Mays Impacts

Mays alumna Bonnie Miller ’02 was selected to participate in the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Postgraduate Technical Assistant internship program for 2003-2004. Miller, who graduated in December after completing the Professional Program, is the ninth consecutive Mays nominee to be selected for an internship. FASB accepts up to two nominations each year from 40 business programs throughout the nation and selects six nominees for internships. Accounting Department Head Jim Benjamin estimates that since 1990, Mays has had more interns than any other business school.During the one-year program, Miller will gain experience with the accounting standards-setting process and develop a thorough understanding of the various positions in the accounting field. Since graduation, she has been working in Dallas for PricewaterhouseCoopers in the audit practice. Miller will take a leave of absence beginning in July to complete the internship in Norwalk, Conn.

Charles Dhanaraj, assistant professor of management at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, will visit Mays in late March to collaborate with Management Professor Lorraine Eden. They are researching the legitimacy and survival of foreign subsidiaries, along with Stewart Miller, assistant professor of management at the University of Texas’ McCombs School of Business. Dhanaraj was awarded the 2001 Barry Richman Dissertation Award at the Academy of International Business for his Ph.D. dissertation, “Legitimacy and Stability of Japanese Overseas Subsidiaries.”

Corporate ethics is a hot topic these days. But, at Houston-based Newfield Exploration the issue isn’t a new one. Newfield CEO and President David Trice recently discussed the company’s approach to ethics with first-year Mays MBA students. Trice also addressed the core values inherent in the company, says first-year MBA student Lisa Buckley. “You can never have too many reminders about the importance of ethics,” she says. In fact, Newfield’s core values are closely tied to the Aggie code of honor, as Joe Foster ’56 founded the company, which employs many A&M graduates. Buckley and several other first-year MBAs had the opportunity to interact with Trice and Steven Campbell, head of investor relations, during a luncheon. Not being a native-Texan, Buckley says she came to Mays to become part of the Aggie Network. She didn’t expect it so soon. “After my conversing with Steven during lunch, he has already helped me set up three interviews for possible summer internships,” she says. “The Aggie Network is real.”

With state funding even more of a challenge for Texas’ institutions today, external support is critical to helping Mays achieve its goals. PricewaterhouseCoopers recently committed to establishing an Accounting Excellence Fund. Accounting Department Head Jim Benjamin says this $300,000 award will support research and curriculum development activities focused on assurance services, taxation, financial reporting and accounting systems.Benjamin credits Kevin Roach, Texas A&M liaison partner in Dallas, as well as Bill Atkinson ’82 and Ed Machir, Dallas partner and PWC Foundation Board member, for their commitment to Mays’ accounting program. Greg Garrison, national partner in charge of assurance services, will make a brief presentation of the gift at Mays in late March.

For the third consecutive year, the Mays MBA Program has been ranked among the 100 best in the world by the London Financial Times, the pre-eminent worldwide business publication. This ranking places Mays MBA program in the top 5 percent of the approximately 2,000 MBA programs worldwide. The Mays program ranks 69th overall, up 13 places from last year. Of the 100 ranked schools, 56 are located in the United States. U.S. programs typically dominate the top 10, such as the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard Business School and Stanford University. “Our increase in rankings reflects the quality of our students and faculty,” says Dean Jerry Strawser. “This ranking places us solidly among the top 20 public business schools and continues to indicate the high value of a Mays MBA, as we were ranked second among all U.S. schools in ‘value for the money’ behind only Brigham Young University.”The Financial Times evaluation, in its fifth year, conducts two surveys, one of institutions offering graduate business degrees and the other of students who graduated from the respective schools’ programs three years ago. The surveys are designed to gauge career progression as accrued from the MBA, including salary, salary increments and international mobility. It also includes institutional diversity, including number of women and international students; and quality of the schools’ research, including number of journal publications by faculty and rating of doctoral graduates for programs that produce them