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Briefs
- Grusse aus Deutschland
- Southwest Airlines Kelleher Donates $4 Million for Entrepreneurship Center
- Professor Gets Key to the City
- Netherlands Students Get a Crash Course in American Business
- Janice M. Beyer: Distinguished Management Professor and Researcher Passes Away
- New Faculty at the McCombs School
One of the strongest Texas MBA alumni organizations in the world, the German chapter held its annual meeting in Munich, Germany in June. Founded in 1993 by Harold Eisenacher, MBA 92, Karen Umbach, MBA 91, and Michael Frohls, MBA 90, the chapter quickly expanded to include Austrian and Swiss Alumni. There are now 61 members who enjoy two events each year—a skiing trip in the spring, and an annual meeting in the summer. Members also stay connected with their annually-published address book and a semi-annual newsletter.
Over the past four years, the group has awarded UT scholarships, matched by Deloitte Consulting Germany, to seven German students. They plan to grow this scholarship and hope to eventually cover a year’s tuition. In addition, they sponsor an internship program that matches current MBAs with German employers.
“This chapter is important in marketing the McCombs School to potential European applicants because it enables prospective students to hear our personal experiences and get first-hand information about the program,” says Thilo Gipser, MBA 98. “You can learn a lot about something from books and Web sites, but the best sources of information about a program are the alumni.
”This year’s event was hosted by current chapter President Alex v. Frankenberg, MBA 92, and attended by Christina Mabley, MBA 98, the new director of alumni relations for the MBA Program.
Southwest Airlines' Kelleher Donates $4 million for Entrepreneurship Center
Herb Kelleher, founder and chairman of the board of Southwest Airlines, donated $4 million to the McCombs School of Business to fund the Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship. The center is charged with creating the country’s leading academic center focused on entrepreneurship. The Herb Kelleher Chair in Entrepreneurship, endowed with a portion of the gift, will support the director of the center.
“Herb Kelleher is an innovator, whose vision and enterprise created a remarkably successful company that delivers value and convenience to consumers,” said Dr. Larry R. Faulkner, president of the University. “We are proud of his association with The University of Texas at Austin and grateful for this insightful gift.”
Kelleher’s founding and development of Dallas-based Southwest Airlines in 1966 changed an industry. Among many distinctions, the company is famous for an employee-centered corporate culture that fosters the entrepreneurial spirit of its founder. Fittingly, entrepreneurship is one of the McCombs School’s core strengths.
Kelleher, a former chairman of the School’s advisory committee, was excited to support a pursuit that has been central to his world-renowned success. “The entrepreneurial spirit fuels our economy by improving the performance of businesses, whether they are start-ups or large companies,” Kelleher said. “It’s especially exciting to fund this center at Texas and the Red McCombs School of Business because these institutions have a powerful and positive impact on the lives of thousands of people every year.”
Kelleher’s gift leverages matching grants of $1 million from the Cullen Trust and $3 million from the Red McCombs gift (from the $50 million pledge he made to the school last year), creating an overall investment of $8 million in the Kelleher center and endowed chair.
The Kelleher center and chair will add to existing programs at the McCombs School, while creating a forum for successful entrepreneurs, students, and faculty. Start-ups will not be the only area of focus. In the spirit of Southwest Airlines, the center will foster the application of entrepreneurship principles to companies of all sizes, spurring corporate growth and renewal.
Look for a full-length story on Herb Kelleher in the spring 2002 issue of the McCombs School of Business magazine.
Professor gets Key to the City
Gang Yu, MSIS, was recently named Economic Advisor to the City Government of Tianjin, China. During his visit to Tianjin this August, Tianjin Mayor Shengling Li presented Dr. Yu (left) with a plaque and a golden key to the city. The news on the advisory appointment appeared in TV, radio, and on the front page of Tianjin Daily, a premier newspaper of Tianjin.
Tianjin is the fourth largest city in China with a population of over 10 million people. It is regarded as one of the few high profile technology bases in China. Many foreign companies such as Motorola, Toyota, Samsung, and Coca Cola have large manufacturing divisions in Tianjin. Dr. Yu also facilitated the foundation of a "Partner Technopolis" between Tianjin and Austin.
Netherlands Students Get a Crash Course in American Business
This past June, Executive Education welcomed 56 MBA students from the Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) in The Netherlands. The students came to participate in a program entitled “Leading in a Global Environment.”
In its third year of operation, the program is the product of an alliance between the Rotterdam School of Management and Texas Executive Education at McCombs. International study tours give the RSM MBA students an opportunity to learn first-hand about the business practices of other countries.
Professors Jim Fredrickson, Vish Krishnan, Anitesh Barua, John Daly, Steve Gilbert, and Michael Brandl taught the week-long program, which emphasized strategy, global leadership, and the new economy. In addition to the sessions on campus, site visits to companies in San Antonio and Austin presented the students with valuable information and insights into doing business in the United States.
"The city's position as one of the key technology centers in the nation and McCombs ranking as one of the top business schools in the world give RSM students a perfect setting where they can acquire the leading-edge knowledge they seek and get a chance to see how the theories can be put into practice with great success," said Chantal Delys, Executive Educations's assistant dean and director.
Janice M. Beyer: Distinguished Management Professor and Researcher Passes Away
Janice M. Beyer, a distinguished business researcher and the Harkins & Company Centennial Chair in Business Administration at the McCombs School, passed away on June 20, 2001.
Professor Beyer had been a member of the UT faculty since 1988, teaching in the Management Department at the McCombs School. In 1992 she began a joint professorship with the Sociology Department. Prior to joining McCombs, she taught at New York University, Cornell University, and State University of New York at Buffalo.
“Jan Beyer was a pioneering scholar whose research and service had a profound impact on our profession,” said Associate Dean David Jemison. “Her presence, insight, and rapid wit influenced several generations of scholars and students. The esteem in which she was held by colleagues throughout the world was reflected by her election as president of the Academy of Management and her service as editor of the Academy of Management Journal. She’ll be missed.”
In addition to serving as president of the Academy of Management, Beyer was also president of the International Federation of Scholarly Associations of Management. She served on the Board of Directors of the Eastern Academy of Management and on the Executive Council of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics.
Beyer published over 100 articles and books in her field. She had been on the editorial boards of many of the leading publications in management science. In addition, Beyer was director of the Center for Organizational Research.
New Faculty at the McCombs School
Accounting:
Linda Krull is a doctoral graduate of the University of Arizona, Tucson. Her teaching and research interests are in the areas of international tax and financial accounting, the effects of taxes on stock prices, and dividend tax capitalization.
Finance:
Lorenzo Garlappi joins UT from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, where he received his PhD this year. Investments, futures and options, asset pricing, corporate finance, and derivatives are among his research interests.
Jay Hartzell comes to the McCombs School from New York University, where he was an assistant professor in the Stern School of Business. He studies corporate governance, executive compensation, mergers and acquisitions, and real estate finance. He received his PhD from UT-Austin in 1998.
A 2001 PhD graduate of MIT, Jennifer Huang researches corporate finance and investments. Her working papers and publications include studies of portfolio decisions with multiple investment goals, valuation of liquid assets, market structure, security prices, and informational efficiency.
Management:
Prior to joining UT, Mathew Hayward was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Strategy and International Management at the London Business School. He earned his PhD from Columbia University in 1998. The factors that explain the success of recently formed wireless, application service provider and Internet are the focus of his research.
MSIS:
Alina Chircu completed her PhD at The University of Minnesota this spring. A specialist in electronic business, her research has explored internet-based corporate travel reservation systems, commerce-related technology investments, and strategies in business-to-business e-commerce.
Huseyin Tanriverdi’s scholarly interests lie at the intersection of the fields of information technology and business strategy. His current research focuses on the roles of knowledge resources, knowledge management capabilities, and IT in the performance of diversified firms. He received a M.Sc. degree in Information Systems from London School of Economics and Political Science in 1995.
For information on specific programs at the McCombs School, consult our contacts page. For media information, contact the Communications Director by phone at 512-471-3314 or by email at CommunicationsDirector@mccombs.utexas.edu.
