Latest News: January 2005

Smeal College Students Begin Managing Unique $2 Million Investment Fund

Investors have placed more than $2.2 million into the hands of students at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business. With the launch of the Nittany Lion Fund, an investment portfolio designed to achieve long-term capital growth for investors, students are provided a learning experience that is as real as life in the financial-services sector.

Dirsmith Honored For Undergraduate Teaching

In honor of his commitment to higher education and contributions to undergraduate learning, Mark Dirsmith, the Deloitte & Touche Professor of Accounting at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, has been named as a recipient of Penn State’s George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Lin Named Distinguished Professor

Dennis K.J. Lin, professor of supply chain management and statistics at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, has been named a University Distinguished Professor in honor of his impressive record of research, teaching, and service.

RailAmerica’s Pagonis To Deliver Jacobs Retail Lecture

Distinguished Penn State alumnus William “Gus” Pagonis ’64, ’70 M.B.A., chairman of the Board of RailAmerica and a member of the Smeal College of Business Board of Visitors, will discuss leadership in the military and retail industry as part of the Melvin Jacobs Retail Leadership Lecture at 3 p.m. on Feb. 23 in the Nittany Lion Inn Ballroom. The event is free and open to the public.

Insurance Industry Panel Features Crocker

Keith Crocker, the William Elliott Chaired Professor of Insurance and Risk Management at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, recently joined a panel of insurance industry experts to talk about New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s investigation of commercial insurance brokers and the overall state of the industry.

Kumar Joins Editorial Board Of Leading Information Systems Journal

Akhil Kumar, professor of information systems at Penn State’s Smeal college of Business, has been invited to serve on the editorial board of Information Systems Research (ISR), one of the top journals in the field. During his three-year term, Kumar will be an associate editor.

New Leadership Program Provides Tailored Strategies To Public-Sector Professionals

Penn State Executive Programs at the Smeal College of Business has reconfigured two of its most successful and long-running education programs into one comprehensive offering designed for leaders in the public-service sector.

Gray Researches Interim CEOs During Sabbatical

Barbara Gray, professor of management at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business and director of the Center for Research in Conflict and Negotiation, has launched a research project on the role of interim CEOs in inducing strategic change as part of a recent sabbatical appointment at Tilburg University’s TIAS Business School in the Netherlands.

Smeal Op-Ed: Two Heads Can Be Better Than One

Most leaders will tell you that it's lonely at the top. The pressure is high, the stakes are huge, and the need to appear in charge is paramount. So it's not surprising that top execs feel out on a limb and out of the loop.

Accounting Professor Receives World Campus Honors

Robert Crum, associate professor of accounting at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, recently received two awards for outstanding teaching in recognition of his impact on Penn State’s World Campus distance education program.

Archived News Items

Have a News Item?

If you have a newsworthy event or announcement related to activities of the Smeal College of Business, please contact the Media Relations Department.