College of Business & Global Affairs Spring 2015 NEWSLETTER Dean's Dash I am very pleased to report that the College adopted a Statement of Ethics during the fall term. The statement was approved in separate votes by faculty and staff, students, and the CBGA Advisory Board. Over time, we hope the ideals expressed in the statement will come to pervade the College. You can find the statement here. Further good news comes from the Online MBA program being ranked #18 in the world by US News and World Report. That ranking is the highest within the state of Tennessee. The program was also ranked #13 in the 2015 Rankings of Best Online MBA Programs by College Choice. Career Day on October 29th had over 300 CBGA student participants and 14 speakers/presenters including luncheon speaker Mr. Art Sparks of ATA. The faculty expects moving the Career Day to the fall will allow our students to be better prepared for the job market each year. The college welcomed a peer review team from AACSB for a continuing review of accreditation for the business school programs in the last week of January. The review covers the last five years of activities and is an important part of the quality needed for recognition such as that by US News and World Report.
Of course, I have to include a pitch for money. I ask our alumni to be aware that there will be a Captain s Challenge giving program during April 20 24 with a goal of, at least, $5,000 in new gifts for CBGA. Dr. Nell Gullet (Professor of Finance) is representing the College on the campaign. I have a specific plan for the funds: buy new furniture for the College s lobby. (Our current furniture has been accurately described as having a kind of Samford & Son thing going on.) We should not need $5,000 to undertake that project (or maybe we do and I will found out I am hopelessly out of touch with the cost of furniture as my wife sometimes informs me). I will note that we continue to use gift funds to help us fund student worker wages to keep rooms open as computer labs when not in use as classrooms. I back this use as it provides a benefit to the student worker, yes, but to all students who can use the lab s facilities while getting more use from a fixed cost. Seems like a good business move to me. As always, please drop by if you are in town or send along your comments (rdicken2@utm.edu). The best way for you to help your University and College is to introduce UT Martin to prospective new students. Thank you for your continued support. Student News Nathan Powers (BSBS 2014) earned the Beth Maloan Outstanding UT Martin Student Employee Award for fall semester. His student job required him to inspect about 1,000 fire extinguishers and automated external defibrillators. Nathan created qr codes to track the inspections on an ipad and used as a project within INFS 491 with Dr. Bryan Foltz. This process eliminated and greatly improved on the former all paper process. Michael Robinson (Senior, Marketing major from Lexington, TN) spent the summer with a marketing internship with Arctic Ice, LLC visiting outdoor events locations such as the Talledega Raceway. Arctic Ice is reusable, non toxic and biodegradable. The company has two basic products which freeze at 1 C (33.8 F) and 15 C (+5 F) to be alternatives to ice and dry ice, respectively. Starting in March 2013, the company is already selling to Cabela s, Academy, Dicks, Gander MTN, REI, Amazon, and Home Depot. Interestingly, Union City s Final Flight Outfitters was the very first retailer to carry Arctic Ice. Michael continued his work with the company during the winter break. Dr. Kevin Hammond (Professor of Marketing) was Michael s faculty sponsor for the internship. Jessica King, Rachel Robinson, Chris Rogers, and Matthew Wolf attended the 2014 Advertising Women of New York Career Conference in November in New York City
where they attended conference sessions conducted by leading advertising specialists from firms such as Y & R, and also received one on one feedback in the Resume Clinic from Career Placement Specialists in New York. Dr. Ashley Kilburn (Associate Professor of Marketing) helped the students make the connections and wrote the grant proposal for funding support. Lauren Mabry (BSBA, Accounting, 2014) received the 2014 West Tennessee Scholarship Award which recognizes an accounting student attending a west Tennessee school and is awarded by Tennessee Society of CPAs. Saleh Alasgash, Saleh Alasqah, Zaid Alotaibi, Anas Alzeer, Mark Anadell, Tiffany Boggis, Marilorrai Bonetti, Josh Brewster, Hawra Miskeen, James Moser, Trevor Spann, Adam Tolley, Caleb Tubbs, and David Weatherly attended the TVA Investment Challenge Conference in Nashville. The group made a presentation at the conference on the performance of the more than $500,000 fund they are managing as part of their FIN 411 course. Dr. Mahmoud Haddad (Professor of Finance) teaches the FIN 411 course and accompanied the students on the trip along with Dr. Ross Dickens (Dean and Professor of Finance). Dorothy Boyle, Ben Brooks, Isaac Carrel, Dylan Clifft, Taylor Douglas, Ross Landreth, Tim Lownsdale, Jamison Matney, and Alex VanVleet attended a Nashville Predator s event related to Sport Business in November with Dr. Dexter Davis (Assistant Professor of Management). The group learned about internships and job possibilities with the Predators and other sport related businesses. Almost two dozen accountings students attended the West TN Chapter of CPAs student night in Jackson in November. Ms. Darlene Adkins (Lecturer in Accounting) accompanied the students. Sean Palfy and Charles McClelland (both Accounting majors) had internships with Cummins, Inc. in Memphis this past summer. Both performed so well that Cummins has already made them job offers and both have accepted. Thomas Champion and Taylor Flanagan (both International Studies majors), Kaylon Herbst (INST minor) and Anthony Hunt (Agribusiness major) attended the Global Action Summit in Nashville in November. The event focused on food, health and economic prosperity with the UTM team following the food track. They are now tasked with doing a year long project related to food prosperity in which they will be competing with teams from UC Davis, UC Berkley, Vanderbilt, and more. Ms. Sandra Koch (International Studies Coordinator) accompanied the students and will help advise them in their journey.
Darren Howard, Jacob Harris, Morgan Todd, and Krista McRorie were selected to attend the Sport and Entertainment Venues Tomorrow (SEVT) conference hosted by the University of South Carolina, College of Hospitality, Retail, and Sport Management in November. The group competed in a case presentation contest and made a favorable impression with their great attitudes and hard work. An exciting side benefit is that Dr. Dexter Davis (Assistant Professor of Management) met Mr. Eric Nichols, Associate Director of Athletics at the University of South Carolina and UTM alum (undergraduate and MBA). David Weatherly (BSBA Finance, 2014) received the Kelly Murray Excellence in Portfolio Management Award for fall 2014. David plans to work full time in the financial services industry while pursuing an MBA degree at UT Martin. John Domanski, Rikki Erwin, Elizabeth Sanders, and Rachel Washburn were among students who represented UT Martin well at the 45th General Assembly of the Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature in November. Dr. Chris Baxter (Associate Professor of Political Science) is the group s faculty adviser and his efforts show in the awards and positions the UT Martin delegation earns. Alumni News Brian LaPiere (BSBA, Management, 2014) has gone to work for Acosta Sales and Marketing (Jackson, TN) which is a retail coverage merchandiser. Nichole Warren (nee Odle, BSBA, Accounting 2008) is now with First South Bank as an Assistant Vice President serving as internal audit head. She has earned her CPA and previously worked for Horne & Company. Robert Parks (BSBA, Accounting, 1986) was a nominee for CFO of the Year in the Private Company more than $100 million annual revenue category in a contest sponsored by Memphis Business Journal. Robert joined Armstrong Relocation and Companies (the largest agent of United Van Lines) in 1997. As Chief Financial Officer, he is responsible for accounting policies and procedures, financial and tax reporting, capital and financial compliance and enjoys financial analysis and planning the most. He also earned an MBA in Finance from University of Memphis as well as achieving the CPA and Chartered Global Management Accountant designations. Congratulations to Robert for this honor. The Jackson Sun s West Tennessee s Up and Comers Forty under 40, 2014 publication. Included multiple UTM CBGA alumni. Award winners included: Dave Bratcher, BSBA, Vice President, Financial Services West Tennessee
Healthcare Foundation, Ginger King, BSBA, Commercial Credit Underwriter, First State Bank, and Jeffrey Lester, BSBA, First Vice President & Division Manager, BancropSouth Wealth Management International Corner Amy Fenning (Director of International Programs and International Admissions) spoke on Campus Connection for September 27th UT Martin Southeast Missouri football game. Amy has hit the ground running and is well underway in terms of attracting added international students from more countries than the University has had on campus for the last few years. Faculty and Staff Dr. Morgan Miles, Professor of Management and Hendrix Chair of Excellence, joins the college after a few years at a university in Tasmania, Australia. Dr. Miles earned his doctorate from Mississippi State and specializes in entrepreneurship as related to marketing endeavors. We are very happy to have him on board! Dr. Christie Chen (Assistant Professor of Management), Dr. Mason Kim (Assistant Professor of Political Science), Dr. Darshak Patel (Assistant Professor of Economics), and Dr. Ty Perry (Assistant Professor of Finance) each received a CBGA New Faculty Development Grant during the fall term. The purpose of the grants are to provide professional development support for faculty in the early part of their academic careers. Dr. Chris Baxter (Associate Professor of Political Science) was interviewed for WPSD news for a report on Tennessee constitutional amendments during the fall election cycle. Dr. Ashley Kilburn (Associate Professor of Marketing) is an Alumni Outstanding Teacher Award Finalist for the current year. Dr. Sean Walker, (Assistant Professor of Management) earned recognition as an Academy of Business Research Best Paper Award Winner at the Fall 2014 meeting in Las Vegas for his paper The Impact of Managerial Narrative on Perceptions of Termination Interviews. Congratulations!... to those from CBGA recognized at the UT Martin Service Awards program in
November for various Years of Service recognitions. 10 years: Paula Moore, Denise Williams, Susan Lemond, Ashley Kilburn 20 years: Mike McCullough 25 years: Bill Davis, Robbie Hillsman 35 years: Richard Griffin Dr. Glenna Sumner (Associate Professor of Economics) and Dr. Ross Dickens (Dean and Professor of Finance) were both recognized with tenure over the past academic year. Current Contact Information Charley Deal 122 Bizzle Lane Martin Tennessee 38237 5499 731 5879430 Preferred Email: cdeal@utm.edu Is this correct? Take a minute to update your information. UTM College of Business and Global Affairs 100 Business Administration Martin, TN 38238 (731) 881-7546 click here to remove yourself from future mailings.