Smeal Faculty Members Receive Promotions
Four Penn State Smeal College of Business faculty members and four clinical faculty members have received promotions. The promotions are as follows:
Tenure-Track Faculty Promotions:
Stephen Humphrey has been promoted to professor of management. Humphrey, who directs the Center for Teams and Negotiation, has been a Smeal faculty member since 2008 and has research expertise in teamwork and team design. He holds a Ph.D. in organizational behavior and human resource management from Michigan State University.
Anthony Kwasnica has been promoted to professor of business economics. Kwasnica, a Smeal faculty member since 1999, directs the Laboratory for Economic Management and Auctions. He has research expertise in microeconomic theory, game theory, and experimental economics. Kwasnica holds a Ph.D. in social science from the California Institute of Technology. Continue reading…
Smeal Professor Selected to Receive American Marketing Association Award
Penn State Smeal College of Business’ Wayne S. DeSarbo, distinguished professor and Smeal Chair in Marketing, has been selected to receive the American Marketing Association’s Charles Coolidge Parlin Marketing Research Award for 2014.
The Parlin Award recognizes academics and practitioners who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and sustained an impact on advancing the profession of marketing research over an extended period of time.
Professor DeSarbo will receive his award at the 2014 AMA Advanced Research Techniques Forum at the end of June in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Continue reading…
Smeal College of Business Mourns Passing of Founder of the School’s Venture Capital Center
John D. Garber ’40 passed away last month in Palm Desert, Calif. He and his wife, Bette, were significant contributors to the Penn State Smeal College of Business, establishing the John and Bette Garber Venture Capital Center for Penn State Smeal MBA students in 1999.
The Garber Venture Capital Center—part of the college’s Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship—is a $5 million venture fund that supports student-managed private equity investing in early stage technology-based companies.
“The generous contributions to our college from the Garber family have provided our MBA students with an unmatched opportunity, through the Garber Venture Capital Center, that prepares them to think critically about business, investment, and risk,” said Charles H. Whiteman, John and Becky Surma Dean of Smeal.
John and Bette’s $5 million commitment to Smeal in 1999 to establish the Garber Venture Capital Center was at that time the largest gift across the country to a program of this nature. Over the course of his career, John invested in numerous start-up companies and wanted to provide Penn State Smeal MBA students the opportunity to gain experience doing so as well.
Students engage in the venture capital process by enrolling in the Garber Practicum seminar. Entrepreneurs from several prospective investment properties present their business concepts, then students perform due diligence on these firms. Toward the end of the seminar, the student teams present their findings to their peers and vote on which, if any, properties warrant an investment.
Penn State Smeal College of Business MBA Students Experience Global Immersion in Peru
As part of the Penn State Smeal College of Business MBA Program’s global immersion experience, 22 students spent one week in Lima, Peru, in order to experience the business climate and culture.
“We like to provide our students with an opportunity to visit developing economies around the world,” said Doug Thomas, faculty director for the Penn State Smeal MBA Program, who also traveled to Lima with the students. “We chose Peru specifically because of its recent pattern of strong economic growth as well as strong projected growth in the future.”
One of the company visits included a stop at Canadian Mining, which, despite its name, is a Peruvian company—the founder is Canadian. Students also visited with Emilio van Oordt, ’98 MBA and general manager for Sodimac, a chain of home improvement centers in Peru.
“As is always the case on our global immersion trips, we connected with Penn State alumni,” said Thomas. “Emilio and his team shared insights into both their commercial success but also their commitment to investing in the community through donations of products as well as employees’ time and expertise in renovating housing in lower-income communities.
Other companies students visited in Lima included ADEX, Peru’s exporters association; Pragma – Brandgroup; startup accelerator Wayra; Cendeit, an educational development center; and Sodimac, a Chilean home improvement chain directed by Smeal MBA alumnus Emilio van Oordt.
Smeal College of Business Announces Alumni Gift to Department of Accounting
Penn State alumni Steve and Lyn Reeves have made a $634,000 commitment to the Smeal College of Business, which will establish the Reeves Family Career Professorship and the Reeves Family Student Success Fund, for the Department of Accounting.
The Reeves Family Early Career Professorship will support the work of a promising young accounting faculty member with funding for research and teaching at a critical point in his or her career. The Reeves Family Student Success Fund will provide resources for students to participate in internships, study abroad, and other experiences that enhance their college career, as well as underwrite activities of the college’s accounting-related student organizations.
“We have long believed in the role of higher education in allowing individuals to realize their potential,” said Steve. “We have been fortunate to enjoy post-Smeal success and are very pleased to be in a position to give back and enable other to benefit from the opportunities that we did.”
According to Charles H. Whitman, John and Becky Surma Deal of Smeal Business School, “These generous gifts from Steve and Lyn will go a long way toward ensuring the continued strength and growth of our highly regarded Department of Accounting. Both the Early Career Professorship and the Student Success Fund will create opportunities for students and faculty that would not have been otherwise possible.”
