Goodbye, all

It is with mixed feelings that I write this last post to the GSB Admissions Blog. After over 6 1/2 years, tomorrow, July 3rd, will be my last day with the Walton GSB. I began this incredible journey on December 1, 2006. It's been the ride of a lifetime.

I have accepted a new position on campus. My daughter, Zoey, and I will be heading off on an adventure, and then upon my return, I'll begin my new role on July 22nd. I am looking forward to the new challenge.

If you were to ask me, "Where do you want to go more than anyplace in the world?" My response would have been, "ITALY!". On July 9th, Zoey and I are off to Rome. From Rome, we'll go to Venice and then to Florence. While we're in Florence, we'll visit the Tuscan region, Pisa, and the Cinque Terre. To say that I am excited doesn't do justice to what I am feeling.

I have thoroughly loved working with prospective graduate students over the last few years. I believe strongly in higher education, and it has been a  privilege to play a role in this process.

Please continue to direct questions to gsb@walton.uark.edu. I wish you all the best with your future endeavors.

PICASOLAR WINS AT MIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you tell that I am excited?! The Boston Globe writes:

Picasolar, a start-up from the University of Arkansas, on Monday won the MIT Clean Energy Prize for developing a technology that could improve the efficiency of solar panels and make them cheaper to produce, said the Boston utility NStar, one of the annual competition’s sponsors.

Roughly 56 teams from 38 schools entered the national competition, which was founded in 2008 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Department of Energy, and NStar to promote the development of alternative energy and energy efficiency technologies. The Picasolar team beat more than a dozen other semifinalists for the top prize of $150,000. Picasolar won an additional $100,000 from the Department of Energy.

Trish Flanagan, president of Picasolar and a University of Arkansas graduate student, said the company’s technology fixes electron-absorbing flaws in the surfaces of silicon solar cells, helping to make the solar panel components about 15 percent more efficient, while also decreasing their cost. The technology was invented by Picasolar’s chief technology officer, Seth Shumate, also an Arkansas graduate student.

“This has been a really fun competition for us, and we’ve made some extraordinary contacts,” Flanagan said.

Bill Aulet, a senior lecturer on entrepreneurship at MIT, said he was particularly impressed by this year’s entrants, who, he said, not only presented interesting technologies but also had a clearer understanding of how they might tackle the challenges of commercializing their products.

“A lot of it is much more business savvy,” Aulet said. “Now it’s like, ‘Here’s our market and here’s how we can deal with the regulatory risk.’ ”

New MBA Student Bloggers

We have two new MBA student bloggers. Be sure to check them out; their links are to the right. These two students just started the Walton MBA in January.

Mai Nguyen is from Vietnam. Read about her experiences at:

http://mai53waltonmba.wordpress.com/

And Carmen Williamson is originally from Arkansas and finished her undergraduate degree at Washington University. Follow her at:

http://thelifeofawaltonmbagrad.wordpress.com/

To remind you, the new Walton MBA class started in January with 34 students. Here are their stats:

GMAT = 655
GPA = 3.5
Age = 25.4
Work experience = 3.1 years
Countries represented are: China, India, Brazil, Bolivia, France, and Vietnam  

Spring Has Arrived in the Ozarks

As the title for this post says, Spring is upon us. In Fayetteville, this means we are gifted with constant change. The day may start with cool temperatures and then warm up to a very nice 60-70 degrees. It may also mean rain and cooler temperatures. Regardless, I am vastly relieved that the cold temperatures are behind us. Now that I have said that, it'll probably drop back down into the 30's and 40's. Each year, as I get older and older, I have come to accept the fact that I truly do not value cold weather. In fact, I dislike it tremendously. Ironically, I do not hate the snow. I find it beautiful and I appreciate it, when it happens once or twice a year. Now that we are entering April, we will experience rain, mixed with beautiful, sunny days. I love Spring - trees turn green and flowers bloom. Also, the Fayetteville Farmer's Market will get going again soon. This is a wonderful Fayetteville tradition. Visit http://www.fayettevillefarmersmarket.org/ to learn more about this unique opportunity to experience local fruits and vegetables as well as art and music. This season is brief in this part of the country. Before we know it, summer will be upon us. I try to enjoy every bit of Spring in the Ozarks.

We're #1! We're #1!

The Walton MBA is once again #1 in employment at graduation. In 2010, we were 83% employed at graduation. This was #1 in the nation. In 2011, Walton MBA's were 86% employed at graduation and we fell to #2 (behind Georgia Tech). In 2012, at graduation, we were 91% employed. According to U.S. News, we are again #1. Other top schools are as follows:

1 - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS (WALTON)
2 - Duke (Fuqua)
3 - Emory (Goizueta)
4 - Dartmouth (Tuck)
5 - MIT (Sloan)
6 - Chicago (Booth)
7 - Minnesota (Carlson)
8 - Cornell (Johnson)
9 - Virginia (Darden)
      BYU (Marriott)
11 - UT-Austin (McCombs)
12 - Washington (Foster)
13 - Pennsylvania (Wharton)
       Missouri (Trulaske)
15 - NYU (Stern)

Alumni Reconnect Weekend

Hello Walton MBA Alumni……we are very excited let you know about the first annual Walton MBA Alumni Reconnect Weekend on April 26-27, 2013.  When you reflect on your experience at the University of Arkansas, we hope that you remember the many ways that the Walton MBA program prepared you for the future and helped to move you forward in your careers.  More importantly, the Walton MBA helped to connect and develop friendships that will last a lifetime. 

We want to invite each of you back to campus for Alumni Reconnect Day, April 26-27 to reconnect with your fellow classmates, the Graduate School of Business staff and faculty.  We have an exciting weekend planned that includes a few receptions, some professional development and plenty of time to reconnect. The following link will provide you with more information about the weekend and a registration link to sign-up: 

http://gsb.uark.edu/Alumni_Reconnect.asp

 

Please forward this to fellow alumni that you are connected to.  We would love to see all of our alumni return for this event.

19th Annual Business Forecast Luncheon

Every year Walton's Center for Business and Economic Research hosts a luncheon at which panelists discuss the current economy as well as forecast what they foresee happening over the next year at the local, national, and international levels. This year's event was held on Friday, February 8th and was attended by nearly 1,000 guests. Dean Eli Jones welcomed everyone and introduced the moderator, John Roberts, CEO of JB Hunt.

There were several Walton MBA students in attendance:

Videos of past events can be found at: http://cber.uark.edu/383.asp.

 

Walton's students have many opportunities to network with our corporate partners. On Thursday, the Supply Chain Management Research Center held a networking event. Here are some of our MBA students taking advantage of this opportunity.

Recruiting season is ramping up for GSB Admissions. On Thursday of this week I will be attending a Career Fair at Oklahoma State University. Next Thursday, February 21st, we are hosting an MBA Information Session in Rogers at the Arkansas World Trade Center at 5:30. I will post my full travel schedule in a few days. 

Save the Date!

The GSB will host its Spring Open House and Social on Thursday, March 7. The Open House will begin at 5:30 in 403 Willard J. Walker Hall. Program directors will be in attendance. This event is for all prospective master's degree students. As soon as the Open House is finished, we'll join the Social.

The Social will be 6:00-8:00 at Powerhouse Seafood and Grill in Fayetteville. The Social is for current, former, and prospective Walton graduate students. Faculty will also be in attendance. This is a very good opportunity for our alumni to come back and say hi. It also gives our current students a chance to socialize outside of the classroom. For our prospective students, they are able to mix and mingle with current students.

These events are hosted three times a year. If you are unable to attend this spring, our summer Open House and Social will be in either June or July.

Where does the time go?

I have been meaning to share pictures of Walton MBA Orientation for a couple of weeks now. Better late than never, right?

Day 1 we are very busy providing information to students. We kicked off the week by having the students do a fun icebreaker. They then got a program overview followed by an important discussion on developing their personal brand. Technology training was then done and the GSB discussed graduate assistantships. We wrapped up the day with Vikas Anand's topic, "Maximizing your MBA Experience, Going Beyond the Classroom" and a Career Center overview. That evening we hosted a mixer where an alumni panel spoke to the class.

Day 2 began with a study abroad overview. Dr. Gary Peters went over the China trip and then Dr. Vikas Anand and Dr. Alan Ellstrand discussed India. 

The class then spent the rest of the day in a very fun team building exercise.

Day 3 was retail immersion day. The day started at JB Hunt where Walton alumni, John Roberts, CEO, spoke to us.


Then next stop of the day was a tour of a Walmart distribution center. We then had lunch at the Arkansas World Trade Center. The afternoon was spent at a local Walmart where teams were formed and an assignment was completed.

Day 4 was spent preparing for a case competition.

Day 5 is case competition day. Dina Howell, Worldwide CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi X, was our guest speaker at lunch.

Here is Dean Eli Jones speaking to the class while the judges are deliberating.

And the winner is...Team H - Marsha Shaw, Jenna Gladney, and Andrew Mainer.

And finally, may I present to you the Walton MBA class of 2014.

National Science Foundation Awards Grant to CycleWood Solutions

CycleWood Solutions, a start-up founded by Walton MBA alumni, Nhiem Cao and Kevin Oden, has recently been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation.

http://newswire.uark.edu/article.aspx?id=19906

Also, today is the application deadline for the Walton Economics, Finance, Information Systems, and Management PhD programs. Marketing, Accounting, and Supply Chain Management had deadlines in December.

 I will provide more detail later this week about the amazing MBA Orientation that occurred last week.

 Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/waltoncollegemba?ref=ts&fref=ts and on Twitter, @WaltonMBA.

Hello 2013!

Walton will welcome its new MBA class on Monday. Orientation will be January 7-11 and classes start on the 14th. I will be sure to post pictures throughout the week.

Here are the stats for the class of 2014:

Class size = 34
GMAT = 655
Women = 50%
International = 30%
Age = 25.5
States represented are: Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Alabama, Colorado, South Carolina, and Washington DC.
Countries represented are: Bolivia, China, India, Vietnam, France, and Brazil
Undergraduate institutions are: UofA, Univ of Kansas, Clemson, Univ of Colorado, Univ of Oklahoma, Baylor, TCU, Georgetown, SMU, and Washington Univ.

Before we get started on the new year, I need to wrap up 2012. December was a very busy month. On December 7 we held our first meeting of our new MBA Alumni Advisory Board. Here are some pictures of that meeting:

Our students also spent December studying for and taking finals. Here are some shots I took in the building as the semester came to a close.

Come back next week to see how MBA Orientation is going.

To join the Walton MBA class of 2015, submit your application materials by April 1, 2013. Our application requirements can be found at http://gsb.uark.edu/admissions.asp. This class will begin in January of 2014.