Latest News: May 2009

Commencement Speaker Urges Grads To Transform Business

More than 1,200 members of the Smeal College of Business class of 2009 received their degrees on May 17. Shelly Lazarus, chair of the advertising, marketing, and public relations agency Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, addressed the graduates and received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

Smeal Professor Awarded Fulbright Research Chair

Daniel Cahoy, associate professor of business law at Penn State's Smeal College of Business, has been selected to receive a Fulbright award to study how different governments reconcile conflicts between human rights and intellectual property law.

Seven Smeal Students Selected For Penn State's Inaugural Presidential Leadership Academy

Seven outstanding Smeal College of Business students have been selected to be among the 30 Penn State students who will make up the inaugural class of the University's newly formed Presidential Leadership Academy, a leadership development program established through a $5 million gift to the University from alumni Edward R. and Helen S. Hintz.

Faculty Member's Book Positions Human Resources As Organizational Success Agent

A recent book coauthored by Maria Taylor, director for learning solutions for Penn State Executive Programs, identifies ways for human resources professionals to drive organizational change by capitalizing on HR’s unique position to discover opportunities for competitive advantage through the lens of people.

Marketing Class Competition Winners Earn Professional Leadership Coaching

Smeal College of Business Marketing Instructor Carolyn Todd recently presented 20 students on the winning teams in her semester-long case competition project with a unique and valuable prize: a complete leadership personality profile that identifies their leadership strengths as well as areas to improve upon, plus a one-hour "debriefing session" with an experienced professional development consultant on how to use their leadership skills to their advantage in their new careers.

Smeal's Garber VC Fund Invests In Two Companies

The MBA student-managed Garber Venture Capital Fund at Penn State's Smeal College of Business closed two investments during the spring 2009 semester. The first is in the form of a Promissory Convertible Note for $75,000 made to INDIGO Biosciences Inc. The fund also invested $150,000 in HireVue Inc. alongside Peterson Ventures in a Series "A" Round of Preferred Stock.

Startup Software Company Wins Smeal's IdeaPitch Entrepreneurship Competition

A startup business founded by a Ph.D. student in Penn State's Eberly College of Science won first place and $2,000 in the second annual IdeaPitch competition hosted by the Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Smeal College of Business.

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