And Let the New Semester Begin

Classes started on Monday. The month of August is intense in the Walton Graduate School of Business. We are finalizing our fall classes and conducting all of the new student orientations. Deb and I also made a quick trip to Las Vegas last week to attend the ALPFA conference. Today was the annual fall welcome back Block Party. This is a fun event where students can grab a bite to eat and talk to staff and students from many organizations on campus.

Final application deadline for the Walton MBA is September 15. This program begins each January and is completed in 3 semesters and 16 months. Learn more at http://gsb.uark.edu/mba and our application requirements are at http://gsb.uark.edu/admissions.asp.

Teams at Work

New Walton MMBA students are working in teams today during orientation. Tomorrow they will compete in a case competition.

 

MMBA Orientation

We are in Day Three of our part-time MBA program orientation. This program is designed for very busy working professionals. It is completed in two years by taking six hours a semester for six semesters. Students are in class in Fayetteville only one Saturday each month. You can learn more about this opportunity as well as see the schedule for the upcoming academic year at http://gsb.uark.edu/mmba.

The Walton MMBA starts each August with a four day orientation. This year's schedule looks like this:

Thursday, August 2
7:45-breakfast and pictures for meetbook
8:15-welcome by Dean Eli Jones
8:30-introduction of GSB staff by MBA Director Vikas Anand
8:40-icebreaker
10:30-break
10:45-technology training
12:00-lunch with current students and alumni
1:30-program overview
2:00-orientation to online learning
2:30-break
2:45-lecture-introduction to value chain-Dr. Vikas Anand
3:30-lecture-continue topic-Dr. Jeff Murray
5:00-dismiss

Friday-August 3
7:30-breakfast
8:00-lecture-continue topic-Dr. Chris Hofer
10:00-break
10:15-Walton Career Center
10:45-introduction of fall professors
11:30-lunch at Union and student ID's
1:00-lecture-continue topic-Dr. Jason Arentz
3:00-break
3:15-case overview-Dr. Chris Hofer
4:00-hand out competition case
4:30-dismiss
5:00-7:00-networking event at Powerhouse Seafoof & Grill

Saturday, August 4
7:45-breakfast
8:00-case competition rules and team assignments
8:15-case preparation
12:00-lunch
5:00-case presentations due

Sunday, August 5
8:00-breakfast and presentation order revealed
8:30-heat 1
9:10-heat 2
9:50-heat 3
10:30-heat 4
11:10-judges deliberate
11:30-lunch and judges decision revealed
12:30-final round of competition
2:00-judges deliberate and winner announced

This class consists of 55 outstanding students. They work at Walmart, Tyson, JB Hunt, Sam's Club, Coke, Nielsen, Nabholz Construction, ABF, Pfizer, Cobb-Vantress, Kimberly Clark, Johnson&Johnson, Arkansas Electric, the US Military, Fastenal, Fidelity National, and many more.

They attended college at The Ohio State University, BYU, Texas A&M, UofA, Oklahoma State, Miami Univ, SMU, Louisiana Tech, North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Georgia Tech, Villanova, Texas Christian, Westpoint, and many more.

If you want to become a part of the next class, early application deadline is April 1, 2013 and final deadline is July 1, 2013. Application requirements can be found at http://gsb.uark.edu/admissions.asp. Email questions to gsb@walton.uark.edu.

World-Class Entrepreneurs

This article -

 http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=131869&page=1#.T_2Q7rdn84o.email

gives a thorough summary of Walton College's success in small business plan competitions nationwide, including this year's unprecedented Moot Corp showing. Three Walton teams were accepted into 2012 Moot Corp. "Having three teams from the same school making the international field of 36 was a feat never before accomplished in the event's 29-year history. The 36-team field included teams from some of the United States' most prestigious universities - MIT, Johns Hopkins, the University of Chicago - as well as countries spanning the globe." And three teams from Arkansas!


There are many more examples of the amazing entrepreneurial successes of Walton students. Many of these competition teams have gone on to put their plans into action. Be sure to read their stories.

Open House and Social Tonight!

Join us for our annual Summer MBA Open House, tonight, 5:30, 403 Willard J. Walker Hall. This is your opportunity to learn more about the full and part-time MBA.

A Social will follow at Powerhouse. Details will be provided at the Open House.

If you can't make it to the Open House, view these YouTube clips that were filmed at a past event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9DZiCpcy9g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5aK3qn1mVE&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7HX2sZacgg&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlylM4gHh0I&feature=relmfu

And to see our fabulous campus and facilities, be sure to watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9zF695CGlo&feature=relmfu

Amazing Student Bloggers

Be sure to keep up with Saif, Tammy, and Patricia, our MBA student bloggers. Saif is interning with Mr. Price in South Africa. His blog is very entertaining as well as detailed about his daily activities and his amazing experiences. Tammy studied abroad in China and is interning at Kellogg. She is also participating in a couple of other activities which she details in her blog. Patricia is traveling quite a bit and writing about her journeys.

Saif's blog provides a summary of what a few of his Walton MBA classmates are doing this summer. These summer opportunities are quite unique to Walton and have proven to be quite valuable regarding our impressive employment statistics. Walton MBA students continue to do extremely well in the job market. In 2010, they were 83% employed at graduation, which was the best in the nation according to U.S. News & World Report. In 2011, they were 86% employed and were second in the nation. In 2012, the number is even higher. I don't know if I can release this info yet, so I'll hold onto it until I know it's safe.

Final application deadline for the Walton MBA is September 15. You can find our application requirements at http://gsb.uark.edu/admissions.asp. All funding has been awarded. In order to be eligible for funding, apply by April 1, 2013, for the class that will begin in January of 2014.

Read the student blogs to learn more about the Walton MBA and to determine if this would be a good fit for you.

Let's Catch Up

Since my last post, quite a bit has happened. I attended the GMAC annual industry conference held in Chicago June 20-22. This is my opportunity to catch up on the latest trends in MBA programs and see old friends. As soon as I got back from this quick trip, my family headed off to the beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama. As we headed south, Debby was blowing of the coast. It was quite nerve wracking, not knowing what we would find when we arrived. We were very fortunate as Debby moved east. Unfortunately, those in Florida were not so lucky. I had a fantastic vacation. Here are a few pictures of beautiful Gulf Shores.

Upon my return to the office after the 4th of July Holiday, we immediately got to work processing MMBA applications. The admissions committee will meet this Friday to make decisions for the part-time MBA program. Over 40 applications will be reviewed. In April, 25 offers of admission were made. Our enrollment goal is 55. Anything over this number, is icing on the cake. Applications will continue to be received through the end of the month. Orientation is August 2-5 and is mandatory. The first class will be held August 25th.

IMAcc (Integrated Master of Accountancy) applications are also being processed. I am expecting decisions will be made next week. This program is for University of Arkansas students only and is designed to ease their transition into the Master of Accountancy.

The next few weeks will be very busy. The Orientation schedule is as follows:
MMBA-August 2-5
MIS/Professional MIS-August 13
MAcc-August 14-15
IMAcc/PhD-August 16

Classes begin on August 20th. I will also be traveling to Las Vegas August 14-16 to attend the ALPFA conference.

I also want to welcome our new Dean, Eli Jones. Dean Jones come to us from LSU. The Walton College is very excited about this new era. Great things are anticipated.