WE CAN'T STOP CELEBRATING!

Catch up on all the Capital Campaign Celebration news and photographs.

[Read about the School of Business $10 Million Gift]

Insurance Center Coordinator Debbie Little, left, and Dr. Etti Baranoff, associate professor of Insurance and Finance, right, introduces Helena Meirinho, president of Gamma Iota Sigma, center, to Steve Markel during the celebration	Sketches of the new building gave students Greg Lehman, Shannan Grasty and Amy Thomas a better idea of the exterior structure

	Students packed the room, and cheered to express their appreciation when Steve Markel entered the room

ALUMNI BOARD SPONSORS TWO FEBRUARY EVENTS

Photo from Alumni Board seminar Tom Davidson, Aaron Goldmann '05, David Coon '84, and Rajiv Pant ' 02

“Understanding Job and Organizational Fit: The Key to Having a Life AND a Successful Career” was the topic of a career seminar for business students on Tuesday, February 22 in the student Commons Forum Room. Event chairmen Marty Wilson, Kim Agger and Rajiv Pant did a great job in creating a valuable program for our students. New alumni board members David Coon ’86, Director, Executive Recruiting, Career Quest LLC and Tom Davidson, SPHR, Principal, Kinesis International were featured speakers.

On Wednesday, February 16 a superb Business Alumni Networking reception was held before the Rams-Delaware basketball game. Fred Facka organized a rousing T-shirt toss to the crowd. Also recognized at halftime from the School of Business Alumni Board were event sponsors Mike Miller, Mike Rose, Glenn Davis and Paul Edmunds.

Third Annual School of Business Basketball Reception a Success

On February 16, more than 100 School of Business alumni and guests gathered for a networking reception hosted by the School of Business Alumni Board prior to the men’s basketball victory over Deleware (83-73).

Event Sponsors Mike Miller MBA’88 and Fred Facka MS’92 gear up for the game	Andy Keller MBA’76, Barry Yaffe BS’70, and Floyd Lane BS’72 show off their new t-shirts

Gabe Corbett BS’95, “G” Shrestha BS’03, and Leslie Daniel BS’02 enjoy seeing old friends and meeting new ones.	Kelly Tinsley BS’92 and daughter Hannan help Anita Vause work the check-in table

DeLoane Newman BS’76 and Hariet Newman join host Mike Rose MBA’89 and Gretchen Borzelleca BS’85	Reception attendees throw out “VCU Means Business!” shirts to the crowd during a half-time promotion for the School of Business

	Alumni Board member Kim Agger BS’91, MBA’01, chats with Ben Herbert and alumnus Lee Weisiger MS’80

THALHIMER FAMILY SCHOLAR ON CAMPUS APRIL 7 & 8

Professor George S. Day, the 2005 Charles G. Thalhimer Family Scholar-in-Residence will be on campus Thursday and Friday, April 7 & 8. He will begin his visit by making a presentation at 9:30 a.m. April 7 discussing “What Does It Mean to be Market Driven?” in Commonwealth Ballroom B, University Student Commons. He will later meet with marketing students and faculty from School of Business and School of Engineering, Executive Fast Track students and faculty and PhD students and faculty.

Dr. Day is the Geoffrey T. Boisi Professor of Marketing and Co-Director of the Mack Center for Technological Innovation at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He previously taught at Stanford University, International Management Development Institute (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland and the University of Toronto and has held visiting appointments at MIT, the Harvard Business School and the London Business School. Prior to joining the Wharton School, he was Executive Director of the Marketing Science Institute, an industry-supported research consortium.

The Charles G. Thalhimer family Scholar-in-Residence program was established in 1984 to provide VCU School of Business students and faculty access to outstanding scholars. The program provides significant opportunities for the exchange of ideas and intellectual growth.

IT'S GO FOR SIX SIGMA CLASSES

On February 25 in the new Student Commons VCU alumni Lee Campe BS '93 presented an introductory session on Six Sigma. Enthusiastic attendance at the briefing indicated that there is enough interest that the Center for Corporate Education will offer three weekly sessions ( April 18-22, May 23-27 and June 23-24) to be taught by Campe, who is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt.

Campe is a leading expert on Six Sigma, specializing in deployment planning and training. He has trained more than 2,500 executives in all levels of Six Sigma. For further information or to register, call the Center for Corporate Education at (804) 828-3165 or send an e-mail to corped@vcu.edu

DR. STEVEN PETERSON DISCUSSES DATA RELATIONSHIPS

Dr. Steven P. Peterson, associate professor of Economics, will address members of the Central Virginia Chapter, Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), on March 10, on the topic "Data Mining/Neural Networks. looking for relationships in data with artificial neural networks covers the nuts and bolts of data mining. Dr. Petersen will explain what some of these techniques are and how they can be used in business applications.

ON-LINE CHAT SESSION OPENS TO PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS

Fall 2005 accepted freshman applicants were invited to log-on March 14 to a special Chat room hosted by the School of Business in partnership with the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. Peter D'Alema, Director of Student Services; Joanne Jensen, Associate Director, Undergraduate Admissions, and Dylan Fugate, Admissions Counselor answered any and all questions about programs and why interested students should come to VCU to major in Business. The Chat Session will be hosted again in April. This on-line program was created by the Chat University company.

HUMAN RESOURCES TEAM WINS SHRM COMPETITION

A team of three VCU students won the Virginia HR Games competition held in the Business Building on Saturday, Feb. 26. The HR Games are an annual Jeopardy-style competition sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). VCU's winning team members are left to right, Sarah Sekhon, Dr. Marianne Miller, associate professor of Management and faculty advisor for SHRM chapter, Sara Havan and Stephanie Ryan. All are SHRM chapter officers. They competed against teams representing George Mason University, George Washington University and James Madison University.

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.

Having won the state competition, Team VCU will now move on to the Southeast regional competition at Florida Gulf Coast University on April 2. Winners of the regional competitions will compete for the national title at SHRM's annual conference scheduled for June in San Diego.

FORUM TO EXPLORE THE ENTREPRENEURIAL PARADIGM

“ Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century: Keys to Global Economic and Social Development, ” will be the topic of VCU School of Business’ 11th Annual International Business Forum on March 29 from 3 to 5:30 p.m. in the Student Commons Ballrooms A&B, 907 Floyd Avenue, Richmond. There is no charge. This Forum seeks to explore the entrepreneurial paradigm along with the strategies that nurture and grow innovative cultures in organizations. Panelists will be Henry Becker, Vice President & Managing Director at Infineon Technologies AG, Tom Cochran, President of Tredegar Film Products, Eugene J. Huang, Secretary of Technology for the Commonwealth of Virginia and John Nelson, President – Philip Morris USA. Moderator will be Dr. Van R. Wood, Philip Morris Endowed Chair in International Business, VCU For further information call (804) 828-1747

COME ONE COME ALL TO FINANCE, INSURANCE CAREER FAIR

March 30 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. the Finance and Risk Management & Insurance Career Fair will be sponsored by the VCU Insurance Studies Center & Gamma Iota Sigma in the Student Commons Ballrooms A & B. Over 20 insurance companies will be represented, and accepting resumes from all departments of their companies. “Students should remember that these companies have accounting, marketing, human resources and IS departments as well as insurance. This is a good way to become acquainted with different companies,” says Debbie Little, Coordinator of Insurance Studies. She invites all students regardless of their major to take the opportunity to come and visit with the representatives.

BEST ATTENDED REAL ESTATE LECTURE NOW ON-LINE

“Ten Trends That Will Shape the Future of the Real Estate Business” was presented to over 250 students, faculty and staff, and real estate professionals on February 11 in conjunction with the Virginia Association of Realtors® annual legislative and education conference.
John Tuccillo, Ph. D., CAE was the lecturer. Dr. Tucillo is the former chief economist for the National Association of Realtor and is a past president of The American Real Estate and Urban Economics association (AREUEA). This presentation was the best attended lecture to date! A copy of his lecture is on the Department’s website

http://www.realestate.bus.vcu.edu/pdfs/Future_of_Real_Estate_by_John_Tuccillo.pdf

WORKING WITH THE CAREER CENTER

The School of Business works very closely with the University Career Center, with many business students participating in their career directed activities. A recent two-day event included a Career Day and Networking Workshop. One unusual feature was a Business Etiquette class.

Senior April Battles demonstrates selecting from the buffet table, balancing her plate while serving small portions. Dining out is now becoming a part of the interviewing process for many companies.	Finance graduate Talgat Irisbekov talks with Wachovia Bank’s recruiter, Yvonne Schlotzer, about opportunities during the employers’ networking portion of the seminar.

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