As Congress debates historic changes to the health care system, the business community prepares to react. How will the pending legislation affect businesses?
This is the topic of the panel discussion “The business of health: expert insights and perspectives,” to be presented Thursday, November 12, in Houston. Hosted by the Full-Time and Executive MBA Programs from Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School, the event is free and open to the public, though seating is limited. Registration is required by November 6: Click here to register online now.
The panel will feature A&M faculty members as well as industry and policy experts. Presenters will include J. James Rohack, MD, president of the American Medical Association and director of the Center for Health Care Policy at Scott and White Clinic; Bruce Broussard, chairman and CEO at U.S. Oncology; John Kajander, senior vice president of the Texas Medical Center; and David Kasper, vice president of benefits at Waste Management, Inc. Michael Wesson, associate professor of management at Mays, and Robert Ohsfeldt, professor of health policy and management at the School of Rural Public Health at Texas A&M Health Science Center, will round out the panel. Loren Steffy, business columnist at the Houston Chronicle will moderate.
The event will be held at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas—Houston Branch. Registration, networking, and refreshments will begin at 5:30 and the panel discussion will continue from 6:30-8:00 p.m. See mays.tamu.edu/health for more information and to register.
For more information about this event or the Texas A&M University Executive MBA Program at Mays Business School, contact Kristin Cooper at (979) 458-4571 or kristincooper@tamu.edu. News agencies interested in covering this event are asked to register by contacting Cooper. Confirmation will be provided.
About Mays Business School and the Texas A&M Full-Time MBA Program
Mays Business School currently enrolls more than 4,000 undergraduate students and 875 graduate students. The Full-Time MBA program is highly selective, with an acceptance rate of 23 percent. Currently there are 172 MBA students in their intensive 16-month program.
About the Texas A&M Executive MBA Program
The Executive MBA Program equips today’s working leaders with the skills and knowledge they need to excel in a rapidly changing organizational environment. The unique program is built around an ongoing study of how value is created in all aspects of an organization’s operations. Peer discussion and real-world case studies replace the typical lecture-driven classroom format. The result is a highly interactive learning environment that provides each participant with knowledge they can put to work immediately. The 18-month program begins a new class each August. For more information, please contact the Executive MBA office at emba@tamu.edu.
The 100 fastest-growing Aggie-owned or Aggie-led businesses in the world will be recognized Nov. 6 at the 5th Annual Aggie 100 program, sponsored by Mays Business School’s Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship at Texas A&M University.
Each year, the Aggie 100 program recongnizes the 100 fastest-growing Aggie-owned or Aggie-led businesses in the world.
More than 475 representatives and guests have been invited to the Texas A&M campus for the event, and 650 people are expected to attend the luncheon in The Zone Club at Texas A&M’s Kyle Field, including more than 100 current students.
The Aggie 100 focuses on growth as an indicator of job creation, product acceptance and entrepreneurial vision. Recipients of the award were selected based on compound annual revenue growth rate for the 2006 to 2008 period. In all, companies from seven states and five countries will be honored at the event. The oldest company on the list was founded in 1916.
A complete list of all companies qualifying for the 5th Annual Aggie 100, along with their placement on the list, will be formally announced at noon Nov. 6.
To be considered for the Aggie 100, companies (corporations, partnerships, sole proprietorships) must operate in a manner consistent with the Aggie Code of Honor and in keeping with the values and image of Texas A&M. They must also meet the following criteria:
Have been in business for five years or more as of June 30, 2009; and
Have had verifiable revenues of $100,000 or more for calendar year 2006
Additionally, the company must meet one of the following leadership criteria:
A Texas A&M former student or group of former students must have owned 50 percent or more of the company from Jan. 1, 2006, through Dec. 31, 2008, or
A Texas A&M former student must have served as the company’s chief executive (for example chairman, CEO, president or managing partner) from Jan. 1, 2006, through Dec. 31, 2008, or
A Texas A&M former student must have founded the company and been active as a member of the most senior management team from Jan. 1, 2006 through Dec. 31, 2008.
About the Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship
The Texas A&M Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship provides encouragement, education, networking and assistance to entrepreneurially-minded students, faculty and Texas businesses. Founded in 1999, the center is part of Mays Business School’s Department of Management. The center enhances student education through campus speakers, competitions, work experiences and financial support. The Texas A&M faculty and Office of Technology Commercialization benefit from the center’s educational programs, extensive business community network and the entrepreneurial services.
The center also reaches out to the state’s business community offering educational programs, business assistance and access to university resources. The center is supported by corporate and individual members and sponsors who believe in the value of an entrepreneurial education program and the value of Texas businesses working with Texas A&M University.
For more information
To find out more about the Aggie 100 program, visit Aggie100.com or contact Lenae Hubener, Assistant Director of the Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship at (979) 845-4882 or aggie100@tamu.edu.
Comparing MBA programs in the U.S. is now easier for prospective students, thanks to the recently published The Best 301 Business Schools: 2010 Edition from the Princeton Review. The Texas A&M University Full-Time MBA Program at Mays Business School makes the guidebook’s list once again this year—and with a new distinction: The 2010 edition ranks the program 5th in the “Most Competitive Students” category.
The Princeton Review surveyed more than 19,000 students from the top AACSB-accredited MBA programs in the world to arrive at these rankings. Programs listed in the top 301 are not ranked to determine one business school as best overall. Instead the book has 11 rankings lists of the top 10 business schools in various categories. In the category “Most Competitive Students,” the Mays program was ranked 5th based on student assessment of how competitive classmates are, how heavy the workload is, and the perceived academic pressure. The guidebook also features profiles of the 301 programs listed.
Texas A&M’s MBA program is compressed into 16 months (as opposed to two-year programs more typical in the U.S.). While the accelerated program allows students to spend less time away from the marketplace, it is also more strenuous than longer programs. This year’s profile from Princeton Review, which is based on student survey data, states: “Though most MBA candidates say their coursework keeps them supremely occupied, they also appreciate the openness and camaraderie that exists between the students at Mays Business School. While students are “determined to succeed,’ “everybody in the class is very social and works together.’ Within the Mays community, “Friendliness and professionalism abound.'”
The profile also highlights the Mays Full-Time MBA Program students’ satisfaction with the affordability of the program, coupled with its high-quality faculty, small class size, and discussion-intensive format.
Mays Business School currently enrolls more than 4,000 undergraduate students and 875 graduate students. The Full-Time MBA program is highly selective, with an acceptance rate of 23 percent. Currently there are 172 MBA students in their intensive 16-month program.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above the 10,000 mark last week for the first time in more than a year. What does this mean for the economy?
Jerry Strawser ’83, dean of Mays Business School, is teaching a one-hour seminar class this semester in which students discuss current events detailed in the Wall Street Journal.
E-mail usage is waning in the age of Facebook, Twitter, and texting. What is the impact of this progression for business? How does this change the way we work and communicate?
These are the sort of conversation starters you might hear in “Understanding the Wall Street Journal,” a one-hour seminar class taught by Jerry Strawser, dean of Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. The 12 students in the class, all first-semester freshmen, were probably relieved to hear there would be no textbooks, tests, or research papers for the course. It’s hardly a free ride, though. Instead of lectures, the format is much more interactive: students read the Wall Street Journal everyday, then meet once a week to discuss what is going on in the world.
Students are given grades at the end of the semester, and while it may be the only class Strawser teaches where his students don’t have to learn accounting principles for an A, the freshmen will hopefully finish the course with an approach to thinking about current events and business, as well as practicing classroom participation. “They can practice communication skills in a non-threatening environment,” says Strawser, who has students give oral reports on WSJ articles and write responses to editorials in addition to the classroom discussion of current events.
“It’s nice to get to participate in a class, instead of just being lectured to,” says Michael Andres ’13. Andres and his peers say they find the break from tests and papers to be refreshing, and they look forward to discussing real-world events in a small class setting each week.
Strawser’s class is one of 68 freshman seminar sections currently offered at A&M. The classes have 15 students or fewer in each class and concentrate on a topic suggested by a faculty member and approved by the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Programs. Topics range from the science of surfing, to musical theater, to life on Mars. The classes are designed to give new college students a classroom setting where they feel comfortable speaking up and expressing their ideas, as well as building relationships with other students and a faculty member.
In a culture that lauds the beautiful, wealthy, and entertaining, the work of scholars and educators often goes unnoticed. To give honor where honor is due, Mays Business School presented their Outstanding Doctoral Alumni award to three individuals whose work has had a significant impact on thousands of students, as well as the marketplace.
Eli Jones ’82, Jerry Strawser ’83 and ChungMing Lau ’91 were honored as Mays Outstanding Doctoral Alumni at a reception Oct. 22 in the Cocanougher Center.
The 2009 award recipients were Jerry Strawser, dean of Mays Business School and KPMG Chair in Accounting at Texas A&M University; Eli Jones, dean of the E.J. Ourso College of Business and E. J. Ourso Distinguished Professor of Business at Louisiana State University; and ChungMing Lau, professor of management at Chinese University of Hong Kong.
At the award presentation and panel discussion on October 22 (click here for photos), each of the distinguished scholars spoke about their path to success, beginning with their experiences in the classroom at A&M and concluding with advice to junior faculty members. The audience of 60 was comprised of Mays faculty members as well as PhD students, as part of the reason for celebrating the achievements of the Outstanding Doctoral Alumni is to hold them up as examples to the current class. Each recipient talked about the rigors of a PhD program and the challenges of life as a young faculty member.
Jones told current PhD students that as young faculty they should strive in their research and service activities to get involved in something that will have an impact, but to not make the common error of over-committing and stretching their resources too thin. Strawser recommended to students that they should follow in Lau’s footsteps and create a body of research around a single theme, rather than dabble in many areas, if they want to gain distinction in their field. Also, that research is best done to a timetable, says Strawser, who counseled students to be methodical about publishing by setting goals and deadlines for their submissions and revisions. Lau’s advice was to the soon-to-be young faculty was to find balance between teaching and research, and not let publishing overshadow classroom responsibilities.
This is the fourth year that Mays has recognized doctoral alumni with this award. Among the characteristics demonstrated its recipients are: sustained research productivity and visibility in the field; service to the profession as editor of a major scholarly journal; recipient of major awards for excellence in research, teaching, and/or service; academic and administrative leadership within a business school; successful career progression at a peer or aspirant school; and holder of an endowed position. This year’s recipients embody many of these traits as leaders in their fields and in their universities.
About the award recipients
Jerry Strawser‘s list of achievements is lengthy, as he is an award-winning educator, researcher, and administrator. Since 2001, he has been at the helm of his alma mater, leading Mays Business School to a new level of national recognition, donor support, and academic excellence.
Strawser
Since his arrival at Mays, he has helped raise more than $75 million in commitments for faculty, student, and program support, including support for named chairs, professorships, faculty fellowships, and graduate student fellowships. During his tenure as dean, Mays has received national recognition among the top ten public institutions based on the quality of the undergraduate programs, MBA programs, and faculty scholarship. In the past year, Strawser has lead Mays to be the first college at A&M to offer differential tuition. This change has improved the quality of instruction at Mays by significantly reducing class size.
Strawser has also demonstrated his commitment to students at every level: he was involved in the creation of a business honors program (now degree) for high-achieving undergraduates; he led an overhaul of the Mays MBA program that resulted in more well-equipped graduates as well as improved rankings in publications such as U.S. News and World Report; he increased stipends for incoming PhD students by 92 percent and created a post-doctoral research program to provide selected students with an additional year of funding, allowing Mays to recruit the very best minds in the field. For these accomplishments, and many others, Strawser was recognized by the Association of Former Students with a 2009 Distinguished Achievement Award for Administration.
Strawser’s work at Mays was interrupted by a 15-month appointment as interim executive vice president and provost at Texas A&M University. During this period he collaborated on a far-reaching academic master plan for the university, which was recently implemented by his successor.
Prior experiences include 11 years at the University of Houston, two of which were spent as interim dean of the C.T. Bauer College of Business. He also taught for five years at Louisiana State University and was a research fellow for one year. Strawser is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Texas and earned his BBA and MS in accounting from Texas A&M. He graduated from the doctoral program in 1985.
Strawser has co-authored three textbooks and over 60 journal articles. He has also presented more than 30 papers at national academic conferences. In addition to his academic experience, Strawser has prior public accounting experience at two international firms. He has also developed and delivered numerous executive development programs to organizations such as Centerpoint Energy, Chinese Petroleum, and Halliburton.
• • • • •
Eli Jones is the dean of the E. J. Ourso College of Business at Louisiana State University, placing him among the elite few of Mays graduates to become deans. Jones has received numerous teaching excellence awards on the university, national, and international levels. In recognition of a decade of service mentoring minority doctoral students at institutions across the U.S., he was honored with the KPMG PhD Project Marketing Doctoral Students Association Award in August 2008.
Jones
Also recognized for innovative research and creative scholarship, Jones is the recipient of the 2009 LSU Rainmakers award, acknowledging the top 100 faculty members university-wide who have demonstrated exceptional academic productivity. He has co-authored three books and nearly 40 peer-reviewed articles in major marketing journals, delivered more than 30 refereed conference proceedings and presentations, and has been awarded several competitive research grants. His research is focused on issues related to sales force management: sales force diversity; sales force change management; sales force technology adoption and performance; salesperson motivation; and buyer-seller relationships. Repeatedly, his articles have won best paper/best contribution distinctions from the Academy of Marketing Science, American Marketing Association, Marketing Management Association, and others. He is listed in Marquis Who’s Who in America, Madison Who’s Who, International Who’s Who Historical Society, and has been featured in several national publications, including Sales & Marketing Management, Selling Power, Biz Ed, Business 2.0, and The New York Times.
As dean, he has already received funding approval to build a $60 million Business Education Complex. Prior to his appointment at LSU, Jones served as associate dean and professor of marketing at the University of Houston, as well as the executive director of the Sales Excellence Institute. During that time, he also taught as a visiting professor at Vlerick-Leuven Gent Management School (Belgium), Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration, and Dartmouth’s Tuck Business School. Jones held significant leadership positions with Quaker Oats, Nabisco and Frito-Lay before returning to Texas A&M for his doctorate, which was completed in 1997. Jones completed his undergraduate and MBA degrees at A&M as well.
• • • • •
ChungMing Lau is a professor in the Department of Management at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research on strategic reform within Asian companies and related topics appears in leading academic journals such as Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of International Business Studies, Organizational Science, Management International Review, and International Business Review. His list of publications includes 48 articles in refereed journals, as well as 13 books, 20 book chapters and numerous conference papers. Highly regarded in his field, he is among the top 50 most-cited authors on the Social Science Citation Index for the 2000-2004 period.
Lau
In addition to his authorial credits, he is also active on the editing side of the publishing scene. He served as the editor and senior editor of Asia Pacific Journal of Management from 2001 to 2007. He currently sits on the editorial board of that publication, as well as Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, and Journal of World Business. He has guest edited/co-edited special issues of several books and journals, and is an advisory board member and ad hoc reviewer of 15 other publications.
Lau was the chairman of the Department of Management at CUHK from 1995-2007. He is currently the director of the Center of International Business Studies within his college, and director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Chinese Society at the university. He is the founding president and current treasurer of the Asia Academy of Management, which seeks to identify the Asian model of management responsible for the area’s tremendous economic growth.
Lau is in demand as a consultant in the areas of organization development and strategic planning for business firms and not-for-profit organizations. He has worked recently with organizations such as Radio Television Hong Kong, Glaxo-Wellcome, Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, The Methodist Church of Hong Kong, and Hong Kong Automobile Association. He has also conducted management assessment programs and executive training for 3M, Bank of China (HK), Ernest & Young, Northern Telecom, V-Tech, Federal Express and several other firms.
Committed to community service, Lau sits on the board of directors of Christian Communications Ltd., Christian Communications International, Asian Development Ministries, and China Graduate School of Theology.
Lau earned his PhD in organizational behavior from A&M in 1991. His undergraduate and MBA degrees are from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has been on the faculty at CUHK since 1991, and taught previously at City Polytechnic of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Baptist College
When the FDA announces that a certain brand of beef is the source of a rampant bacterial infection that is affecting hundreds, consumers are forced to take action. Some switch brands, some opt to pay more for a higher-quality product, and some stop buying beef altogether. What factors determine which option a consumer chooses?
Janakiraman
Ramkumar Janakiraman, assistant professor of marketing and Shelley and Joe Tortorice ’70 Faculty Research Fellow at Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School, is analyzing consumer reactions during a food scare. Janakiraman and a research collaborator, Yanhong Jin (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey), recently submitted a proposal entitled “The Impacts of Food Scare Events on Brand Choice Consumption” to the Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. The department awarded the researchers a $36,000 grant for continuing research.
Janakiraman says that he and Yanhong will continue to delve into the science behind consumption, and he plans to present concrete results within a year. Janakiraman believes his research will have an impact on marketing strategies for food companies during a scare, and his findings will provide brand names with a formulaic prediction of what to expect when a salmonella or e-coli outbreak stains their labels. The findings will be published as an ERS Economic Research Report.
The Benton Cocanougher Chair in Business will be dedicated this Friday, October 23, at Mays Business School. The inaugural chair holder is Luis Gomez-Mejia, professor of management. The chair was funded by a gift from the school’s namesake, Lowry Mays ’57, who recently provided $7.5 million with matching funds to create a $12 million gift; this gift is dedicated to faculty support and will provide six faculty chairs and three eminent scholar chairs.
Cocanougher
The chair is named in honor of Benton Cocanougher, who served as dean of Mays Business School from 1987 to 2001 and has been named dean emeritus and professor emeritus by Texas A&M. Cocanougher currently serves as interim dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service. Previously, he served as interim chancellor of the Texas A&M University System (2003-2004).
It was during Cocanougher’s tenure as dean at Mays Business School that: Peggy and Lowry Mays made their original gift to the business school; the college’s endowment increased from $10 million to $70 million; the college transitioned from a teaching orientation to a multiple mission research institution; various programs began appearing in top 25 national public school rankings; and the Wehner Building was built. His career experience before entering academia includes service in the U.S. Army, General Electric Company, consulting in corporate strategy and planning, and management positions with Legg Mason Mutual Funds, Randall’s Foods, Inc., and others. His primary research interests include marketing strategy and planning, and consumer analysis. His publications have appeared in professional journals including Harvard Business Review, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, and Social Science Quarterly. His professional awards and activities include the Distinguished Alumnus Award, College of Business Administration, University of Texas at Austin; Texas A&M Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award; and Distinguished Service Award, University of Houston-College of Business Administration Alumni Association.
Gomez-Mejia
Luis Gomez-Mejia, who will hold the Cocanougher chair, joined Mays this fall from Arizona State University. As an educator for more than three decades, Gomez-Mejia has honed his classroom skills at a number of American universities as well as two universities in Spain. With more than 100 publication credits to his name, Gomez-Mejia’s research ranges from management in high technology firms to socio-emotional concerns within family firms. His current research focuses on executive compensation and how financial incentives may be used to motivate people at work. His research appears in top-tier publications; his books are used in business classrooms nationwide. His work has garnered much attention and praise, including selection to the Academy of Management’s Hall of Fame, and a research fellowship granted by the Ministry of Education in Spain. Gomez-Mejia serves as president and founder of the Iberoamerican Academy of Management, which covers Spain/Portugal, Latin America, and Hispanic faculty in U.S. universities. He has served two terms on the editorial board of the Academy of Management Journal and is editor and cofounder of Journal of High Technology Management Research and Journal of Management Research.
In a culture that lauds the beautiful, wealthy, and entertaining, the work of scholars and educators often goes unnoticed. To give honor where honor is due, Mays Business School at Texas A&M University will present their Outstanding Doctoral Alumni award to three individuals whose work has had a significant impact on thousands of students as well as the marketplace.
The 2009 award recipients are Jerry Strawser, dean of Mays Business School and KPMG Chair in Accounting at Texas A&M University; Eli Jones, dean of the E.J. Ourso College of Business and E. J. Ourso Distinguished Professor of Business at Louisiana State University; and ChungMing Lau, professor of management at Chinese University of Hong Kong.
The award presentation and a panel discussion will take place on Thursday, October 22, from 1:30-2:45 in the Cocanougher Special Events Center in the Wehner Building.
About the award recipients
Jerry Strawser‘s list of achievements is lengthy, as he is an award-winning educator, researcher, and administrator. Since 2001, he has been at the helm of his alma mater, leading Mays Business School to a new level of national recognition, donor support, and academic excellence.
Strawser
Since his arrival at Mays, he has helped raise more than $75 million in commitments for faculty, student, and program support, including support for named chairs, professorships, faculty fellowships, and graduate student fellowships. During his tenure as dean, Mays has received national recognition among the top ten public institutions based on the quality of the undergraduate programs, MBA programs, and faculty scholarship. In the past year, Strawser has lead Mays to be the first college at A&M to offer differential tuition. This change has improved the quality of instruction at Mays by significantly reducing class size.
Strawser has also demonstrated his commitment to students at every level: he was involved in the creation of a business honors program (now degree) for high-achieving undergraduates; he led an overhaul of the Mays MBA program that resulted in more well-equipped graduates as well as improved rankings in publications such as U.S. News and World Report; he increased stipends for incoming PhD students by 92 percent and created a post-doctoral research program to provide selected students with an additional year of funding, allowing Mays to recruit the very best minds in the field. For these accomplishments, and many others, Strawser was recognized by the Association of Former Students with a 2009 Distinguished Achievement Award for Administration.
Strawser’s work at Mays was interrupted by a 15-month appointment as interim executive vice president and provost at Texas A&M University. During this period he collaborated on a far-reaching academic master plan for the university, which was recently implemented by his successor.
Prior experiences include 11 years at the University of Houston, two of which were spent as interim dean of the C.T. Bauer College of Business. He also taught for five years at Louisiana State University and was a research fellow for one year. Strawser is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Texas and earned his BBA and MS in accounting from Texas A&M. He graduated from the doctoral program in 1985.
Strawser has co-authored three textbooks and over 60 journal articles. He has also presented more than 30 papers at national academic conferences. In addition to his academic experience, Strawser has prior public accounting experience at two international firms. He has also developed and delivered numerous executive development programs to organizations such as Centerpoint Energy, Chinese Petroleum, and Halliburton.
• • • • •
Eli Jones is the dean of the E. J. Ourso College of Business at Louisiana State University, placing him among the elite few of Mays graduates to become deans. Jones has received numerous teaching excellence awards on the university, national, and international levels. In recognition of a decade of service mentoring minority doctoral students at institutions across the U.S., he was honored with the KPMG PhD Project Marketing Doctoral Students Association Award in August 2008.
Jones
Also recognized for innovative research and creative scholarship, Jones is the recipient of the 2009 LSU Rainmakers award, acknowledging the top 100 faculty members university-wide who have demonstrated exceptional academic productivity. He has co-authored three books and nearly 40 peer-reviewed articles in major marketing journals, delivered more than 30 refereed conference proceedings and presentations, and has been awarded several competitive research grants. His research is focused on issues related to sales force management: sales force diversity; sales force change management; sales force technology adoption and performance; salesperson motivation; and buyer-seller relationships. Repeatedly, his articles have won best paper/best contribution distinctions from the Academy of Marketing Science, American Marketing Association, Marketing Management Association, and others. He is listed in Marquis Who’s Who in America, Madison Who’s Who, International Who’s Who Historical Society, and has been featured in several national publications, including Sales & Marketing Management, Selling Power, Biz Ed, Business 2.0, and The New York Times.
As dean, he has already received funding approval to build a $60 million Business Education Complex. Prior to his appointment at LSU, Jones served as associate dean and professor of marketing at the University of Houston, as well as the executive director of the Sales Excellence Institute. During that time, he also taught as a visiting professor at Vlerick-Leuven Gent Management School (Belgium), Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration, and Dartmouth’s Tuck Business School. Jones held significant leadership positions with Quaker Oats, Nabisco and Frito-Lay before returning to Texas A&M for his doctorate, which was completed in 1997. Jones completed his undergraduate and MBA degrees at A&M as well.
• • • • •
ChungMing Lau is a professor in the Department of Management at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research on strategic reform within Asian companies and related topics appears in leading academic journals such as Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of International Business Studies, Organizational Science, Management International Review, and International Business Review. His list of publications includes 48 articles in refereed journals, as well as 13 books, 20 book chapters and numerous conference papers. Highly regarded in his field, he is among the top 50 most-cited authors on the Social Science Citation Index for the 2000-2004 period.
Lau
In addition to his authorial credits, he is also active on the editing side of the publishing scene. He served as the editor and senior editor of Asia Pacific Journal of Management from 2001 to 2007. He currently sits on the editorial board of that publication, as well as Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, and Journal of World Business. He has guest edited/co-edited special issues of several books and journals, and is an advisory board member and ad hoc reviewer of 15 other publications.
Lau was the chairman of the Department of Management at CUHK from 1995-2007. He is currently the director of the Center of International Business Studies within his college, and director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Chinese Society at the university. He is the founding president and current treasurer of the Asia Academy of Management, which seeks to identify the Asian model of management responsible for the area’s tremendous economic growth.
Lau is in demand as a consultant in the areas of organization development and strategic planning for business firms and not-for-profit organizations. He has worked recently with organizations such as Radio Television Hong Kong, Glaxo-Wellcome, Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, The Methodist Church of Hong Kong, and Hong Kong Automobile Association. He has also conducted management assessment programs and executive training for 3M, Bank of China (HK), Ernest & Young, Northern Telecom, V-Tech, Federal Express and several other firms.
Committed to community service, Lau sits on the board of directors of Christian Communications Ltd., Christian Communications International, Asian Development Ministries, and China Graduate School of Theology.
Lau earned his PhD in organizational behavior from A&M in 1991. His undergraduate and MBA degrees are from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has been on the faculty at CUHK since 1991, and taught previously at City Polytechnic of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Baptist College
Graduates of Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School Master of Real Estate program from 2004 through the 2012 can now boast a more valuable degree: the program was recently approved by the Appraisal Qualifications Board of The Appraisal Foundation, a congressionally-authorized nonprofit organization that fosters professionalism among real estate appraisers by setting qualifications and standards.
The Mays program is one of two programs in the U.S. to receive approval thus far. “The significance of the certification approval is that it gives our students a real advantage in the job market,” says Cydney Donnell, executive professor of finance and director of real estate programs at Mays.
This seal of approval was created to simplify the appraiser certification process at the state level, as graduates from approved programs are guaranteed to have the required coursework needed for certification. The approval process benefits both state appraiser regulatory agencies in their review of an applicant’s qualifications as well as graduate degree applicants seeking a real property appraiser credential. “It is our hope that this program will relieve the burden on state regulators in reviewing transcripts submitted for credit towards a state credential. In addition, the program will assist graduates in obtaining credit for the work they have done to earn advanced degrees from these institutions,” said Gary Taylor, Chairman of the Appraiser Qualifications Board, the organization responsible for evaluating programs.
For more information
To learn more about the Mays Master in Real Estate program, visit mays.tamu.edu/mre.
Main character stumbles out of a bar, bleary-eyed and disoriented.
ROLL CREDITS
In the spring 2009 sections of Clinical Associate Professor Lisa Troy’s Marketing 347 (advertising) class, students were given a budget with which to design an advertising campaign that would warn their peers of binge-drinking risks. From among 15 teams, the winning campaign was chosen to appear campus-wide as part of the Alcohol and Drug Education Programs (ADEP) office’s fall alcohol awareness campaign.
The ADEP office and Wired Ranch Advertising hoped the student involvement in the campaign would give their message the realistic edge it needed to reach their target audience. An unexpected result of bringing together Rich and the ADEP was the first on-campus Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in years, a group called A-Ags, which meets Mondays & Thursdays at 6pm in Cain Hall. Unknown to Troy when she asked Rich to be a consultant/judge was the fact that he had been in AA recovery for more than 20 years, and had worked with former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop on the Time-Life Medical Board on Alcoholism in the 1990s.
THE WINNING TEAM
Jaime Burciaga ’09
Jordin McMinn ’09
David Lindsey ’09
Ashley Waak ’09
Lauralee Young ’09
Aubrey Arceneaux ’09
EXT. STREET SCENE
Main character’s friends laugh uproariously as they film his flailing arms and scattered sentences on their cell phones.
PAN STREET SCENE, CHARACTER VOICEOVER
Main character thinks he sounds intelligent, but sounds like the village idiot. Friends snicker and jeer as he totters on.
TRACKING SHOT
Camera close-up over his shoulder as he weaves home, passersby give him wide berth.
CLOSE UP
Dim lighting, blur frame edges, slow zoom to close up of his face into sharp focus.
FADE OUT TO BLACK
FADE IN, INT. BATHROOM
Main character on floor, sick, waking up. Doesn’t remember the night before or what he may or may not have done.
FADE OUT TO BLACK
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In a culture where movies like “The Hangover” are summer smash hits, the glorification of drunkenness is obvious. The media’s glossy representation of irresponsible and dangerous behavior entices the college crowd. Though they did not direct a blockbuster with a million-dollar budget, marketing students at Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School used their advertising skills to promote a more sobering message: [How Much] is too much?
Students developed an advertising campaign warning their peers of binge-drinking risks. The winning campaign has appeared campus-wide as part of the Alcohol and Drug Education Programs (ADEP) office’s fall alcohol awareness campaign. Andrew Rich, president of Wired Ranch Advertising, provided feedback to the students throughout the designing process and helped evaluate the campaigns at the end of the semester.
Using eye-catching images, coupled with sobering facts, the campaign’s edgy concept appeals to university students. The team’s work put forth truths about binge-drinking; its immediate results to long-term health effects with thought-provoking evidence.
“This particular campaign provided a unique opportunity for the students to become more aware of the problems associated with excessive drinking, and make a positive difference on campus,” says Clinical Associate Professor Lisa Troy.
The top three designs developed by students in Troy’s class appeared as posters displayed in all of Texas A&M’s residence halls.
Students challenged their peers with questions like, “[How Much] before you don’t remember the night before?” or “[How Much] time at the Rec will it take to burn off the drinks from last night?” The top three designs appeared as posters displayed in all residence halls, and the questions were incorporated into slap bracelets handed out at summer 2009 Fish Camps. The ADEP has also featured the [How Much?] concept on its website, and will continue to use the idea as a marketing medium in the future.
“The response we are getting verbally from students at events, or feedback we have heard from other administrators, has been positive,” says Anna Williams, assistant coordinator of the ADEP, “They remember the information, which is the goal. We are looking forward to continuing the campaign with new [How Much?] questions and ads.”
It may not have the scale of a blockbuster movie, but the on-campus impact of this campaign is still undeniably important. “They may have even saved a life, and that’s not something many students are in a position to do,” said Troy.
For more information
To learn more about the [How Much?] campaign and to view the winning students’ concept, visit the ADEP’s website at http://studentlife.tamu.edu/adep
