lisa G. Kaplowitz – Deputy Commissioner for Emergency Preparedness and Response, Virginia Department of Health (VDH); and Jay C. Farrar – Senior Vice President, Government Affairs and Head of the Washington D.C. Office of CH2M Hill. Moderated by Van R. Wood - Professor of International Marketing and Philip Morris Endowed Chair in International Business, VCU. Presented by the VCU School of Business and L. Douglas Wilder School of Government & Public Affairs. For more information contact Van Wood, 804-828-1746 or vrwood@vcu.edu

PROFESSOR TURNS FINANCIAL COLUMNIST

In November 2005, Dr. Heiko de B. Wijnholds, a professor of Marketing, broadened his professional endeavors by turning to journalism. He has started a business column titled "Money & Marketing" in the Richmond Times-Dispatch that now appears every Monday in the Metro Business section, both in hard copy and online. The articles cover a wide range of topics relating to marketing and money matters, usually with public policy implications.

This is not Dr. Wijnholds' first column. Before coming to VCU, he was a professor at his alma mater, the University of South Africa as well as a business columnist for Rapport, a Sunday paper with a nationwide circulation.
Click on http://www.bus.vcu.edu/news/wijnholds.html to read more about Dr. Wijnholds. A listing of his columns also is available. .

VCU HOMECOMING SET FOR FEBRUARY 11
ACCOUNTING, FAST TRACK EXECUTIVE MBA
PLAN SPECIAL GATHERINGS

On Saturday, February 11 the VCU men’s basketball team will meet Old Dominion University at 6 p.m. in the Siegel Center. Preceding the game, a Chill & Grill activity will be sponsored by the VCU Alumni Association from 12-4 p.m. in the V/V Parking Lot (corner of Floyd Ave. and Harrison St. across from the School of Business). For information call (804) 828-2596.

The School of Business Department of Accounting Alumni Reunion will be held the same day from 4-6 p.m. in Siegel Center Auxiliary Gym. Two free tickets to the game are offered with reservations required. Contact the Department of Accounting (804) 828-1608.

The Fast Track Executive MBA alumni pre-game reception will be held in the Sports Medicine Building. Contact the Fast Track office (804) 828-3939.

BEAT GOES ON! GOOD NEWS FROM STEVEN FICK

A few weeks back Steven Fick, a School of Business student, competed in AOL’s reality contest, The Biz.com and finished fourth. Since that time Steven has continued to manage bands as well as look into an internship at Capitol Records and Warner Music Group. “The show was an amazing opportunity and has opened up a ridiculous number of doors for me.”
He is also putting together shows at The NorVA in Norfolk, Va.

ECONOMICS STUDENT DIES

Peter William Hufschmidt, an economics major, died Tuesday, Jan. 24. He was 22.
Hufschmidt enjoyed outdoor activities such as bicycling and camping. He attended Midlothian High School and was an alternate on the regional-winning VCU School of Business College Fed Challenge Team. Memorial contributions may be made to the Richmond S.P.C.A.

A reception was hosted by Dr. Larry Williams, left, prior to Dr. Dan Dalton’s, right, webcast presentation.

CARMA WEBCAST FEATURED DR. DAN DALTON

Dr. Dan Dalton was the key presenter on January 27 for CARMA’s webcast lecture series. His lecture was on “Meta-Analysis” and broadcast to consortium members at universities across the U.S. Dr. Dalton was the founding director of the Institute for Corporate Governance and is the Harold A. Poling Chair of Strategic Management in the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. He formerly was with General Telephone & Electronics for 13 years and received his Ph.D. from the University of California.

DR RAZZOLINI SPEAKS AT PUBLIC CHOICE SOCIETY

Dr. Laura Razzolini, professor of Economics, will be a plenary speaker for the Public Choice Society’s annual meeting , March 30 – April 2 in New Orleans. The Society will be reopening the InterContinental New Orleans and believe that the return of this four-diamond hotel to the community is an important step in the re-building and re-birth of New Orleans.

The Society’s goal is to facilitate the exchange of work, and ideas between economics, political science, and sociology. It started when scholars from all three of these groups became interested in the application of essentially economic methods to problems normally dealt with by political theorists. It has retained strong traces of economic methodology, but new and fruitful techniques have been developed that are not clearly identified with any self-contained discipline.

VCU SHRM CHAPTER HOSTS COMPETITION

On February 25, the VCU School of Business Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) will host the annual Virginia HR Games competition. David Coon, Virginia SHRM College Relations Director and member of the SHRM State.

Council for Virginia, is the coordinator for this event. Mr. Coon also serves on the VCU School of Business Alumni Board.

Seven students (two three-student teams and one alternate) will participate in this year's competition. They are Sarah Sekhon, John Elms, and Rachel Woolridge (Team 1); Stephanie Ryan, Stephanie McConnell, and Erica Trice (Team 2); and Monique Atkinson (alternate).

Dr. Marianne Miller, associate professor of Management, is the faculty advisor for the VCU SHRM chapter. The HR Games are an annual Jeopardy-style competition sponsored by SHRM. Last year the VCU team won the state competition and placed sixth in the Southeast regional competition held in Fort Myers, FL. VCU will host student teams from SHRM student chapters around the Commonwealth in the state-wide competition taking place in the School of Business. The first- and second-place teams from the state competition will move on to the Southeast regional competition in Knoxville, TN on April 8.
In addition to promoting friendly competition, the HR Games are intended to generate student interest in preparing for and taking the certification exam for HRM professionals. Questions included in the HR Games reflect topics covered in the certification exams.

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS RECEIVES FOODBANK AWARD

The School of Business has received a 2005 Hunger Relief Award from the Central Virginia Food Bank, Richmond, for its “Top Food Drives” which were conducted by three Management Department teams as part of a strategic management class project. The presentation was made at the FoodBank’s annual meeting in mid-2005. The Award was presented by Fay G. Lahr, CEO, Richmond FoodBank.

The VCU Center for Corporate Education is partnering with the Center for Fiduciary Studies to offer this two-day program at Kingsmill, Williamsburg, VA on Thursday and Friday, February 23 and 24. The program will start at 10 a.m. Thursday and conclude Friday afternoon. The program is lead by Donald B. Trone, AIFA of the Center for Fiduciary Studies and Dr. David Upton, AIF, Department Chair, Finance, Insurance and Real Estate, VCU School of Business.

The term “fiduciary” applies to the more than five million individuals who have the legal responsibility for managing someone else’s money. This includes accountants, attorneys, brokers, dealers, executors, investment advisors; foundation and endowment managers, investment consultants, money managers and others who are fiduciaries or who deal with fiduciaries. To learn more about the Fiduciary Seminar, costs, and program outline, visit the website www.bus.vcu.edu/cce or call Jan Allen at (804) 828-3165.

TWO PROGRAMS BY CENTER FOR CORPORATE ED

Six Sigma Green and Black Belt Certification. Green Belt classes start the week of March 13 and the week of April 17. Black Belt starts the week of May 22. They will be taught by Lee Campe at VCU School of Business, 1015 Floyd Street, Richmond, VA.

Administrators' Symposium – Day-long on May 16. Designed for employees in State or Federal agencies. VCU Student Commons, Main Street, Richmond, VA.

Please contact the Center for Corporate Education at 804/828-3165 for additional information or visit their website at http://www.bus.vcu.edu/cce/index.html

Between December 16 and 31, 2005 Dr. Gurpreet Dhillon did a whirlwind tour of India with lectures at Indian Institute of Management (Calcutta) (www.iimcal.ac.in) and for the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) (www.ciionline.org) in Delhi and Chandigarh. The lectures centered around my forthcoming book "Principles of Information Systems Security" (John Wiley & Sons, 2006).

He also spoke at the ALUMNI meeting of St John’s High School at Chandigarh, India and presented the nature, scope and role of the "Conference on Information Science Technology and Management" (www.cistm.org), which he is chairing July 16-18, 2006. He stressed the importance of this meeting in closing the digital divide. The speech was mentioned in the national daily - The Indian Express (see http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=162664)

Dr. David Urban, professor of Marketing, summarized his thoughts as the final episode of “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart” aired. He wrote: “What we have learned is that people don't want a "kinder, gentler version" of "The Apprentice," which is what you gave them. Even though you had an interesting group of candidates - people such as Jim, Chuck and Dawn come to mind - the conference room scenes in your show just didn't have the passion or drama that would hold today's television audience. I am sure that Charles Koppelman and your daughter Alexis are great people and contribute a lot to your organization, but they never seemed to find a comfort zone in front of the camera.

”So, we are done. I wish you the best of luck with your future endeavors and I look forward to many new and exciting things from Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Best regards.”

In reviewing two “Apprentice” shows this past season, Dr. Urban has earned a gold star, had a few bricks thrown at him and gained visibility for himself and VCU, since every column ended with a comment about the university. The “Donald” has another year on his contract, so we may see “Reconstructing the Trumpter” next season.

Martha Stewart ends season.

VCU STUDY SUGGESTS THAT HERITABILITY OF MAJOR DEPRESSION IS HIGHER IN WOMEN THAN IN MEN - Some genetic risk factors for depression may be sex-specific in their effect.

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have found that genes contribute more strongly to the risk of depression in women than in men, and that there may be some genetic factors that are operating uniquely in one sex and not in the other. The study is issued in the January American Journal of Psychiatry, reporting that heritability of depression is higher in women – approximately 42 percent -- than in men, where it is approximately 29 percent. Dr. Kenneth S. Kendler, M.D., a professor of psychiatry and human genetics in VCU’s School of Medicine is lead author on the study. Read more by clicking on http://www.vcu.edu/uns/Releases/2006/jan/010506.html