Spring 2019

Dean's Welcome

Welcome to the Spring 2019 issue of Price E-News. This semester already has been full of news and achievements by our students, faculty and staff. Perhaps this spring’s greatest achievements so far are numerous national rankings, most notably the highest rankings in 15 years for our MBA programs, according to the U.S. News and World Report. In early March, 1985 Price alum Eric Stevenson was appointed by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt to serve on the OU Board of Regents. In other news, MA+ Architecture in Oklahoma City received an award from SchoolDesigns.com for their renovation of the Gene Rainbolt Graduate School of Business. Additionally, as of March 25^th, you can vote daily for the Price College of Business in the Journal Record’s annual Reader Rankings for Best MBA Program. We’d love for you to cast a vote in our favor.

We are excited to share just a few examples of how our students, faculty and staff fulfill the Purpose of Price® every day.

Events

Apr 3
I-Hub 201 Talk

Apr 25
Energy Symposium

Apr 26
Business Ethics and Social Responsibility Forum

May 3
Honors Luncheon

May 11
Convocation

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Convocation Giving

As we prepare for the spring convocation ceremony on Saturday morning, May 11, at the Lloyd Noble Center, we’d like to thank you for investing in student success at the Price College of Business. We invite you to consider giving to our Momentum Scholarships, which support undergraduate students, or our Do More Sooner® Scholarships for MBA students. With your help, students can focus more on their studies and less on financial concerns while obtaining the education necessary for success. Thank you for your support!

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Tackle Big Issues | Energy

Mike McConnell, an energy professional with more than 30 years of leadership experience, has been named the new director of the Robert M. Zinke Energy Management Program at Price. McConnell will take the reins beginning June 1, following longtime director Steve Long’s retirement. Long has served as director of the program since 2006.

The Executive MBA in Energy program at the Price College of Business is the only energy program in the world to appear in the recent global list of Ivy Exec’s 2019 Best Executive MBA Programs. This is the first time the EMBA in Energy program at OU has appeared in the Ivy Exec ranking since the program’s launch in 2014.

On March 7, a standing-room-only crowd welcomed James Hackett, a senior executive with more than 20 years of experience in the energy sector, as part of the distinguished speaker series. Hackett shared how training in the U.S. Air Force, as well as his faith, helped shape his future as a leader.

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The annual Energy Symposium is scheduled for April 25 at the BHGE Energy Innovation Center in Oklahoma City. This year’s event is titled, “The Great Energy Disruption: Competition for Capital, Customers and Public Sentiment,” and features guest presenters from sectors including energy, environmental defense, academia, geophysics and more.

Tackle Big Issues | Economic Development

Price’s innovation series continued Feb. 19 at the Gene Rainbolt Graduate School of Business. Intersection of Innovation + OKC Innovation District featured Evan Anderson, co-founder and CEO of Oseberg; Katy Evans Boren, president and CEO of the Oklahoma City Innovation District; and Carl Edwards, chairman of the Presbyterian Health Foundation and Price Edwards and Company.

Will Drover, Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship, was a featured speaker at the 2019 Veteran EDGE Conference in Dallas in early March. Veteran EDGE is a four-day national conference dedicated solely to veteran and military spouse business owners and the ecosystem that supports them. Drover spoke on the topic of entrepreneurial finance: how the funding landscape is rapidly evolving and what that means for Veteran entrepreneurs.

Tom Lumpkin, the C.S. Trosper Chair and Professor of Entrepreneurship, and Director of the Division of Entrepreneurship and Economic Development, has been invited to speak at the San Diego State University 2019 California Entrepreneurship Educators Conference in April. The event’s theme is Transforming the Field of Entrepreneurship.

Tackle Big Issues | Healthcare

While the temptation to move away after college is strong for some students, Kaylen Kelly is taking a different approach. The marketing major with a healthcare minor has a dream to help save a hospital in Bristow, Oklahoma. It is a hospital her great-grandmother, a registered nurse, founded nearly a century ago. A replacement facility, built in the 1950s with the help of her family members, still stands.

Price College’s healthcare minor is on the rise! Since the summer of 2018, the number of healthcare minor students have more than tripled this spring. With four new faculty members bringing healthcare experience to Price students, and a launch for the business of healthcare major scheduled for 2020, an exciting future awaits Price students with an interest in health.

Tackle Big Issues | Globalization

Thirty students and faculty from the MBA program traveled to Hanoi, Vietnam, in early January to meet with Top of the World’s VP of Marketing and Licensing to learn how business is conducted in a global market. One of their corporate destinations was longtime Top of the World headwear factory partner PNG Vietnam.

In celebration of the Chinese New Year, the Chinese in Business College Association held two days of festivities Jan. 29-30. Sponsored by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Center for Student Success and the JCPenney Leadership program, the events featured free food and activities such as presentations on Chinese literature and culture.

This spring, several marketing and supply chain students have studied abroad at OU in Arezzo, the university’s Italian study center, where they’ve met with Beppe Angiolini, a leading fashion expert and owner of Italian fashion brand SUGAR, Michelin Tire Company headquarters marketing staff, members of the Milano Fashion Institute, and much more.

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion hosted two guest speakers during a special Black History Month presentation on Feb. 21. Racism: Perspectives on Racial Inequity featured OU Professor Emeritus and civil rights activist George Henderson and Lillian Miller, assistant dean of University College.

In February, Jeff Moore, Executive Director of the Ronnie K. Irani Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth (I-CCEW), and Susan Moring, Director of the I-CCEW, visited Almaty Management University in Kazakhstan as part of a delegation of U.S. business schools. They toured the campus, learned about AlmaU’s entrepreneurial education and shared ideas for future collaborations.

Generate Business Insights

Radhika Santhanam, Director of the Division of Management Information Systems and Michael F. Price Chair of Management Information Systems, recently was interviewed by Analytics Insight about Price’s Big Data and Analytics academic program and its contribution in transforming the future of education.

In January, the Oklahoma City chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI) named Jeremy Bellah, Lecturer in Management Information Systems, as the incoming VP of Professional Development. According to its website, PMI's mission is to promote the practice, science and profession of project management in Oklahoma through networking, outreach and education.

On Friday, April 26, Price is hosting a Business Ethics and Social Responsibility Forum at the Gene Rainbolt Graduate School of Business in Oklahoma City. The day-long forum will feature faculty from Price and guest speakers from around the globe speaking on subjects including social entrepreneurship, law and global trade, and much more.

A new report issued by Texas Christian University’s Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Neeley School of Business ranks the Price College of Business 7th in the world for entrepreneurship research productivity in premier journals over the past five years (all of which are in the Financial Times 50 list of journalss.

Tackle Big Issues | Prepare Leaders

Two JCPenney Leadership program students represented the Price College of Business at National Millennial Community events this past fall and spring. Molly Thompson attended the Community Summit event in San Francisco last September, and Reid Thompson attended the event in Los Angeles in February.

Kyle Fronckiewicz, a finance and energy management senior at Price, recently was named a 2019 Outstanding Mentor by the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence. Fronckiewicz is credited with guiding the largest Peer Trainer group in the history of the JCPenney Leadership Program. He was recognized during the foundation's Oklahoma Mentor Day on Jan. 18.

As part of the Price College Distinguished Researcher Lecture Series, Terry Shevlin, Associate Dean of Research and Doctoral Programs and Paul Merage Chair in Business Growth at the University of California-Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business, presented “An Overview of Academic Tax Accounting Research: Past To Present” on Feb. 15.

The JCPenney Leadership Program welcomed dozens of students to the 10^th Annual Parker Leadership Conference on March 1. Held in the OCCE Thurman J. White Forum Building at OU, the keynote speaker was Ethan Berman, former CEO and Chairman of the Board at RiskMetrics Group. The theme for the conference was Building a Business in the 21st Century.

The Price College of Business has drawn national attention this spring for new rankings, both for undergraduate and graduate level programs. Most notable is the U.S. News and World Report, which ranked the MBA programs the highest in 15 years. Click the link below for a comprehensive list of new rankings from the past few months.

Merely months after receiving a national hospitality award from her employer, Lyssa Murray is impacting others in a new way. The international business in Spanish and human resources management double major has created a partnership between the OU Food Pantry and Best Western® Plus Norman, which is donating $3000 to benefit members of the OU community.

Makenna Arnold, a pre-law international business student in Spanish and economics double major, recently was selected for a George Mason University summer internship in international affairs. This highly competitive internship provides a summer experience in Washington, DC that is designed to prepare students for future leadership.

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