September 2007
Welcome to the Smeal Zine!
Here's the latest issue of SMEAL Zine, a monthly electronic magazine designed to keep alumni and friends in touch with the latest news and information from Penn State's Smeal College of Business and its nationally ranked programs and world-renowned research centers.
Linda Trevino, Franklin H. Cook Fellow in Business Ethics
Linda Trevino, Franklin H. Cook Fellow in Business Ethics, has been elected as a fellow of the Academy of Management, a leading professional organization for scholars in the field of management and organization. The academy's Fellows Group recognizes and honors members of the Academy of Management who have made significant contributions to the science and practice of management, and provides opportunities for fellowship and a forum for discussion. Trevi?±o, who also directs Smeal's Shoemaker Program in Business Ethics and is a professor of organizational behavior, has been on the Smeal faculty since 1987. She is an expert in the management of ethical conduct in organizations and has published more than 60 journal articles.
September 2007
College Welcomes New Undergraduate And MBA Students
New classes of MBA, executive MBA, and undergraduate students arrived on campus last month to begin their respective programs. The Smeal MBA class of 2009 is made up of 87 men and women from around the world, including international students from Bangladesh, China, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Serbia, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. The new Executive MBA class consists of 53 students from Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Virginia. The Smeal undergraduate class of 2011 is made up of 793 students, bringing the college's total undergraduate enrollment to more than 5,600 students. This year's freshman class consists of students from 28 different countries and about 25 states and the District of Columbia. For more on these new Smeal students, visit http://www.smeal.psu.edu/news/releases/aug07/newyear.html.
Smeal Launches College-Wide Academic Integrity Initiative
A new academic honor code, designed to foster a culture of honesty, integrity, and accountability across the entire Smeal community, is launching this academic year for undergraduate students at the college. The academic integrity initiative at Smeal began in the college's MBA program as a partnership among students, faculty, and alumni to integrate integrity and responsibility as foundational elements of the Smeal MBA experience. Undergraduate students at Smeal will begin to experience the college's enhanced focus on academic integrity beginning with the fall 2007 semester. New measures include additional in-class discussion of the Smeal Honor Code and its implications and greater student participation in violation investigations. For more information on the Smeal Honor Code, visit http://www.smeal.psu.edu/honor.
Study: Auto Loans For American-Made Cars More Likely To Default
New research co-authored by a Smeal professor could change the way banks assign interest rates to auto loans based on the make of the car being financed. In a forthcoming book chapter, Brent Ambrose, professor of real estate, and his co-authors find that the probability that borrowers will default on their auto loans is affected by the type of car that is financed. Loans secured for European cars and Japanese cars are 50 percent and 56 percent, respectively, less likely to default than loans on American cars. The authors looked at the performance of 6,996 auto loans from January 1998 to March 2003. Their results also show that loans on European cars are the least likely to be prepaid, followed by loans for Japanese makes. For more on this research, visit http://www.smeal.psu.edu/news/releases/aug07/ambrose.html.
Alumni Association Affiliates With New York Princeton Club
Through a new affiliation with the Princeton Club of New York, Penn State Alumni Association members and University faculty and staff will be eligible to join the club as associate members. For Penn Staters who live in or near the city, or those who travel there from time to time, this affiliation provides a "home away from home" in midtown Manhattan. Located at 15 W. 43rd St., the Princeton Club is minutes away from Grand Central Station, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Fifth Avenue shopping, and the Theatre District. The facility offers 50 well-appointed hotel rooms at reasonable rates for members as well as a fully equipped fitness center, a 10,000 volume library, and a business center. For more details, visit http://www.princetonclub.com/pennstatealumni.
Best-Selling Business Author And Executive Coach To Speak At Smeal
Best-selling business author and leading executive coach Marshall Goldsmith will be a guest speaker at Smeal in October as part of an executive coaching program hosted by Penn State Executive Programs. Goldsmith, author of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal best seller What Got You Here Won't Get You There and recognized by Fast Company as "the world's top executive coach," will deliver a lecture on Oct. 17 at the Nittany Lion Inn. His talk, which highlights What Got You Here Won't Get You There, begins at 4:30 p.m. and is open to the public. Goldsmith will share some of the 20 habits that keep successful people from becoming even more successful and cause rising stars in leadership to reach a plateau without knowing what's holding them back. For complete details and registration information, visit http://www.smeal.psu.edu/news/releases/aug07/goldsmth.html
Executive MBA Program Announces Information Sessions For Class Of 2010 Candidates
The Smeal Executive MBA Program, administered in Philadelphia on alternating weekends, is now accepting applications for the class of 2010, which will be begin the program in August 2008. Several information sessions have been scheduled for the coming months for individuals who would like to learn more about the program. Sessions are planned for Boston, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Richmond, and Washington, D.C. Open houses will also be held in Philadelphia for individuals who would like a first-hand look at the program. Designed to help managers and professionals develop as leaders, the Smeal EMBA Program offers an intimate learning community with courses taught by faculty from the University Park campus. For more information on the Smeal EMBA Program or to register for an information session, visit http://www.smeal.psu.edu/execmba/events.
Smeal Retains Top Ten Public Ranking In U.S. News
Smeal is ranked 10th among public business schools and 18th overall, unchanged from last year, in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings of undergraduate business programs. The magazine also ranks specialty programs, or majors, offered by the nation's business schools. Smeal's Supply Chain Management degree program is ranked fifth in the nation overall by the magazine. The college's Finance program jumped five spots to 15th overall in the United States and the Management program went up one spot to 11th. Other Smeal specialty program rankings by the magazine include Accounting (21st overall) and Marketing (20th overall). For more details, visit http://www.smeal.psu.edu/news/releases/aug07/usnrank.html.
Spychalski Retires After 39 Years At Smeal
John Spychalski, professor emeritus of supply chain management, recently retired from Smeal after serving on the college's faculty for nearly 40 years. Spychalski came to Smeal in 1968 as an associate professor after serving as assistant professor of transportation at the University of Maryland. In 1973, he was promoted to professor, and he served as chair of the Department of Business Logistics, now the Department of Supply Chain and Information Systems, from 1982 to 1998. In his retirement, Spychalski will continue to support Smeal and the Supply Chain and Information Systems program voluntarily as an adviser for Schreyer Scholars, Marine Corps Fellows, and Beta Gamma Sigma members. For more on Spychalski's career at Smeal, visit http://www.smeal.psu.edu/news/releases/aug07/spyclski.html.
Members of the Smeal College faculty are contacted regularly by the world's news media. In August, faculty members were featured in media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and Agence France Presse. Additionally, Smeal MBA student Jason Munson appeared on CNBC's "Fast Money." For a complete list, please visit http://www.smeal.psu.edu/news/innews/index.html.
Programs and Events
Penn State Executive Programs is currently accepting reservations for its upcoming programs. Please visit http://www.smeal.psu.edu/psep/date.html for more information or click the links below for some of the specific programs being offered.
October 14-19
Executive Management Program, Week 1
http://www.smeal.psu.edu/psep/emp.html
October 21-26
Strategy & Leadership: Aligning Organizations for Performance
http://www.smeal.psu.edu/psep/lwi.html
November 4-9
B-to-B Marketing: Strategies for Driving Growth and Profit
http://www.smeal.psu.edu/psep/msbm.html
