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The University of Texas at Austin
McCombs Weekly Vol. 7, No. 17 Aug. 2, 2006   
McCombs School of Business
 

2006 MOOT CORP® Winner Opens the NASDAQ Stock Market
On Friday, August 11, NeuroLife Noninvasive Solutions will open the NASDAQ Stock Market. This is the fourth year the Global MOOT CORP® competition winner has rung the opening bell.
Viewers may watch the ceremony on the NASDAQ MarketSite Web cam. To view the Open on television, you may also tune in to any of the following networks: CNBC, Bloomberg, CNNfn, Bloomberg Brazil, CNN or Fox News, at about 8:28 a.m. CDT.
Go to the NASDAQ Open Web Cam.

Former Smeal Assistant Dean Named Director of TEMBA Program
Bob Wheeler has joined the McCombs School as director of the Texas Evening MBA (TEMBA) Program. Bob served as the assistant dean and director of the MBA Program at Smeal College of Business at Penn State University where he worked with students, faculty, staff, alumni and advisory boards for four years. At Georgetown University, Bob was an assistant dean and director of MBA admissions for three years after practicing law in Washington, DC. for many years.

In the News: Tetlock’s Research Gains National Attention
U.S. News & World Report, July 21, 2006
Research by Paul Tetlock, assistant professor of finance, was featured in U.S News & World Report's “From the Briefcase: Research Produced by America's Best Business Schools” section last month. Tetlock’s research showing that the diction of the Wall Street Journal’s daily column, “Abreast of the Market,” has a short-term influence on the stock market was covered in both the online and the newsstand versions of the weekly news magazine.
Get the full story.

In the News: McCombs Forges New Partnership With Indian Institute of Management
Business Standard, Aug. 2, 2006
The McCombs School will begin an exchange program with the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) this August. IIM-A will send its student to McCombs for the fall semester, and McCombs will send students to Ahmedabad in the spring. “We are deeply honored to be partners with the finest school of management in India, the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad. The ties between our schools run deep, so in a way, the formalization of the partnership is just a logical next step,” said David Platt, director of the Center for International Business Education and Research at McCombs.
Get the full story.

In the News: 2005 MOOT CORP® Winner Bigfoot, Inc. Unveils New Product
Softpedia™, July 14, 2006
Bigfoot Networks, Inc., a research and development company that won the 2005 Texas MOOT CORP® competition at McCombs, recently launched its most enhanced development—the Killer Network Interface Card—and its Web site www.killernic.com. “Killer delivers better Ping times and allows the computer’s CPU to be able to focus on making the game run fast and smooth, even during the most intense action, which can often be the difference between winning and losing,” says Harlan Beverly, MBA ’04 and CEO of Bigfoot Networks.
Get the full story.

In the News: MBA Investment Fund Creates Big Returns for Both Students and School
Wall Street Journal, July 14, 2006
Once an anomaly, student-run investment funds are taking off as a teaching tool everywhere from the McCombs School to Cornell University. Today, there are more than 200 funds of this kind. While some universities are hesitant to allow students to manage high dollar amounts, the McCombs School encourages such responsibility and provides resources, such as the state-of-the-art EDS Financial Trading and Technology Center. As of April 2006, the MBA Investment Fund, LLC has about 65 investors and $14 million under management in three different investment products.
Get the full story.

In the News: Pestering Doesn't Pay in MBA Admissions Process
BusinessWeek Online, July 31, 2006
As MBA applicants begin exploring top business school prospects, many don't realize their scouting behavior is also being scoped out. Applicants are not just being judged at their admissions interviews. All interactions with the school—whether with a professor, a student or an alumnus—might affect their chances of being accepted. "In any of those interactions, many applicants don't seem to understand that those could end up in their file, and they don't treat them with the level of respect they deserve," says Daniel Garza, assistant dean and director of the McCombs MBA Program. One McCombs applicant visiting a class talked through the entire lecture; another used inappropriate language in an e-mail exchange with an alum. Reports of their misbehavior got back to the admissions office on both occasions.
Get the full story.

John Sibley Butler Receives Booker T. Washington Legacy Award 
John Sibley Butler, director of the Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship and the IC˛Institute at The University of Texas at Austin, was given the Booker T. Washington Legacy Award June 4 by The New Coalition for Economic and Social Change, a nonprofit devoted to advancing conservative multiculturalism. Butler, a professor of management, was honored because of his research on the importance of business enterprise for wealth creation and job creation.
Find out more about the award.

Cooper Joins International Federation of Operational Research Societies' Hall of Fame 
The International Federation of Operational Research Societies named William Cooper, the Foster Parker Centennial Professor Emeritus of Finance And Management, to the IFORS' Operational Hall of Fame. This distinction was created in 2003 to celebrate the significant contributions made by OR pioneers and those who have followed in their footsteps.
Read Cooper's profile in the IFORS' journal.

In the News: Parrino Speaks on Portfolio Managing and Stock Valuation 
Motley Fool, July 19, 2006
 In a recent column written by Ryan Fuhrmann, MBA ’02, for the online investment publication The Motley Fool, Fuhrmann outlines a talk given by Finance Professor Robert Parrino at the 2006 Financial Analyst Seminar. Parrino's presentation covered the basic valuation approaches for valuing securities. “Although his experience lies more in valuing the private companies that private-equity buyers are interested in acquiring, he said the primary valuation techniques can be applied to private and public firms alike,” Fuhrmann explained. “As such, a general familiarity with these approaches is a necessity for Fools who take a hands-on approach to their portfolios.”
Read the full column.

In the News: Ronn Comments on Near-Record Gas Prices in Austin 
KVUE, July 27, 2006
KUT, July 24, 2006
Ehud Ronn, professor of finance and director of the Center for Energy Finance Education and Research, was featured on KVUE news and KUT discussing gas prices, which have been approaching records set following Hurricane Katrina. Ronn said the sustained high price of oil is the result of continuing nervousness about three factors: missile tests in North Korea; the growing conflict in Israel and Lebanon; and, most important, Iran’s drive to become a nuclear nation. Since that country is so close to oil-rich Saudi Arabia, ongoing problems are spooking the markets. “The concern is more about possible disruption in supplies, so I don't know that there is anything new,” he explained. “It's just the manifestation of the latest type of crisis.” Ronn said he doesn't believe the high cost will cause consumers to buy smaller cars or use public transportation until gas prices reach at least $5 per gallon. “North of the five dollar range, you'll see significant changes in behavior because we've seen those for some time now in Western Europe.”
View the KVUE video clip.
Listen to the KUT clip.

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