Mays Impacts

A group of Mays business students will have the chance to gain some real-life corporate experience, thanks to their selection as Center for the Management of Information Systems (CMIS) Corporate Scholars for this academic year.

Recipients include Victoria Phillips of Lake Jackson, Katherine Johnson of Houston, Rachel Lamb of Katy and Tolga Koseoglu of Germany.

Each winner receives a corporate internship and scholarship up to $2,000. In addition, the students will be able to visit corporate locations of board members during spring break, semester breaks and at other times as agreed to by corporate sponsor. The students will also have the opportunity to participate, when possible, in corporate project meetings.

Phillips and Koseoglu are sponsored by Information Advantage Associates (IAA), while Johnson is sponsored by Federal Express. Dell Computer Corp. is Lamb’s sponsor.

Several Mays faculty members have been named to the 11-member search committee charged with selecting Texas A&M’s new athletic director. Former Dean Benton Cocanougher — who was named a special assistant to President Robert Gates — is serving as chair of the committee.

Joining him are Dr. James Flagg, associate accounting professor and chair of the Texas A&M University Athletic Council and Dr. Robert Strawser, who holds the Andersen Chair in Accounting and serves as Faculty Senate speaker.

In addition, the school’s namesake Lowry Mays ’57, CEO of Clear Channel Communications, and benefactor Jerry Cox ’72, CEO of Cox & Perkins Exploration, are also serving on the search committee.

The Appraisal Institute Education Trust Fund has awarded $3,000 scholarships for 2002-2003 in a national competition. Graduate students in the school’s land economics and real estate program received 19 of the 28 awarded.

Recipients were selected based on grades, strength of curriculum, academic/career goals and perceived interest in the real estate appraisal industry.

The awardees are Annie Anderson, Jamie Bryant, Justin Cross, Caleb Cunningham, Matt Gentile, Chip Giese, Andrew Harris, Allen Hynes, Brad Knolle, Jeff Lindenberger, Michael Mays, Philip Moltz, Allison Murray, Steve Sample, Saul Sanchez, Jonathan Sanders, Yancy Strait, Jr., Tim Traister and Mark Verrett.

A user-friendly Web site is now online to help public school teachers address international issues in their classrooms thanks to a $100,000 grant from the Bank of America Foundation.

The grant is part of the Scholastic Assistance for Global Education (SAGE) program, which is housed in the Center for International Business Studies.

SAGE’s goal is to provide Texas social studies teachers with globalization training and teaching materials. Providing such resources will help advance the quality and depth of international education of Texas students in grades K-12, according to Larry Wolken, finance professor and SAGE program director.

“Having easy access to these knowledge modules and internationally oriented educational materials and resources will prepare K-12 social studies teachers throughout Texas to teach the international component of their classes,” he observes. “The site makes it possible to reach beyond the educational limitations of textbooks in terms of what material is studied, how information is presented and the ease in keeping materials current and costs down.”

To learn more about the SAGE program, visit their Web site at http://sage.tamu.edu.

Mays faculty were recently honored for outstanding teaching and research at the fall faculty/staff meeting.

Three Mays faculty members received the Association of Former Students Teaching Award, presented by Kelli Hutka, director of campus programs. Receiving awards this year are (from left) Michael R. Kinney, associate accounting professor; Peter L. Rodriguez, assistant management professor; and Mike S. Wilkins, associate accounting professor.

Executive Associate Dean Dr. Ricky Griffin (on left) presented Mays Award for Outstanding Research to Dr. David Szymanksi, marketing professor and director of the Center for Retailing Studies.

Management Professor Dr. Jing Zhou also received Mays Award for Outstanding Research, presented by Griffin.
Mays MBA Director Dan Robertson (far right) and MBA Association President Chris Fox (center) presented Management Professor Dr. Asghar Zardkoohi the MBA Distinguished Core Faculty Award. MBA students vote on and present the award to a Mays faculty member each year.

Due to recent corporate events, the accounting profession has come under the scrutinizing eye of the public and the government. In response, the Center for Continuous Auditing (CCA) has teamed up with the Department of Accounting and the Professional Program to host a lecture series addressing the current issues facing the corporate world.

Accounting Professor Marty Loudder believes this series is the school’s chance to address today’s tough issues. “Business schools have been strangely quiet about what’s going on, and it’s our chance to speak out about it,” she says.

The lecture series is bringing in high-caliber executives from across the country, such as Jim Hooton, retired partner from Andersen and Steve Ledbetter, chairman, president and CEO of Reliant Energy.

CCA Director Don Warren says he believes the lecture series will shed light on the challenges and opportunities in the accounting industry. “The time is right. People in the marketplace are driving this program,” he says. “They want to have these issues addressed.”

While this is the inaugural series, Warren hopes the CCA can work with the Professional Program and its director, Dr. Austin Daily, to sponsor a similar series each year — helping industry execs, faculty and students stay abreast of such a rapidly changing marketplace. “Next year, the lectures might be dealing with the different changes the profession has undergone,” he says.

The lectures take place every Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in the Wehner Building’s Ray Auditorium through Nov. 21.

Dr. Dan Robertson will step down from his post as Mays MBA Program director at the end of this academic year. Having served in the position for almost three years, Dr. Dan (as he is so fondly known in the school) will return to the marketing faculty.

Assuming the position of director will be Carroll Scherer, who is currently the program’s assistant director of alumni and external relations. She joined Mays after 21 years of experience in human resource management with organizations such as Occidental Petroleum, SYSCO Foods, Compaq, AIM Management Group and Duke Energy.

The latest round of rankings has hit the newsstands. In U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of “Best Undergraduate Business Programs,” the Mays program was ranked 30th out of 148 programs. The publication determines its rankings by surveying officials at undergrad programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. B-school deans and senior faculty are also surveyed.

In the Wall Street Journal’s 2002 MBA rankings, the Mays MBA Program was named to second tier of schools. To determine the rankings, the publication surveyed approximately 2,200 corporate recruiters, who rated b-schools on 26 attributes.