Mays Impacts

United States Comptroller General David M. Walker has been named the advisory board chair of the college’s new Center for Continuous Auditing.

The goal of the newly established center is to provide a forum to identify and address the processes involved in auditing electronic information on a continuous basis, says Dean Jerry Strawser. And, he believes as the advisory board’s chair, Walker is just the person to provide direction to the center.

“Dave Walker brings the leadership and vision to the center to address the complexities of auditing today’s multitude of information stored in electronic form,” Strawser says. “The need for effective methodologies and technologies to verify the accuracy of that information has never been greater.”

As head of the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO), Walker is the nation’s chief accountability officer. As chairman of the center’s advisory board, he will coordinate a governance structure of thought leaders from business, government, the accounting profession and professional organizations.

Discussing his role as chair, Walker stated, “Given recent public concerns regarding current financial reporting models and auditing approaches, creating a center for continuous auditing is the right thing to do and it’s the right time to do it. I look forward to working with my fellow advisory board members to help Texas A&M and the other universities that are part of this consortium make the center a success.”

Bilingual communication has become an important component in today’s global business world. And, students at Texas A&M are getting a little help thanks to the Hispanic Business Student Association (HSBA).

Sponsored by Deloitte and Touche, HBSA hosted a Spanish business terminology workshop, which was open to students from all majors. Although students did not merely sit back and listen to a list of foreign terminology. Instead, they were required to put their knowledge into action.

After dividing into teams, each group presented a two-to-three minute speech focusing on creating a business and determining the major business issues involved. The catch? Each team had to use as many Spanish business terms as possible.

“I think students learned a little about globalization, the use of business terms in different Latin-American countries, and basic common Spanish terms because of the workshop,” says Mayra De Leon, HSBA vice president for external affairs and a junior accounting major.

In addition, students received feedback about their presentations from Victor Bustamte, a senior manager at Deloitte and Touche. Bustamante not only critiqued each speech, but also discussed how being bilingual had opened many doors throughout his career.

The Brazos Valley chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) recently honored communicators from the Texas Real Estate Center (REC) and the dean’s office for their work at the annual Brazos Bravo Awards.

The awards program provides communicators an opportunity to benchmark their work with that of their peers from around the country. The REC’s communications and design team walked away with seven awards, five of which were Brazos Bravo awards, the highest award given. Those recognized this year included:

Brazos Bravo Awards

Advertising/Marketing Campaign: David Jones, ABC, Robert Beals, Nancy McQuistion, Kammy Baumann, Elissa Bravenec, Lois Carter, J.P. Beato and Randy Birdwell for “Real Estate Center 30th Anniversary Campaign”

Printed Communications, Magazine: David Jones, ABC, Robert Beals, Nancy McQuistion, Kammy Baumann, Elissa Bravenec and J.P. Beato for Tierra Grande magazine.

Printed Communications, Annual Report: Robert Beals and Nancy McQuistion for “Real Estate Center 2000-2001 Annual Report and 2002 Calendar”

Design, Illustration: Robert Beals for the Real Estate Center’s “Green Acres” article.

Design, Annual Report: Robert Beals for “Real Estate Center Annual Report and 2002 Calendar”
Awards of Excellence

Writing, Feature or Human Interest: Lara Zuehlke for the article “Beyond Location” appearing in Mays Business Online.

Design, Magazine: Robert Beals and J.P. Beato for the Real Estate Center’s Tierra Grande magazine.

Audiovisual, Video or Film Internal: Randy Birdwell for the Real Estate Center’s “Texas Association of Realtors Ethics Training”

Associate management professor Lorraine Eden was recently named a University Faculty Fellow at Texas A&M. The designation is offered to a select number of individuals throughout the university after a highly competitive selection process.

Eden joined the college in 1995 and teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses in international business.



Dr. Rajan Varadarajan, marketing professor and department head, was recently named a Distinguished Fellow by the Academy of Marketing Science.

This is quite an accomplishment, considering no more than 3 percent of all active members of the academy can receive this designation. Varadarajan is one of only two individuals to receive the designation this year.

Varadarajan has become a leading researcher in e-commerce and marketing strategy.

In fact, last month he received the American Marketing Association’s Harold H. Maynard Award, which recognizes the most noteworthy article published in the Journal of Marketing.

When the Business Fellows program recently celebrated its twentieth anniversary, it was cause for a true fiesta. Since its inception, the program has prepared hundreds of business students for their careers, helping them develop leadership, communication and teamwork skills.

Featuring a live mariachi band and a Mexican food buffet, the reunion provided former Fellows the chance to reflect on the past and share experiences and advice with current Mays students.

“Fellows recognizes its anniversary every year, but this one is especially important because it’s the twentieth anniversary,” says Matt Swallow, a junior finance major who helped organize the event. “The reunion is a great networking opportunity and gives former Fellows a chance to see how much the program has changed. But our main focus is just to make sure everyone is having a great time.”

Yet for many former students, interacting with other classes was a large part of the reunion’s success. Audrey Burch, a class of ’93 marketing major, says she was impressed to find the same type of people she remembered from her Fellows experience.

“Even though A&M’s campus is so much different than when I was in school, the people never seem to change,” Burch explains. “Fellows taught me many lessons that I was able to use later on, and I don’t think that part of the program has changed.”

The Decision Sciences Institute (DSI) recently awarded information and operations management professor Benito Flores the designation of Fellow.

DSI, an international organization dedicated to business research and education, named Flores as one of three U.S. Fellows in light of his research in the areas of forecasting and international operations management with particular emphasis on Mexico.

Flores, who has served as DSI’s secretary, program co-chair and track chair for forecasting has submitted research to DSI since joining in 1983. The professor was nominated for the designation by another DSI member and says the honor is both appreciated and motivating.

“It’s gratifying to be recognized,” he says. “And, it provides an incentive to continue to improve whatever research or work I do for DSI.”

A core issue brought about by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks centers around trade, particularly with our neighbors to the north and south. How do we encourage trade with Canada and Mexico while keeping terrorists and other unwanted evils out?

That issue was recently addressed by a panel of experts on international trade and intelligence. Canadian Counsel General Allen Poole, Canadian Counsel Peter Price and Dr. James Olson, senior lecturer and CIA officer in residence at the Texas A&M Bush School, spoke to Mays undergrads in management professor Lorraine Eden’s International Environment of Business course.

“The immediate impact of September 11 was devastating,” says Poole, whose career has been devoted to international trade and investment. “I believe we have to deal with the security dimension, such as keeping out illegal activity and terrorists, without throwing business interaction and trade out the window.”

Olson agrees that encouraging trade and keeping the borders safe should be of top concern. But the U.S. government shouldn’t overlook the important of in-country security, he adds.

“We have to improve intelligence in the United States and toughen our procedures to let people stay and visit,” Olson says. “We can’t pick on the U.S.-Canada and U.S.-Mexico borders as a culprit of terrorism because we shouldn’t slow down or stop our rich trade with them. “