It's fall in Tallahassee! The students are back, classes are in full swing, and there is a slight hint of cooler weather in the air. We graduated another 391 students in the summer. This fall we have 5,723 enthusiastic undergraduate students and 636 dedicated graduate students pouring in and out of the business building. October also brought the Florida Legislature to Tallahassee to meet in a special session. One result of that special session was the funding of the Florida Catastrophic Storm Risk Management Center to be located in the College's Department of Risk Management/Insurance, Real Estate and Business Law. The purpose of the Center is to promote and disseminate research on issues related to catastrophic storm loss and to assist in identifying and developing education and research grant funding opportunities among higher education institutions in this state and the private sector. The Center will examine storm forecasting, loss modeling, building construction and mitigation, and risk management strategies. The purpose of the Center is to provide information for public policy makers, businesses and consumers. The $750,000 allocated to the Center will support the State's ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from catastrophic storms. The addition of this Center to the College will continue to help the State of Florida and the rest of the country receive unbiased research in this critical area. Pat Maroney (RMI) will direct the new Center, and you will be hearing much more about this effort in the near future.
COLLEGE RANKINGS & NEWS
Since our last Dean's Brief, the U.S. News & World Report published its 2008 rankings for business schools. Here are our latest rankings (Read the Article):
- The undergraduate program in the College of Business is 29th among public institutions.
- The Management Information Systems Program is 14th among public institutions and 19th in the nation.
- The Risk Management/Insurance Program is fourth among public universities and sixth among all institutions.
- The Real Estate Program is 11th among public universities and 14th among all universities.
The College is in its final stages of branding with Phillip Downs (MKT) conducting the qualitative testing of the creative campaigns developed by the Zimmerman Agency. We are still on target for launching our branding activities in January 2008.
The First Annual Leadership & Scholarship Awards Dinner was held on Thursday, Oct. 18, with 275 attendees (photos). It was a great event, and we were successful in being able to recognize the numerous accomplishments and achievements of our students, faculty and staff. In addition, we were provided the opportunity to extend a heartfelt thank you to our donors for their generous gifts to our College and their continued support. As part of our strategic plan, a College award program was created to highlight and celebrate the College's excellent faculty and staff. This prestigious award is known as our Core Values Award, and I am pleased to announce the first faculty and staff recipients:
- Joe Icerman, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs & Associate Professor
- Timothy A. Matherly, Associate Professor, Dept. of Management
- Pamela L. Perrewé, Jim Moran Professor of Management, Dept. of Management
- Ray Marky, Coordinator of Computer Applications, Computer Technology Center
- Scheri Martin, Coordinator of Registration and Records, Graduate Programs Office
- Betty T. Smith, Executive Assistant to the Dean, Dean's Office
A special thanks to Rhoda Icerman (ACG), Pam Coats (FIN), Mary Jane Ryals (MAN), Leisa Flynn (MKT), and Angela Hall (RMI) for their creative and innovative approach to this important initiative.
The Dedman School of Hospitality is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. As part of its celebration, the Society of Hosts (SOH) sponsored an Alumni Reunion weekend, Oct. 5-6, which began with a golf outing at Seminole Golf Course. Ed Rabin, recent President of Global Hyatt Hotels, was awarded an honorary MBA degree in a ceremony attended by all the current senior vice presidents of Hyatt Hotels, FSU administration, faculty and staff (photos). The SOH Reunion Dinner honored Chuck Floyd, ('81 HOS), President of Global Hyatt Hotels, as the Alumnus of the Year and featured Horst Schulze, former president of Ritz-Carlton Hotels and current President of the West Paces Hotel Group as the keynote speaker. Alumni and industry leaders from Ritz-Carlton, Hyatt, and several other companies attended the dinner along with faculty, staff, and students (photos).
The first annual Hospitality Women's Leadership Symposium was held on Sept. 26 for 120 women. More than 30 general managers and vice presidents from leading hospitality companies, who are women, attended a progressive luncheon with our female students. The leaders and students networked with each other, discussed topics of special interest and established mentoring relationships for the future.
The Center for Real Estate Education and Research (CREER) held its annual Real Estate Trends & Networking Conference, Oct. 4-5. Joe Scarborough, former congressman and current host of MSNBC's "Morning Joe", opened the event on Thursday evening. Alex Sink, Florida's Chief Financial Officer and former Florida president of Bank of America, was the featured speaker at the closing on Friday. The event was "sold out" with nearly 600 participants attending.
John Allison, Chairman and CEO, BB&T, addressed students live and via videoconferencing as a guest speaker during the MBA Ethics Roundtable held on Oct. 29. His topic was "Leadership and Values." A special thanks to Nan Hillis, Region President – East Florida Region, BB&T, and Paul Sullivan, Tallahassee City Executive, BB&T, for helping to facilitate Mr. Allison's visit. (Photos)
Stephen Wilberding, retired managing director for International Investment Banking at Merrill Lynch & Company in New York, spent a day on campus speaking to our undergraduate finance students. He also spoke at an MBA Ethics Roundtable Luncheon. (Photos)
Meg Brown, Senior Project Manager, State Technology Office, was the fall speaker for the Dean's Speaker Series. Her lecture topic was "From Florida State to Aerospace." (Photos)
Hector Hernandez, an international expert in Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) with IBM in Boca Raton, spoke to students and faculty on Oct. 11. After his presentation, he spent time counseling students on career development issues and visited with MIS doctoral students conducting research in the area of SOA governance. Mr. Hernandez was hosted by the MIS Association.
Gregory Miller, Chief Economist for SunTrust, spoke on Oct. 22 to MBA and finance students as part of the SunTrust Visiting Professor Speakers Series.
The Graduate Programs Office recently bolstered its services by installing video conferencing equipment using the latest technology in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). This equipment allows employers to interview graduate students without traveling to Tallahassee. Such technology also aids in career coaching being extended to our growing number of online students. If any of your companies are interested in video conferencing interviews, please contact Joanna Southerland, Director of Online Programs and Graduate Career Services, joanna.southerland@fsu.edu or (850) 644.1480.
ALUMNI NEWS
I want to take this opportunity to personally thank Ken Willis ('76 MKT, President & CEO, TestTools, Inc.) for his service to the College of Business Board of Governors and especially for his role as Chairman of the Board over the past two years. Ken was instrumental in leading a restructuring and refocusing of the Board during my transition as Dean. I am also pleased to announce that Craig Ramsey, ('80 FIN & RMI, '82 MBA, Regional Managing Partner, Accenture, LLP) will be taking over the reins as the new Chairman. At our regular fall meeting, we welcomed 10 new members:
- Tim A. Cole ('79 Marketing), Executive Vice President of Sales, Del Monte Foods Co.
- Michael G. Dearden ('85 Finance), Regional Director of Wealth Management, Wachovia Securities
- Bryan Desloge ('83 Finance), Leon County Commissioner
- Christopher E. Diamantis ('90 Finance), Chairman & CEO, Integrated Financial Settlements, Inc.
- Erin Ennis ('90 MBA), Vice President, Finance & Administration, Residential Elevators, Inc.
- Tracy Garbers ('89 Marketing), Vice President of Investor Communications, CNL Financial Group
- Nan C. Hillis ('76 Marketing), Region President – East Florida Region, BB&T
- Christopher Iansiti ('92 Finance), President & Owner, IANSITI Performance Group, Inc.
- Steven L. Roden ('77 MBA), President & CEO, LearnSomething, Inc.
- Lester Sussman ('76 Accounting), Managing Director, Resources Global Professionals
The College of Business Board of Governors provides a framework for alumni and friends of the college to meet for educational, professional and other alumni-oriented purposes. It also provides advice and stimulates continued interest in financial support for the College.
I continue to visit alumni and friends of the College throughout the country. During the past 100 days I have visited Atlanta, Tampa, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and Ocala. We also had an excellent alumni luncheon event in Denver with more than 40 alumni and friends attending before the Colorado game (photos), and our alumni tailgate in Jacksonville, in conjunction with the Alabama game, attracted over 500 individuals (photos). We hosted our annual homecoming tailgate before the Duke game and had over 120 alumni and friends attend. In addition to those events, I have had personal contact with 76 of the College's alumni since the last Dean's Brief report.
STUDENT NEWS
Mario Battistini (REE) was awarded a 2007-08 national scholarship from the Appraisal Institute in Chicago, IL. This is a highly competitive scholarship. Recipients are selected based on their academic performance, program of study and career interests.
Kelly Cowart, doctoral student in Marketing, was awarded an H. Naylor Fitzhugh Scholarship for 2007 by the National Black MBA Association. This scholarship is competitive across the business disciplines including finance, accounting and MIS. Cowart was also awarded the Valuing Diversity Scholarship for 2007 by the American Marketing Association Foundation.
Online MBA student Scott Meyer, a U.S. Air Force captain based in Columbus, Mississippi, won the grand prize in the MBA Association's first virtual stock market simulation challenge in September. The association plans to continue simulations to test student skill and involve students whether they're on campus or online.
The MBA Association, led by President Sheila Muniz, will be starting its annual drive to provide holiday presents to Tallahassee Marines serving in Iraq. It's a service that began with the 2007 graduating class that initially sent expressions of support to online MBA student Martin Webb and his fellow soldiers serving with the Army's 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division in northern Iraq.
The College had six student athletes receive the Golden Torch Award by FSU. The Award is given to the student athlete from each sport who has received the highest GPA for the previous academic year. This year's winners are:
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FACULTY NEWS
Fall term means the addition of new faculty. One major goal in our strategic plan is to be an employer of first choice. With that mandate, we set out to recruit the best and brightest from across the country, and I am happy to announce we were able to recruit an excellent mix of faculty from other universities as well as newly minted doctorates. We welcomed the following faculty this fall:
- Deborah Armstrong, Assistant Professor, MIS – PhD, University of Kansas (recently held a faculty position at University of Arkansas)
- Allen Blay, Assistant Professor, ACG – PhD, University of Florida (recently held a faculty position at the University of California, Riverside)
- Gonul Colak, Assistant Professor, FIN – PhD, University of Iowa (recently held a faculty position at Wichita State University)
- Donna Decker, Visiting Associate Professor, MAN – PhD, Florida State University
- Donald Farr, PGM Director, HOS – MBA, Campbell University (formerly General Manager and Director of Golf at Pine Needles/Mid-Pines Golf Resort in North Carolina)
- Joan Gabel, Associate Professor, RMI – JD, University of Georgia (recently held a faculty position at Georgia State University)
- Tim Holcomb, Assistant Professor, MAN – PhD, Texas A&M
- George (Ryan) Huston, Assistant Professor, ACG – PhD, Texas A&M
- Woo (Woody) Kim, Associate Professor, HOS – PhD, Purdue University at West Lafayette (recently held a faculty position at Oklahoma State University)
- Tracey King, Visiting Assistant Professor, MKT – PhD, Georgia Institute of Technology
- James Koenigsberg, Visiting Instructor and Chef, HOS – MBA, Everglades University
- Xinlin Tang, Assistant Professor, MIS – PhD, Georgia State University
- Rochelle K. Greenberg (ACG) promoted to Associate in Accounting
- John B. Larsen (MKT) promoted to Associate in Marketing
- Deborah A. O'Connor (MAN) promoted to Research Associate
- Mary Jane Ryals (MAN) promoted to Research Associate
- Joyce Simmons (MAN) promoted to Research Associate
- Michael D. Trammell (MAN) promoted to Research Associate
Glenn Boggs (RMI) and Barry Diskin (RMI) have been named Nardozza Fellows. The Francis J. Nardozza Scholars Program in the College of Business was established to recognize and support scholarly research on a wide range of real estate and urban economic issues. (Read the article.)
Randy Dumm (RMI) has been named the Peoples First Insurance Fellow. The Peoples First Insurance Fellowship in the College of Business is awarded to recognize faculty for work in furthering student programs in risk management/ insurance. (Read the article.)
Kathleen McCullough (RMI) has been named the State Farm Professor in Risk Management/Insurance. The State Farm Professorship recognizes faculty for outstanding contributions in the area of teaching, research and service. (Read the article.)
Danling Jiang (FIN) was recently listed on the Social Science Research Network's Top Ten download list for behavioral and experimental accounting with her paper, "Commonality in Misvaluation, Equity Financing, and the Cross Section of Stock Returns."
Dave Peterson (FIN), James Doran (FIN), and Danling Jiang (FIN) were recently listed in Social Science Research Network's Top Ten download list for behavioral and experimental accounting for their paper entitled, "Short- Sale Constraints and the Non-January Idiosyncratic Volatility Puzzle."
An article, "Toward a model of strategic outsourcing," co-written by Tim Holcomb (MAN) has made the No. 5 spot in ScienceDirect's list of the Top 25 Articles for the Journal of Operations Management.
Ryan Huston's (ACG) paper entitled, "Managing Earnings by Manipulating Production: The Effects of Cost Structure and Inventory Valuation Method," was listed in Social Science Research Network's Top Ten download list for Managerial Accounting and Theory.
Ron Goldsmith's (MKT) paper, "Some psychological motivations for fashion opinion leadership and fashion opinion seeking," was recently listed as the 7th most downloaded article for 2007 by the Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management.
Ceasar Douglas (MAN), along with two other co-authors, won the Association for Business Communication's 2006 Award for Distinguished Publication on Business Communication with their article, "Communication in the Transition to Self-Directed Work Teams."
Greg Gerard (ACG) was program co-chair for the Artificial Intelligence/Emerging Technologies 2007 Mid-Year Meeting of the American Accounting Association.
Dean Gatzlaff (RMI) and G. Stacy Sirmans (RMI) completed work on a major study for the Florida Legislature that examined the short and long-term effects of proposed changes to Florida's property tax policy. The study was conducted by a team of researchers put together by the Center for Real Estate Education & Research in the College of Business, and included scholars from the Pepper Institute at FSU, the Shimberg Center at the University of Florida, and the Bureau of Economics and Business Research at the University of Florida.
DEVELOPMENT
Annual Fund: You should have or will soon receive a call from one of our students asking for your support of the College's annual fund. Your participation in giving – no matter the size of the gift – speaks volumes! National rankings look at the participation of our alumni and friends' giving as a measure of how much you value the education at the College. Please know your gift will directly impact our positioning in the national rankings!
J. Harold ('55 REE) and Barbara M. Chastain were recognized at the 2007 Real Estate Trends & Networking Conference and received the Network's Award for their generosity to the Real Estate Program in establishing the Chastain Eminent Scholar Chair. The Chair will be filled during the 2008 academic year.
The Haywood ('53 ACG) and Betty Taylor Endowed Chair in the College is now fully funded, and the search will begin to fill this position.
The College received the bequest from the Don and Frances Veller Trust to benefit the Professional Golf Management Program.
In September, the College received a $100,000 bequest from the estate of Robert J. West ('59 ACG, '61 MACC). Bob retired in 2000 after a 36-year teaching career. He was the founding director of the School of Accountancy at the University of South Florida and served as chairperson/director for 14 years.
Jim Erb ('84 RMI) increased his gift of $25,000 to $100,000 for the Erb Family Scholarship in Risk Management.
Roger ('78 RMI) and Paula Gibson gave a $10,000 gift to the Risk Management/Insurance Program's Excellence Fund.
Scott ('97 ACG, '97 MACC) and Tina Price ('97 MIS) gave $25,000 to the Dean's Discretionary Fund.
The Katie Froeschle Memorial Golf Tournament, organized by the Katie Froeschle Foundation, was held Sept. 14 at Crescent Oaks Country Club near Tampa, FL. Proceeds from the tournament benefited the Katie Froeschle Memorial Scholarship Fund.
FYI - If you're looking for the most tax-effective gift to make to a charitable organization, your individual retirement account (IRA) may very well be the best choice. The Pension Protection Act of 2006 presents a new giving opportunity. The law allows individuals aged 70½ or older to make gifts now to qualified charitable organizations like ours using funds transferred directly from their IRAs. Furthermore, these individuals will not have to pay taxes on the amounts transferred. You can transfer any amount you desire up to $100,000 on or before Dec. 31, 2007. For more information, visit the Foundation's Planned Gifts Web site.
As you can see, we have been very busy and have accomplished a tremendous amount in the past 100 days. I hope you all have a great holiday season.
Caryn
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