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Application Deadlines for Fall Semester 2010

Willamette MBA - Ranked as "Top 15" for Marketing
Princeton Review ranked Willamette University's MBA one of the top 15 MBA programs for Marketing. The Princeton Review honor is based on students' assessments of how well (on a five-point scale) they felt their business school courses prepared them to succeed in their career.

The honors list was printed in the April edition of Entrepreneur Magazine and is available online on the web sites of The Princeton Review (www.princetonreview.com/studentOpinionHonors.aspx) and Entrepreneur Magazine (www.entrepreneur.com/topcolleges). The business schools are listed in alphabetical order on the lists. All schools in the list are considered equal within in the ranking of “Top 15.” 

Sustainability Area of Interest - Coming Fall Semester 2009
Professor Elliot Maltz, announced a new area of interest in sustainability management that will begin fall semester 2009. The program combines new courses in sustainability management with existing MBA courses to develop managers and change agents who can:
1) help an organization move towards a more sustainable architecture.
2) initiate and monitor the success of individual sustainability projects and initiatives.
3) start an organization based on the principles of sustainability or change an organization to become more sustainable

New Elective Courses Added for 2009-10
Four new elective have been added to curriculum.
Solving Global Challenges: Social Entrepreneurship
Creating Global Alliances
Sustainability Management
Scientific Tools for Sustainability

Applications for Fall Semester 2009
We are currently reviewing applications for admission and merit-based scholarship assistance for Fall Semester 2009. Interested applicants should complete the application process as soon as possible.

If you have questions about applying, contact the MBA admission office as soon as possible.

Apply Online for Fall Semester 2009

A Great Time to Pursue the Willamette MBA - Message from Dean Ringold
Many of you have asked me if this is a “good” time to pursue the Willamette MBA. The answer to this question is “YES."

I want you to know that our top priority is your education and success, and we are investing in your future right along with you. Willamette University maintains a strong financial position and continues to make investments in our faculty, our programs, our students and our future. Specifically:

1) The Willamette MBA’s unique multisector curriculum in: business, government and not-for-profit management offers you more career choices and more professional opportunities

2) The Willamette MBA continues to increase the size of our full-time MBA faculty. A low student-to-faculty ratio ensures you receive a dynamic, hands-on learning experience

3) The Willamette MBA continues to expand curricular options. Watch for announcements about new electives and new areas of interest in Sustainability and Global Management.

4) The Willamette MBA continues to invest in career networking and leadership opportunities for you. We have expanded the internship program, career services and student professional organizations.

Our investments in your future and the future of the Willamette MBA program ensure the highest quality experience for your MBA education. These investments represent our commitment to the success of our students and to offering an educational experience that provides a high return for your efforts and dollars.

The Willamette MBA is a career building, life changing experience. We are ready and able to assist you as you take this important step!


Internship Program Expanded
Willamette Early Career MBA and the MBA for Career Change students now have even more opportunity to build their resume of professional experience through their Willamette MBA.

The Willamette MBA internship course has been expanded to allow up to three semesters of approved internship experiences. This means eligible students can participate in an internship in the summer between the first and second year of study, during fall semester of the second year, and during spring semester of the second year.

Internships provide an important educational and professional experience, help students build their network and, in most cases, provide a source of income that can help students pay for their educational or living expenses.


Willamette MBA Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management Receives Superior Merit Award
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) in Alexandria, VA, has bestowed the Superior Merit Award designation to the Atkinson Graduate School of Management Student SHRM chapter for an exceptional job of providing opportunities for growth and development to its student chapter members. The Merit Award program recognizes the top student chapters of the more than 450 affiliated student chapters of SHRM.


Atkinson School Named as a "Top 100 Green Organization"
The Atkinson Graduate School of Management, was recently named a “Top 100 Green Organization” for 2009 by Oregon Business. The honor recognizes the Atkinson School for sustainability and stewardship.


VP of Hewlett Packard Speaks to Students at Graduation
Seventy six Willamette MBA students received their MBA on May 17th. Vyomesh (VJ) Joshi, executive vice president of the Imaging and Printing Group at Hewlett Packard and a member of the board of directors for Yahoo!, delivered the commencement address to the graduating class of 2009.


PACE I - Consulting Clients and Projects for 2008-09
First-year students are off and running with their consulting projects for PACE I. The service/consulting projects provide a valuable opportunity to build new real-world experience.

Nine teams are completing consulting projects that will enhance the operations of their client organization. Client organizations and projects for 2008-09 are:

Client: Cherriots, Salem-Keizer Transit
Project: Develop a marketing and public outreach program that incorporates a comprehensive array of media to effectively communicate Cherriots’ services to all segments of the public.

Client: Friends of the Children
Project: Utilize corporate relationships to help FOTC develop pilot partnerships and create a business and marketing plan for partnerships.

Client: Habitat for Humanity
Project 1: Create a business plan for their store that includes consistent pricing of donated items, increased partnerships with local businesses leading to higher quality donations, marketing and in-store staff recruitment.
Project 2: Develop and implement a fundraising event to benefit Habitat’s Youth United Build that can be replicated by the Youth United team annually.

Client: Healthy Start - Catholic Community Services
Project: Design and implement a public relations event to be held in 2009.

Client: Mercy Corps Northwest
Project 1: Evaluate the range of options (including the costs and benefits) for establishing long term land access for immigrant and refugee farmers.
Project 2: Marketing plan for selling the curriculum and training of LIFE (Lifelong Learning and Information for Entrepreneurs) to correction departments, non-profits and other governmental agencies.

Client: Special Olympics
Project: Analyze fundraising strategies and ascertain the most advantageous and appropriate method for building long-term financial stability

Client: Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center
Project: Determine the managerial and leadership competencies needed for VGMHC managers and leaders, and develop a one year roadmap to ensure competencies are developed.


Your Link to What Students and Alumni Say about the Willamette MBA
Vault.com has again featured the Willamette MBA in its 2009 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.


Willamette MBA Receives Designated Chapter of the National Association of Women MBAs (NAWMBA)
Our Chapter of the Business Women's Forum recently became an affiliated student chapter of the National Association of Women MBAs (NAWMBA). The organization provides a national network of resources and is dedicated to enhancing the diversity of the nation's workforce. It is open to women and men. Willamette is the only University chapter in Oregon and will hold the only professional chapter in the Northwest.


Hot Topics and the Willamette MBA - Read the Latest Dean’s Report
Would you like to know how the Willamette MBA relates to the following topics? Check it out at http://www.willamette.edu/agsm/forum/downloads.htm

Beyond Individuals: Partnerships, Shared Resources, Ideas and Success
Beyond the Bottom Line: Business Savvy for the Greater Good
Beyond Dollars and Cents: Investing in People
Beyond the Basics: For Students Seeking Career Entry, Change or Advancement
Beyond the Expected: Empowering Managers to Reach the Next Level in Their Career


Internships – Summer 2008
Summer internships took Willamette MBA students around the globe -- from Portland…to…NewYork... to…Switzerland… to Saudi Arabia and Japan. Here are a few examples of internships from summer 08.

Raution Jaiswal. Raution worked a finance/verifying intern at Ashland Partners in Medford Oregon. Ashland Partners provides compliance consultation and verification services to 475 investment management firms all over the world As an intern, Raution worked directly with senior staff on verifications, special projects, and data entry. According to Raution, “The Ashland Partners' Internship Program provides the opportunity to learn about the money management industry and gain hands-on experience in a nontraditional accounting firm.”

Cheryl Berger: Cheryl worked an HR intern at the Oregon Department of Corrections in Salem, Oregon. Oregon’s Department of Corrections has a large human resources team who works with staff at 13 correctional centers around the state of Oregon. As an intern, Cheryl “collaborated between HR and Leadership positions to build a training and development program for persons who have been promoted to leadership/management positions but without any management experiences. This program teaches them how to hire, discipline and other HR soft type skills required for leader/managers.”

Josh Beatty: Josh spent 8 weeks as the Operations Manager of a small start-up non-profit organization based on rural and abandoned islands off the coast of Nagasaki Prefecture in far southwestern Japan. The mission of the organization is: 1) to preserve the history, culture and unique environment of the rural islands, and 2) provide training and new opportunities in educational and eco-tourism for the island's primarily elderly residents. This organization also works with other major educational and environmental travel facilitators with the hopes to bring even more people to the islands. Josh says "our long-term goal is to build an international baccalaureate high school affiliated with the United World Colleges which would be open to both local and international students." You can find out more about the organization at www.nagasaki-islands.org

Kristy Bolsinger: Kristy worked as a search engine marketing intern with Real Networks in Seattle, Washington. RealNetworks, Inc. is the creator of Real Play and “develops end-to-end solutions that allow everyone to create, send and receive audio, video and other multimedia services over the Internet.” Kristy’s worked on five projects including: “1) Copywriting: Writing both targeted paid search advertisements as well as writing targeted website copy. 2) Reporting: Using a variety of internal and external systems to pull performance reports and compile data on the performance of marketing efforts. 3) Research: Analysis of the competitive landscape to identify areas of opportunity. 4) Link building: Researching the interlinking of related websites and working with external sites and partners to create targeted links and content on 3rd party pages and 5) Specifications: Writing specification documents and working with designers on the design of web pages and micro sites.”

Benjamin Crop: Ben worked as development/communications intern at the Theatre Communications Group in New York, New York. TCG has over 475 member theatres nationwide and “seeks to increase the organizational efficiency of our member theatres, cultivate and celebrate the artistic talent and achievements of the field, and promote a larger public understanding of and appreciation for the theatre.” Ben says, “as a non-profit focused student this is a perfect match for me.” Ben was in charge of managing a national project at TCG called Free Night of Theatre and marketing it nationally. In addition, Ben was writing about $150,000 in grants with the guidance from the professionals at TCG.

Robin Peach: Robin worked as a financial analyst intern at Tektronix Inc in Beaverton, Oregon. Tektronix is a manufacturer of test, measurement and monitoring equipment for engineers around the world. Tektronix was recently acquired by Danaher Corporation.
Robin worked with the “forecasting and management reporting requirements, performing procedures to ensure compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley and assisting in projects to align historical finance and accounting practices with the new parent company.”

Debra Ringold Named First Recipient of the JELD-WEN Chair in Free Enterprise
Debra Ringold, dean and professor of marketing of the Atkinson Graduate School of Management at Willamette University, has been named as the first recipient of the JELD-WEN Chair in Free Enterprise .

The JELD-WEN Chair, funded by the JELD-WEN Foundation of Klamath Falls, Ore., was established to advance the study of free enterprise. The $2.5 million gift from JELD-WEN is the largest gift in history of the Atkinson Graduate School of Management.

“In her 14 years at Atkinson,” said Willamette University President M. Lee Pelton, “Debra has earned significant recognition for her exceptional teaching and research and for her leadership skills and community service. With the unanimous support of her colleagues at AGSM, she was the clear choice for this honor.”

Rod Wendt, president and chief executive officer of JELD-WEN Inc., said of the appointment, “Debra Ringold is recognized around the country for her outstanding work in public policy issues and their implications for target marketing, consumer beliefs about advertising, and health claims in advertising. Her work has focused on issues that have real consequences for consumers. We cannot think of a better choice for the JELD-WEN Chair in Free Enterprise.”


Teaching, Mentoring and Writing
In addition to being excellent teachers who are accessible to students, Willamette MBA faculty are researchers and writers. Here are a few recent publications of our faculty.

Elliot Maltz, Debra Ringold, and Fred Thompson published "Assessing Corporate Social Initiatives: a Tough-Minded, but Sympathetic, Approach to Corporate Social Responsibility" in the FSR Forum, 10/4 (June 2008) 20-26.

Elliot Maltz also recently co-authored the article "How Procurement Managers View Low Cost Countries and Geographies: A Perceptual Mapping Approach," which was published in Volume 38 Issue No. 3 of the International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management.

Ken Smith published an article on performance reporting by state agencies in the Summer 2008 Journal of Government Financial Management. Ken was also a guest blogger for the Association of Government Accountants. Read the blog here: http://aga.typepad.com/aga/2008/06/good-performanc.html

Robert Wiltbank published "Designing Organizations that Design Environments: Lessons from Entrepreneurial Expertise" in Organization Studies 2008 29: 331-350, with Saras D, Sarasvathy, Nicholas Dew, and Stuart Read.

Robert Wiltbank's angel investing research was quoted in the Business Week article "How Angel Investors Get Their Wings." Excerpt from the article: "What sort of return can an angel expect? There's that rate of return of about 27%, on average, a result reached by professor Robert Wiltbank of Willamette University and Warren Boeker of the University of Washington in a study of 539 angels from 86 groups in North America from 1990 to 2007. The return figure comes from 1,137 "exits" during this time period through mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, bankruptcies, and shut doors." Read it at http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_17/b4081112242665.htm.

Manohar Singh recently had a paper titled, “On Ineffective Corporate Governance: Director Busyness and Board Committee Memberships” accepted at the Journal of Banking and Finance. The paper looks at the relation between multiple board seats and corporate board committee assignments as a possible explanation for negative value consequence of board members’ excessive busyness.

Lisbeth Claus is the guest editor (with Prof. Dennis Briscoe) of a special issue on global performance management of the European Journal of International Management. Her article entitled, "Employee performance management in MNCs: reconciling the need for global integration and local responsiveness," appears in the journal (Vol. 2, No.2, 2008).

A paper entitled, “Employee Performance Management across Borders: A Review of Relevant Academic Literature,” by Lisbeth Claus and Dennis Briscoe will be published in the September 2008 issue of the International Journal of Management Reviews.

Fred Thompson published "State Fiscal Management: What Practitioners Can Learn from Risk Management Theory," Chapter 21 of Government Budget Forecasting: Theory and Practice (New York: Macmillan, 2008) 477-500. With Bruce Gates.


Facutly Write Articles for Practicing Managers in B2B Magazine
Want to know the best practices for keeping and motivating employees? Read Employee Retention - Best Practices in Keeping and Motivating Employees by Professor of Global Human Resources, Lisbeth Claus.

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

What to know about maximizing customer service? Read Maximizing Customer Service - Measure It and Manage It by Professor of Marketing, Elliot Maltz.

Interested in minimizing the cost of Fraud? Read Fraud Happens - How to Minimize the Cost by Professor of Accounting, Ken Smith.


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.


"An Uncertain World Offers New Opportunities for HR"
Lisbeth Claus prepared an invited article entitled, "An Uncertain World Offers New Opportunities for HR" for 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).


Students Present PACE 2007-08 Consulting and Entrepreneurship Results
The Willamette MBA PACE program provides students the experience of consulting for a not-for-profit organization and designing a new for-profit business venture. At the end of spring semester 2008, six MBA student teams from the entering class of 2008 presented their results, projects and recommendations to the PACE board of directors, guests, colleagues, faculty and staff. In-Demand Consulting ( PACE team 2 - pictured), swept the top honor for both their consulting project and their new venture. Read more.



Results of the First Student Video Contest
During spring semester 2008, Willamette MBA students were invited to submit entries for the first annual "Our Willamette MBA" video competition. Winners were determined by a composite score of audience voting and a panel of judges. Students and applicants are already making plans for next year's competition. View the winning video, Atkinson International by Filmmaker: John Rowe and Company on YouTube.


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.

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

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