Mays Impacts

The Department of Marketing at Mays Business School will host a research workshop on February 15 that has one distinguishing feature: the presenters are all former Mays doctoral students in marketing. …Read more

The 2008 Financial Times global MBA rankings have been published. This year, the MBA program at Mays Business School at Texas A&M University has experienced a significant jump in rankings, moving to 14th against other public schools in the nation, and 31st overall in the U.S. This is an increase from last year’s placement at the 24th and 52nd spots, respectively. Mays is tied with Indiana University in the 2008 rankings.

When ranked by placement alone, Mays is at the top of the list, as Mays is the only school to report a 100% placement rate at three months from graduation.

In other indicators to the MBA program’s success, Mays came in 2nd only to the University of Pittsburgh among all schools in the U.S. in the “value for money” category.

In the state, Mays ranked above both the University of Texas at Austin and Rice University. No other Texas schools are ranked.

Mays’ position globally has also improved, jumping from last year’s 85th ranking to the 61st spot this year. One hundred and five schools were listed in the rankings from the London-based business daily newspaper.

“We are thrilled to continue to rise in the rankings which reflect our overall strength and value as an MBA program,” said Kelli Kilpatrick, director of the program. Kilpatrick attributes the rise in rankings this year to an increase in the number of women students in the program, higher numbers of alumni working outside the U.S., and higher salaries for alumni.

To determine the rankings the Financial Times uses alumni surveys focusing on salary and job placement as indicators of program quality, as well as the international reach of the business school and the research capabilities of the faculty. Each year the Financial Times also audits one-third of the ranked schools. Texas A&M was one of the 10 U.S. schools audited this year.

The Mays MBA curriculum emphasizes core business principles along with strategic thinking, business communications, teamwork, ethics, character and leadership.

For a complete listing of these rankings and further information, please visit the Financial Times website at http://www.ft.com/businesseducation/globalmba2008.

About Mays
Mays Business School currently enrolls more than 4,000 undergraduate students and 875 graduate students. The MBA program is highly selective, with an acceptance rate of 29.8%. Currently there are 148 MBA students in their intensive 16-month program.

With the economy in recession, and the sub-prime mortgage crisis threatening the real estate industry, many are wondering: is the Texas real estate economy tied to the slide in the market across the U.S. or is it insulated from it? For the hot real estate markets in Texas, what can be done to keep them that way? These are some of the timely topics to be discussed at the annual Texas Development Summit, a conference hosted by the Real Estate Center on February 4, 2008 in Houston.The center, committed to advancing the Texas economy through real estate research and education, is housed at Mays Business School at Texas A&M University.

According to Denise Whisenant, education coordinator for the center, the conference will be of interest to anyone in a field related to real estate, such as policymakers, lenders, builders, developers, and investors. The conference will provide information on a variety of legal, economic, and social issues influencing development in the state.

The center’s chief economist, Mark Dotzour, will kick off the event with an overview of the state of the Texas real estate economy. Other speakers for this event will include industry leaders, as well as professors and researchers from Texas A&M and the Colorado School of Mines. They will present information based on the latest data about market trends and real estate related legislation.

About the Center

The Real Estate Center has been providing solutions through research for 37 years. Funded primarily by Texas real estate license fees, the center was created by the state legislature to meet the needs of many audiences, including the real estate industry, instructors, researchers and the general public.

About Mays Business School

Mays Business School currently enrolls more than 4,000 undergraduate students and 875 graduate students. Mays is nationally ranked among public business schools for the quality of its undergraduate program, MBA program and the faculty scholarship of its 110 professors in five departments.

For more information about the center or the Texas Development Summit, please contact Denise Whisenant at (979) 458-4773 or visit the center on the web at http://recenter.tamu.edu/.

Many changes have taken place on the campus of Texas A&M University since Paul “Buck” Eckels ’52 was a business student here. As the school has moved forward, Eckels has been a part of the progress as an active Aggie supporter. Recently he and his wife, Sandra, announced an estate gift of $3.5 million to Mays Business School.

“I’m so impressed with what they’ve done at the business school and we want to help them along,” said Eckels. Their gift will establish a need-based scholarship fund for business undergraduates.

Mays’ interim dean Ricky Griffin appreciates the Eckels’ willingness to help in this way. “It’s no secret that the cost of higher education grows each year,” he said. “While Texas A&M University is still among the most affordable leading institutions in the country, costs here continue to grow as well. The scholarship fund to be established with the Eckels’ gift will help insure that deserving students will still be able to pursue a Mays degree regardless of their financial situation.”

“I just hope that some students get the help that they need,” said Eckels, who says he wants to help “ordinary kids,” like himself, to attend school. This gift follows two other gifts the Eckels have made to Mays in the form of charitable remainder annuity trusts, which total almost $700,000 and will be used to establish an endowed professorship.

Eckels describes himself as a “gentleman farmer,” as he currently spends his time growing trees commercially. Prior to this venture, he owned Lawyers Title Co. of Houston—a title insurance business—for 30 years. The Eckels divide their time between their home in Houston and their farm in the bay area.

The beginning of a new year always seems to bring with it a sense of excitement and optimism. After all, it’s the time people vow to read more, lose weight, get more exercise, or drop some bad habits. At Mays Business School, we also have reason to be excited.

For one thing, the leadership of the university is at last starting to come into focus. After a search that lasted about a year, Dr. Elsa Murano has assumed the position of president of Texas A&M University. I have had the pleasure and good fortune to work with Dr. Murano on numerous occasions when she was dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. I am confident that Dr. Murano will be an outstanding president. Moreover, with this appointment now resolved, other leadership issues for both the university and Mays Business School can be settled as well.

During this period of transition we have continued to move forward. In the fall semester, for example, we went through a rigorous accreditation review by the AACSB (more about that next time!), we took major steps toward resolving some space issues in our building, we solidified the rankings of our major programs, and we developed meaningful strategies for further enhancing the quality of our programs at all levels.

Going forward, we will be addressing a number of other areas as well. For one thing, we are looking carefully at the possibility of offering our MBA degree at an overseas location. For another, we are developing plans that will help us reduce the class sizes of most of our undergraduate course offerings. We are also working diligently to build our scholarship program so that more deserving students can benefit.

When I talk to deans at other business schools, they often express concerns that their students don’t work as hard as they used to, that their faculty are selfish, that their budgets are shrinking, or that their buildings are in disrepair. When I hear complaints such as these, I try to not grin too much. Instead, I do my best to nod politely and offer words of encouragement. And I try to not gloat over how great things are at Mays Business School. But inside, I’m thankful that our students, faculty, and staff are second-to-none, our budgets are healthy, and our facilities are a campus highlight.

As we enter 2008, I wish each and every one of you a happy new year.

Ricky W. Griffin
Interim Dean, Mays Business School

What do Chicago-style pizza, a nine-iron, and a prison inmate have in common?

No, this isn’t the opening of a joke. All of these are elements in the education of Business Honors students at Mays Business School. This highly selective group (only 30% of applicants are accepted each year) is getting out of the classroom and into the real world for hands-on educational experiences that they aren’t likely to forget. …Read more

You’re traveling across country by train, when suddenly there’s a horrific screech. The train lurches and jerks violently before crashing into something and flipping off the tracks. The lights go out and you can hear the moans and cries of the wounded passengers around you. You try to help, but you hit your head during the accident and are too dizzy to stand.

“Don’t worry, I’m here to help,” you hear a nearby voice say. And who is your rescuer? A paramedic? A search and rescue worker? No, it’s an MBA, trained at Texas A&M’s Mays Business School. …Read more

“What we hope to achieve is simply put: expanding minds, expanding networks,” says Richard Scruggs, director of the Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship at Mays Business School. Expanding minds and expanding networks is the tag line of Envision”08, the first conference for entrepreneurs hosted by the CNVE. Envision”08 (short for “entrepreneurial vision”) will be held April 23-25 at the Marriott RiverCenter in San Antonio, Texas. …Read more