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| News Briefs - December 2004 |
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The Fed Challenge Team: Back row from
left to right, Brian Reese, Margaret Ray, judge, Anne
Hallerman , judge, Dennis O'Toole, Ray Owens, judge, and Matthew Kona.
Sitting from left to right is Halusi Zarpli, Passant Ab bas and Aaron
Dale.
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SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
TEAM WINS FED CHALLENGE
A team of five students from the Economics Department finished
first in this year's Fed Challenge that was held at the Richmond
Federal Reserve Bank on Nov. 15 and 16. Teams from 11 schools
including Virginia Tech, University of Richmond, William
and Mary, James Madison and Old Dominion were participants.
This is a wonderful accomplishment and a great tribute to
Dennis O'Toole, who coached the team. The details of the
competition are on our web site at: http://www.bus.vcu.edu/news/fedchallenge.html
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THREE STUDENTS AWARDED CPCU
SCHOLARSHIPS
The Greater Richmond Chapter of Chartered Property Casualty
Underwriters (CPCU) has announced that three VCU students
each have been awarded a $1,000 scholarship. They are April
Battle, Helena Merlin and Kelly Wilkinson. The presentation
will be made December 14 at CPCU's monthly meeting at the
Virginia Farm Bureau's West Creek office in Goochland.
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FACULTY AND STAFF SEND GIFT
PACKAGES
TO BAGHDAD
Dr. Roxanne M. Spindle, accounting professor, is the force
behind this
year's package mailings to military service personnel. Contributions from
staff and faculty have allow us to send over 20 boxes
containing food, personal items, paperback books, CDs and DVDs.
We recently received the following email from a recipient
who is based at Ft. Story, Virginia Beach...
"Hello there, I'm writing from Baghdad, Iraq." Sgt.
Colette Wilkerson acknowledged the box's receipt and commented
on the variety of its contents. "It means a lot to know
that someone out there cares. We've had some tragedy lately,
but we are trying to stay motivated so please continue to
pray for us. Once again thanks a bunch." |
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WALLACE STETTINIUS RETIRES FROM
CADMUS BOARD
Wallace Stettinius, Senior Executive Faculty Fellow in the School of Business
and retired chairman of Cadmus Communications Corporation, Richmond, was honored
November 10 upon his retirement from the Cadmus board of directors. Stettinius
had served the company for 37 years, and helped to make it the area's 44th
largest private employer, boasting nearly $450 million in annual revenue. Today
it is a publicly traded company and is a leader in the journal publishing business.
To recognize his contributions, the company announced the establishment of
the Stettiinius Fund for Nonprofit Leadership.
Since 1995 Stettinius has been teaching leadership and business
policy to students at VCU and The University of Virginia.
In June 2003 the book Corporate Governance, which he co-authored,
was published as part of the McGraw-Hill Executive MBA Series. |
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TECH TUESDAY TOPICS MIRROR
PUBLIC CONCERNS
"Seventy-six percent of the public is concerned with
how electronic information is being handled," said Dr.
Gurpreet Dhillon in opening the November 16 Tech Tuesday
meeting. Michael R. Abejuela, with Dozier Internet Law, P.C.
of Glen Allen, moderated the session which discussed hacking,
spyware, Spam, adware, and other legal issues.
Tech Tuesdays resume in February. For further information
contact Maureen Carley at mecarley@vcu.edu.
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Matt Nuckols and Chris Stuart talk about the Virtual
Clipboard on WCVW Channel 57 on December 20, 2004 |
VIRTUAL CLIPBOARD STORY AIRS
ON CHANNEL 57
VCU Insight producer Jennifer Campbell recently interviewed
Information Systems student developers Matt Nuckols and Chris
Stuart about the progress of their Virtual Clipboard project
in assisting doctors at the Autism Center. Dr. Shirley Wiley
of the Autism Center also discussed its benefits for children
with autism. Since its introduction in May, the Clipboard
has become a continuing story in the media. The video is
scheduled to air on Richmond's PBS affiliate, WCVW Channel
57 at 7 or 7:30 p.m. Monday, December 20.
Insight is a public affairs program that airs monthly on
Channel 57, with all production of the program done by VCU's
mass communications students.
Jennifer is a senior and is graduating this month. She interned at ABC News
with Nightline.
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 PROFESSORS COMMENT ON HOLIDAY TOPICS
Will SpongeBob dry up like Pokémon or clean up like Mickey, Bugs and
Shrek? That's the question movie critic Nancy Churnin of The Dallas Morning
News recently asked Dr. David Urban, marketing professor, as the new movie
The SpongeBob Square Pants Movie opened. Dr. Urban is hesitant to place SpongeBob
in the long lasting category. But who knows?
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Dr. Urban also had a chance to comment
on the winning ways of "Jeopardy!" superstar Ken Jennings, the winningest
game-show contestant ever whose streak was broken at 74 consecutive
games. "If you think about "Jeopardy!" as a product,
we would call it a mature product." He told the Journal Sentinel
that he feels the show was invigorated last fall when the producers
changed a rule allowing contestants to continue playing as long
as they kept winning.
Dr. Urban continues to critique Apprentice 2. Those reviews can be read on www.Richmond.com. |
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Dr. George Hoffer also found himself discussing memorabilia
with Wall Street Journal reporters Joseph Pereira and Ethan Smith
who were reporting November 12 about the troubles Lionel LLC is having.
The 104-year-old model train maker filed for federal bankruptcy-court
protection but hopes making replicas of The Polar Express for the
holidays will help with a comeback. Dr. Hoffer is a model train collector
and historian. Email Fran Altman at fealtman@vcu.edu for a copy of
the article. Include your address for snail-mail response.
Dr. Pam Kiecker, professor of marketing, also is making news with
sound bites on Circuit City's holiday VNR which has been distributed
nationwide to TV stations.
She discusses women shopping on the Internet. (Forty-four percent of women
said they rely most on Internet research when shopping for consumer
electronics, followed
by 23 percent who cited advertising and store associates and 20 percent who
rely on advice from friends.)
Dr. Walter S. Griggs, Jr., Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies,
has been having fun signing his new book "Moose-cellania" at several Richmond
book stores. It is a collection of all types of amazing moose information,
trivia and photos. Dr. Griggs has spent a lifetime studying moose and now has
had the
opportunity to include all of the information in one book. For further information
go to Amazon.com and write in the title.
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FAST TRACK ALUMNI KICK-OFF NEW ASSOCIATION
On Friday, October 29, alumni and students of the Fast Track Executive
MBA program gathered in the Scott House to celebrate the start
of a new Fast Track EMBA Alumni Association. The group invited
Dean Sesnowitz to give an update on the Campaign for the School
of Business. Jon B. Hill, BS ’85, EMBA’99, and president
of the new Alumni Association spoke about opportunities to get
involved, such as helping to write a history of the program, developing
content for the website, or serving as a class chair on the capital
campaign committee. He recognized alumni from all ten classes who
are helping the association and campaign get off to a running start.
For more information contact Jon Hill, JonBHill@omegabizsolutions.com
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Alumni from the first Fast Track MBA class
had an opportunity to renew acquaintances. From left to right,
Frances Kimbrough,
Darlene Schinlever '96 and Lud Kimbrough '96.
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From the Class of 2000 alumni guests were, left to right,
Jake Canova '00, his wife Ellen Canova and Jimmy English '00. |
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STRONG RESPONSE TO ISLAMIC FINANCE SEMINAR
"Understanding Islamic Finance: Introducing a New Market
Alternative" draw an audience of over 85 business and financial
participants to the December 3 presentation. Three speakers introduced
the fundamentals of Islamic finance and offered numerous examples
of how and where it is being used in the U.S. and other parts of
the world. "This meeting has laid a foundation for future
seminars", commented Dr. Van R. Wood, professor of international
marketing and the Philip Morris Endowed Chair in International
Business. Dr. Wood, Dr. David Upton, professor of finance, and
Usama Ashral Ali, president of the Financial Management Association
at VCU served as facilitators. |
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Following his introductory presentation, Sheikh Yusuf
DeLorenzo, co-developer of "Fundamentals of Islamic Investing" for
the Dow Jones Online University, responds to questions
from seminar participants. |
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Dr. Van Wood, left, professor of international
marketing and a facilitator at the seminar, introduced
Michael McMillen,
right. McMillen, a partner in King & Spaulding LLP,
is a leader in its Islamic practice group that manages
hundreds
of Islamic transactions annually. |
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AbdulKader Thomas, a banker with Middle East experience
and CEO of Shape Financial Corporation in Northern Virginia,
addressed the participants from the point of view of the
banking industry. He is the author of several books on Islamic
finance. |
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Photos by Fran Altman
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If you have News or Event information,
Comments or Questions about this Area,
Please email Fran Altman fealtman@vcu.edu |
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