Isenberg News

Start Them Up: Inside Berthiaume Center’s Summer Accelerator with five promising ventures

October 16, 2018

It’s a steamy Friday afternoon in early June, and the window air conditioner in the third-floor conference room in Bartlett Hall is working furiously to provide relief to the handful of students gathered around a large meeting table. The setting is unmistakably a university classroom in summer, but once Birton Cowden begins to speak, it becomes immediately clear that this is anything but a typical college course.

Isenberg's Innovative New Building

September 25, 2018

Meet the new star of UMass Amherst’s campus, and the result of finding the answers to those questions, the Business Innovation Hub. Designed by the Boston architectural firm Goody Clancy and the Bjarke Ingles Group (BIG) of New York and Copenhagen, the circular building’s most striking design feature is the series of three-story-tall, copper-clad fins that create a vertical lattice for the glass outer wall. Along with their dynamic look, the slats function as a way to allow natural light in without overheating the building.

Isenberg Marketing Students Combat Distracted Driving

September 19, 2018

Distracted driving is decisively the leading cause of auto accidents among teens, emphasize Isenberg marketing students Emma Townsend ’18 and Kyle Pandiscio ’18. In June, the Isenberg duo placed first in a national competition to design a billboard that discourages texting while driving. Now in its 7th year, the Project Yellow Light scholarship competition offers anti-texting design contests in three categories—TV, radio, and billboard public service announcements. “'You beat out 1,600 designs,' a contest official told us,” recalls Kyle, whose billboard with Emma depicts a sky-view grid of three unoccupied parking spaces, and a fourth occupied by a car-sized cell phone.

Business Leaders Share Their Keys to Success

September 14, 2018

On August 29, at the UMass Club high above Boston Common, David O’Leary ’81 MBA convened the 2018 MBA Keys to Success panel discussion after drinks and dinner. The event was the celebratory end of a three-day Boot Camp for first-year MBA candidates, in which the students learned career-building skills while getting to know each other. Along with several supportive second-years, alumni, and faculty, the first-years engaged with moderator David and the panelists on subjects ranging from job searching and interviews to Ford’s recent decision to stop manufacturing almost all of their sedans.

New Leadership Joins Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship

September 05, 2018

Interim Dean Tom Moliterno announced two new directors for the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship on September 4. Gregory S. Thomas (left), a proven leader with diverse experience in corporate America, has been named the center’s new executive director. Stephen Brand (right), who has taught entrepreneurship at colleges and universities across the country, will serve as the new associate director.

Profile in Philanthropy: Brian Tino ‘11

August 21, 2018

“My overriding aim in supporting Isenberg is to build and strengthen the community, especially among students,” says Isenberg finance grad Brian Tino ’11. To that end, Brian has partnered with former Isenberg undergraduate dean Carol Barr to create the Barr/Tino Leadership Scholarship. The award recognizes exceptional student leadership at Isenberg. In making that commitment, Brian found a role model in UMass Amherst alumnus Peter Bloom ’78. “I was one of the first three recipients of Peter’s scholarship, which honored our track & cross country coach, Kenneth O’Brien,” Brian recalls.

Profile in Philanthropy: John Micalizzi ’94

August 17, 2018

“A number of things in my life have special meaning, special resonance. For me, Isenberg and UMass are among them,” notes Isenberg accounting grad John Micalizzi ’94. As Human Resource Leader with the Boston office of accounting firm RSM, John has catalyzed two substantial gifts of $150,000 and $100,000 to Isenberg from its alumni at RSM and the RSM Foundation.

Isenberg Grads Pitch Careers in Accounting

August 16, 2018

“I don’t have the stories that Jeff has,” remarked EY partner and New England recruitment leader Jason Janoff ’93. “I may be fun to listen to, but Jason is more important to you,” countered Jason’s former classmate and special agent in charge of the FBI’s Chicago office, Jeff Sallet ’93. With the aplomb and timing of a seasoned Saturday Night Live comedy duo, the former Isenberg classmates made an incontestable case for accounting as a professional destination. The venue was Cathy Lowry’s Introduction to Accounting class, and the students couldn’t get enough of Sallet and Janoff’s positive message.

Alumnus William Hubbard, Tokio-Marine HCC Endow Sport Management Internship Awards Fund

July 31, 2018

Sport management Alumnus Bill Hubbard, in conjunction with Tokio-Marine HCC, has established an endowed fund with a $1 million gift that will provide financial support to McCormack Department of Sport Management students who participate in internships within the sport and entertainment industry.

The Year in Great Ideas: A Look Back at the 2017-18 Innovation Challenge

July 30, 2018

Hosted each school year by the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship, the Innovation Challenge is a series of four entrepreneurial competitions that replicates the process of developing and pitching a winning business venture. From the opening Minute Pitch event in the fall through the high-stakes Final round in the spring, teams have the opportunity to refine and improve their business plans and messaging, and to win thousands of dollars in seed money — thanks to sponsors Ernst & Young, The Heiser Family, Norman “Bud” Robertson, Kumar Ganapathy, Jeff Glassman, Darn It! and John & Sally Burke — to help make their ideas a reality. October 25, 2017: The Minute Pitch The venue: Amherst Room, Campus Center The prize: $2,500, awarded to the top three teams and the audience choice

Professor Baker Honored with Lilly Fellowship

July 09, 2018

Melissa Baker, an assistant professor in Isenberg’s Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, is recipient of a 2018-19 Lilly Fellowship. The nationally competitive fellowships foster teaching excellence through pedagogy workshops and seminars, course development and redesign, third-party assessment of teaching skills, and other resources. The Institute for Teaching Excellence & Development has awarded the fellowships since 1986.

Annual Isenberg Banquet Celebrates Driven Alumni

July 05, 2018

“UMass Amherst and Isenberg are now investment grade,” remarked Edward D. Shirley ’78, principal honoree at Isenberg’s annual Business Leadership Awards gathering on June 14. “When Mark Fuller became dean in 2009, he developed a strong aspirational team culture with the faculty that will live beyond [him],” Ed told his audience of 450 alumni, students, and faculty at the Colonnade Hotel in Boston. Isenberg’s rebranding as a “driven” community was a powerful catalyst in its rise to national prominence, Ed continued.

Case Competitions Drive Business Ethics at Isenberg

July 02, 2018

In April, a team of five Isenberg undergraduates won first place in the annual International Business Ethics Case (IBECC) competition’s main undergraduate event. This year’s three-day competition, at the Marriott Copley Place Hotel in Boston, attracted 28 undergraduate teams from five countries. (Graduate programs also vied in their own division. An Isenberg MBA team placed second in a 90-second competition in that division.) For the main undergraduate event, each team devised its own case topic for legal, financial, and ethical dissection.

Past Innovation Challenge Winner Continues Growth, Receives Funding

June 21, 2018

Aclarity, LLC has recently been awarded additional funding via the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) Catalyst grant program, the 2018 Valley Venture Mentors (VVM) Accelerator and the National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research (NSF SBIR) grant program.

Senior Profile: Erin Messier

June 12, 2018

I will definitely miss the community of Isenberg because of the incredible faculty, staff, and Deans who truly care about students and who help those students succeed starting on 'Day One'.

Walking the Tightrope of Social Media: An MBA Grad from Dell Shares Insights

June 01, 2018

Thom Lytle ’07 MBA, Senior Director of Social Business and Digital Marketing with Dell, spoke to Isenberg’s full-time MBA students to share his insights on the importance of aligning social media practices with a company's marketing strategy.

Isenberg Professors Honored for Teaching and Research

May 31, 2018

Isenberg Professors Albert Assaf, Nefertiti Walker, Sean Wandrei, Fousseni Chabi-Yo, Bruce Skaggs and Matthew Linn were honored for their outstanding teaching and research.

Isenberg Graduation Celebrations Launch Students on Exciting Career Paths

May 18, 2018

The 2018 Isenberg graduation celebrations were held on May 12th at the Mullins Center before an audience of 1,200 graduating seniors and their 6,500 family members and friends. Dean Fuller gave his farewell address at the event which was MC'ed by William Brown, the new undergraduate dean. One day prior, on May 11th, 630 Isenberg graduate candidates received degrees in a campus-wide commencement ceremony for graduate students.

Nagurney Named OMEGA RHO Keynote Speaker

May 16, 2018

John F. Smith Memorial Professor Anna Nagurney of Isenberg's operations & information department, has been selected as the OMEGA RHO Keynote Speaker at the annual INFORMS conference this November with her Plenary: Networks to Save the World: OR in Action. The OMEGA RHO Distinguished Lecture on Operations Research and Management Science is among the most prestigious series of lectures in the world and have been presented as a plenary at ORSA/TIMS and INFORMS Meetings since 1983. Previous speakers include Deans at Wharton and MIT and two Nobel Prize winners.

Isenberg Brings New Leadership to Online Education

May 09, 2018

Linda Enghagen was appointed Isenberg’s Associate Dean of Graduate and Professional Programs on January 1, 2018. She will now lead Isenberg’s dynamic Online/Part-Time MBA program, the school’s full-time MBA program, and a new Master of Science in Business & Analytics program. Her predecessor, John D. Wells, is now UMass Amherst’s Senior Vice Provost for Online Education.

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