Good News

Zoey does not have to have surgery. Whew! She is now sporting a neon green cast. What an immense relief. Now she can enjoy the last few days of her break. We may go see a movie tomorrow. At least she can get out and about now.

Fayetteville is expecting more snow tonight. I can safetly say she won't be sledding!

Santa Has A Sense of Humor

As I mentioned on my last post, the University is closed. I don't have any new "business" to report. My posts during this time will be more of a personal nature - what I am doing.

Well, my family's Christmas was going very well. We had a white Christmas for the first time in several years. It was beautiful. The kids got up, saw what Santa brought, we opened gifts, and then we decided to go sledding. We loaded up, even took the dog, and went to Wilson Park which is right by campus. We were having a great time, then it happened. The pictures below are pre-accident.


Zoey was sledding standing up - using the sled like a snow board. She was doing alright and then she fell. It didn't even look like she did anything; she did a great tuck and roll off the sled but then she stayed down. My husband went down to get her and carried her back up the hill. She has sprained and twisted both ankles numerous times and I just figured that she did it again. We got her in the truck, got her boot off, and had her put her foot up. My husband and son kept sledding. I sat with Zoey and she was sniffling and crying. She said, "I can't believe I broke my foot on Christmas." So, I figured we'd better go get an X-ray. She and I spent 2 1/2 hours in the ER on Christmas day. She does have multiple breaks in her fibula and tibia. We are going for a CT scan of her leg and ankle in the morning to determine if she needs surgery.

This is not how I was planning on spending my holiday. She is in a splint, on the couch, foot elevated. She absolutely has to be careful. Her leg has not been casted yet - and it's been 3 days. It is nerve wracking. We'll find out more tomorrow when we see the orthopedic doctor.

Since she plays basketball and it's in the middle of the season, she was devastated. Poor kid. I felt so bad for her. She was just out having fun and now she'll miss the rest of the season. I'll be sure to post another update tomorrow after we get back from the doctor's office. I am just hoping that whatever we need to do, we can get it done this week while we are both off. Fingers crossed - no surgery.

My Kids Can't Hardly Stand It

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. This means that Santa is coming to our house tomorrow night. My son is sooooooo excited. My daughter, who is 12, tries to be cool but she is excited too.

The University is now closed and will be until January 4. I am keeping up with emails but other than that, GSB admissions are on hold for a few days. Since this is the case, I won't have anything new to report regarding the Walton Graduate School of Business until after the Holiday break. MBA Orientation is January 4-8. I'll have much to write about that week.

The trip to Hot Springs went well. We had a good time - did lots of kid activities including an alligator farm, roller skating (my son's first time-I have bruises on my shins from his skates to prove it), and a trip to the science museum. The kids had a great time here (my mom and I did, too).

As I mentioned previously, my goal is to read as much as possible during this break. My daughter recently read Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and she is now reading the sequel, Catching Fire. She has been bugging me for awhile to read them too so now that I have the time, I finally broke down and read them. One of my favorite things in the world to do is read. Zoey loves these books. They were very entertaining and I couldn't put them down - definitely page turners. They did not take a great deal of time; I started Hunger Games on Monday and finished Catching Fire this morning. If you want to know what the kids are reading these days, I would recommend these books. It is a trilogy so there will be one more book. Zoey and I have also read the Twilight series (Zoey hasn't read the last one yet) and she likes the Suzanne Collins books better. I, however, prefer the Stephnenie Meyer books. You won't go wrong with either series.

My next goal is the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. I have read Outlander and listened to two of the other books on CD while I have been on the road recruiting. A couple of new ones have come out recently so I need to start at the beginning again to refresh my memory before I read the last two. I also highly recommend this series. They are wonderful.

Happy Holidays. The next couple of days will be pretty busy at my house. We may actually have a white Christmas this year. That would be nice.

Heading to Hot Springs for the Weekend

My husband just took my kids to school. Zoey has a test in 1st hour and 3rd hour. I'll pick them up after her 2nd test and then we are off to Hot Springs. I am looking forward to the weekend away. We are meeting my mom. She's been there all week. We had originally planned to go yesterday. But with Zoey's tests, we had to wait. Now we really won't have much time but I guess it's better than nothing.

The kids are out of school after today through the New Year. I'll be home with them for 2 weeks. Yesterday I was off. I knew it was my only day before they'd be with me so I was very productive. I ran errands and got all of the Christmas presents wrapped. Wrapping is not my favorite thing. I am not a particularly patient person. The tree does look very nice now with all the presents underneath.

I guess I'd better go get ready. I need to get my bag packed and then load up everyone's stuff. Zoey has already texted me - she forgot her phone charger. I wonder how many more texts I'll get from her before I leave. When I leave here, I'll by by the school to pick up the kids, and then we'll be on the road. Whatever we forget, too bad.

Tis the Season

With Christmas right around the corner, it is a little insane around here. Students are finishing up their finals today. This week has been surprisingly busy for recruiting. Everyone is trying to finish their shopping and we are partying til we drop. Our office Christmas party was last night. GSB Assistant Dean, Marion Dunagan, had us over to her house. She fed us well and I am a little sleepy and dragging just a tad today.

When I got home last night I had to help my daughter study for 2 semester tests. I have been in touch with her (she texted me) and I know one went very well and the other, not so much. We'll have to wait and see how it affects her grade. She has 3 more tests tomorrow and then 1 on Friday. She is in 7th grade and it's her first time to take semester tests. She's not thrilled with the whole process.

I will be out of the office beginning tomorrow. I'll be back January 4th. MBA Orientation is January 4-8. This week is very busy but I absolutely love it. It's the culmination of many, many months of hard work for our entire staff. Our students are finally here and it's great to finally meet everyone and to see the results of all the work. Believe it or not, applications are already rolling in for January 2011. It'll be here before we know it.

I want to wish everyone Happy Holidays. We are actually taking a quick weekend trip to Hot Springs. Other than that, I'll finish my shopping, wrap everything, and do A LOT of reading. This is my favorite pastime. I read every chance I get and I plan to do lots of it over the Holiday.

Corporate Visits

As the recruiter for the Graduate School of Business, I make corporate visits. A corporate visit occurs when I go into a local company and do a presentation about our part-time programs. I had a great corporate visit at Kellogg today. The room was full, nearly 20 in attendance. This is an important recruiting strategy for the Walton part-time programs (MBA & MIS). These programs are designed for busy working professionals. It can be challenging getting the message out to this prospective applicant pool. Going into corporate offices is a great way of reaching this pool. The group today at Kellogg was great. They asked good questions and would make wonderful additions to our MMBA program.

Another way I reach working professionals is meeting for lunch. I receive an email requesting an appointment to discuss the MMBA. I then respond with an offer to either meet in my office on campus or for lunch at a location convenient for them. This is a popular service as it allows the prospective student to use their lunch hour and they do not have to take time off from work. I met a student for lunch yesterday and I am meeting another student tomorrow. The application deadline for this program is April 1 so recruiting is ramping up. This is a good time to be getting ready to apply.

Tomorrow is my last day in the office until after the holidays. I am taking a little time off to be with my kids and to recharge my batteries for the upcoming months. Once we return to the office on January 4, it gets crazy. MBA Orientation is January 4-8. PhD application deadline is January 15. MIS application deadline is February 1. MAcc deadline is March 1. Professional MIS deadline is March 15 and MMBA deadline is April 1. April 1 is also the early decision deadline for the MBA. Spring is a pretty busy time for GSB admissions.

About Last Night...

I just had a reader send me an email stating that he hoped I'd write about last night's Christmas party. I figure I'd better make the readers happy so here you go.

It was bitterly cold out last night but we ventured forth in expectation of seeing Santa, eating yummy treats, and enjoying the camaraderie of colleagues. My son did tell Santa his Christmas list - mission accomplished. He was also able to see several friends from preschool. He is in kindergarten now but several of my colleagues' children attended preschool with Jack. He was having such a good time that he did not want to leave.

When we headed out of the party, we were anxious to get back home to our cozy fire. I love having a fire when it's cold out. On the way home, we detoured through the Fayetteville Square to enjoy the Lights of the Ozarks. I know that I have mentioned this before but Christmas is my favorite holiday. I can't say it's my favorite time of year because I am not a huge fan of cold weather. If Christmas were in June, it'd be perfect! Okay, maybe not because a white Christmas is something special. Those of us in this area do associate Christmas with cold weather. We expect to need to bundle up, start a fire, etc. I am sure it wouldn't be the same if I lived in a climate that was warm in December. I digress, this holiday is my favorite for many reasons. 1) I love giving presents. 2) The kids (and I) are so excited. 3) There are lots of parties and I am a bit of a social butterfly. And 4) I do love the Christmas lights. It's a very festive time of year.

Okay, that's about it. I do have more parties coming up. The GSB Christmas party is next Tuesday. That should be a good time too. I'll be sure and tell you all about it.

GSB Admissions Update

We are rolling in PhD applications. In 2009, we experienced a 46% increase in PhD apps over 2008. Application deadline for our PhD programs is January 15. They are pouring in right now. The Departments will be ready with admissions offers by the end of January. Fellowship deadline is February 1 so PhD decisions are made very early. We do generally get a few late applications. These are typically not eligible for University fellowships. By the time we process all PhD applications in February, I am expecting to see numbers similar to the 2009 admission cycle. One important note is that we do have fewer spots available for 2010. In 2008, we enrolled 21 students and in 2009 we enrolled 20 PhD students. We are a very small College and anticipate only having space for about 15 new PhD students for fall 2010.

Regena Jedlicka processes all incoming admissions documents for the Graduate School of Business. She is the one who puts admission folders together. This is her busiest time of year. All programs have spring deadlines so, not only are we getting PhD apps right now, but we are also receiving MIS, MBA, MAcc, and MAEcon. The Master of Arts in Economics application deadline is also January 15. Master of Information Systems has a deadline of February 1 and Master of Accountancy's deadline is March 1. April 1 is the deadline for our part-time MBA and it is also early decision deadline for our full-time MBA. Regena processed nearly 600 (up 37% over 2008) applications for fall 2009 (this includes the MBA program that began in January). This 600 didn't come in to our office in equal increments over 12 months; the bulk arrives between the months of December and March. So this time of year gets a little hectic in GSB Admissions.

Please be patient with us as we compile your admission materials. Sometimes we get a little bogged down. We make every effort to notify all applicants of the materials missing from their folders; however, we only do this once. It is up to you to make sure the missing materials are submitted. Be sure to check in with us, prior to the deadline, to determine if your file is ready to go to committee. The easiest way to do this is to email us at gsb@walton.uark.edu. Keep in mind that we get a lot of applications and it may take a few days to get back to you so don't wait until right before the deadline to submit your materials.

The University is closed December 23, 2009 through January 3, 2010. It is best to try to submit PhD applications prior to the holidays. The University experiences a backlog of mail during the time we are closed. It also take Regena several days, once we get back, to process all of the material that came in over the two weeks we were closed.

One of the unfortunate results of my having a good recruiting year is that I make Regena's job more challenging. The better I do my job, the more applications we get. This is a good problem to have and we welcome it. So...APPLY, APPLY, APPLY.

It's a sunny 25 degrees!

Wow, it's cold today. When I woke up this morning, it was 18 degrees. It has made it up to 25 degrees now. This is pretty cold for Northwest Arkansas. We even had some snow this morning. It has stopped and there is no evidence of it. Fayetteville does get some very cold temperatures but they don't last long. It can be bitterly cold one day and sunny and nice the next.

Today is Dead Day. For those of you unfamiliar with this term, there are no classes today and finals start tomorrow. It gives students a day without classes to get ready for their final exams. There has been a tradition in the Walton College that goes back several years now - Dead Day Soup Day. The Undergraduate Programs Office brings soup on Dead Day (fall semester) to share with faculty and staff in the College. They had over 20 soups, desserts, and drinks. It was fantastic. Nothing is better than some hot soup on a cold day.

Tonight is the Walton College Christmas party. I am still full from all the soup I ate at lunch. Somehow I'll manage to find room for some more wonderful treats tonight. I asked my son, who is 5, what he was going to tell Santa he wanted for Christmas tonight. He told me, "7 Nerf guns, bakugan, and a sword." I guess he's in a bloodthirsty stage right now.

Tears for Life Strikes Again

Last Thursday, Jared Greer represented his team, Tears for Life, at the Pace Pitch Competition at Pace University in New York. There were 5 finalists and 1 alternate in two divisions. First place in each division received $25,000. There was also a $2500 prize awarded to the team with the most innovative technology. Tears for Life won the award for innovative technology. Congratulations Jared and Tears for Life!

Today is the last day of class for fall 2009. Tomorrow is dead day, there are no classes, and finals start on Thursday.

This is also the season for holiday parties. Tomorrow night is the Walton College Christmas party. My kids look forward to this party every year. It is always well attended and Santa is available for the kids to give him their wish lists. This Saturday, I am having a Christmas party at my house and then next Tuesday, Marion, our Assistant Dean, is hosting the GSB Christmas party.

This is also a wonderful time to spend on Fayetteville's Square. The Lights of the Ozarks are ablaze. It's a popular destination for families. There are pony rides, carriage rides, and Christmas music playing.

I rode up in the elevator this morning with one of our MBA students. She has one presentation today and then a final on Thursday and then she is finished. The semester is coming to a close for them. Two down and one to go. They will graduate in May. Our new MBA class will get started on Monday, January 4 with Orientation. I'll talk more about that later. I think we do a fantastic job with Orientation. Deb Williams, the Associate Director of Student Programs, works very hard to make this time meaningful and well-spent. We also try to have a little fun.

2009 is nearly over. I can't believe 2010 is right around the corner.

Today is December 7th

Today is December 7th, which in 1941 was the day Pearl Harbor was bombed. This day holds special significance in my family because it is also the day my grandparents got married. They heard the radio broadcast that morning prior to their ceremony. Not long after their wedding, my grandfather went overseas to serve and my grandmother, who was only 18 at the time, enlisted in the Navy and served in Washington DC. There were apart for 3 years. I have always been very close to my grandmother so this day touches me deeply.

Back to business. On Friday, December 4 the Graduate School at the University hosted an Open House here in Willard J. Walker Hall. We had a great turnout for this event. The next Grad School Open House will be on Friday, April 9. The next Graduate School of Business Open House is scheduled for Thursday, March 11 at 5:30. You are welcome to attend either event.

This week wraps up the fall schedule for students. Finals start on Thursday. Spring classes begin on Monday, January 11. At this point, everyone is looking forward to the holiday break.

MBA America Tour

The Walton GSB has been presented with a wonderful opportunity. A newly formed group, made up of public MBA programs, will be hosting a new tour next spring. Founding members are University of Texas at Dallas, University of Houston, University of Illinois—Chicago, University of Oklahoma, University of Arkansas, The Ohio State University, University of Missouri, and Michigan State University. The official name is the MBA America Tour. Our spring schedule is:

January 26 - Atlanta
January 27 - Dallas
January 28 - Houston
February 9 - Chicago
February 10 - Kansas City
February 11 - Denver
March 2 - Cincinnati
March 3 - Saint Louis
March 4 - Detroit

The Walton MBA will be at events in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, and Saint Louis. Events are scheduled to be 6:00-8:00. A website is in development but is not live yet. Prospective students in each area will be invited prior to the event.

The focus of this Tour is to stress the value of public education, especially in this current economic climate. New schools will be added each year and as we grow, we will also add new locations. As soon as the website is live, I will provide the address.

I am excited about bringing the Walton MBA to new areas. This is a wonderful opportunity for students looking for an MBA to go to one location and visit with several outstanding schools. Additional information will be provided as it becomes available.

If you are in or near one of the locations mentioned above, put the MBA America Tour on your calendar.

Tears for Life Isn't Finished Yet!

The Sixth Annual Pace Pitch Contest will be held on Thursday at Pace University in New York, NY. Ten finalists will compete in two different categories: New Business Concept and Social Venture. Tears for Life is one of the five finalists in New Business Concept. Each finalist will have exactly three minutes to pitch their new venture idea to a distinguished panel of judges and an enthusiastic audience. There is a prize of $25,000 that will go to the winner in each category. Jared Greer will be representing Tears for Life. Jared graduated from the Walton part-time MBA in July of 2009. His partner in this venture is Bessie Williams, another 2009 graduate of the part-time MBA. This team has been incredibly successful this year, winning nearly $100,000.

The ten teams (and 2 alternates) represent the following schools:

Brown University
Columbia University, Columbia Business School
Fordham University, Graduate School of Business
Harvard University, Harvard Business School
Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government
Johns Hopkins University, Whiting School of Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management
Pace University, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences
Pace University, Lubin School of Business
Pace University, Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems
Polytechnic Institute of NYU
Tufts University, Fletcher School
University of Arkansas, Walton College of Business
University of Maryland, Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship
University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School

More information can be found at their website - http://www.pace.edu/pace/lubin/departments-and-research-centers/entrepreneurship-lubin/pace-pitch-contest/