Spring brings much activity to School of Business

The snow is beginning to melt on Mount Oread, and the School of Business is in the middle of one of its busiest semesters yet. 

School hosts academics, executives at China conference

Stephen Chipman, Grant Thornton LLP CEO, delivers China conference keynote

Just last week we hosted top executives and academics at our international business conference, “China Emerged: Rethinking Your Global Strategy,” at KU Edwards Campus. The day-long event covered key issues facing global companies and their strategies in, and doing business with, China. We were honored to welcome Grant Thornton LLP CEO Stephen Chipman as the conference keynote, and we featured a rock star list of panelists, including AMC Theatres CEO Gerry Lopez, INVISTA CEO Jeff Gentry and a representative from the US-China Business Council. Be sure to peruse our Facebook page for photos from the conference.

KU alumnus brings Nobel laureate to campus

KU alumnus David Booth and Nobel laureate Robert C. Merton

Last month, we welcomed Nobel laureate Robert C. Merton to campus for a Bold Aspirations lecture. He was joined by KU alumnus David Booth, who presented a response to his talk on financial innovation and the future of retirement investments. Even Governor Brownback was present to learn more from this world-famous financial economist. We’ve posted photo highlights from Merton’s lecture online.

As you can see, we’re hosting a number of exciting, enriching events this semester, and the next few months will prove to be even busier. Many of these opportunities are only possible because of KU’s passionate alumni network, for which I am so grateful and humbled, and their commitment to the School of Business and its students. Thank you for all you do in making the KU School of Business a great place to learn.

Rock Chalk,
Neeli

Neeli Bendapudi
Dean, KU School of Business

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Snow days don't slow down everyone
While most students slept in on the morning of the Thursday snow day, the students in business professor Murray Levin’s class were in their seats, or sitting in their beds, at 9:30. Levin decided to conduct his Legal Aspects of the Management Process class online when KU closed campus because of the weather. Read more.

Snow days don't slow down everyone

While most students slept in on the morning of the Thursday snow day, the students in business professor Murray Levin’s class were in their seats, or sitting in their beds, at 9:30. Levin decided to conduct his Legal Aspects of the Management Process class online when KU closed campus because of the weather. He ended up doing the same thing on Tuesday, as well. Levin is teaching another class this semester, which is completely online, and said he likes some of the advantages it provides, such as not worrying about the weather.

“I immediately thought I could easily carry that over to my other traditional classroom-based lecture,” Levin said, “and the downtime for me and for my students could be turned into productive time.”

Accounting senior Abbey Estrada, like most of the students, was surprised when she found out the classes weren’t cancelled. Even though they were online, she said she didn’t feel like she missed out on anything because of that.

“Although it was a little disappointing, I’m glad we were able to stay on track,” Estrada said. “It was also better having class online so I could stay in my pajamas.”

Staying on track meant taking the test as scheduled this week and not cutting anything out of the lesson plans. Levin said he saw continuing with the original schedule as an advantage to the students, who could possibly be facing new and perhaps compacted schedules in other classes.

“I can understand not wanting to cut course content,” said Michael Virgo, a graduate student in accounting. “A lot of people in the class will eventually take the CPA exam and need to learn all of it.”

There were no major technical malfunctions and overall, the students said they were just as ready for the exam as they would have been without the snow days.