Embracing Diversity at UCLA Anderson, Graziadio’s Commencement, and More – LA News
Friday, ya’ll.
Let’s dig into the biggest stories coming out of Los Angeles this week.
UCLA Anderson’s Hosts Annual Diversity Conference – UCLA Anderson News
UCLA Anderson recently hosted its annual Embracing Diversity Conference. The co-VP for diversity of the Anderson Admissions Ambassador Corps, Denice Gonzales-Kim, discussed her involvement with drawing minority applicants to Anderson in a recent blog post.
“As a first-generation graduate student,” she says, “I take great pride in participating in UCLA Anderson’s annual Embracing Diversity conference. I was reminded why, when deciding which business school to attend, many people gauge the school’s culture by its level of diversity.”
Previous attendees at the UCLA Embracing Diversity Conference / Photo via anderson.ucla.edu
Acknowledging the “embarrassingly low” numbers of diverse b-school students across the country, Gonzales-Kim expressed confidence in the efforts of the Anderson admissions committee to change this. The school draws applicants from a wide variety of socioeconomic groups, genders, orientations, and ethnicity, due in no small part to the efforts of Gonzales-Kim and others in the Ambassador Corps.
Assistant Dean of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid, Alex Lawrence, outlined the takeaways from the Conference – discovery of the school’s intellectual capital, understanding of the Anderson community which is “diverse from all angles”, and realizing the global reach of the Anderson MBA.
You can learn more about Anderson’s diversity efforts and the recent conference here.
Pepperdine Graziadio Honors Distinguished Alumni at Fall Commencement – Graziadio Newsroom
Pepperdine Graziadio held its fall 2018 Commencement Ceremony on December 8, 2018 at the Malibu campus’ Firestone Fieldhouse.
This year, the event honored Vincent J. Monteparte (MBA ’01) with a Distinguished Alumnus Award. Monteparte is a partner at Sway Ventures, a venture capital firm specializing in tech. From a background in aerospace and defense consulting, he pivoted to business operations, software development, and more.
Nicholas Brown, the event’s student speaker, shared his experience as an Air Force veteran. While serving, Brown served as an intercontinental ballistic missile crew commander. He currently serves as an instructor in the Air Force Weapons school, where he implements his core skills as a leader and problem solver that he has gained as an MBA student.
Gary Toebben, former President and CEO of the LA Chamber of Commerce, spoke about his experiences in generating business growth for one of the country’s largest economies. In his final two years, Toebben helped to generate $150 billion for such initiatives as transit improvements, municipal services, and housing for the homeless. He also helped to fund the nine colleges within the Los Angeles Community College District, and was a leader in implementing the LAX Master Plan.
You can read more about the commencement honorees and the rest of the recent event here.
USC Marshall’s Speaker Series Hosts Former Assistant Secretary of State – USC Marshall News
In an interview with Dick Drobnick, USC Marshall IBEAR MBA Program Director, former Assistant Secretary of State Danny Russel discusses, among other things, his experiences with diplomacy. Russel served under John Kerry, and also served in the State Department into the early months of President Donald Trump’s administration.
Former Assistant Secretary of State Danny Russel sits down with USC Marshall’s IBEAR MBA Program Director Dick Drobnick, discussing his roles under Donald Trump, John Kerry, the trade war with China, and much more / Photo via marshall.usc.edu
On the current trade war with China, Russel views that this is the “new abnormal.” Strategic rivalries, he believes, are better dealt with through diplomatic efforts than with the restrictions currently at play in the Trump administration.
Among the other issues the interview covered were cybersecurity and the dynamics of authoritarian regimes. You can listen to the interview and learn more about the IBEAR MBA speaker series here.
USC Marshall Women are ‘Stronger Together,’ and More – Los Angeles News
Happy Friday! Let’s dig into some of the biggest stories coming out of Los Angeles this morning.
USC Marshall’s’ ATHENA Conference Honors Women Entrepreneurs – USC Marshall News
USC Marshall School of Business’ second annual ATHENA conference, focusing upon women entrepreneurs, kicked off at USC’s Town & Gown with more than 500 guests to celebrate the theme “Stronger Together”.
With such guests as USC’s Interim President Dr. Wanda Austin, GOOP Founder and popular actress Gwyneth Paltrow, and Dr. Sumun Pendakur, Chief Learning Officer of the USC Equity Institutes, the event took place over a day and also featured a pitch competition and panel sessions.
Dr. Austin said, “I want to thank all of you for celebrating women leaders and their entrepreneurial journeys, which as I’m sure you have heard today, are not easy journeys, but they are tremendously rewarding… It’s an uplifting experience to hear from so many smart, talented, bright, innovative, inspiring women, and all of you should count yourselves in that group.”
Willow Bay, USC’s Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism dean, presented Paltrow with an award to honor her accomplishments as an entrepreneur, noting of GOOP, “A newsletter that she hit the ‘send’ button on in 2008 now reaches a reported 8 million people. And it’s really the starter fuel for what has become a significant global lifestyle brand.”
The Female Founders Pitch Competition, open to USC students, faculty, staff or alumni less than five years from graduation, awarded a prize of $10,000 to winner Thea Knobel. Knobel beat out 44 other entrants for her pitch, ‘Cool Cube’.
You can read more about the USC Summit event here.
Chapman University’s Argyros School’s MBA Mentor Participants Celebrate 10th Anniversary – Chapman Argyros News
Chapman University’s Argyros School of Business‘ 10th Annual MBA Mentor Program kicked off at the Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Business with a welcome reception that honored 2018’s participants.
The program features 30 graduate students who will be mentored by 34 executives from such organizations as Johnson & Johnson, Disney, Taco Bell, and Experian. Stacey Moynahan, Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Programs and Career Services and Joel Pearson, Assistant Director, Argyros School Career Services are responsible for recruiting mentors and making appropriate matches with students.
Pearson and Moynahan interview participants at the end of each year to make improvements upon the program and to discuss the strengths and challenges involved in each of the mentor and student relationships. October’s welcome reception served as a foundation for students as they embark upon their career journeys with their mentors’ guidance.
You can lear more about the Argyros MBA Mentor Program here.
CSU Fullerton’s Mihaylo College Sales Leadership Center Welcomes New Director – Mihaylo News
The CSUF Mihaylo College Sales Leadership Center, which seeks to assist students in their pursuit of careers in sales leadership roles, recently welcomed Brad Anderson as the center’s new director.
Anderson hopes to develop new initiatives at the Center, including a new minor in sales, as well as expanding its reach with further connections with leaders in sales positions.
A look inside the Cal State Fullerton Sales Leadership Center / Photo via business.fullerton.edu
Discussing his own aptitude for selling, Anderson described how his career evolved when he realized his passion for cultivating relationships.
“I discovered that I had a proficiency for sales and relationships [and interacting with people],” he says. “My first offer came from Carnation Company to sell quality products to local grocers. I developed relationships with store managers and solved problems for them while earning a good living. I also had a flexible schedule and work/life balance.”
He proceeded to spend the majority of his 30 year career with Nestlé Purina Pet Care Company.
The CSLC has proven to be a hub of career development for Mihaylo students, through its sales competitions and events that connect students with numerous opportunities for their careers. “The sponsoring companies see our students shine as they present the scenarios in realistic settings with presentations to buyers. The students compete for scholarships and bragging rights, along with trophies, which are great résumé builders,” Anderson says.
You can read more about the Leadership Center here.
3 Online MBA Scholarships Worth Remembering
Navigating the maze of scholarships available to MBA students (really, students in general) can become a bit overwhelming. And for students hoping to earn a degree online, the search can seem never-ending. To help, we’ve broken down a handful of the most intriguing Online MBA scholarships.
How Online MBAs Use Technology to Enable Authentic Connections
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Technology has dramatically blurred the line between the digital and offline worlds; we can do almost anything online these days, ranging from ordering groceries to exploring Africa to attending college. However, one of the points of debate across nearly all fields is how the online experience compares to the parallel offline one; this has been especially true in online degree programs: Can online degrees provide the same value as their face-to-face counterparts?
The challenge of engaging and preparing students is two-fold for online degree programs. They need to cover the same key topics and transfer the same volume of knowledge as their on-ground counterparts. However, another part of the attraction of top MBA programs is that they not only develop students’ business acumen, they facilitate long-lasting connections that can lead to career opportunities and professional connections. That level of engagement presents a much bigger obstacle than catching someone’s attention long enough to complete a simple e-commerce transaction.
Technology in the Online Classroom: Two Major Lessons Learned
One of the things that makes a great online MBA successful is technology. Of course, if it were just an issue of investing in the latest and greatest tech solutions, every university would have successful digital learning programs. Further complicating things is the boom in technology built to solve this problem; which solution is best for the online classroom, and which will help build skills that will carry over into students’ careers.
After looking at some of the technology decisions at the University of Southern California’s Online MBA program, we found two major lessons for how to be successful with the kind of engagement these programs need to facilitate.
1. Innovate With Purpose
It’s easy to see the concerns over rapid technology evolution, whether you consider this 2015 New York Times article about innovation happening too quickly for businesses to keep up, or William Smith’s Morley, in which he wrote that widely available news and faster travel options would destroy relaxation as we know it, in 1886.
The technology we use will always be changing, whether it’s 1886 or 2186. One of the things that is hard to admit, though, is that the thinkers who said it would be impossible to keep up were right. Particularly at an organizational level, it really is impossible to stay current with every technology innovation that emerges.
The difference between success and failure—in the virtual classroom and in global business—is how they adapt new technologies to their environments.
One example of this in action comes from the University of Southern California’s Online MBA program. There are countless options for encouraging deeper collaboration and facilitating connections in an online setting, including a growing list of business collaboration tools as well as universities who opt to build their own social collaboration platforms. Sometimes, though, the answer is much simpler.
One of the things that stood out from USC’s Online MBA is that, in addition to the classroom sessions and videoconferencing, students chat and connect over WhatsApp. One of the biggest lessons from this experience is the fact that, sometimes, the best solution for a given problem is something students or employees are already using; it just needs to be embraced in a way that supports desired outcomes.
Why it Matters: Both businesses and universities may be reticent to allow important work and collaboration to exist outside of the platforms they control; and, there are certain instances (i.e. regulation) where allowing consumer-grade technology is a poor choice. However, embracing a student or employee-driven approach to collaboration is essential to making it work, particularly in a virtual setting. Rather than try to force students off the tool they’re comfortably using, USC can focus on smarter investments in other areas that are critical to online learning, like high quality video conferencing and learning management systems.
2. Outcomes First, Technology Second
It may seem counterintuitive at first, but the best strategies for utilizing technology don’t start by considering technology—they start by considering desired outcomes. If the goal is to facilitate the creation of real connections in a virtual space, using technology to enable this will need to feel natural and incorporate features that bring some of the same qualities of face-to-face interaction.
For online MBAs, there is a second and critical part to solving this challenge: Increasing students’ familiarity with tools that they will need to use in their professional lives.
For both businesses and higher education institutions, approaching this problem primarily from a technology perspective is the wrong approach. By thinking about desired outcomes, organizations can better guide their technology choices.
For example, with software for videoconferencing, there are myriad options. From a purely technical standpoint, many schools might first consider a solution like Blackboard Collaborate or Canvas’ built-in conference tools because so many already have Blackboard or Canvas for their Learning Management Systems.
These platforms may be enough from a functional standpoint, but, for developing true connections in an online MBA, user experience is an even more critical element of software used for video and teleconferencing. Considerations like these led USC’s Online MBA program to leverage Zoom, a dedicated communications platform, for conferencing in addition to the Canvas LMS for facilitating learning. Zoom lets students see the instructor, as well as their fellow classmates on live video, making it closer to face-to-face interaction than many alternatives. It’s also easier to schedule meetings on short notice with the ability to send calendar invites, offering similarity to the spontaneous brainstorming sessions that might happen in a classroom or office.
Why it Matters: The best solution for a given problem isn’t always the one that comes integrated with the rest of the software organizations already have. Especially for an online MBA, it’s also important to consider technology that has value beyond the classroom, as this will better equip students to succeed in their careers. The second component of this is to think about software that readily integrates with platforms people use in their daily lives anyway. Even if it is just the ability to send a meeting invite over Google Calendar, individual features can make the difference.
The Results: When Technology is Used Effectively
The biggest result of USC’s smart use of technology is that students can and do form real connections that lead to face-to-face interaction. For example, many students organize meet-ups in their area, so that those who live away from campus can still participate in the Online MBA community.
The deeper social connections, coupled with classroom learning and group discussions, also create unique opportunities that would not be as easily made without digital engagement. In USC’s case, one team of students in the recent cohort is planning to open their own business together.
The Bottom Line: Universities have historically struggled to keep pace with technology adoption. Regardless of whether a program is online, offered on-campus or uses a hybrid approach, though, the best MBA programs will stay ahead of the curve by considering outcomes first and avoiding the temptation to innovate without a clear purpose.
To learn more about the USC Marshall School of Business Online MBA, visit the Marshall website.
USC Marshall Welcomes 9 New Faculty
For the 2018-19 year, the USC Marshall School of Business welcomes nine new faculty members to campus. They join a growing list of over 50 who’ve taken jobs at USC Marshall over the past two years and include lecturers, assistant professors, associate professors, visiting professors, adjunct instructors, and more.
When speaking about the latest faculty additions, USC Marshall’s Vice Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs Nandini Rajagopalan talked about her excitement.
“We are excited about these faculty appointments, which build on our long tradition of fostering excellence in both research and teaching,” she says. “Leveraging their unique skills and experience, each of these individuals is poised to have a significant impact on the Marshall community.”
So, who are these nine new faculty members? We spoke with a few about what they bring to the school and why they are excited to join. We also got an inside look at their experience in a recent news release. Here’s what we found. Continue reading…
What are the Most Successful MBA Startups of 2018?
Earlier this month, LinkedIn released its 2018 list for the Top Startups in the U.S. The list includes 50 of the newest successful startups in the U.S. Most specifically, the list analyzes young companies that are experiencing exceptional employee growth, increasing interest, member engagement, and talent. The social media platform used its network of 575 million members to see which startups commanded the most attention and had the most top talent. To be eligible, startups need to be less than seven years old, have at least 50 employees, and be privately held and headquartered in the U.S.
We decided to take a look at the list and see which of these year’s startups were founded by an MBA. This list is by no means exhaustive, but quickly we were able to find founders and CEOs with MBAs from top universities such as USC Marshall, Wharton, Harvard Business School, and Columbia Business School. Continue reading…
