.:
What do you know about entrepreneurs?
According to Dr. Alan Carsrud, director of the Global
Entrepreneurship Center and clinical professor of management, research in the field of entrepreneurship has shifted in the last twenty years
from studying the personality characteristics of entrepreneurs (e.g. whether or not they have risk-taking personalities) to identifying
the characteristics of successful start-up firms.
"We now know, based on the literature, that successful
research scientists and academics have the same personality traits as successful entrepreneurs," Carsrud said. "We also know that
entrepreneurs are not any less risk-adverse than other professionals, like artists or medical doctors." Among other recent findings: that
successful entrepreneurs are embedded in complex social networks that contribute highly to their success and that the inter-relatedness
of those networks may predict the success of their firms.
The current hot research topic in entrepreneurship,
Carsrud said, is on the cognitions or thinking processes of these individuals.
"We know that the intention to start a
firm-regardless of its focus- is a critical thought process for finding opportunities in the environment," Carsrud said. "Researchers are
looking into the cognitive maps (unwritten business plans) that entrepreneurs have in their heads that can lead to either the success
or failure of a new venture."
.: Chapter enlists volunteers for a special "day in the park."
The Business Alumni Chapter invites anyone interested-particularly those who like sports, picnic games, and kids-to a memorable day in the park on April 17th. Chapter members are busy preparing an afternoon of fun-filled activities for refugee youth and young adults from the Unaccompanied Refugee Minors program. The Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Program is a state program that provides foster care to refugee youth who enter the U.S. and who do not have a parent or legal guardian to care for them. At the Program's center, children learn the skills they need to become self-sufficient adults in the community.
The Business Alumni Chapter is looking for volunteers to help bring smiles to these young people's faces, from 12:30 to 5:00 p.m., at the Program's park--11400 SW 137th Avenue. Anyone interested in participating in this wonderful event should click here or call the Chapter's Community Service Chairman Nelson Vallin (BBA '99) at 786-443-6528.
.: Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Terremark Worldwide, Inc., to speak on April 22nd.
The Business Alumni Chapter, in conjunction with Terremark Worldwide, Inc., will be hosting a very special event on April 22, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Network Access Point (NAP) of the Americas facilities, located at 50 N.E. 9th Street in Miami. Manuel Medina, chairman and chief executive officer of Terremark Worldwide, will be the featured speaker, with a cocktail reception and tour of the NAP to follow his remarks. Medina founded Terremark in 1980 and has transformed the company into the finest designer, builder, and operator of integrated Tier-1 Network Access Points and best-in-class data centers.
To RSVP for the event, click here.
.: Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame Luncheon to be held May 13th.
Alumni seeking to reconnect with each other will have a tremendous opportunity to do that and more at the 2004 Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Luncheon, scheduled for May 13, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Parrot Jungle Island. It is the College's largest alumni event of the year. Established in 1999, the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame event honors College alumni and other area entrepreneurs who are founders and builders of successful business enterprises.
The Hall of Fame event is the perfect opportunity to unite with old friends and develop new business contacts. To RSVP for this event, click here or e-mail catoggio@fiu.edu for more details.
-
Gabriel Bustamante (BBA '78), managing director of RSM McGladrey, Inc., was highlighted in Miami Today (week of Thursday, March 18th) in "The Newsmaker" profile.
-
Jeanne A. Becker (BBA '80), president of Becker Consulting Services, Inc., has been appointed to the board of directors of The South Florida Interactive Marketing Association.
|
 |
.: U.S. News ranks Chapman School in Top 25 for international business.
 U.S. News & World Report's Americas Best Graduate Schools 2005 (April 12, 2004), which ranks graduate programs in business, education, engineering, law, and medicine, listed Florida International University (the Chapman Graduate School) for the first time among the Top 25 in the "Specialty Ranking--International Business" category. Since the Specialty Rankings are based solely on ratings by educators at peer schools (business school deans and program heads, who nominate up to 10 programs for excellence in each field listed), our achieving this list suggests that our communication efforts over the last five years to attain national recognition for and build our reputation on our expertise in international business are beginning to show results.
.: College's students stand up among the best.
Students in the College got a chance to show off their business acumen in the 2004 Johnson & Johnson Business Case Competition last month. Teams of from five to seven students, primarily in finance, accounting, and marketing, were given the challenge of developing and launching the first bariatric product for Surgical Innovation, a multinational medical device company based in Austin, Texas. Team members worked together to answer the case question by performing an in-depth financial and marketing analysis, and teams competed against each other in a presentation format in front of faculty and corporate judges. The FIU Accounting Association team took the prize with its impressive showing. Johnson & Johnson donated $2,000 in their names to the College.
From left, Thomas Casares, Miguel Martinez, Ana Perez, Julius Nunez, Ana Garcia-the FIU Accounting Association's winning team.
The team will be traveling to New Brunswick, New Jersey for the national round of the competition to be held April 14th and 15th, when they will compete against winning teams from other schools from around the country.
On another note, in late March, students in the College's Chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) attended the 26th Annual International Collegiate Conference. During the event, our College's Chapter was awarded "Top Regional Chapter," placing it at Number One in the South (out of 75 chapters) and in the Top Four (out of 300 chapters) nationally. Among the accomplishments that helped the College's Chapter earn these honors were its ability to maintain a membership of 150 students, its hosting of thirteen professional recruitment seminars, its having raised more than $12,000 to subsidize attendance at the Conference for 22 members, its having participated in eight community service programs during the year, and its having enhanced its Web site.
.: Meet the next generation of entrepreneurs.
On May 1 and May 8, members of the university and business communities (and anyone else interested) will have the chance to attend the "Oral Presentation" phase of the Howard J. Leonhardt New Venture Challenge, a business plan competition for budding student entrepreneurs. The presentations on both days begin at 9 a.m. at University Park, MARC Building, Rooms 115 and 125.
Competing in the Preliminary Round on May 1 will be up to 16 FIU teams which judges have selected as the best based on the written plans they submitted in April. Each team will be given 15 minutes to present its plan to the panel of judges (entrepreneurs, consultants, venture capitalists) and 10 minutes to respond to questions from the panel. Because judges will have reviewed the written plans before the day of this Preliminary Round, they will provide feedback to teams on both their written plans and oral presentations. At the end of the day, judges will select no more than 8 FIU teams to move to the Final Oral Competition Round on May 8, where they will compete against 8 teams from international partnering schools entered in the Challenge. Although the judges will select the winning teams following the Oral Competition on May 8th, the winners won't be announced until May 13--at the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Luncheon.
Don't miss the opportunity to catch these students in action; call 305-348-2587 or e-mail crouchc@fiu.edu if you plan to attend.
.: College launches new programs on wealth management.
The College's Office of Professional Education recently launched a new series of Wealth Management education programs that includes Managing your 401(K) Professional Education Program, Mutual Fund Investing Professional Education Program, Retirement and Estate Planning Professional Education Program and Strategic Wealth and Money Management Professional Program.
The launch coincided with the Office's co-hosting on April 6 of a presentation by Dan Iannicola, Jr., deputy assistant secretary for financial education at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The talk, entitled "The Importance of Financial Education in Preparing Americans to Make Informed Financial Decisions," springs from the Treasury's new Office of Financial Education's mission of ensuring that Americans have access to financial education programs that help them obtain practical knowledge and skills to make informed financial choices throughout their lives.
To learn more about the College's professional education offerings, visit http://ope.fiu.edu.
|
