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September 2006 Welcome to The Eller Times for Parents, sharing highlights of news, events, people, and partners of the Eller College
of Management with parents and families
Message from Pam Perry, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs
This time of year, I am always pleased when I ask students if they are looking forward to school starting and I hear “Yes!” I take heart that the Eller College creates the kind of community in which students enjoy learning and collaborating with like-motivated friends and peers. It is going to be an outstanding year! I hope you know by now that you are both a customer of and investor in the Eller College. Our job is to ensure that the Eller experience allows our students to enter their business or public administration careers with the confidence and skills for steadily increasing responsibility and career progression. Students will also find many people within the undergraduate support team ready to serve them. We hope our students will know and feel that we care about them and have their best interests in mind as we set high standards for their Eller experience and relationships within the College. This year, we plan to academically challenge your son or daughter and hope that they grow personally while feeling supported by the faculty and advisors in the Undergraduate Programs team. Welcome to the Eller family!
Summer Internships Yield Real-World ExperienceFor students throughout the Eller College, summertime didn’t necessarily mean that the living’s easy — the prime internship season found undergraduates getting their first taste of life in the corporate world. The list of companies that attracted Eller interns this summer is broad — Volvo, The White House Office of Political Affairs, XM Radio, ABC, Sony Electronics, Van Der Moolen, just to name a few – and the experience accrued by the students is an essential step in building a successful career. We checked in with a few students to see how their internship experiences stacked up. Ryann S. Hackett, Finance ‘07
As a summer associate at JP Morgan Chase, Ryann Hackett served in a support function for the trading desk — she booked trades, worked with sales assistants to ensure that trade specs matched up, confirmed trades with clients, and updated price changes on the company’s securities investments. Hackett also worked on the implementation of a new software system JP Morgan Chase developed to improve profit-and-loss reporting efficiency. “My position in this implementation included defining each step of our business processes for every aspect of trade support: trade capture, pricing, profit-and-loss reporting, risk reporting, reconciliations, value-at-risk reporting, and regulatory reporting,” she says. Ultimately, Hackett would like to work in securities sales. “Trading is much more analytical and complicated than sales,” she explains, “And the best way to differentiate oneself as a salesperson is to truly understand trading methods. So for me, spending the summer getting my feet wet in trading is the best possible experience for my career goals.” Jarrett Hines, Marketing and Entrepreneurship ‘07
During his time in Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) Technology Transfer Division, Jarrett Hines had the opportunity to lead three projects and assist on many others. In addition to his time working on a bio-tech project and on a launching venture which licensed LANL technology, Hines worked with developing company VIA Corp, which has devised a new way to create a semiconducting compound. “These projects all centered around market entry in some way,” Hines says. “I had the unique opportunity to take technologies and go through an aspect of the commercialization process with them. During this process I was able to spend time with many inventors, serial entrepreneurs, VCs, licensing departments, and the like.” In addition to learning about the critical stages of product development, Hines says he gained insight into common entrepreneurial pitfalls. “This internship let me step into one of the top Department of Energy facilities in the nation and be exposed to the exciting entrepreneurial world of technology transfer,” he says. Vidya Chellappan, Marketing ‘07
When a family friend told Vidya Chellappan about Anbalayam — a nonprofit home and school for mentally challenged orphan children in a remote village in India — she knew it was exactly what she was looking for in a summer internship. Sustained by the personal funds of one social worker, the institute supports 40 children in a 15-by-60-foot space. “The condition of Anbalayam itself was horrible,” Chellappan says. “The chairs and tables were broken, walls almost torn apart, roof was falling apart.” Her goal was to spread the word about Anbalayam, and generate enough funding to purchase new land in Sirkali so that the children could live more comfortably. Chellappan made regular trips to Chennai to solicit funds from major companies. She also helped identify land in Sirkali on which to build a new facility for the children, and before she left, they were able to put a down payment on the land. Back in the states, she helped organize a Tamil Association event that raised enough money for Anbalayam to pay off the land. “For me, this was a life-changing experience,” says Chellappan. “To know that I’ve done something that can potentially make a huge difference for these children’s lives really was the best gift that I could ask for.” Justin Miller, MIS ‘07 This summer, Justin Miller interned with The University of Arizona Center for Computing and Information Technology (CCIT), taking part in the implementation of campus-wide wireless — not just data but also voice. “My role was to lay out the desired location of the access points on the building blueprints,” says Miller. “After we assigned where the access point would go and everything was plotted, we would contact our contractors and have them start the installation to our specs.” In addition to creating and maintaining documentation of the work — before it had been completed — Miller also created campus-wide maps which have been used online and in presentations to provide weekly status updates. “This internship gave me a chance to work with NEC and Cisco Systems,” says Miller. “Watching their work flow and style has helped me to see what I have in my future in an IT-related career. I also had the chance to network with some of the people I may look to work with next year after graduation.” Department Head Stephen Gilliland Elected a Fellow in Prestigious Society
Dr. Stephen Gilliland, Arnold Lesk Chair in Leadership and head of Eller’s Department of Management and Organizations, has been elected a fellow in the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP). "I am honored to receive this recognition from SIOP,” says Gilliland, “and I am particularly pleased to be joining my colleagues Barbara Gutek and Russell Cropanzano, who have preceded me in this recognition. Having three SIOP Fellows in the Department of Management and Organizations is a testament to the strength of our department." Gilliland was one of eight SIOP members recognized with the society’s highest honor at its annual conference in Dallas, Texas, on May 5. The 6,300-member society was founded in 1982 and members apply psychology to understand and measure human behavior in the workplace. “SIOP Fellows have distinguished themselves by their outstanding contributions to the field,” said society president Dr. Leaetta Hough. “It is a significant honor granted only to a small percentage of industrial-organizational psychologists.” Gilliland is an expert in fairness of management practices and policies, especially related to hiring issues. He has been at Eller since 1995, and teaches courses in human resource management, business strategy, and social entrepreneurship. Professor Barbara Gutek Honored by Society for Psychological Study of Social Issues
On June 23, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) presented Barbara Gutek, Eller Professor of Women and Leadership, with a Distinguished Service Award. SPSSI is a nongovernmental organization and member of the United Nations based out of Washington, D.C. In its official citation of the award, SPSSI stated, “Barbara Gutek has had a distinguished career at the crossroads of social psychology and the world of business. She has encouraged us all to think about the social issues unique to the private sector and the increasingly global economy. In her own words: ‘SPSSI was the first professional organization I joined and it is the one that has brought me the most satisfaction.’ It has been her intellectual home for over 30 years and we pay tribute to her continuous involvement through the Distinguished Service to SPSSI Award." Gutek, a past president and secretary-treasurer of the organization, is noted for her expertise in the areas of work and home life and sexual harassment. She is often called as an expert witness and is a frequent contributor to publications including SPSSI’s Journal of Social Issues. Gutek is currently working on a chapter about the experience of testifying as an expert witness for a forthcoming book. “There is a significant increase in the use of university professors as expert witnesses,” she says. "With the exception of economists, social scientists rarely hold positions that allow them to have an opportunity to influence social policy, but now they may be able to affect policy through their expert testimony." Since U.S. policy decisions are based on economic concerns, she continues, the courtroom has become a proving ground to test how well the social science research holds up in the face of actual workplace circumstances. “It’s nice to get recognition for my work,” she says, “and the work has been useful in different ways in the classroom.” It also keeps her grounded in relevant applications of the coursework she teaches. “If the work is not useful,” she says, “we’re just rocking the boat.” Save the Date
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An Eller undergraduate student talks with E&J Gallo Winery's Camille Smith, herself an Eller alum, during Career Showcase. |
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Career Development starts now!
We are excited to welcome our freshmen to the Eller community and want them to be successful not only academically but professionally. Although thinking about a career or graduate school four years from now can be overwhelming, we want to pass along some tips that can help our new students as they begin their college career.
We are happy to welcome you and your student to the Eller College community. We’d like to introduce some faculty members your students will interact with in two freshmen courses: Business Administration 112L (Business Problem Solving and Analysis) and Management Information Systems 111 (Computers and Internetworked Society).
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| Adjunct faculty member Nancy Victor | |
Q. In your opinion, why is Business Administration 112L valuable to Eller students?
A. MS Excel is used in some way by most of the courses that Eller students will take. Learning MS Excel, as a freshman, gives students an edge when they are expected to use it in those other courses. When students apply for jobs, either during college or after graduation, an MS Excel certification will be a very valuable asset. It's also much more powerful than most people realize. Students come back all the time to tell me how useful MS Excel has been for them at college, at work, and in their personal lives.
Q. How long you have been working at UA?
A. I've been working at UA since August of 2003, when B AD 112L was first instituted. We have constantly been refining the course, with the goal of ensuring that students learn to solve real-world problems through their assignments. We are proud of the fact that 95%-98% of our annual 2,000 students pass the MS Excel Certification Exam, which is the final exam for the course.
Q. What concepts will be covered in B AD112L and what types of assignments will the students work on?
A. Skills learned range from formatting text and using simple formulas to creating very professional charts and using advanced filters. Students have online training and assessment to learn basic skills. They are also given partially completed MS Excel files, which represent real-world problems, and are asked to employ the skills they have learned to solve those problems.
Q. Do you have any tips for parents to help their students be successful in this course?
A. Success in the course depends on two main actions on the part of the student:
1. Students must faithfully complete the assignments each week. Falling behind is serious, as each week's skills build on prior weeks' skills. Assignments are due on Wednesdays, at midnight. Successful students begin the weekly assignments over the weekend, at the latest. If they encounter problems, TAs offer tutoring Monday - Wednesday afternoons/evenings. Students are also welcome to come to open office hours to receive help with difficult concepts. The tools to success are available, but it is the student's responsibility to seek help when necessary.
2. This class doesn't have meetings every week, as it's mostly an online course. Our main communication with students is via Blackboard. All course information is posted there. All emails are sent from there. It is the student's responsibility to become familiar with everything on Blackboard, to read announcements and emails and be aware of what happens and when. Students who are diligent about this succeed!
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| MIS lecturer and director of MIS special projects William Neumann | |
Q. In your opinion, why is Management Information Systems 111 valuable to Eller students?
A. Our goal in MIS 111 is to make the students more effective businesspeople. Technology allows business to organize, analyze, and communicate information within the enterprise and with their trading partners to achieve strategic goals. As one of the first business courses students take in Eller, MIS 111 provides an important foundation of skills that will be used by every major throughout their studies at the Eller College and into their business careers.
Along with discussing these important skills, MIS 111 puts them to work. Students will use tools such as our course management system, Blackboard, and email to manage their work and communicate with their peers, and the faculty. Through their academic studies and applied activities, our goal in MIS is to help students become competent, effective, and knowledgeable business students.
Q. How long you have been working at UA?
A. I’ve been with the MIS Department at the UA since 1998. I’ve had the opportunity to teach courses in a variety of areas, including data communications and networking, enterprise systems, supply chain integration and planning, and strategic management of information systems.
Q. What concepts will be covered in MIS 111 and what types assignments will the students work on?
A. MIS 111 is structured around the three major themes relating to how information is used by a business.
Along with these tools, we’ll be using a personal response system, an innovative classroom technology that will allow students to participate in the classroom discussions. Outside the classroom, we’ll be using moderated online discussion groups to allow students to obtain assistance and contact their peers outside normal class and office hours.
A. Do you have any tips for parents to help their students be successful in this course?
Q. Perhaps the most important thing that parents can do to help their sons and daughters in this course is to discuss the value of information and information systems in their businesses. As freshman are learning in our classes, it’s a wonderful opportunity for parents to share with students their personal experiences and perspectives on technology.
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Kristin Senseman, BSBA Marketing '05 |
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For Eller alum Kristen Senseman, time working in the restaurant industry in high school sparked an interest in the fine wine industry.
As part of a freshman year basic business skills class at the Eller College, Senseman went to a career fair to interview a prospective employer. She spoke to a representative from E&J Gallo Winery, and “he encouraged me to come back in a few years,” she said.
“My junior year, I was the Career Showcase coordinator, so I got to know the Gallo recruiters on a different level,” Senseman continues. She also did an internship assisting Gallo sales representatives, “getting up at 3:30 a.m. to go build a wine display!”
Her interest in the wine industry played out in other ways, too: as a member of professional business fraternity Delta Sigma Pi, she coordinated and hosted a tour of southern Arizona wineries.
So it was a natural step when Gallo recruited her as a sales rep in 2005. “I managed 10-20 fine wine accounts in southern California,” she says. “My first role at Gallo was not about what was in the bottle, it was about pricing, promotions, and coupons.”
Now, as a tasting room host at Gallo’s Louis M. Martini Winery, she says, “My position is about what’s inside the bottle, for example, the tannin structure, how long it was aged, which vineyard it came from.” Gallo trained her in the five-step tasting process so she can effectively educate consumers on the wine’s attributes.
As a tasting room host, she also interacts with corporate representatives and encourages participation in brand equity building programs like Gallo’s Lot No. 1 Club, in which members receive exclusive bottles of wines shipped to their home, discounts on wine and merchandise, and complementary tastings for whenever they visit the winery.
“I went from the distribution side to the trade and hospitality side at Gallo,” she says, “and hospitality is still growing. I’d like to stay and help it expand more.”
She credits many of her first semester cohort classes at Eller with preparing her for her career, particularly business communications. “I also think all my club involvement — in Delta Sigma Pi and the Eller Student Council — really helped me to develop my leadership and presentation skills.”
Now based out of Napa Valley, California, Senseman spends some of her free time playing guitar and adds, “I’m excited because there are a lot of Eller alums in the Bay area.”
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Toufic Abi-Aad, BSBA Accounting and Finance '98 and MBA '02 |
When Toufic Abi-Aad completed his MBA in 2002, he didn’t go looking for a top job with a company known throughout the world. “I’d had the opportunity to work in a very large organization,” he explains, referring to the two years he spent working with Motorola as a financial analyst after completing his Eller undergraduate degree with an accounting/finance double-major. “I was looking for more of an entrepreneurial environment where I could immediately add value that I could see.”
Abi-Aad found that environment in Bourn Partners five years ago, a commercial real estate company that then had 12 employees. Today, the company weighs in at some 150 when including subsidiary and affiliate entities. With little knowledge of real estate but strengths in finance and analysis, Abi-Aad rode the crest of the growing company, pouring in countless hours and unbridled energy, to navigate the challenges inherent when a small company grows at a clip. Now CIO, Abi-Aad is responsible for the process of analyzing new opportunities and putting together the capital structure for projects they decide to pursue. But beyond that realm, he remains a key player in the company’s overall business strategy and planning.
Looking back on his Eller education, Abi-Aad identifies his undergraduate years as building basic knowledge and skills, but he says it was the Eller MBA that “really taught me a way of thinking, a way of approaching and solving a problem.” Combined with that, he notes that the emphasis on teamwork was one of the program’s greatest strengths. “That’s the way we work today,” he says. “It’s a very team-centric environment.” It’s also an environment that’s paid off for Abi-Aad, and as the company continues to grow, Bourn still offers the entrepreneurial challenges Abi-Aad thrives on. “That’s where you find the passion — you’re constantly looking for creative and innovative ways to approach things,” he says. “I’m passionate about what I do.”
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Learn more about Eller College Undergraduate Programs now.
UA Homecoming : November 10-12
