Price Newsletter - June 2022

Friends,

Although the spaces throughout Price and Adams halls are quiet over the summer break, the Price College of Business leadership team is hard at work with numerous new initiatives as we continue to implement our strategic plan. 

With a new rebranding initiative underway for the University of Oklahoma, the time is right for Price College to do the same. In the next few weeks, we’ll select the agency that will help us develop a new, coherent and differentiated brand identity that aligns with the university’s and reflects our vision for the future. We’ll be sharing more about these developments, including new messaging, visual strategies and marketing materials, in the coming months. 

In April, we announced the hiring of Nicholas Tobey as the inaugural executive director of executive education at Price College. Under Nick’s leadership, we will launch a new brand for OU Price Executive Education for working professionals and organizations, which will include a comprehensive digital marketing campaign and a new eCommerce website for our new portfolio of short and customized program offerings, which we’ll deliver both online and in person.

We’ll soon be seeking your input for both these initiatives. Be sure to watch your emails for ways you can help. 

We recently announced the launch of two new online master’s degree programs to prepare business leaders for lucrative, high-growth professions: the Master of Science in Business Analytics and the Master of Science in Supply Chain Management. Over the next 10 years, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects these professions to grow 25-30%. Graduates of these new programs are sure to be in high demand at attractive salaries in a variety of industries. We are excited to offer these new programs to future business leaders. 

These new programs and initiatives are just a few of the steps we’re taking to advance our strategic priority of delivering relevant, flexible and accessible business education opportunities to support lifelong learning. 

Since our April newsletter, we have several achievements to report. Here are a few, by the numbers:

• A record-breaking 782 graduating students participated in our spring convocation ceremony.
• OU Giving Day raised an incredible $1,077,316 for Price College, thanks to supporters like you.
• Best Value Schools ranked the MIS Division’s undergraduate degree No. 1 (again).
• Gartner ranked our undergraduate Supply Chain Management program 20th in the nation, up five spots from 2021 .
• 31 students brought home a combined 10 awards at this year’s i2E Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup, a statewide collegiate business plan competition.
• 8 Price students received OU scholar-athlete awards.
• 36 supply chain management students presented real-world solutions to Walmart distribution center executives that could mean six-figure savings annually, fewer employee injuries, improved employee satisfaction and more complete orders shipped to customers.
• After a two-year hiatus, more than 80 Price College students are returning to summer study abroad programs. 

These stories, and more, are included in this month’s newsletter. They are just a few examples of the great strides our students and faculty make every day. They are further proof that Price College is growing bigger, broader and better. I’m excited to share with you our latest news. Thank you for reading, and for your continued support.

Thanks again to everyone who participated in this year’s annual OU Giving Day. On April 14, Price College raised an astounding $1,077,316, with more than 150 gifts from nearly 125 donors representing 25 states, as well as Canada. We are so grateful for partners like you, whose continued support ensures the future success of our students and Price College.

Making education affordable and accessible is core to our mission at OU and Price College. Please consider giving to our Momentum Scholarships, which support undergraduate students, or to our Do More Sooner® Scholarships for MBA students. Both scholarships allow students to focus more on their studies and less on financial concerns while obtaining the education necessary for success.

In response to the rapidly growing demand for supply chain management and business analytics professionals, Price College recently launched two new online master’s degree programs. The MS in Business Analytics and MS in Supply Chain Management programs provide students with the technical knowledge and business acumen necessary to accelerate their careers in these growing professions. Each program is 100% online and can be completed in as few as 16 months. Interested in learning more? Reach out to our academic advisor for Business Analytics or our academic advisor for Supply Chain Management

The MIS program continues to excel in national rankings. The undergraduate degree earned the No. 1 spot again in 2022 in the Top 15 Bachelor’s Degrees in Management Information Systems by Best Value Schools. The undergraduate program also ranked in the top 20 on the 2022 list of Best Management Information Systems Schools by College Factual.

Price College’s undergraduate Supply Chain Management program ranked No. 20 in Gartner’s 2022 Supply Chain University Top 25, climbing five spots since the previous ranking. This year’s list included on-campus, hybrid and fully online programs.

Research.com ranked OU on its lists of Top Business and Management Universities (No. 34 nationally and No. 71 globally) and Top Economics and Finance Universities (No. 75 nationally and No. 157 globally).

Seven entrepreneurship teams and two individuals won awards in this year’s i2E Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup. Nearly 40 teams of college students from campuses across the state competed for $158,000 in prizes and scholarships. The competition requires college students to research a market, write a business plan and present to potential investors.

The Oklahoma Energy Resources Board awarded six scholarships to Price College energy management students for the coming academic year. Five seniors each received a $7,500 scholarship and one incoming freshman received $2,000. In total, the board awarded more than $173,000 to OU students in energy management, geoscience and petroleum engineering.  

A team of OU students won $50,000 in May’s Startup Venture Competition. Prizewinner Bison Underground, an agricultural technology company, was among 14 companies from OU Startup Programs’ Startup Accelerator and Startup Incubator that participated in the competition, which was backed by Prima Ventures and Boyd Street Ventures.

Numerous Price College students, recent graduates and a future student were recognized by OU Athletics with 2021-22 scholar-athlete awards, including Mason Beiler, Carmen Corley, Pat Fields, Caleb Kelly, Jackson Nicklaus, Sasha Pisareva, Jasmine “Jazzy” Richards and Karrie Thomas.

MBA graduate (2021) and former Sooner linebacker Caleb Kelly was highlighted in a recent article in Sooner magazine. Kelly talked of his new leadership role in OU Athletics as a member of S.O.U.L., an in-house program that hires former football players to mentor current athletes by focusing on life skills, professional and career development, and community engagement.

Ismael Carmona Casado, a senior double major in supply chain management and international studies, was featured in InsideOU, an online article highlighting seven recent OU graduates spanning multiple colleges and hailing from different places around the globe. In the article, Casado, of Spain, shared how traveling, living and studying abroad has shaped him. 

Business alumnus Ronald Jones (BBA, Business Marketing, 1959) was interviewed for a recent article in Sooner magazine, which told of his correspondence with Dr. Zhivago author and 1958 Nobel Prize winner Boris Pasternak. During his senior year, Jones wrote a letter to the Russian author, who sent back a handwritten reply, which Jones donated to OU’s Western History Collections.

Five teams of supply chain management students tackled operational challenges and gained real-world experience through an eight-week project with Walmart, the world’s largest retailer. These challenges included determining ideal pallet sizes for optimal productivity and reduced employee injury, as well as identifying and adjusting processes to improve order fulfillment accuracy.

After a two-year interruption due to the global pandemic, more than 80 undergraduate business students are returning to faculty-led, summer study abroad programs in Spain, Italy and France, which provides them opportunities to learn how to navigate different cultures, study international business practices and visit historical and cultural sites.

A record 15 Price College undergraduates will participate in summer international internships in locations including Barcelona; Dublin; London; Paris; and Quito, Ecuador. Four of the students will participate in remote internships with intercontinental organizations, with many students interning abroad also taking a class.

Bill Megginson delivered the keynote at “The Evolving Role of Sovereign Wealth Funds: Issues and Challenges” conference on May 20 in Dubai. This conference was sponsored by the American University of Sharjah and Megginson’s talk will be published in a special issue of the Journal of International Business Policy later this year. Megginson also was a keynote speaker (via Zoom) at the inaugural Iranian Privatization Organization’s conference on “State Capitalism, State-Owned Enterprises and Economic Performance” on May 21 in Tehran. Separately, Megginson presented “The Financial Record on Privatization and State Capitalism” on April 7 at the World Bank in Washington, D.C.

Brant Christensen was among the editorial board members recognized with the Outstanding Reviewer Award from The Accounting Review, one of the top journals in the discipline. The award recipients will be recognized for their achievements during the upcoming 2022 Annual Meeting in San Diego, Aug. 1-3.

Dean Corey Phelps’ article, "Complex problem-solving: The most important leadership skill you may have never learned", was published in the April issue of NAPE Magazine, a business journal for energy professionals.