Professional Business Fraternity Named the University’s Best For 5th Time

Economic Student “Pitches” his Macroeconomics Paper, Takes 3rd ; Former Economic Student Pitches Way into Major Leagues

Marketing Class Works with Target on “Real World” Experience

BGSU’s Student Marketing Chapter Named One of the Best Worldwide

Mock Trial Team Finishes in Top 10 in the Country

College Textbooks Bound for Kenya; Student Book Drive Earns Award

Society of Entrepreneurs Plans Annual Spring Fundraiser

Students Develop Supply Chain Solutions for Area Company’s Operations

BGSU’s Mock Trial Team Captures 1st Place at Regional Competition; Advances to Nationals

APICS Student Team Captures 1st Place in Regional Competition; Two 3rd Place Finishes

Human Resources Student Chapter Achieved Success in 2007

BGSU Students Headed for National Sales Competition

Marketing Plans for Owens Corning’s Newest Product Being Developed by MBA Students

APICS Student Chapter Puts Their Education to Practice

Supply Chain Students Analyze Inventory at Buckeye Cable Systems

Students Gain Excellent Insight into International Banking Operations

FEI Awards Go to Top Accounting and Finance Students

National Award Goes to Executives Nominated by BGSU APICS Chapter

Economics Student Recognized Nationally for Achievements

Student Management Organization Achieves Gold Award

Fall 2007 Student Newsletter

Professional Business Fraternity Named the University’s Best For 5th Time

The College of Business Administration is proud to announce that Delta Sigma Pi, our professional business fraternity, has been recognized as BGSU’s Most Outstanding Organization for the 2007-08 academic year. This is the fifth consecutive year the chapter has been awarded this distinct honor.

Faculty adviser, Dr. Jane Chang, says, “I am truly proud of their achievements. They are really an asset to the College, the University, and the community.”

Economic Student “Pitches” his Macroeconomics Paper, Takes 3rd ; Former Economic Student Pitches Way into Major Leagues

A current BGSU economics student has been recognized for his academic writing success, while a Falcon alum, who specialized in economics, has become successful pitching in Major League Baseball.

Brendan Keep, a BGSU junior, won third place in the Macroeconomics Division of the 2008 Undergraduate Economics Student Paper Contest. Applicants presented their papers at the annual Undergraduate Economics Conference which was held at BGSU in April. The top three winners in the microeconomics and macroeconomics categories received cash prices.

Meanwhile, a graduate of the College of Business Administration, Burke Badenhop, was called up from the minors and is pitching for the Florida Marlins. Badenhop, a stand-out for the BGSU Falcons, stepped in as a relief pitcher in his first Major League debut, pitching five plus innings. In that game against Washington, he pitched a scoreless ninth inning. Badenhop has since started as pitcher for the Marlins and has earned his first major league win.

Marketing Class Works with Target on “Real World” Experience

Marketing students found out what it was like to work as a consulting team for a major corporate retailer. Students from Dr. Jingyun Zhang’s class of Retail Management were involved in a case study competition for Target. The top four teams made presentations to representatives from the major discount retailer who came to campus. The winning team selected by Target received $3,000 worth of scholarships ($750 per team member).

The winning team members included:

• Hailey Kolman
• Stephanie Tanner
• Ashley Williams
• Alix Zuberbuhler

According to Dr. Zhang, assistant professor of marketing, “It has been a great learning experience for my students. They can apply directly what they have learned in the class (this is a retail management class) in a real-world situation (with a well-known retailer-Target). Many students have said to me that they really enjoyed the experience and felt that they have learned a lot from this competition.”

 Thanks are extended to Target for its support and congratulations go to Dr. Zhang and to all of her marketing students!

BGSU’s Student Marketing Chapter Named One of the Best Worldwide

Exciting news comes from the College of Business Administration’s marketing department! BGSU’s student chapter of the American Marketing Association (BGAMA) was recently named as one of the most outstanding chapters worldwide.

This award places the BGAMA as one of the top 16 chapters, representing the elite top 5% of chapters in the world.   This is a tremendous honor for BGSU to be home to one of the most prestigious chapters. Credit for this honor goes to the many outstanding BGAMA members who have worked so diligently this past year to make all events and activities a fulfillment of the chapter’s mission.

The mission of the BGAMA is to professionally prepare all members for post-graduation through the development of leadership, communications, creativity, problem-solving skills, and marketing knowledge by combining academics with real-world experiences. With an active membership of 120 students and numerous dedicated faculty members, BGAMA has had tremendous growth and opportunity.

Noted accomplishments this past academic year include the launch of two new projects: the first annual BGAMA Sales Competition, with the help of the BGSU Marketing Department as well as the initiation of the first networking reception for BGAMA members and sponsors.  Another accomplishment was a strong collaboration between the BGSU College of Business Administration and the marketing department to obtain corporate sponsorships for BGAMA and also to provide numerous scholarships for marketing students.

The BGAMA officers are grateful, not only to the support from the chapter’s general membership, but also to the dedication of its executive board and, Dr. Earl Boatwright, faculty advisor, along with support from the College and University.

With such a strong and positive ending to a great academic year, BGAMA is excited to start planning for the 2008-2009 academic year. With a new executive board already preparing for next year, the BGAMA is ready to reach new heights and implement new and creative ways to fulfill its mission.

Congratulations to BGAMA! The College is proud of your accomplishments!

Mock Trial Team Finishes in Top 10 in the Country

Another student organization from BGSU has had outstanding success competing against some of the best colleges in the country. The University’s Mock Trial Team finished in 8th place in the nation, after losing only to Maryland, the eventual National Champion. The BGSU team defeated some of the top schools such as Yale, Virginia, Stanford, Wisconsin, Columbia, Cornell, Northwestern, USC, Air Force Academy, Georgetown, UCLA, and Berkeley.

Dr. M. Neil Browne, Senior Scholar and Distinguished Teaching Professor, Emeritus, economics department, is the team’s advisor. “Except for three veterans, all members of the BGSU team were participating in Mock Trial for the first time this year.  Hence, their achievement is all the more impressive in that, in almost all instances, the top 30 teams are comprised of very veteran performers.”

He adds, “The BGSU students are quite aware of the uphill struggle they face against some of the best students at schools such as these. Consequently, they feel all the more positive about their experience and BGSU.”

Allison Smith, a BGSU student, was one of the ten All-American attorneys chosen from the 3000 participating attorneys. 

This is an outstanding achievement for the Mock Trial Team and its advisor!

College Textbooks Bound for Kenya; Student Book Drive Earns Award

It was a bigger success than we had hope for! That describes the sentiment of Beta Alpha Psi (BAP) members after collecting business textbooks to send to Kenya, Africa.  According to Phil Schurrer, BAP advisor and instructor in the accounting and MIS department, 703 pounds of new and used business books were recently collected as a community service project for the national honorary accounting organization.

BAP members recently presented the books to Kamau Mbuthia, a BGSU instructor in biological sciences, whose home is Kenya and who has contacts there to receive the book shipment. Mbuthia was very grateful for the BGSU students’ efforts. He said it was “a pleasure and honor to receive these books” on behalf of the Kenyan business and CPA students. “This demonstrates the BGSU goodwill to Kenya.”  Mbuthia indicated that the books would be sent to the Open Center for Distance Education in Nairobi.

Not only was BAP responsible for collecting the books, but members also worked to raise money to pay for the cost of shipping. They found out they needed to raise more money than expected because of the drive’s overwhelming success of collecting more books than originally planned.

According to Schurrer, the cost of shipping the 18 boxes of books is expected to reach approximately $2,800. So far, BAP has raised a little over $300, while recipients in Kenya have pledged $500. The organization is still looking for donations to help pay for shipping.

Meanwhile, BAP’s textbook community service project recently earned the student chapter an Honorable Mention at the Midwest Regional Meeting in Chicago. The students’ presentation was entitled “Making a Difference in an Economically–Distressed Community.” BGSU’s chapter competed against 14 other school projects to be recognized for its accomplishments.

Society of Entrepreneurs Plans Annual Spring Fundraiser

By getting into the “Spring” spirit, you can help the Society of Entrepreneurs (SOE) and bring cheer to faculty, staff, and students. SOE will be holding its Annual Spring Fundraiser this month by selling potted green plants, stemmed flowers, and flower bulbs. “Customers” can either preorder their flower or plant or buy them at a table set up in the Student Union on April 23, 24, and 25 from 9:00 am-2:00 pm.

Brochures, with an order form, will be sent to all faculty and staff members’ mailboxes the week of April 14. For those who would rather select their own plants or flowers, they can go to the Union on one those three days and pay with cash, check, or credit card.

This fundraiser will help the entrepreneurial students plan activities throughout the school year. The next activity is a trip to Jungle Jim’s International Market.

Bring that Spring spirit to a deserving person and help out the students of SOE at the same time!

Students Develop Supply Chain Solutions for Area Company’s Operations

Engaging with the business community is a priority objective for the College of Business Administration and experiential learning is also helpful when students get to work on “real business world” projects that have value.

This spring the management (MGMT) 449 class conducted a project for John Deere and its parts supplier, Defiance Metal Products.  Each student team had to develop the value stream map and to analyze the manufacturing critical path/cycle time for a specific product that Defiance Metal Product produces for John Deere.  The groups completed their assignments and recently made presentations in front of a representative from John Deere and three representatives from Defiance Metal Products.

The eight teams were commended by John Deere and Defiance Metal Products for the work they did.  Defiance Metal Products indicated that they plan to implement many of the suggestions that the teams made in their presentations. 

Two teams were identified as having the best overall projects.

1st Place for the John Deere VSM/MCT Project: 

• Missy Feltz 
• Matt Kohs 
• Chris Kinison
• Chris Hoover

2nd Place for the John Deere VSM/MCT Project: 

• Anthony Colarusso 
• Kevin Durrough 
• Megan Frame 
• Travis Owens

We congratulate the supply chain management graduating seniors for the outstanding job that they did on their projects as selected by John Deere and Defiance Metal Products.

BGSU’s Mock Trial Team Captures 1st Place at Regional Competition; Advances to Nationals

BGSU’s Mock Trial Teams have worked hard to become more competitive at regional tournaments. In the past five years, a University team has finished in the top six at the regional level.

This year the hard work has paid off with a BGSU team capturing first place at regional competition and a second University team finishing high enough at regionals that both teams will compete nationally. Only a small percentage of the 700 collegiate teams that compete get to advance to the national level.

Not only did the BGSU students perform well as teams, but according to Dr. Neil Browne, a Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus of economics and the teams’ advisor, a number of individual awards at the recent regional tournament were given to BGSU students for their outstanding performances.

Read more about their recent success in BGSU’s Monitor.

APICS Student Team Captures 1st Place in Regional Competition; Two 3rd Place Finishes

Three teams from BGSU/University of Toledo student chapter of APICS (Association for Operations Management) excelled at the Great Lakes District Case Competition. Out of 22 teams that competed at the regional competition in Chicago, one of our teams took first place and two teams tied for third.

The winning team consisted of seven BGSU undergraduate students, six of whom were new to the competition.  They included:

First Place:  BGSU Team
David Howard                              Dave Foley
Darcy Manjabosco Filho            Craig Good
Darren DeMange                        Amanda Braddock
Kyle Chesser

Pictured here are the winning team members

Tied for Third:  BGSU Team
Silvia Morales                              Josie Miller
Chris Hoover                               Chris Daigneault
Chris Dvorak                                Chris Francks
Bernardo Aguiar                          Igor Nemirovskiy

Tied for Third: UT/BGSU Combined Team
Seth Ream                                   David Daly  (UT)
Tank Ozel                                     Andrew Bohman (UT)
Ryan Szabo                                  Mathew Koester (UT)

The first place team will compete against the best college teams in the nation in Kansas City. Advisor for the local student APICS chapter is Ms. Karen Eboch, management department.  According to Eboch, “This just reinforces the quality of our program, organizations, and co-op/internships at BGSU that make our students some of the best.” She gives thanks to the Department of Management, BGSU OCA, and the Toledo APICS for help and support.

Congratulations to all of our teams and their advisor for an excellent job! Good luck at the national competition!

Human Resources Student Chapter Achieved Success in 2007

The student chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has once again earned the National Merit Award. There were 118 entries from more than 400 student chapters. Ms. Kristine Hoover, an instructor in the management department, serves as the chapter advisor and says, “Our chapter should be very proud of this accomplishment!”

Much of the professional development for students occurs through the ongoing partnership and support of TAHRA, the Toledo Area Human Resource Association. TAHRA recognized the quality of our HR student Patrica Young by awarding her the TAHRA Scholarship in April. Our 2007 Student Relations Chair, Phyllis Cole, worked diligently to provide leadership and help with recruiting efforts throughout the year.

In other notable activities, five SHRM students at BGSU prepared to take the 2007 Professional in Human Resources Certification exam.

BGSU Students Headed for National Sales Competition

Two University students will face the country’s top sales students when they compete in the National Collegiate Sales Competition in March at Kennesaw State University in Georgia.  Aaron Kent and Erin Stockdale were the top two finishers of the sales competition held by BGSU’s marketing department in conjunction with the American Marketing Association student chapter.   Aaron is a business student specializing in marketing and Erin is minoring in marketing. Third place went to business student John Waynick. 

Students interested in participating in the University contest first submitted an application, résumé, and letter of interest.  From there ten finalists were selected and given a buyer profile as well as company information from Marathon Petroleum Company, the premier business sponsor.  Those 10 finalists performed a sales-call role-play with a buyer from Marathon.  Those role-plays were recorded onto a DVD which was sent to all of the corporate sponsor s- Marathon, Medtronics, Daymark, Aerotek, and Libbey.  They judged the role-plays and sent back evaluation forms.  From there the top three scorers were identified and each received a cash prize.  

The first- and second-place winners advance to national competition.  AMA student chapter advisor, Ms. Christine Seiler, marketing department, will accompany the two BGSU students to Georgia.

We wish Aaron and Erin good luck at Nationals!

Marketing Plans for Owens Corning’s Newest Product Being Developed by MBA Students

Traditional student learning occurs by reading textbooks and listening to lectures in class. But one innovative approach to learning being implemented today is called service learning, where students benefit from learning strategies that involve collaboration on real-world community projects.

Owens Corning, the world’s leading innovator of glass fiber technology, is working with two  Bowling Green State University MBA classes to develop  marketing plans for Owens Corning’s newest foam board. One class is working on “seeding” the market on the West Coast in anticipation of Owens Corning’s newest foam board plant that is opening near Portland, Oregon, in 2009. The other MBA class is creating marketing plans for new applications of the foam board.

Marketing plans from the graduate students will be submitted to Owens Corning the first part of April and formal presentations will be made to its management personnel during the week of April 21.

Both the students and the community organization benefit from this kind of real-world collaborative experience.

APICS Student Chapter Puts Their Education to Practice
Written By:  Amanda Braddock, APICS Student Chapter President

Learning something is great, but putting it to practice is where the real trial comes.  These “real trials” are sometimes hard to facilitate outside of an internship, co-op, or full-time job.  The answer to this dilemma is cases, and better yet, case competitions.  In the past several years, APICS International has organized District Case Competitions around the country for undergraduate and graduate students.  Students form teams of 2 to 12 people and spend approximately 12 hours (overnight) analyzing the case they are given and preparing a short paper and PowerPoint. 

Last February a team of 6 BGSU and 2 University of Toledo undergraduate students traveled to the Regional Competition in Chicago and took second place out of 20 teams.  They took second only behind a team of master’s and doctorate students.  No one on the BG/UT team had ever been to the event before.  

The experience was unforgettable, allowing the students to take away knowledge about the latest supply chain management practices and make professional connections from around the world.  BGSU also had four students selected to attend the conference as APICS Scholars.  They were given the same benefits of networking and learning, and were on hand to cheer the case competition team to a third place finish.

I relay this to you since the APICS Student Chapter at BGSU prepares to take a team, maybe two teams, to Chicago in February.  Some of us are returning members and some students will be attending for the first time.  We look forward to the event and hope to maintain the high standard we have set. 

Thank you to the faculty and instructors in the Department of Management and throughout the College of Business Administration.  You continue to assist our students in being the best. 

APICS team in Denver at a black tie dinner:  Front row: Eric Tulenson ( GT Technologies, BGSU alumni, & CBA Board of Advocates member) Erin Barranco (UT student), Amanda Braddock, Katy Noel,(BGSU students), Karen Eboch (Management Department, Chapter Advisor)and Seth Ream (BGSU student).

Back Row: Chris Hoover, Craig Good, (BGSU students),Chad Wilcox (UT), David Howard, Eric Conley (BGSU students), and Sean Kelsey (St. Cloud State University, MN)

Supply Chain Students Analyze Inventory at Buckeye Cable Systems

During the fall semester, Dr. Hokey Min, the James R. Good Chair in Global Strategy, and a team of students from his course, Logistics Management for Supply Chains, completed an exciting project with Buckeye Cable Systems (BCS). During the last 30 years, BCS has grown dramatically! Now, with over 150, 000 customers and a range of products including cable, broadband Internet access, residential telephone, and video on demand, BCS's
inventory system needed updating.

BGSU students devised ways to improve the utilization of existing space by improving the layout, and identified improvements in material handling and inventory control. Recommendations for both short and long-term changes were presented to BCS's management at
the conclusion of the project.

The team of student consultants included: Nathan Anderson, Jessica Donnell, David Howard, Xeniah Magosi, Tankut Ozel, Seth Ream, Kevin Seman, and David Verbsky.

Students Gain Excellent Insight into International Banking Operations

Student members of BGSU’s International Business Association obtained a first-hand tour of Key Bank’s Foreign Exchange Floor and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. BGSU Alum, David Nuske, vice president of international banking division at Key Bank, guided the group through various areas of the foreign exchange trading floor, helping students learn more about operations from specialists in those sections. 

David Renta, senior manager of foreign exchange sales, described how the bank mitigates their risk when trading and what are some of the methods used to forecast market trends in making lucrative gains.

After the Key Bank tour, Nuske took the group to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland to learn more about its operations. The students learned about the historical aspects of the bank and how it maintains America’s currency. There are different ways the bank regulates the notes that go into circulation and protects the Federal Reserve from different risks.

According to Man Zhang, advisor to BGSU’s IBA, “The tours were a great experience and a beneficial learning experience. Thanks to everyone at Key Bank and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland for making the trip a great one!”

FEI Awards Go to Top Accounting and Finance Students

Several BGSU accounting and finance students were recognized for their excellence at the annual Student Awards Night dinner for the Toledo Chapter of the Financial Executives International (FEI).  The Chapter honors the top senior undergraduate and graduate students in accounting and finance from several local colleges and universities. 

For the finance specialization at BGSU, students are nominated for the award for their strong academic performance.  The winner of the FEI award for the finance specialization is Curtis Farnsel.  In addition to his strong academic performance, Farnsel has been captain of the BGSU Men's Cross Country team for the past two years, currently serves as the President of Beta Alpha Psi (the national accounting honorary society), has been the cross country team's representative to the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, and has served as treasurer and president of the BGSU Men's Track Club.  In addition, Farnsel has found time to mentor junior high school students and be a tutor to students at BGSU in introductory accounting. 

The other finance students nominated included Sara Saldana, Stephanie Lorentz, Brian Martens, Scott Vaughan and Cory Duran. 

On the accounting side, the graduate student receiving the FEI award is Matt Bauer. The undergraduate winner for accounting is Sarah Boron. Both of these students excelled academically and were nominated by BGSU accounting faculty.

Congratulations to these students on their outstanding achievements!

Pictured from left to right are Dr. Dan Klein, chair of finance, Curtis Farnsel, Matt Bauer, and Dr. Alan Lord, professor of accounting. Not pictured: Sarah Boron.

National Award Goes to Executives Nominated by BGSU APICS Chapter

Co-recipients of the 2007 APICS National Student Chapter Mentor Award are two Toledo area executives who were nominated by the BGSU student chapter of APICS (The Association for Operations Management). The winners, Mike Wheatley, Toledo APICS Chairman of the Board, and Bruce Brechin, Toledo APICS Chapter President, will travel to Denver in October for the APICS International Conference to accept this prestigious mentor award. Supply chain management professionals, academics, and students from around the world will attend the international conference.

The award honors the two mentors for their “demonstrated commitment to the APICS Toledo chapter, steadfast leadership in the APICS community, and dedication to the APICS student chapter at Bowling Green State University.” In addition, the two will be profiled in the APICS international magazine as well as on the APICS Web site (www.APICS.org).

The BGSU student chapter of APICS has been recognized as a Gold Award Level chapter for their student chapter management program, with Ms. Karen Eboch, management department, as their adviser.

Economics Student Recognized Nationally for Achievements

One of the College’s economics students was recognized nationally for her academic and leadership performance. Anna Glett, who graduated from BGSU in May, was one of five students to receive a Gold Key for 2007 from Omicron Delta Epsilon, the International Economics Honorary.  This competitive process accepts nominations from ODE chapters across the nation. The selection criteria includes leadership activities and scholarship.

Glett, an economics major with a math concentration and minor in Russian, has been recognized nationally before. She took the top honor in the National Post-Secondary Russian Essay Contest during her junior year at BGSU.

Student Management Organization Achieves Gold Award

The BGSU student chapter of the Association for Operations Management (APICS) excelled once again as it achieved a Gold Merit Award for programs and activities during the 2006-2007 academic year. This is the second consecutive year the BGSU chapter has attained this prestigious recognition.

Chapters submit an application outlining their accomplishments and are evaluated through five criteria:

• Administration (budgets, planning) 
• Education (professional development)
• Programs (factory tours, internships) 
• Membership (recruitment)
• Public Relations (promotion)

A Gold ranking must be obtained in all five areas to achieve the top rating.

With more than 170 student chapters throughout North America, BGSU’s chapter was one of nine chapters to achieve the Gold Merit Award during the 2005-2006 academic year.  The chapter will find out in October how it ranked in 2006-07 compared to other chapters.

Two of the highlights for the BGSU student chapter this year include taking first place at the chapter level of the Donald W. Fogarty International Student Paper Competition and the BGSU-University of Toledo APICS team placing 2nd in the regional Student Case Competition. Six team members will now compete nationally in October during the APICS International Conference and Exhibition in Denver.

Ms. Karen Eboch, lecturer in the management department, is the BGSU student chapter advisor. The campus chapter has approximately 45 student members.

Congratulations to the APICS students and Ms. Eboch for another exceptional year!