Working Professionals Graduate!

I can’t wait for my chance to enjoy this experience next year!

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The Wake Forest University Schools of Business Winston-Salem Evening MBA program’s Class of 2010 celebrated the end of their two years of hard work at a graduation ceremony on Friday evening. The 40 MBA graduates attended a reception and dinner at Forsyth Country Club, followed by an awards ceremony where they celebrated their accomplishments and recognized their peers and faculty.

“The class of 2010 is a great group of graduates. They’ve worked hard and will represent themselves, their employers and Wake Forest very well,” said Bill Davis, associate dean of the Working Professional Program. “For two years, they have balanced family, work and school to improve their knowledge and skills in a variety of areas, but most of all, they are becoming better managers and leaders as a result of their experience with us.”

Davis and Scott Shafer, senior associate dean for Graduate Business Programs, handed students their diplomas.
The students traveled from as far away as Raleigh, Davidson and Hickory to attend their evening classes at the Schools of Business. They represent companies that include BB&T Corp., RJ Reynolds, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Corp., Lowe’s, and B/E Aerospace.

Brian Patterson, who is currently the practice leader and administrative manager for SHDR Actuarial Services at BB&T, won the Leadership Award, as voted by his classmates. Patterson and four other students - Emilie Collins, Brian Kuebert, Jennifer Pearson and Brian Witz - were honored for academic excellence by graduating in the top 10% of the class.

Two faculty members also received the Outstanding Faculty Recognition Award, given by each MBA class for outstanding contributions to the educational and personal development of students. Derrick Boone, associate professor of marketing, was given the first-year award, and Dan Fogle, executive professor of strategy, received the second-year Faculty Recognition Award.

“It is always an honor and a humbling experience to receive a teaching award, because of the caliber of the teachers at Wake Forest University Schools of Business,” Boone said.

Fogel also commented on what an honor it was to be recognized by the students, and said that he believed the students would be very successful in their careers.

“I believe these students will thrive by being persistent and maintaining connections to those who have shared this educational experience with them,” Fogel said. “They will use their education to craft possibilities and maintain and create connections to attack important problems. So they will do well in various walks of life. It has been a privilege to be a part of their journey.”

The Wake Forest evening MBA program is designed for working professionals, managers, small business owners and entrepreneurs with strong job performance who want to advance into mid- and upper-level management. At least three years of full-time, postgraduate work experience is required as the program builds upon that professional career experience to sharpen students’ general management skills.

Understanding Investment Banking

The “Wake On Wall Street” alumni group and Dave Hanson (’05) are helping pave the road to Wall Street for Wake Forest University business students by sharing sage advice and strategies for securing internships and jobs in investment banking.

A standing room only group of 188 students packed into a classroom in Greene Hall on Aug. 30 to attend his “How to get a job in investment banking” session in conjunction with Wake On Wall Street, the Wake Forest Finance Club and University Career Services. Hanson is an associate at Deutsche Bank in New York City.

“You have to make your own opening,” Hanson told the group of undergraduate and graduate business students. “Sometimes people show you the door. Sometimes you need to open your own door. The door for me opened” when Wake Forest alum, Robert Gefaell (’96) “extended a hand.”

Hanson passionately described the opportunity in investment banking for graduates to gain a world class skill set and to work alongside dynamic, motivated people. He was upfront about 12-18 hour work days, meals at the office, cancelling vacations, and “basically cramming five years of a career into two years.” Hanson cautioned students who may be motivated primarily by compensation. “If you really don’t like finance, any compensation will pale in comparison to what you have to put into this role,” he said. However, he pointed out that investment banking is a meritocracy, and that hard work is recognized, encouraged, and rewarded.

An extremely strong work ethic, quantitative ability, intellectual curiosity, and excellent communication skills are essential for a job in investment banking, according to Hanson. He also said completing a relevant internship is crucial. “Consider them six to eight week interviews. The company interviews you in a real-world setting, and you get to evaluate whether the company is the right fit.”

Students attending the session learned about the structure of investment banks, banking titles, levels, and responsibilities, e-mail etiquette, interview preparation and how to appropriately connect with members of Wake Forest’s vast alumni network. “It is critical that you work with the University and do your own background work to develop a plan for how to prepare yourself for the right career path” emphasized Hanson.

“The presentation provided priceless information that I wish I had when I was a junior, because it offered a candid perspective, so students are not surprised further down the road ,” said Jay Warner (’11), co-president of the Wake Forest Finance Club.

Attendees left with a valuable list of hundreds of New York and Charlotte area alumni contacts working in finance related careers. They also received questions to help prepare for investment banking job interviews, courtesy of alumnus Ashley Larson (’03).

Wake On Wall Street is a network of alumni, parents and friends working to increase the awareness and brand value of Wake Forest University Schools of Business in the world of finance. The leadership team includes: Matt Hultquist (’01), Brian Lenker (’04), Dave Hanson (’05) and Bryant Schlichting (’06). The club recently expanded to Charlotte with the help of Matt Lindberg (‘02), Will Lloyd (‘04), Dan Niccum (‘04), Steve Hale (‘05), Matt Walters ('05), and Angela Damazyn (’07). The group can be found on Facebook and LinkedIn.

John Grisham on Campus

Here are some early pictures from today’s panel discussion on Innocence and Justice.

 

Weekly Events

The International Food Festival (IFF) is one of the most exciting and highly awaited events of the year. Organized by the International Students Association (ISA), this event is open to MBA, MA and MSA students.

This year, the IFF will be held on Friday, Sept. 17, at the Worrell Courtyard, from 5-7:30 pm. Come join your fellow students for a fun-filled evening and experience a wide variety of global cultures and cuisines. Have fun cooking with your team and enjoy delicacies from all over the world. Students, faculty and guests will cast their votes for the best dishes - the top three teams win exciting prizes!

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The Graduate Finance Club wanted to invite you to a presentation by Jim Dunn in Room 3209 on Sept. 15 at 4:30 pm. Come and learn from an experienced investment professional about effective strategies for investing, as well as hear his thoughts on the state of the economy and where he sees opportunities for growth in the near future.

Dunn is an excellent resource for students and, even if you are not preparing for a career in the financial industry, this is an outstanding opportunity to better understand the markets and gain tips on securing a great internship/job in this difficult hiring environment.

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The Museum of Anthropology’s annual exhibit, Dias de los Muertos (Days of the Dead), will open Sept. 14 and close Dec. 17 and will feature a traditional Mexican ofrenda: a home altar with sugar skulls, colorful tissue paper cutouts, food and beverage offerings, marigolds, and photos of deceased relatives to honor the dead. The exhibit includes a section focusing on traditional Mexican crafts associated with the celebration. A children’s ofrenda and a photo essay illustrating different aspects of the celebration will also be on display. This exhibit features text in English and Spanish.

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And further out… Get ready to Hit the Bricks, the official benefit event for the Brian Piccolo Cancer Drive, on Sept. 30. Teams of 7-15 participants will be competing against one another in a competition designed to raise both money and awareness for the fight against cancer.

The deadline to register for the event is Tuesday, Sept. 28 at noon. All registration is now online.

Rational Choice and Morality

The BB&T Center for the Study of Capitalism has lined up David Schmitz, Kendrick Professor of Philosophy, to lecture on "Humanly Rational Choice, and What It Has To Do With Being Moral" on Sept. 14 at 11 am in Kirby Hall.

Schmitz is also a joint professor of Economics and founding director of the Center for Philosophy of Freedom at the University of Arizona. He is a past president of the American Society for Value Inquiry. He serves on the board of BASIS High School in Tucson and collaborates with the Office for Economic Education at the Norton School of Family and Consumer Science at the University of Arizona. The most recent edition of the Philosophical Gourmet ranked Arizona tied for #1 globally (along with Harvard and New York University) in political philosophy. 

He is also the author of Rational Choice and Moral Agency (Princeton), Elements of Justice (Cambridge), Person, Polis, Planet (Oxford), and co-author of Social Welfare and Individual Responsibility (Cambridge) and A Brief History of Liberty (Blackwell). His essays have been reprinted over four dozen times (including Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, German, and Turkish translations) and his research has taken him to six continents and 27 countries.  Eleven of his former doctoral students all occupy faculty positions.

Registration is required and will be taken on a first come, first served basis. Free boxed lunches will be provided to students following the talk.

Get Involved: Club Activities Begin

I greatly enjoyed spending yesterday afternoon at the Wake Forest University Schools of Business Club Expo. In addition to getting a great roster of volunteers for the student blog, it was encouraging to see so many students involved in organizational activities such as the International Students Association, Finance Club and Graduate Christian Business Fellowship. Truly there is an organization or club tailored for every student this year!

It’s not too late to volunteer for the blog. If interested email me at paul.davis@mba.wfu.edu.

I am also going to post a few updates I have received on upcoming kick-off events for several clubs. Let me know if you have a club activity planned … I will do what I can to get the word out!

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Wake up and get ready to cheer on the demon deacons at the second tailgate of the year ... sponsored by the Marketing, Consulting and Accounting Clubs: Sat., Sept. 11, 10 am - noon at the BB&T Stadium Parking Lot.

Bojangle’s chicken & biscuits are sure to wake you up! Water, orange juice and soft drinks! Cornhole and other games!

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Wake Graduate Women in Business would like to welcome everyone to another great year! Please join us for the WGWIB Kickoff next Wed., Sept. 15. We will begin with a short meeting at 5 pm in Room 1102 followed by snacks, dessert, and drinks in the Worrell Courtyard from 5:30-6:30. Please feel free to stop by, grab a snack, mix and mingle with your fellow Wake Forest women!

WGWIB is committed to empowering female students through mentorship and social support, as well as helping female students gain the skills and training needed to successfully position themselves in the highly competitive workplace.

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Interested in joining the Strategy & Consulting Club, but missed us at the Club Fair? No worries. You can still come and join at our Kickoff Meeting, which will be held Tues., Sept. 14, from 3:30-4:30 pm in Room 1109. Faculty advisor Ram Baliga will give a brief introduction of the strategy and consulting field.

If you are interested in becoming a member, first year leader, or just want to learn more about a career in consulting or strategy, you won’t want to miss this meeting.

The Strategy & Consulting Club assists students in gaining employment within the strategy and consulting arenas by exposing club members to industry leaders, providing networking opportunities with alumni, professionals, and friends of the Schools of Business and increasing awareness of the quality of club members.

Embracing the Virtue or Patience

I recently heard a talk by Dieter Uchtdorf, former pilot and senior vice president of Lufthansa German Airlines and chairman of the Flight Operations Committee of the International Air Transport Association. He spoke about a patience, a value that in today's society is often neglected for immediate complacency. This talk was insightful and moving and I thought it would be appropriate to take a moment to summarize his thoughts and reflect on his words.

Our world consists of instant messaging, fast food, the one-minute button on the microwave, on-demand movies, and Google; an immense, impressive database of immediate answers to thousands of profound and trivial questions. How many of us have been in what we think is the shortest line of the grocery store, only to see the elderly gentleman at the front of the line pull out a checkbook. A checkbook?! At the grocery store? This is supposed to be an instant transaction of my money with your food via the quick sliding of plastic.

In the 1960’s a professor at Stanford University began a longitudinal study examining the willpower of four-year-old children. He placed one piece of candy before them, told them they could eat it right away or, if they waited 15 more minutes, they could have two pieces of candy. Only 30 percent of children could wait. As time went on the professor tracked the children. The children who could not wait struggled later in life and had more behavioral problems. Those that waited tended to be more positive and better motivated, had higher grades and incomes, and had healthier relationships.

Patience is a tolerance of delay; the state of endurance under difficult circumstances. It’s persevering in the face of provocation without acting on annoyance or anger. Patience, a purifying process, deepens happiness, focuses attention and refines our understanding. It requires actively working towards goals without getting discouraged when results are not instantaneous.

Patience is active waiting and enduring, not passive resignation or failing to act because of our fears. It’s staying with something to the end, delaying immediate gratification and doing all that we can even when our desires are delayed. Patience is accepting what we cannot change and facing it with grace, faith and courage.

Without patience it’s difficult for us to learn the lessons that life throws at us; we are not able to mature and we are selfish. With patience we have self-control, waste less time and make better decisions. We acknowledge the present - we start being rather than becoming.

The next time you find yourself pressing the elevator button more than once, step back and reflect on how you are embracing the virtue of patience.

~ Courtesy of the CMC newsletter