Early Career MBA: News

Experience the Willamette Early Career MBA first hand. Join us for Preview Evening and Dinner with Dean on Friday, April 11th from 5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. (Details).

Four New Curriculum Benefits Start August 2008
All the great things you know about the Early Career MBA learning experience is right on-track for fall 2008 --- plus, there are 4 new curriculum benefits!

* Elective Courses in the First-Year
The first year curriculum will include two elective courses in the spring semester. This new benefit gives you the opportunity to dig deeper into your areas of interest or explore multiple areas of interest before participating in an internship.

* More Options in the Core Economics and Finance Course
The core economics and finance course will offer an "introductory" section and a more advanced "intermediate" section. The introductory section will be for students with little or no background in economics or finance, or students who do not contemplate finance as a special interest. The intermediate course will accelerate students who have some background in economics and finance and who contemplate finance as a special interest.

* Professor of Management Practice
A new faculty member who specializes in the practice of management will guide experiential learning and provide coaching to help you get the most from your experience.

* Enhanced Experiential Electives in the Second Year
The second year curriculum will include even more real world learning courses designed to get you out of the classroom and into the world.

(Note: the general information about the new curriculum is now on the web site. New course descriptioins are being finalized by the faculty and will be posted later this spring or early summer.)


Graduating Class of 2008 Already Receiving Job Offers
It is very early in the year for job acceptances, but as of February 15th, more than 20% of Willamette Early Career MBA students who will graduate in May 2008 have already received a job offer. The offer rate for the class of 2008 is even faster than the graduating class of 2007 which posted a very successful rate of 61% who had accepted an offer before graduation.

So far, students have accepted jobs in the areas of marketing, finance, auditing, accounting and consulting. Companies who have interviewed or made offers to our graduating class include: Hewlett Packard Company, Intel Corporation, Tektronix, Inc., NW Natural, US Bank, BP Oil Company, Rubicon International, Regence Health Care, Bonneville Power Administration, United Way, AKT CPAs and Business Consultants, and Johnson and Johnson, State of Oregon Secretary of State, Stockamp and Associates, State Farm Insurance, PCC Structurals - Precision Castparts, and Keizer Permanente.

Career Services and Networking Events
As spring semester progresses, students are deep in the midst of interviews to secure jobs and internships. A variety of Career Services programs have been conducted to support their goals. Recent events included:

* Training and practice in interviewing and salary negotation. This includes video-taped mock interviews with interviewers from each student's area of interest

* On-campus information sessions and interviews by Textronix, Inc. (featuring our alum Kyle Roadman MBA'06), Providence Health Systems (featuring our alums Ben Davidson MBA'06 and Woody English MBA'05), and Rubicon International, an education consulting firm.

* Nike's Senior Manager for Corporate Social Responsibility, Danielle Killpack, spoke and talked with students at February's Atkinson School Power Lunch

* Students participated in company trek site visits at Nike, Inc., ESCO Corporation, Bonneville Power Administration and R.V. Kuhns Investment Consultants. A typical trek includes interacting with managers of the company, panels, tours etc.

* Nordstrom, one of the nation's leading fashion retailers, is providing their annual Nordstrom's Dress for Success event for our MBA students, alumni, faculty and staff. This is always a very popular event that provides great advise about the do's and don'ts of dressing for interviews and the world of work.

* More than 90 Willamette Early Career MBA students attended the 2008 Northwest MBA Consortium Career Day on February 1st. The program is a forum for MBA students to meet company representatives from many of the Northwest's top companies, learn about the hiring processes of the companies, get advice from panels of employers and career advising professionals, and network with MBA students from other programs in the Northwest. Prior to the event our career services office provided a mock recruitment event that helped students learn how to approach potential employers and polish their "elevator" speech. Participating companies included:
Bonneville Power Administration
Cintas
City of Portland Office of Management and Finance
Columbia Sportswear
Daimler Trucks North America LLC (Formerly Freightliner)
Harry & David
Hitachi Consulting
Kaiser Permanente
Knowledge Learning Corporation
Legacy Health Systems
MassMutual/ Oregon Financial Services Group
Northwest Mutual Financial Network
Oregon Department of Administrative Services
PCC Structurals
PepsiCo - Frito Lay
Point B Solutions Group, LLP
PPM Technologies
RealNetworks
Regence
Secretary of State Audits Division
State Farm Insurance Company
Stockamp and Associates
Sun Microsystems
Symantec
Tektronix, Inc
The Standard
Walgreens

Participating MBA programs included: Willamette University, University of Washington, University of Oregon, Oregon State University, Washington State University, the University of Portland and Portland State University.


First Year MBA Students Preparing for Internship Search
In addition to completing the first year curriculum and learning experience, the entering class of 2007 is building the career management tools and network they need to prepare for their upcoming internship search. They have completed CareerLeader, reviewed their career plans with Director of Career Services, Beth Ursin, and are participating in a variety of career services programs including mock interviews, the mentorship program, career interest panels, professional organizations, company site visits, Power Lunches and more. Thirteen members of the first year class have been selected as finalists for the Oregon Management Internship Program < http://oregonmi.org/internshipdetails.htm>, which connects outstanding businesses of the Northwest with graduate and undergraduate interns.


Willamette MBA Ranked 18th, 26th and 58th by the Aspen Institute
The Willamette MBA has been recognized for the second time by Aspen Institute's Beyond Grey Pinstripes Survey. The latest survey honors full-time MBA programs that integrate social, ethical and environmental stewardship issues in their curriculum." Willamette ranked number 58th of the more than 600 programs that participated in the survey, 18th for "student opportunity" (number of courses that contain social, environmental, and/or ethical content) and 26th for "student exposure" (percentage of course time that exposes students to social, environmental, and or ethical issues)


Employment for the Class of 2007
The graduating class of 2007 had a very successful transition from the Willamette MBA to new careers with employers such as: Nautilus, McElroy Risk Advisors, Craft Brands, Accenture, Bonneville Power Administration, Hewlett Packard Company, Intel Corporation, US Bank, IBM, Ashland Partners, City of Portland, Mercy Corps Northwest, Saber Corporation, Pioneer Trust Bank, HSBC, Salem Art Association, Oregon Secretary of State Audits Division, Oregon Department of Administrative Services, Providence Health Care and more. Complete information is available in the Employment Report. Complete information about internships is available in the Internship Report.


Student Investment Fund Update
This year's Student Investment class is managing and investing $165,000 of real money. By combining the investment fund course with elective courses in investments and financial derivatives, they are learning the analytical concepts and techniques they need to craft and execute their investment strategy.

And it is paying off, notes Simona Bucur, a member of the student investment course whose team was making a profit through October. "We trade in real time, in real life and in a real world," she said. "There is no better way to learn than by doing. No other class offers that real-time learning."

Students are given quite a bit of independence in their investment experience. They make decisions from the very beginning of fall semester. They work collectively on a large portion of the fund and they work in small teams on smaller investment portfolios. Teams make their own choices and formally report their strategies and performance at the end of each month.

Professor Michael Dothan enjoys working with the students and watching them grow. "As each year progresses, the students become more sophisticated about differentiating between good and not-so-good investment opportunities. All investments involve risk, and each group of students has its own personality in this regard. Some groups are daring from the beginning, and feel confident about their interpretation of events and the implied investment choices. Other groups are more conservative, and prefer to wait longer, learn a few additional things, and see how events develop, before committing themselves to specific investments. By the middle of the spring semester everyone is confident. Sometimes the transformation is quite remarkable."

Professor Dothan notes that this fall semester is a challenging investment environment because of problems with residential housing and some turmoil in the credit markets. However, "there always is something that bothers the financial markets, Wall Street has a saying that the 'stock market climbs a wall of worry.' According to the professor, "the students have learned to climb that wall of worry, and it has been a good educational experience for them."


Your Link to What Students and Alumni Say about the Willamette MBA
Vault.com has featured the Willamette MBA in its 2008 edition of The Business School Buzz Book. Vault's publication is unique because it presents direct quotes from surveys completed by current students and recent alumni. We have arranged for you to have a free download of the Willamette MBA chapter of "The Buzz Book." See what Willamette MBA students and recent graduates say about our MBA program. Download and save your free copy.


PACE 2007-08: Creating New Ventures and Delivering Value to Society
Six teams of 10-12 first year students are tackling the age old questions of PACE and management. Questions like "How do you align a large group of people?" "How do you deal with ambiguous client requirements?" "How do you meet the myriad of stakeholders needs?" "How do you address ethical issues?" "How do you motivate a "free rider" on your team?" And then, of course, PACE takes it one step farther. This is not a discussion or a paper, this is real work with an outcome that affects people and organizations.

This year's PACE program includes two major projects - The New Venture Competition and the Delivering Value to Society Project.
1) The "New Venture Competition" requires students to identify, analyze, justify and present a promising new opportunity to a board of venture capital experts. Creating, researching and presenting a plan for a new venture is a real world experience, complete with its ups and downs, frustrations and achievements.
2) The "Delivering Value for Society Project" requires students to form a consulting company and engage as consultants for a not-for-profit or public organization. Students must understand the client's needs, strategize and execute to create the necessary deliverables to meet the needs of the client, and present and defend their recommendations. The 2007-08 PACE clients are Oregon Public Broadcasting, The Nature Conservancy, Trillium Family Services, Oregon Food Bank, Marion County Juvenile Department and St. Vincent DePaul of the Mid Willamette Valley. We will keep you updated as the year progresses!


Best Paper Award in Entrepreneurship Goes To Willamette Professor Rob Wiltbank and Co-Authors
A paper co-authored by Willamette MBA Assistant Professor of Strategic Management (with Murnieks, Haynie and Harting), won the Best Paper Award in the Entrepreneurship division at the Academy of Management meeting. The paper, titled "I like how you think: The role of cognitive similarity as a decision bias" suggests that venture capitalists prefer to invest in entrepreneurs who demonstrate patterns of reasoning similar to their own. Click here for a pdf of the article.


Marketing Students Visit Nike, Inc.
The Atkinson student chapter of the American Marketing Association visited the Nike, Inc. campus in Beaverton, Oregon. Students toured Nike and then enjoyed a panel discussion featuring the following Nike marketing professionals:
U.S. Brand Management/Brand Connections Manager
Retail Marketing/In Store Communications Director
U.S. Brand Management/Brand Manager - Running
Sports Marketing/Director of Brand Integration
U.S. Brand Management/Brand Manager - Women's


Willamette MBA Global Quick Points
If you are looking for a great global MBA education in an area renown for its livability and quality of life - you are looking in the right place! Here is a summary of recent Willamette MBA global quick points:

32% of our students are international. Countries include: Bulgaria, China, Denmark, Guinea, India, Jamaica, Japan, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Thailand, Ukraine, and Vietnam.

Faculty are internationally active. Lisbeth Claus, Associate Professor of Global Human Resources, recently traveled to Beijing and Shanghai, China where she launched the HR China program (HR generalist and global HR certification) for the Society for Human Resource Management and held a train-the-trainer program for a group of Chinese HR professionals working for multinational companies. She was also interviewed by several members of the Chinese press including the 21st Century Business Herald, China Business, CEO & CIO, and Talent Marketing News. Their questions sought to gain a greater understanding of the major differences between Chinese HR professionals and other HR professionals worldwide, addressing strategies to bring HR standards to international levels. Professor Claus also frequently delivers multi-day, strategic HR seminars in Central and Eastern Europe, Eastern Africa, and Asia for HR managers.

Professor Fred Thompson is spending his sabbatical as a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics. In addition to teaching, he is developing a course for us on Economic Analysis and the Design of Organizational Practices. He was also one of about 20 teachers and researchers from London School of Economics (LSE) invited to spend the day with President Paul Kagame and his entourage talking about economic and political development in Rwanda. Thompson's time in London follows his appointment on the United Nations Blue Ribbon Commission to Macedonia last fall.

Professor Ken Smith presented a paper titled "Online performance reporting in U.S. State Agencies" at the Comparative International Government Accounting Research (CIGAR) conference in Coimbra, Portugal. The paper is the first to extensively document the degree and quality of performance reporting. Professor Smith (known as "coach" to his students) also presented results at the "Association for Budgeting and Financial Management" conference was in Washington D.C. and the 1st annual "Public Performance Reporting & Management Network" conference at Rutgers-Newark.

Assistant Professor Polly Rizova, a native of Bugaria, joined the faculty fall semester 2008 from Boston University. Dr. Rizova earned a Bachelor and Master of Arts in Economics from the Higher Institute of Economics in Bulgaria and a Diploma through a United Nations Fellowship at the International Statistics Program Center in Washington, D.C. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology of Formal Organizations from Boston University. Research conducted by Polly was quoted in a recent Wall Street Journal article about innovations inspired not by individuals but rather by groups of people working in concert.

A life long international alumni network. Alum, Jay Desai (class of 1989) returned to campus this fall as a visiting executive and shared his experiences with students, faculty and staff. Jay is the Founder & CEO of Universal Consulting India Pvt Ltd, - a strategy consulting firm based in Mumbai, India. Jay founded the company in 1994. Today, Universal Consulting is among the largest, Indian, strategy consulting firms providing services to organizations in India, South Asia and the Middle East, with another office in New Delhi.

After first meeting at Willamette 15 years ago, a group of alumni from around the world met in Phuket and Bangkok, Thailand for a reunion. The event was organized by "Nink" Voralak Kosakul, MBA '93, who lives in Bangkok and works for the Royal Danish Embassy promoting environmental conservation and poverty reduction in Thailand. Classmates joining Nink included Rupali Guha MBA'93 from Mumbai, India; Lori Oliver MBA/JD'95 from Seattle, Washington; Sam Suttle MBA'93 and Tasha Yorozu MBA'93, JD'96, from San Francisco, California and Wei Meng MM'93 from Beijing, China. Their Atkinson experience led them to diverse career paths. In Mumbai, Rupali works with her husband in a media company called Film Farm. Sam is the Vice President of Executive Compensation for Wells Fargo. Tasha is a principal at Yorozu Nagano, PC, a law firm specializing in business and technology ventures. Lori works as an Assistant Attorney General for the University of Washington. Wei is an Assistant to Chief Representative at Dentsu Inc., a major advertising company, in Beijing.


Northwest MBA Career Fair Set For February 1, 2008
The Willamette Early Career MBA program will join with the MBA programs at University of Washington, University of Portland, University of Oregon, Washington State University, Portland State University and Oregon State University to sponsor the Northwest MBA Career Fair. The event will feature panels, a career fair connecting students with internships and career positions, and company information sessions.

Last year more than two hundred MBA students from the host programs attended the program. Companies included Adidas, Columbia Sportswear, Freightliner, Frito Lay, Hewlett Packard, HSBC, Intel, Key Bank, Knowledge Learning Corporation, KPMG, Legacy Health Systems, Mass Mutual, Nautilus, PCC Structurals, Real Networks, Regence Blue Cross, State Farm Insurance, State of Oregon, Tektronix, US Bank, Oregon Secretary of State and more.

Many students have already attended fall semester career fairs. Thirteen went to the Oregon CPA Showcase career fair in Portland where they networked with regional and national accounting firms. Several students interested in not-for-profit management attended the Idealist Career Fair in Portland. One student was selected to fly to Florida to interview at the Global Master Employment Conference.

A recent career speed networking event with alumni of Willamette University was also well attended.


U.S. Census Bureau Appoints Debra J. Ringold to Advisory Committee
The U.S. Census Bureau appointed Debra J. Ringold, dean and professor of marketing to its Advisory Committee of Professional Associations. Debra will advise the Bureau on ways to encourage Census participation, improve its data collection methodology and help the general public utilize and understand Census data. Ringold's background in integrated marketing communications and survey methodology prompted her appointment.


Three Alums Receive Prestigious Awards
Jus Singh, MBA'94, received the Portland Business Journal's "Forty under 40" award. The competitive award names Jus as one of Oregon's leading businesspeople under forty years of age. Jus is the Managing Director of Resources Global Professionals in Portland. Resources is a publicly traded professional services company with 80 offices in 56 countries.

Punit Renjen, MBA '86, Principal, Deloitte Consulting, was named one of the "Top 25 Consultants" by Consulting, Inc. magazine. The award is bestowed upon the 25 top performing consultants from firms throughout the U.S.

Brad King, MBA '76, was named the "CFO of the Year" by the Portland Business Journal. Brad currently serves as CFO of Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) in Portland, Oregon's largest employer.


CNNMoney.com Features Article about Angel Investors Co-Authored by Professor Rob Wiltbank
A recent article on CNNMoney.com opens with the sentence "Angel investors operating in organized groups are seeing average returns on investment similar to those enjoyed by venture capitalists, according to a new study." The study, released by the Kauffman Foundation, was written by Professor Robert Wiltbank of Willamette University and Professor Warren Boeker of the University of Washington. Read the article on CNNMoney.com. Read the complete study.


Mentors, Speakers and Panels - Enhancing Your Knowledge and Network
Career services and student activities are an important part of a successful Willamette MBA experience. Here are a few current activities that help students enhance their knowledge and network .

Mentorship Program. - The goal of the mentorship program is to establish a coaching relationship to assist the students in achieving their professional development. This year, 38 first-year students are participating in the Mentorship Program. Students have been matched with managers and executives according to their goals and interests. Firms include organizations such as Angel Vision, Conkling Fiskum and McCormick, Saber Corporation, Deloitte, Hewlett Packard, Intel Corporation, Bonneville Power Administration, IBM Corporation, Morgan Stanley, KOREeducators, Port of Portland, Planar Systems, Oregon Hospice Association, US Bank, and more.

Power Lunches connect the WU MBA community to leaders in business, government and not-for-profit organizations for lunch-time discussions on current topics. Fall semester Power speakers were:
Traci Rose, Director of Community Relations, Portland Trailblazers
Mark Friess, CEO and Co-Founder, wired.MD
Jay Desai, CEO and Founder, Universal Consulting India Pvt. Ltd.

Spring semester speakers will include:
Danielle Killpack, Sr. Manager, Corporate Responsibility, Nike Inc.
Eric Brown, CEO, Red Cross, Pacific NW Regional Blood Services.

Panel Discussions recently presented the inside view about careers in accounting, finance, human resources, project management, and MBA/JD (joint degree). Panels are sponsored by our student professional associations and many feature our alumni. Companies represented included AKT LLC, Boldt, Carlisle & Smith, Deloitte and Touche Risk Advisory Services, McGladrey, State of Oregon, Key Bank Commercial Banking Team, Morgan Stanley, Bonneville Power Administration, Cascade Employers Association, Department of Corrections, Multnomah Athletic Club, Oregon School Board Association, and State Farm Insurance.


"Ethics in Business" and "Business Savvy for the Greater Good" Drew Big Crowds for 1st Thursday Empowerment in Action Program
Our fall semester 1st Thursday programs focused on ethics and not-for-profit management. Featured panelists for Ethics in Business included award recipients for the 2005, 2006 and 2007 Oregon Ethics in Business Awards - organizations and individuals who have gone beyond the expected in environmental sustainability, stewardship and ethical practices. In November, "Business Savvy for the Greater Good" recognized the vital role of not-for-profit organizations in providing crucial services to people and protecting natural and cultural resources around the world. The program featured Professor Ken Murphy and leaders of four different not-for-profits who discussed strategies for managing into the future.


"An Uncertain World Offers New Opportunities for HR"
Lisbeth Claus prepared an invited article entitled, "An Uncertain World Offers New Opportunities for HR" for the August 2007 issue of People Management, the official professional magazine of the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel Development) in the United Kingdom. She also prepared 10 Global Human Resource Management in Action instructional vignettes. They are designed for faculty, trainers, and practitioners and are free to use to advance the instruction of Global HR. Each vignette allows the reader to experience specific, relevant topics in a concise format and is followed by guided reading questions to stimulate discussion and interaction. They can be downloaded free of charge by using the following username (globalhr) and password (clauswumba).


Willamette MBA Featured in Princeton Review Best Business Schools Book for 2008
The Willamette Early Career MBA is featured in Princeton Review's Best Business Schools 2008 publication. This is the fourth year in a row Willamette has been rated by Princeton Review. The latest edition is based on input from more than 19,000 MBA students from the best AACSB International accredited schools in the world.

If you are using the hardcopy version of the 2008 Princeton Review Best Business School Book, you need to know that there is an error on page 647 in the Willamette MBA section. The data presented for "percent employed" should read 87% (not 21 percent as printed). The error has been corrected on the Princeton Review web site version of the Best Business Schools 2008.


Willamette MBA Receives $2.5 million Donation
The JELD-WEN Foundation pledged $2.5 million to the Willamette MBA program to fund a faculty Chair in Free Enterprise. The gift will be used to support the salary of the chosen faculty member, the faculty member's research interests, and a new MBA course in Free Enterprise.

The Chair in Free Enterprise brings the number of Willamette MBA faculty Chairs to four (Free Enterprise, Economics and Finance, International Management, Public Policy) Faculty chairs enhance the quality of education a school can offer by providing additional targeted resources that enhance teaching, innovation and scholarly research.


Professor Claus Receives Distinguished Global HR Award
The Northwest Human Resource Management Association (NHRMA) presented Lisbeth Claus, Willamette University MBA Professor of Global HR, with the Distinguished Member Award.

The award recognizes Lisbeth's years of service to the human resources profession. Professor Claus is a noted teacher, practioner and researcher in the HR profession. She has delivered numerous presentations on global HR certification and practices around the world, most recently for several Chinese firms and for the Chartered Institute for Professional Development Conference (CIPD) in the United Kingdom.

The Northwest Human Resource Management Association is a regional association affiliated with the Society for Human Resource Management, and represents more than 7,900 Human Resource professionals in the Pacific Northwest.


Willamette MBA Receives Gift for Student Entrepreneurial Projects
A $50,000 gift has created an endowed account in support of student entrepreneurial projects through the elective course New Ventures to Market (PACE II). The account will provide approximately $2,500 each year to support the development and implementation of the student's ventures.

The New Ventures to Market class is taught by Professor Rob Wiltbank and specifically designed for second-year students who want to go from thinking like an entrepreneur to being an entrepreneur. It is a year long course where students implement and run their own business. This year Willamette MBA students are establishing and running the following businesses: autographed t-shirts; custom ordered clothing, manufacturing and selling premium vodka, cell phone payment service, cell phone gaming software, personal security company, online trivia games, Hawaiian food catering service, a new motorcycle suspension system, and a custom home computing network and theatre systems.


Download and Subscribe
Read and subscribe to Willamette MBA's online journal Atkinson Management Today. The journal provides relevant, timely information for mid-level managers, and is written and published by Willamette MBA students.

Want to know the best practices for keeping and motivating employees? Read this article by Professor of Global Human Resources, Lisbeth Claus. Employee Retention - Best Practices in Keeping and Motivating Employees

Interested in how growth leaders and entrepreneurs think? Read this article by Professor Strategy, Rob Wiltbank. How Growth Leaders Think Like Entrepreneurs

Download the Willamette MBA Screensaver - Living and Learning in Oregon.
For PC
For Mac

Read and download Willamette MBA Dean's Reports at http://www.willamette.edu/agsm/forum/downloads.htm.

PREVIOUS NEWS