Posted by: Alison Damast on January 15
The economic stimulus bill unveiled today by House Democrats includes some encouraging news for students seeking more financial aid for college. There will be $15.6 billion allotted towards increasing the budget for Pell grants, which are typically given to students from low-income families. If the bill passes, the amount of an annual Pell Grant would increase by $500, bringing it up to $5,321. Other education highlights in the bill include a $79 billion for state fiscal relief, $14 billion for school construction and $1 billion for technology.
Posted by: Alison Damast on January 14
Here’s a quick trivia question for politically-minded students: Which school has produced the most alumni who have made it into the Cabinet? If you’re dying to know the answer to this question, check out the new “Top Five Colleges to Attend If You Want to be in the President’s Cabinet” list.
Dr. Katherine Cohen, founder of IvyWise and an admissions expert, pulled it together just in time for Inauguration Day. It also includes some tidbits that may be interesting for business school students.
1. University of California, Berkeley
“Cal's alumni have presided over several cabinet positions (most recently, a Ph.D. graduate Steven Chu for the department of energy) as Cal's graduate programs in the Sciences, Law and Business consistently produce leaders whose experience is meaningful in D.C.,” Cohen said.
2. Yale and Georgetown (Tie)
“Yale's Law School still produces high-quality politicians and advisors, and, while Georgetown's number is actually lower than Yale's (Rumsfeld didn't actually graduate Georgetown Law School), their top-notch Foreign Services, Business and Law Programs are specifically tailored for the future politico,” Cohen said.
3. Indiana University
“The big surprise of the group, Indiana boasts 4 alumni in cabinet positions since 2001. A closer look at their highly ranked Business and Management Program reveals that IU's innovative curriculum based on applicable, "real-world" knowledge builds connections that lead to political leadership,” Cohen said.
4. University of Denver
“This should not be a surprise for those in the know in the Business and Political World. While Condoleezza Rice is still its most famous alum, Denver has 3 other cabinet members and a world-class International Studies program, ranked ahead of giants such as University of Chicago, Yale, Stanford, University of California-Berkeley, and MIT,” Cohen said.
5. Harvard
“Harvard has more alumni in cabinet positions than Yale, Princeton, Stanford and MIT combined. Whether it was the Law School, Business School, or Harvard college, the Harvard reputation still carries much clout in the beltway,” Cohen said.
What do you think of Cohen’s findings? Does your school deserve to be on this list?
Posted by: Geoff Gloeckler on January 09
Attention early risers looking to get an MBA: Adelphi University, the Garden City, NY-based school, has just launched what they’re calling the amMBA, a part-time master’s business program where classes take place in the early morning rather than at night. According to a release put out by the school, courses will be held once a week from 7:00-8:50 am at Adelphi’s Manhattan Center campus, just a few blocks from the financial district in downtown Manhattan.
It’s an interesting idea, but it’s not the first time Adelphi has offered a non-traditional MBA format. In a story published earlier today about the amMBA, Crain’s New York mentions that the school once offered MBA classes in special train cars on the Long Island Rail Road as students/commuters traveled to and from work. But that format was eventually derailed.
Posted by: Alison Damast on January 08
A group of Notre Dame business school students on a class trip to Bosnia-Herzegovina got more than they bargained for when just a few days into their journey, the city’s gas supply was shut off. The students, who are in the country through Jan. 11 for a class called “Business on the Frontlines,” had to scramble to find heating just as a deep freeze fell on Sarajevo and the rest of the Balkan region.
The move came shortly after Russia – in the midst of a gas dispute with Ukraine – shut off Ukraine’s gas supply completely on Jan.7. Ukraine supplies most of the gas to the Balkan countries, including Bosnia. Gas supplies in Bosnia started declining after New Year’s Day and were completely turned off this week.
Unable to initially acquire an electric space heater – the city sold out of them in just a few hours -- the Notre Dame students spent the past few days in their third-floor apartment in Sarajevo’s old city shivering as the temperatures fell to sub-zero temperatures. They tried to heat the small space by leaving the door of the apartment’s electric oven open, but “it didn’t really work out,” said Keith Flatley, a second-year MBA student at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza School of Business in a phone interview on Jan. 8. By a stroke of luck, they were able to eventually acquire an electric space heater from an acquaintance yesterday and have spent the past day huddled around it in the living room, Flatley said. “We have managed to keep the apartment just above freezing,” he said. “I have three or four layers on and am fully North Faced-out,” he said.
They are not the only students from the school who have found themselves in the midst of an international crisis. The other students in the 11-person class are currently conducting similar work in Beirut, Lebanon. Just this morning, rockets were launched from Southern Lebanon into Israel.
“We’re more worried about them than we are about us,” Flatley said. “We’re wondering, ‘What did we sign up for?’”
Despite the energy crisis and the Middle East conflict, the students are still going ahead with their planned schedule for the trip, which includes visits to local and international banks, companies and small businesses. The students are examining the role of business in rebuilding war-torn societies and the role private industry and foreign industry can play. They will present their findings in a detailed case study this March to Catholic Relief Services, which helped the school organize the course.
The school has received reports that both the students in Bosnia and Lebanon are safe, said Carolyn Woo, Mendoza’s dean. They are being escorted to all of their appointments by employees of Catholic Relief Services, she said. While the circumstances are not ideal for the trip, the students will walk away with a deepened understanding of the regions they are visiting, she said.
"They are studying businesses at the front line of war-torn countries and these are some of the conditions businesses operate under,” Woo said. “It’s a superb learning experience for them.”
Posted by: Geoff Gloeckler on January 08
In the past few years, a handful of universities including Harvard, Missouri, and INSEAD, have turned to business executives to fill high level academic positions like university president or dean. Now you can add Ohio State to the list. Today, the university’s Fisher School of Business announced that Christine A. Poon, who most recently held the position of vice chairman and member of the board of Johnson & Johnson and worldwide chair of the company’s Pharmaceuticals Group, would be the B-school’s next dean.
Poon, who holds an MBA from Boston University, announced her retirement from J&J last September after a 30-year career in the health care industry. She officially leaves the company on March 1 and will take office at Fisher in April. According to a release put out by the school, Poon’s areas of expertise include domestic and international business operations, as well as sales and marketing.
Continue reading "Ohio State Picks Johnson & Johnson Exec as next Business School Dean"
