The Business Education for Talented Students (BETS) program, which runs through June 22, allows students from diverse communities to explore career and educational opportunities in the world of business. The program, which is free to students, is in its sixth year.

Students will take part in team-building activities such as a ropes course and take field trips to Alcoa, PepsiCo, PetSafe, the Knoxville mayor’s office, and accounting firm Dixon Hughes in Asheville.

While on campus, the students, from Tennessee and Georgia, will hear from faculty members and business experts. They will learn about various majors offered in UT’s College of Business Administration, including accounting, finance, marketing, economics, human resource management, public administration, enterprise management, supply chain management, and business analytics.

Students will also work on their writing and learn more about options available to fund their education.

The week will conclude with the Marketplace competition, a team-based business-simulation game that allows the students to run a company as business professionals.

More than 150 high school students from four states have participated in the program. Of the 118 students who have already completed the program, about fifty-nine students are now or will be attending UT.

The program is a great recruiting tool, said Tyvi Small, the business college’s coordinator of diversity initiatives. It also gives high school students the opportunity to see what programs the College of Business Administration has to offer and get a sneak peek at college life.

This year’s participants are rising seniors with at least a 3.76 grade point average who were nominated by counselors or community members. The thirty-two students represent twenty-four high schools and fourteen cities.

Funding for the 2013 BETS program is provided by the PepsiCo Foundation as part of its $350,000 five-year grant to the college’s diversity efforts.

The week’s events include:

• Friday, June 14

2:00 to 4:00 p.m.—Tour of Radio Systems/PetSafe, 10427 Electric Ave.

• Tuesday, June 18

Noon to 1:20 p.m.—Meeting at Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero’s office and Russ Jensen, director of the 311 call center, City County Building

• Thursday, June 20

12:30 to 1:50 p.m.—Alcoa Energy and Metals Trading Floor, 900 Gay St.

• Saturday, June 22

10:30 a.m. to noon—Marketplace competition presentations, 203 Haslam Business Building.

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CONTACTS:

Cindy Raines (865-974-4359, craines1@utk.edu)

Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lalapo@utk.edu)

The funds will be used to grow the student-run businesses.

A fourth student venture has been offered space in the UT Research Foundation Business Incubator. The in-kind offer is worth $3,000.

“Creating new local businesses is the cornerstone of a community’s success,” said Randy Boyd, fund benefactor and CEO of Radio Systems Corp. “I cannot imagine a better return on investment than supporting future generations of entrepreneurs.”

The spring 2013 Boyd Venture winners are:

• Summersett Foods LLC, a manufacturer and distributor of a line of frozen buffalo chicken dips that can go directly from the freezer to the microwave.

Founded by marketing senior Jake Rheude, Summersett Foods was created when Rheude moved to Knoxville from Cincinnati and could not find dips he was familiar with. He then created and began marketing the product with a former business partner.

The Boyd Venture Fund grant will allow Summersett Foods to develop in-store merchandising materials and pursue contracts with local grocery store chains.

• Escadrille Cycling Apparel, a clothing company that specializes in high-end custom apparel for cycling enthusiasts. Formally called Privateer Cycling Apparel, Escadrille Cycling Apparel was founded by Jordan Humble, a senior in global politics and economics.

Humble, who has been on the US cycling team and has raced in Europe, noticed that cycling apparel has not changed in decades and set out to change this by connecting with world-class sporting apparel designers. Prototypes are now being sewn in Los Angeles, but Humble, who is from Chattanooga, plans to move production to East Tennessee in the future.

Humble’s Boyd Venture Fund grant will allow him to move forward with prototype development and marketing.

• PTlink LLC, a software company that allows a physical therapist and a patient to connect more frequently, therefore ensuring a faster and more effective recovery.

PTlink, founded by Collin Howser of Nashville and Trevor Grieco of Knoxville, both seniors in biomedical engineering, is an interactive mobile app that connects a patient to a clinician to improve communication and recovery in a rehabilitation setting.

The app has two components: A clinician can create a rehab program, while a patient can go through the therapy electronically. The patient and the clinician are linked throughout the rehabilitation process.

The Boyd Venture Fund award will allow the founders to do extensive market research to validate or modify the product features.

In addition to the Boyd Venture Fund grants, Anna Gilbert of Memphis, a senior in retail and consumer science, has been given space in the UT Research Foundation Business Incubator to grow her business. She founded Anna’s Armoire, a fixed-price jewelry and apparel merchandiser run through Facebook. Gilbert locates unique jewelry and apparel, photographs it, and posts it on the company’s Facebook page. Every Sunday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time the site goes live, and customers can buy the limited-quantity merchandise by commenting “sold” on the picture.

Boyd Venture Fund grants are administered through the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in UT’s College of Business Administration and are available to any UT student-owned business. They are awarded each spring and fall. Since the fund’s inception in 2011, eleven student-owned companies have been awarded a total of $87,500 in seed capital to achieve milestones that advanced their businesses.

The UT Research Foundation Business Incubator, 2450 E.J. Chapman Drive, provides entrepreneurs with an environment that encourages learning, growth, and self-sustainability where participants learn from experts and other students as they start and build technology-based businesses.

For more information about the business incubator, visit the website.

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CONTACTS:

Tom Graves (865-974-6131, tgrave10@utk.edu)

Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lalapo@utk.edu)

Of the ten schools included in the U.S. News “10 Most Popular B-Schools” short list ranking for full-time MBA programs, UT ranked eighth nationally and fifth among public universities. This particular ranking focuses on the percentage of students who are admitted and choose to attend.

The U.S. News short list, separate from its overall rankings, magnifies individual data points to identify which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas.

“Our faculty and staff expend significant effort in the admissions process, carefully identifying students likely to benefit most from the UT MBA educational experience and appeal to our corporate partners,” said Stephen Mangum, dean of the College of Business Administration. “Our prospective students, as reflected in their matriculation decision, appear to appreciate that effort and agree with its effectiveness.”

For the program beginning fall 2012, UT’s MBA program admitted 106 students, 71.7 percent of whom enrolled.

The complete ranking is available at the U.S News website.

In the 2014 U.S. News overall graduate-school rankings, UT’s full-time MBA program ranks sixty-seventh nationally and thirty-seventh among public institutions. The rankings are based on several criteria including alumni assessments, recruiter assessments, placement success of graduates, and admissions selectivity.

For more information about the College of Business Administration, visit the website.

For more information about the MBA program, visit the website.

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CONTACT:

Cindy Raines (865-974-4359, craines1@utk.edu)

Commencement ceremonies begin Wednesday and continue through Saturday. King will participate in the College of Business Administration commencement ceremonies on May 10. Her bachelor’s degree is in human resources.

As an eighteen-year-old freshman, King found out she was pregnant. She resolved to finish her degree while raising her child as a single mother.

Her son, Grant, who turns three in August, “has been a huge blessing to me and my family,” King said.

Yet, his unexpected arrival was a tough assignment for a young college student.

Grant was born a week before King began her sophomore year. Rather than withdraw from school, King dropped from a full course load to taking only two classes during the fall semester.

King returned to full-time status the next spring and has taken classes every summer term so she could graduate in four years. Beyond managing a full course load and raising a child, King accepted an internship with DeRoyal Industries during her junior year. Throughout her senior year she interned at Oak Ridge Associated Universities in addition to having a part-time job.

Though King is a single parent, she’s quick to acknowledge the support she’s received. Her parents care for Grant during the day, and Grant’s father, who also graduated from UT this spring, and his family remain involved in Grant’s life.

King is also the recipient of the Moll Anderson Endowed Scholarship for single parents pursuing business degrees. The endowment was established in 2010 by author, lifestyle consultant, and television host Moll Anderson, who is married to UT Trustee Charlie Anderson, president and chief executive officer of Anderson Media Corp.

“Mrs. Anderson’s generosity has eased my financial burden, allowing me to better focus on my son and my studies,” King said.

While King wants to impart valuable lessons to her son, his presence also has taught her a thing or two.

“My multitasking skills have grown tremendously,” she said. “I have to take advantage of every available moment to study.” Procrastination is no longer an option; she said she begins preparing for exams at least two weeks in advance.

King said Grant also has given her a new perspective on life.

“Being a mother changed my attitude about what’s important,” King said. “I’m working to earn the best grades I can so that I can get a great job and provide for my son.”

Since Grant’s birth, King has maintained an impressive 3.7 GPA.

“Although a 4.0 GPA from UT would have been terrific, I’m extremely proud of my accomplishments,” she said, “I would much rather be thought of as a phenomenal mother than being a straight-A student.”

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CONTACT:

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)

UT will award two honorary degrees and welcome a host of accomplished speakers at this spring’s commencement ceremonies, which begin May 8.

Honorary degrees will be awarded to renowned journalist John Seigenthaler at the College of Law commencement and to opera singer Mary Costa, known as the voice of Sleeping Beauty, at the College of Arts and Sciences commencement. Read more about the recipients in Tennessee Today.

More than 3,730 undergraduate and graduate students will receive degrees at thirteen college ceremonies this spring.

Graduates and their guests can park free in university student parking areas throughout the campus, but should avoid parking in staff lots.

Commencement ceremonies will be webcast.

Webcast links are included below. For information about parking and other details, visit the commencement website.

Below is a list of the commencement ceremonies and speakers. All events take place in Thompson-Boling Arena unless otherwise specified:

WEDNESDAY, MAY 8

• 8:30 a.m.—College of Nursing. The speaker is Julie Worley, a nursing doctoral student who has a private psychiatry practice. She teaches online at Rush University in Chicago and will be a full-time assistant professor and researcher at Rush after graduation. View the webcast here.

• 11:30 a.m.—College of Engineering. Alumnus Dwight Hutchins, the global managing director of Accenture’s Health and Public Service Strategy practice, will speak. View the webcast here.

• 3:30 p.m.—College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences. Missy Kane, a former Olympian, a Pan American Games medalist, and a former UT track coach, will speak. She is now a fitness promotion coordinator for Covenant Health. View the webcast here.

THURSDAY, MAY 9

• 8:30 a.m.—College of Communication and Information. The speaker is alumna Monica Langley, an author and senior special writer for The Wall Street Journal. View the webcast here.

• 11 a.m. —Audiology and Speech Pathology. Cox Auditorium in Alumni Memorial Building

• 1:00 p.m.—College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. Alumnus Donnie Smith, president and chief executive officer of Tyson Food, will speak. View the webcast here.

• 4:30 p.m.—Graduate Hooding. Amanda Sanford, fifth-year doctoral candidate in political science and president of the Graduate Student Senate, will speak. The Graduate School expects about 300 master’s students and 100 doctoral students to take part in the ceremony. View the webcast here.

FRIDAY, MAY 10

• 9:00 a.m.—College of Arts and Sciences. Costa will receive an Honorary Doctor of Humane and Musical Letters and speak briefly. The speaker is alumna Margaret Scobey, former US Ambassador to Egypt and longtime diplomat. She is now deputy commandant, international affairs advisor, Industrial College of the Armed Forces. View the webcast here.

• 2:00 p.m.—College of Business Administration. Mark A. Emkes, Tennessee Commissioner of Finance and Administration and retired chairman, chief executive officer and president of Bridgestone Americas Inc., will speak. View the webcast here.

• 5:00 p.m.—College of Law. Seigenthaler will receive an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree and speak briefly. US Sen. Lamar Alexander, who served as Tennessee’s governor, president of the University of Tennessee and US Secretary of Education, will speak. View the webcast here.

SATURDAY, MAY 11

• 10:00 a.m.—College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Patricia Sura, who completed her residency at the College of Veterinary Medicine and was an assistant professor of surgery for six years, will speak. Sura now practices at a veterinary hospital in Kentucky.

• 1:00 p.m.—College of Social Work. No guest speaker. View the webcast here.

• 5:00 p.m.—College of Architecture and Design Hooding Ceremony. The speaker is alumna Robin Klehr Avia, regional managing principal and chair of the board at Gensler, an internationally acclaimed design firm. View the webcast here.

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C O N T A C T :

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)

Rami Goldratt, chief executive officer of Goldratt Consulting, will lead an interactive seminar, Creating the Ever-Flourishing Company Using the Theory of Constraints (TOC), at the Center for Executive Education in the UT College of Business Administration.

Upper-level managers across all industries are invited to the seminar, which will take place from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It is open to the public. The cost is $825, which includes course materials, breakfast, snacks and lunch. To register, visit the Center for Executive Education’s website.

Seminar topics will include how participants can achieve organizational stability, growth, and harmony; uncover simple solutions for complex problems; think holistically to achieve goals; deliver projects on time and with shorter project cycle time, position their organization for exponential growth; and turn improvements into a decisive competitive edge.

Participants will leave with Theory of Constraint tools, including the Five Focusing Steps of TOC, the Change Matrix, and the Strategy and Tactics Tree.

Theory of Constraints is a management tool based on the assumption that any system, no matter how complex it seems, is governed by only a few elements. Identifying the system’s constraints and managing them accordingly produces rapid improvement and fosters harmony throughout the system.

Goldratt follows in the footsteps of his father, the late Eli Goldratt, the founder of the Theory of Constraints and the author of The Goal. The best-selling book introduced TOC to a wide audience, and it remains one of the most popular business texts of all time.

Prior to serving as CEO of Goldratt Consulting, Goldratt was CEO of SFSCo (Solutions for Sales Co.). SFSCo supplies sales and marketing experts for Viable Vision projects, a holistic solution based on the Theory of Constraints that has been implemented at companies worldwide. Goldratt holds a master’s degree from Tel Aviv University in Israel.

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CONTACTS:

Peggy Jarrett (865-974-1616 or 865-974-5001; peggy.jarrett@utk.edu)

Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lalapo@utk.edu)

SCM Operations developed the list based on a literature review using data searches through the Harvard Business Review and MIT Sloan Management Review publications.

Dittmann is the executive director of the Global Supply Chain Institute in the UT College of Business Administration.

“A thought leader is someone who looks at the future and sets a course for it that others will follow,” said Shei Israel, contributing writer to Forbes. “Thought leaders look at existing best practices then come up with better practices. They foment change, often causing great disruption.”

Besides Dittmann, the Top ten global supply chain thought leaders, listed alphabetically, are:

• Thomas Choi, professor at Arizona State University
• Sunil Chopra, professor at Northwestern University
• Remko van Hoek, global procurement director at PwC and visiting professor at Cranfield University
• Marshall Fisher, professor at University of Pennsylvania
• Hau Lee, professor at Stanford University
• Yossi Sheffi, professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• David Simchi-Levi, professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Reuben Slone, senior vice president at Walgreens
• Robert Trent, professor at Lehigh University

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CONTACTS:

Cindy Raines (865-974-4359, craines1@utk.edu)

Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lalapo@utk.edu)

One thousand advisors nationwide were included in the financial magazine’s list. The list is organized by state. Rankings are based on data provided by the nation’s most productive financial advisors including managed assets, produced revenue, regulatory record, quality of work, and philanthropic engagement.

The alumni are:

Eric T. Klindt, a 1993 marketing graduate who is a senior vice president of wealth management for Merrill Lynch in Nashville.

Dugan J. McLaughlin, a 1980 finance graduate who is a private wealth advisor for Merrill Lynch in Knoxville.

Samuel H. Oakley, a 1980 marketing graduate who is a senior vice president and private financial advisor for the Oakley Group of SunTrust Investment Services Inc. in Nashville.

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CONTACT:

Meredith Hulette (865-974-7392, mhulette@utfi.org)

The UT Beta Alpha Psi chapter has received $75,000 from a charitable foundation managed by Michael Lobel, a 1971 accounting alumnus of the College of Business Administration. The gift is the first toward establishing the endowment, which will allow future classes of accounting, information management, and finance students to learn from business professionals in New York City.

Lobel is a New York native and a practicing certified public accountant in the city.

Once other interested donors have contributed the remaining $225,000, the endowment will cover the majority of travel expenses incurred by students during their stay in the city. The trip will include visits to the financial district, the New York Stock Exchange, and organizations such as the National Football League. For many of the junior and senior business students, the trip will be their first time traveling outside of the southeastern United States.

“I am very pleased to provide a New York City enrichment experience to deserving students from the university that gave me a terrific accounting education,” Lobel said.

For more information about the endowment or to contribute, contact the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs in the College of Business Administration at 865-974-6083.

–

CONTACT:

Meredith Hulette (865-974-7392, mhulette@utfi.org)

The human resource management undergraduates—Rachel Dix and Erin Dyer from Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Justin Collins from Tazewell, Tennessee; Kathryn Bradley from Clarksville, Tennessee; and Adam Rowland from Knoxville—competed against ninety students from more than thirty universities. The team won $2,500 and a chance to be recognized at the national Society of Human Resource Management Student Conference this June in Chicago. They will use the money to pay their way to the national conference.

UT’s winning team was coached by Debbie Mackey, director of the UT Human Resource Management master’s degree program.

“I am so proud of our students,” said Mackey. “They were confident and energetic as they presented to the conference attendees. After the presentation, employers actually searched me out to tell me how impressed they were with our students and that they would gladly hire them.”

Dix, Dyer, Collins, and Rowland will graduate in 2013; Bradley will graduate in 2014.

Each team participating in the competition was given a complex human resources problem that addressed a variety of areas, including employee and labor relations, workforce planning, compensation and benefits, or strategic management.

“This competition revealed the prestige and competitive advantage that the UT human resource management program gives students to succeed and excel,” Mackey said.

The team had four hours to prepare a fifteen-minute PowerPoint presentation and a two-page document that was presented to a panel of human resources professionals from across the Southeast. Each team was evaluated 60 percent on its oral presentation and answering the judges’ questions and 40 percent on its written paper. The top two team finalists presented to everyone attending the conference.

“This is our second first-place finish but the first time that an undergraduate team from UT has won,” said Mackey. “UT’s graduate team won last year.”

Funding for the trip was provided by the Tennessee Valley Human Resource Association, the local professional division of the Society for Human Resource Management and the Tennessee State Society for Human Resource Organization, and the Management Department at UT.

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C O N T A C T :

Debbie Mackey (865-974-7014, dmackey@utk.edu)

Cindy Raines (865-974-4359, craines1@utk.edu)

The Master of Science–Master of Business Administration dual-degree program in engineering and business administration and the master’s in human resource management are both top 40 programs in North America, according to Eduniversal’s Top 200 Best Master’s Programs Worldwide. UT’s master’s in human resource management ranked thirty-eighth while the MS-MBA offering ranked fortieth.

This is the third consecutive year that the college’s master’s programs have ranked highly on Eduniversal’s list. Eduniversal also has ranked the college as having an excellent undergraduate business school for four consecutive years.

Since 2010, Eduniversal has ranked the 4,000 best master’s and MBA programs and the 1,000 best business schools worldwide. The Eduniversal International Scientific Committee initiated the ranking, which is based on three main criteria—program reputation, salary of graduates, and student satisfaction.

For more information about the College of Business Administration’s master’s programs, visit the website.

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CONTACT:

Cindy Raines (865-974-4359, craines1@utk.edu)

Jordan Humble, a senior in global politics and economics and founder of Privateer Cycling Apparel, claimed first place.

From left to right: Tom Graves, director of operations for the UT Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation; Dave Morehous of Morehous Legal Group; Jordan Humble; Tom Ballard of Pershing Yoakley and Associates; Andrea Fults of the UT Federal Credit Union; Dave Washburn of the UT Research Foundation; and Joy Fisher, Vol Court managing director.

The second-place winner was Alex Adams, a junior in mechanical engineering. Adams’ company, Adams Innovation LLC, designs, imports, and distributes leisure hammocks under the name Xada.

Vol Court is an entrepreneurial education series that ends with a competition among aspiring entrepreneurs for cash prizes to launch their business. The series is held both in the fall and spring and is open to students, faculty, and the general public.

Humble received $1,000 to launch his business, space at the UT Research Foundation (UTRF) business incubator, consulting services from Pershing Yoakley and Associates, and mentoring from the UT College of Business Administration’s Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ACEI)—a prize package worth more than $5,000.

He will use the prize money to pay for local service providers who are helping with his business. Vol Court was the first entrepreneurial program in which he has participated, he said.

“I have learned from experience that it is so important to get the foundation of your business set, and Vol Court teaches you how to go about building that foundation,” he said.

Adams received $500, space in the UTRF business incubator, and mentoring from ACEI. He will use the money for advertising, improving his website, insurance, and defraying shipping costs associated with the initial order of hammocks.

Seven teams competed during the Vol Court pitch session, which was held on March 12 in the James A. Haslam II Business Building.

The other participants in Vol Court and their ideas were:

• Andrew Busa, a senior in sports management, with a web application to manage fantasy sports teams
• Zachary King, a sophomore in management, with an at-home personal training service
• Kathy McLain, one of the general public participants, with an aquaponics system to produce fish and vegetables
• Stephanie Pollock, a senior in mechanical engineering, with a digital media system that provides a “window to the world” for windowless rooms
• Emily Skaar, a senior in logistics, with a website that helps people with gift giving in an easy and timely manner
• Kevin White, a freshman in business analytics, with an on-campus cleaning service for students

Each team was given five minutes to pitch its business idea to a panel of judges that included current and former entrepreneurs and an investment banker. The judges had two minutes to ask questions of each team.

Vol Court is sponsored by ACEI, UT Federal Credit Union, Pershing Yoakley and Associates, Morehouse Legal Group, Tennessee Alumnus magazine, and the UT Research Foundation.

For more information on Vol Court, visit the Anderson Center website.

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C O N T A C T :

Joy Fisher (865-974-0520, joy.fisher@utk.edu)

Participants in Covenant Health’s first Nursing Leadership Series class are, front row from left, Teresa Gomez, Crystal Barnett, Heather Jett, Liz Clary, Suzanne Miller, Stephanie Nichols. Back row from left, Victoria Niederhauser (dean, UT College of Nursing), Donna Hamby, Carolyn Shipley, Trish Chaloux, Lori Myers, Teresa Fugate, Ann Henderlight, Lynn Cagle, Jill Strevel, and Kate Atchley (UT Center for Executive Education). Not pictured: Dedra Whitaker.

Two colleges at UT have partnered with Covenant Health to train today’s nursing leaders to navigate the fast-changing world of health care.

The College of Nursing and College of Business Administration launched the new Covenant Nursing Leadership Series in January. Fifteen participants—ranging from unit managers to chief nursing officers—are engaging in an intensive eighteen-day leadership development series over the course of nine months.

The program is the first of its kind in East Tennessee and represents a major investment by Covenant Health in developing world-class nursing leadership.

“Advanced leadership training is essential for today’s nursing workforce,” said Victoria Niederhauser, dean of the College of Nursing. “Nurses, who represent the largest sector of the health care work force, need to step up and lead change that improves health, health outcomes, and quality of life.”

UT faculty are educating these nursing leaders in strategic planning, financial management, leading change, effective communication, and other topics. Each participant also will research and present a strategic project related to Covenant’s future success, as identified by Covenant’s executive leadership team. The UT faculty are providing feedback and guidance to the Covenant nurse leaders on their strategic projects.

College of Business Administration faculty include Kate Atchley, Randy Bradley, Jasen Gundersen, Hallerin Hilton Hill, Keith Leitner, Don Lighter, Chuck Noon, Cindy Raines, Mike Stahl, Harsh Trivedi, and Priscilla Wisner. The College of Nursing faculty involved in the program include Mary Gunther, Deborah Honey, Lisa Lindley, Carole Myers, and Victoria Niederhauser.

“As the speed of change in the health care sector increases and shows no sign of slowing, the need for adaptable, innovative, and systems-oriented leaders is paramount,” said Atchley, who serves as faculty lead for the Covenant Nursing Leadership Series. “The nurse managers selected for this program are ready to take on this challenge.”

Atchley noted the curriculum was carefully developed with clinical leaders and subject-matter experts to immerse participants into the strategic leadership realm and assist them in making critical and lasting positive impacts at Covenant Health.

Jim VanderSteeg, Covenant Health executive vice president of hospital operations, told the participants that to be successful in an ever-changing world, it is necessary to adapt to different things and have thinkers across the organization.

“We’re going to need people who are curious,” he said. “We’re going to have to have people who are creative. The goal of this program is to help you challenge yourself and say, ‘How do I become a better leader in a world that is very different?’”

Participants represent facilities across Covenant Health.

Headquartered in Knoxville, Covenant Health is a community-owned health system providing comprehensive health services throughout East Tennessee.

Class members Mary Cathey and Ken Bulthuis led the campaign effort under the College of Business Administration’s annual giving motto, “one gift, any size, every year.”

The full-time MBA program is a seventeen-month intensive program designed to develop high-potential leaders who are launching, changing, or refocusing their careers. Classes meet during fall and spring semesters with a required summer internship. The program offers concentrations in business analytics, entrepreneurship, finance, marketing, operations, and supply chain management, or students may build their own area of emphasis with a custom concentration. For more information on the MBA program, visit the website.

Learn more about the College of Business Administration here.

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CONTACT:

Meredith Hulette (865-974-7392, mhulette@utfi.org)

UT students ranked thirty-seventh out of 781 across all national programs, according to the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, which recently reported its 2012 CPA examination passage rates for all universities across the United States.

The data was calculated from the scores of students who took the exam for the first time.

UT students also ranked sixteenth out of 255—in the top 6 percent—among large programs, according to the association. Large programs are those that had at least fifty candidates take the exam last year.

“I am proud of both our students and faculty,” said Bruce Behn, head of UT’s Department of Accounting and Information Management. “Our faculty has designed and effectively delivered a state-of-the-art curriculum that challenges and prepares students for entrance into the profession. Our content is intended to be highly comprehensive and is well aligned with the extensive content of the CPA exam. The students’ success on the exam is a product of their hard work and motivation to excel.”

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CONTACT:

Cindy Raines (865-974-4359, craines1@utk.edu)

Of the eighty-two schools included in the entrepreneurship specialty ranking, UT’s program ranked fifty-fourth globally and seventeenth among U.S. public universities.

“This ranking reinforces the incredible focus that our entrepreneurship faculty place on student development and each one’s willingness to support MBA students in achieving their personal and professional career aspirations,” said Amy Cathey, executive director of UT’s MBA program. “The MBA program now has Top 25 recognition for curriculum delivery in the areas of entrepreneurship, business analytics, and supply chain, which helps us attract, develop, and place a wide variety of outstanding students.”

Bloomberg Businessweek asked MBA students graduating between July 1, 2011, and June 30, 2012, about their business school experience, from admission into the program to securing a job. One section of the survey singled out specific aspects of the business program, including the entrepreneurship specialty. The feedback resulted in the rankings. For a complete listing, visit the Bloomberg Businessweek website.

UT’s program is unique in that it offers a required entrepreneurship and innovation course, Innovation in Practice, for all first-year MBA students. The course focuses exclusively on nonprofit organizations.  Since the course’s inception in 2004, a total of 320 students and twelve faculty members have devoted more than 25,300 hours helping more than sixty-five Tennessee-based nonprofit organizations with their organizational challenges. This spring, seventy-two students will work with sixteen organizations as they also improve their critical-thinking skills.

UT’s MBA program also offers second-year students interested in entrepreneurship the opportunity to create new business ventures.  For example, in the Entrepreneurial Strategy Implementation course, students help entrepreneurial-minded for-profit organizations answer strategic questions.  Since 2005, 118 MBA students and faculty members have devoted close to 15,000 hours working with thirty-four Tennessee enterprises.

The MBA program’s entrepreneurship and innovation activities are supported by the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the Department of Management, both housed in the UT College of Business Administration.

For more information about the MBA program, visit the website.

For more information about the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship, visit the website.

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CONTACT:

Cindy Raines (865-974-4359, craines1@utk.edu)

He replaces Jan Williams, who retired on February 28 after more than twelve years as dean of the college and thirty-five years at the university.

Before coming to UT, Mangum was senior associate dean at The Ohio State University Max M. Fisher College of Business.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in human resource management from the University of Utah. He earned a doctorate in economics from George Washington University.

He taught and conducted research at George Washington University before joining the faculty of The Ohio State University in 1983. He taught in the Department of Management and Human Resources for several years before managing the department. He became senior associate dean of the Fisher College of Business in 1996.

Innovative teaching. Encouraging demeanor. A passion for the subject. Contagious enthusiasm. All of these traits help inspire students to great ideas. Here are two faculty members from the College of Business Administration whose teaching, research, and community service are both inspired and inspiring.

Mohammed Mohsin

Mohammed Mohsin, associate professor of economics, only had one name growing up in India. He was just Mohsin.

When he applied for a passport, the Indian Passport officer said they needed more than one name for his paperwork, so he added Mohammed on the spot. Now he has two first names.

It was just one step along his journey.

“I’ve been moving my whole life,” he said.

It was exciting, he said, to grow up in a small village and not know where life might lead him. His father helped him pursue his education, but it wasn’t always easy. He had to walk three miles every day to get to his high school.

As for studying economics?

“That happened by accident,” he said. He was interested in math, but friends told him economics had more practical applications. “At that time I had no idea about economics in a real-life sense. Now I am happy that I studied economics. I can do both.”

He initially studied at the University of Hyderabad in India. He then received a scholarship from the Commonwealth Scholarship from the Canadian government to go to York University in Toronto, where he earned his doctorate.

“Mohammed Mohsin makes for a great story,” said Jan Williams, dean of the College of Business Administration. “He grew up in India and, unlike most of us, experienced both extreme inflation and extreme deflation. This almost certainly influenced his interest in how inflation affects the functioning of an economy, and he is becoming an expert in this topic. He has published more than 20 articles in books and journals since joining our faculty.”

Mohsin has been at UT for twelve years. He teaches and researches international economics, macroeconomics, and monetary economics.

What he teaches is technical, and it’s easy for students to get confused, he said. He does classroom exercises to help them understand the concepts and assigns papers and projects to keep them engaged.

On the weekends, he lives in Asheville, North Carolina. He’s been an American citizen for several years, and his son was born in the United States.

“My son can’t imagine living anywhere besides Asheville,” he said.

Andy Puckett

Andy Puckett, associate professor of finance, knew he wanted to work at UT as soon as he visited campus for an interview.

“I fell in love with it from the very beginning,” he said, noting that he was particularly drawn to his peers in the Department of Finance. “We’ve got a great group here.”

Puckett was inspired to teach finance years earlier by one of his graduate school professors at the University of Georgia, Marc Lipson.

Lipson is a leading researcher in financial investing and had worked at the New York Stock Exchange. He worked closely with Puckett, and now the two conduct research together and co-author papers.

“That’s where my passion for investments-related research developed,” Puckett said.

Right now, he’s working with a different group of professors from three other schools on a paper about how large institutional investors traded during the 2008 market crisis. It will be published in the Journal of Financial Economics later this year.

“Andy Puckett is a rising star in the Department of Finance,” Williams said. “He was involved in thirty-six presentations during the past several years, and his research is published in the most prestigious journals. Add to this, Andy is exceptional in the classroom,” Williams said.

Although he spends a lot of time on research, he tries to develop a personal relationship with each of his students.

“I try to learn everyone’s name the first week,” he said.

He gives incentives for participation to help foster “organic conversation” in class, which he says “leads to a higher level of learning.”

He teaches undergraduate and doctoral courses in investments and a new undergraduate course he developed called Debt and Derivatives.

Outside of work, he and his wife Megan have two children who keep them active. He’s involved with a men’s group at his church and often goes running.

At UT, it’s his students who keep him motivated. “I get to be around energetic young men and women,” he said. “It’s the greatest job in the world.”

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C O N T A C T :

Holly Gary (865-974-2225, hgary@utk.edu)

Amy Blakey (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)

The professorship was made possible by an estate gift from the late Sarah E. Skinner of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Morris is a professor in the Department of Management and has served as a UT faculty member for twenty years. He is director of the Global Leadership Scholars undergraduate honors program in the College of Business Administration.

Prior to holding this role, Morris was head of the human resource development program and the graduate program director of human resource management.

Morris also has been very active in the broader academic community. He is the past president of the Academy of Human Resource Development and a member of several prominent editorial boards on management and human resources.

Morris’s research focuses on topics including employee work-life balance, the evaluation of performance-related training programs, and leadership development.

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CONTACT:

Meredith Hulette (865-974-7392, mhulette@utfi.org)