GOOD LUCK IN YOKOHAMA

VCU SCHOOL OF BUSINESS INFORMATION SYSTEMS TEAM WON THE MICROSOFT IMAGINE CUP U.S. NATIONAL COMPETITION – IN LATE JULY THEY WILL COMPETE IN YOKOHAMA, JAPAN

During the weekend of May 21-22, The Department of Information Systems fielded three teams to the U.S. National Microsoft Imagine Cup competition (http://imagine.thespoke.net/us/index.aspx). The competition was held on Friday and Saturday in Redmond, Washington at the Microsoft Campus. The Imagine Cup is a software design competition in which teams from high schools and colleges compete in teams of three and four students.

The School of Business’ winning team, Team ECESIS (John McKeon-Information Systems, James Barrett-Information Systems, John Sells-Computer Science), won out over 30 teams from schools such as Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, UC Berkeley, etc. John, James and John now have the honor of representing not only VCU and the Information Systems Department but the United States as well, in Yokohama, Japan in late July. This is an astonishing achievement for our school, our department, the educators who have guided these students and, most of all, the students themselves. Read more about the teams and their entries in two articles, (including the special recognition luncheon June 9) on the Home Page www.bus.vcu.edu

Messages such as this one below have been pouring in: “Great News! Congratulations to the team members and to the University's faculty and staff.”
Joe Cipolla, Chief Information Officer
at McGuire Woods

641 DEGREES AWARDED - JOHN JACOBY GAVE CHALLENGING COMMENCEMENT SPEECH

John C. Jacoby ‘76, Managing Partner, Deloitte & Touche, was the speaker for the May 21 School of Business commencement. In his talk Jacoby emphasized “we’ve become a much more flexible, reactive business community, and I think that has helped create an environment in which new and exciting forms of exploration are possible.”

Mr. Jacoby, his wife and now his daughter, Erin, ’05, are all graduates of VCU. His firm Deloitte & Touche, also has developed a strong bond with VCU. Ten partners in the firm are VCU graduates along with 29 per cent of their Richmond office staff also being VCU graduates. The talk in its entirety is posted on the School of Business Home Page www.bus.vcu.edu 641 degrees were awarded, including 456 Bachelor of Science, 163 Masters and three Doctorate degrees.

THANK YOU TOM

On June 16 School of Business Alumni Board president Tom Phillips ’73, passed the Board’s gavel over to Kenneth A. Thomas ’91. Tom served seven years on the Board, the past two years as president. During his term he fostered the growth of such Board-supported projects as the Business-Student Networking receptions in the spring and fall, the semi-annual career seminars and special projects such as graduation receptions. He represented the Board at many internal and external functions. Thank you Tom!

Outgoing Alumni Board President Tom Phillips, center, is congratulated by Dr. Ed Coffman, Board liaison, and Kathleen Barrett, left Alumna of the Year.

THREE PROMOTED TO PROFESSOR.

School of Business Dean Michael Sesnowitz has announced the promotion of three faculty members to professor rank. They are Dr. Kenneth N. Daniels, professor of Finance; Dr. Gurpreet Dhillon, professor of Information Systems; and Dr. David W. Harless, professor of Economics.

Dr. Edward N. Coffman has been named Chairman of the Accounting Department. Stepping down is Dr. Ruth Epps, who will continue in the department teaching and doing research. “ We can all be proud of their accomplishments,” said the Dean.

GRANT RECEIVED BY DRS. STRATTON AND WETZEL
TO STUDY STUDENT PROGRESS TOWARDS A DEGREE

The Association for Institutional Research (AIR) has announced that a grant has been awarded to two School of Business economic professors in the Department of Economics. Dr. Leslie S. Stratton and Dr. James N. Wetzel have received a $29,209 grant for one year to study “Progress Towards a Degree: Comparison of Academic Degree Seeking Students from 90/94 and 96/01 BPS.” Their proposal was selected for funding through the Association for Institutional Research-National Center for Education Statistics-National Science Foundation. They will present the findings of their project at the AIR Forum to be held next year in June 2006 in New Orleans.

DR. DAVIS RECEIVES $64,828 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION GRANT

Dr. Douglas D. Davis, professor of Economics, has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for $64,828 to pursue research on the “Posted-Offer Markets and Oligopoly Games in Near-Continuous Time: An Experimental Investigation” extending from June 2005 to June 2007.

This is Dr Davis’ fifth National Science Foundation grant. His research has been almost continuously funded by NSF since 1989.

He also has received external support from the Federal Trade Commission. His abstract is reviewed on the School of Business website for Research News.
http://www.bus.vcu.edu/admin/res_papers.htm

AN UNUSUAL INTERNSHIP

MBA/MSIS student, Nicholas Lewis, will spend his summer at the Department of the Air Force as part of a 10 week internship, reports Jana McQuaid, Director of Graduate Studies in Business.

The internship is at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton. Virginia. Mr. Lewis will focus on the integration of current and future Air Force Command and Control, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance systems. He will interact with Pentagon and Air Force action officers, contractors and civilian personnel. Mr. Lewis will attend technical briefings and demonstrations, and tour state-of-the-art C2 and ISR facilities and aircraft.

SIXTEEN RECEIVE SECURITY CERTIFICATES

The four-day Security Certificate program sponsored in April by the School of Business Information Systems Department, presented certificates to 16 security and business professionals from the area. Guest speakers included the Honorable George Foresman, who heads the Commonwealth's Office of Homeland Security for Governor Mark Warner; Mr. N. Jerry Simonoff, Director of Strategic Management Services for Virginia Information Technologies Agency; Mr. Les Lauziere, a criminal investigator, Office of Attorney General, Virginia Cyber Crime Strike Force; and Dr. Carolyn Strand-Norman, assistant professor Information Systems, VCU School of Business; Dr. Frances Fabian, University of North Carolina Charlotte, and Dr. Raj Sharman, SUNY, Buffalo.

MEDIA QUOTES

Faculty Media Activities January through May are listed on the Home Page www.bus.vcu.edu. A variety of topics were discussed by faculty from real estate to automotive trends to “Apprentice” reviews.

“VACATION HOME” BOOK PUBLISHED

Dr. Jack Boykin, VCU professor emeritus, has published a book directed at the vacation home market “Investing in a Vacation Home for Pleasure and Profit, ” (Thomson) and will be doing book signings June through August at bookstores around Richmond. The book helps take the guesswork out of buying a second home, and is based on research of resorts from Alaska to Florida. It also includes basic real estate fundamentals and offers readers market-tested advice on how to maximize rental income while sidestepping some of the most common pitfalls. He also explains how to maximize resale profit by properly preparing a property for sale, selecting a broker and avoiding capital gain taxes on the sale of vacation property. Although a textbook, it serves well as a guide to purchasing or selling vacation property. It is available through major online booksellers. (US $19.95).

Mayor L. Douglas Wilder and the Shockoe Advisory Committee met June 20 at the VCU School of Business to continue reviewing development of a new Richmond Braves stadium. At the meeting a representative of Lehman Brothers, a New York City-bond development investment firm was named to financially help the project. Dr. Michael Pratt, professor of Economics and Director of Virginia Center for Urban Development, is chairman of the Committee. This is one of several meetings to be held on this proposed development. The Committee has been given until early December to make formal recommendations to the Mayor.

Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder arrives for Braves Stadium Meeting and is greeted by overflow crowd.

The School of Business welcomes back “Partnership for the Future” as it begins its 11th year of training high school students for internships with area businesses. For seven weeks, Mondays through Thursdays, about 90 inner-city students will meet at the School to catch transportation to their jobs. On Fridays they attend computer labs and such seminars as SAT preparation and how to fill out a variety of forms, including for financial aid.

The Partnership program was founded by Markel Corporation’s Chairman and CEO Alan Kirshner, and matches a select group of motivated youth with about 40 local companies. For many of the students, this is their second or third year participating in the program. The students are paid minimum wage for the first summer, with a small raise during the second and third summers. The program also encourages students to save by matching their earnings up to $3,000 in their summer jobs. To read more about Partnership for the Future
Click on their website at www.partnershipforthefuture.org.

Photo Darryl Stevens and Aaron Sperrow, left to right, begin their first summer in the program by brushing up on their computer skills in a computer lab provided by the VCU School of Business. All students meet on Fridays for computer lab.

Among the presenters at the conference was Dr. Nathan Hartman, a Ph.D. graduate of the VCU School of Business’ Management Department who is now an assistant professor at John Carol University. University Heights, OH.
.
OBTS is a professional organization of approximately 450 individuals who teach in the management disciplines at universities and colleges throughout the world and are interested in innovative and creative learning and teaching processes.

The VCU MBA Networking Group was formed on June 7 with Hiren Kotak serving as president. The new student organization was created to provide networking opportunities to School of Business graduate students and alumni. It plans to arrange events and speakers throughout the school year that will add to the graduate students and alumni experience at VCU.

For additional information and photos from the Networking event click on MBA Networking

# # #