McCombs School of Business

Briefs

School Reorganizes to Better Support Strategic Initiatives

Over the past six months, the McCombs School has gradually modified the organizational landscape of the program offices, the Ford Career Center and the Office of Resource Development (ORD) in an effort to better meet the goals of the school’s new strategic plan. Changes include new staff positions, modified reporting arrangements and a brand new Corporate Relationship Management area within ORD.

Newly hired staff in the Ford Career Center—including Stacey Rudnick as director of MBA career services and Kelly Creighton and Steven Burton as assistant directors of MBA career services—aim to more closely align our MBA program with the MBA placement market. The new assistant director of employer services, Nancy Pettit, coordinates the on-campus recruiting for all academic programs, including BBA, MPA/PPA and MBA, providing the best possible service to our corporate clients. What’s more, redesigned reporting relationships between the BBA and MBA program offices and the Ford Career Center will ensure that our students’ capabilities match the primary employment opportunities available to them.

In the newly formed Corporate Relationship Management (CRM) area, a team of five staff members is working to deepen relationships with companies that currently partner with the school as well as to develop new partnerships with more corporations.

“Companies can get involved with the school at a variety of levels,” says Katy Nelson, newly appointed director of the CRM area. “Even if they’re in a slow recruiting cycle, there are still so many ways to be involved, from funding faculty initiatives, student challenges, conferences and admission events to participating in our diversity initiatives and faculty field trips.”

Nelson also chairs a new committee comprised of members of the BBA and MBA offices, the Ford Career Center and the CRM office whose goal is
to communicate about the corporate activity in the school in order to better leverage corporate partnerships.

Other staff members in the CRM area are assistant directors Sharon Lutz (formerly director of career services at the school) and Sam Coronado, and development associates Brooke Babbie and Donna Bueche.

Business Ethics Committee Created

In an effort to enhance business ethics education, the McCombs School has established a standing committee to provide recommendations about how to better address this issue within the school. Beginning this academic year, the new Business Ethics Committee is chaired by Steve Salbu. Other members include Urton Anderson, Janet Dukerich, Keith Brown and Linda Golden. One undergraduate and one graduate student have been appointed.

New Leadership Infuses Exec Ed

As the new associate dean and director of Executive Education, Larry Abeln has a goal. “We want to position executive education to add significant value to the reputation of the business school,” he says. There’s no doubt that, with 10 years of leadership in business education at MIT and Georgetown, Abeln is up for the challenge.

Abeln oversees all degree and non-degree programs in the McCombs executive education portfolio. This portfolio already includes executive MBA programs in several cities and a number of short-term executive development programs. In August 2005, an executive MBA program in Houston will begin. And with several other projects in the works, including building a hotel and conference facility on campus, these are dynamic times for executive education at McCombs.

Once classes begin in Houston, enrollment in executive education degree programs will about equal that of enrollment in the traditional MBA program. “An increasing number of students want more flexibility and more convenience,” says Abeln. “They have to work, and they’re not necessarily being sponsored, but they know the MBA is an important step in developing their careers.”

At the same time, part-time programs find themselves in a market that is suddenly more competitive. The AACSB recently voted to amend accreditation standards for business schools, which will result in about 100 newly-accredited schools in the marketplace.

Despite the increase in competition, Abeln says he expects executive education at McCombs to thrive in the years to come due to the high quality of the curriculum. The quality of the McCombs Executive MBA is comparable to that of the full-time MBA, as the programs employ the same faculty, a similar curriculum and equally rigorous admissions standards. In October 2003, Business Week ranked the Option II MBA program #8 overall and #2 in student satisfaction.

McCombs Student Strikes Gold
MIS Junior and Olympian Sanya Richards Wins 4 x 400 m Relay in Athens

MIS Junior and Olympian Sanya Richards Wins 4x400m Relay in Athens
On a Thursday, she’ll miss class for a Vogue photo shoot with Annie Liebovitz and on the weekend she will make short trips to Europe. But Sanya Richards, management information systems junior, isn’t living a movie star life—she just won her first Olympic Gold Medal.

Only a few months ago, the former UT Austin runner reached a long-held dream, competing in two events at the Summer Olympics and winning a gold medal in the 4X400m relay. Earlier this year, Sanya qualified for the games by taking second place in the 400m at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials.

Now, Sanya spends her days at the McCombs School attending classes and studying for tests again. Compared to her hectic summer competing in the Olympics, going pro and signing a deal with Nike, Sanya says her life as a student is “nice and quiet.”

After almost a year of constant training, Sanya is on vacation from her two and a half hour daily workout and hour-long weightlifting routine. Schoolwork will win all of her attention until November when she starts her first professional season.

Luckily, by claiming pro status, Sanya can decide which meets she participates in so that the juggling act of balancing studies and sport should be manageable. Sanya will be ready and have her game face on. “I think I’m very competitive and that carries over into the classroom,” she admits. “If someone else gets an A, I think I should be able to get an A, too.”

Sanya anticipates her MIS education will help her manage her running career, especially now that she’s signed with Nike as the face of youth track and field. “I do want to eventually start my own business or go along the regular path that a normal MIS major would take.”

And it’s likely that her athletic training will also transfer to that work. “Track is 90 percent mental. A lot of people break under the pressure and it’s hard to stay motivated,” she says. “I’ve always had that extra drive that makes me compete with myself.”

Today, Sanya competes against runners she’s been looking up to for years, and she hopes to stay on the track just as long as they have. “Jearl Miles-Clark and Gayle Devers have been to five Olympics and they started older than I did,” she says. “They were actually 21 for their first Olympics. I’m 19, so I’m hoping to go to five, too.” —Sandie Taylor

MOOT CORP Semi-Finalists Make Prototype a Reality

After their Spring 2004 graduation from the McCombs MBA program, three students—Matt Chasen, Jay Manickam, and Mickey Millsap—launched uShip, Inc. The company, which was a semi-finalist in the 2004 International MOOT CORP® competition, officially launched in March serving as a marketplace for shipping people’s oversized items nationwide. uShip (www.uShip.com) utilizes a system similar to that of eBay to match shipments with professional movers, couriers and individuals already traveling on the same shipment route.

The young company has used grassroots marketing to successfully attract about 5,000 members and list 7,000 shipments at a total dollar value of more than $180,000. Whether it’s a warehouse full of a million baseball cards or a five-foot pink flamingo sculpture, uShip has listed some very intriguing items.

Mickey Millsap, MBA ’04 and executive vice president, reports that negotiations for series A financing are near closing and the business is moving along exceptionally well.

Over the summer, uShip hired two McCombs MBA interns and currently works with 10 McCombs BBA interns. “We’ve been very active in recruiting McCombs students,” Millsap says. “It’s important for alumni to hire other UT grads. That is part of the reason we stayed in Austin.”

Millsap, himself, was surprised by post-graduation challenges. “You can sit in the classroom and understand how to start a company, but until you actually do it, you never know the stress and uncertainty involved.” —Sandie Taylor

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.
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