$30 Million Gift from Robert H. Smith ’50 to University of Maryland Part of Largest Gift in University History

"Nations are defended on the battlefields but they are built in the classroom," says Robert H. Smith at the State House in Annapolis, MD.

The University of Maryland announced gifts totaling $60 million, including $30 million from real estate developer Robert H. Smith, an alumnus and benefactor of the Robert H. Smith School of Business, on February 4, 2005. Smith’s gift will support students, faculty and academic programs in the Smith School, as well as the university’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.

The Smith School was named in honor of Smith in 1998, when he provided an endowment of $15 million, the school’s largest gift ever. Smith received his degree in accounting from the business school in 1950 and has been a continuous and active supporter of the school, providing an additional $3 million in 2003, among other contributions. Since Smith’s naming gift, the school’s stature and size have undergone a dramatic transformation with the addition of world-class research centers, top-flight faculty and increased student quality.

► Read more about the gift.
► See Smith’s presentation speech from the press conference in streaming video.

Business Ethics Speaker Series - Paul Cadrario, World Bank

On Wednesday, February 9, 2005 a diverse cross-section of the Smith community gathered to hear Paul Cadario from The World Bank discuss his views on Leadership, Ethics, and Compliance in an Era of Conflict. Cadario began by asking the audience, made up of undergraduates, graduate students and faculty to share their own ethical dilemmas with their neighbors. The twist was to discuss a situation in which one had handled an ethical dilemma well. Cadario then discussed common ethical and leadership issues in today’s world, focusing on the idea that one needs to be a moral person as well as a moral manager in order to truly have a lasting impact. Creating and balancing trust in corporate and personal relationships, he stated, were the foundation of successful organizations. Conflicts of interest, managerial reluctance to use discipline to enforce appropriate behavior, and role modeling proper behaviors were outlined as key issues in organizations everywhere, including in corporate America. Cadario gave examples of such instances around the world in his engagements with The World Bank, and talked about how doing the right thing, in the right way has sustained the Bank’s ability to build and maintain relationships in all regions of the globe.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) was another topic discussed by Cadario – in particular, its role in reshaping organizational compliance. As part of an ongoing speaker series with The World Bank, Cadario put into perspective the changing role of CSR, citing organizations that have excelled at compliance in this area, and giving other examples of corporate social responsibility without added value. In parting, Cadario offered several lessons learned to the future leaders, focusing on morality in business and building organizations that can be run by average human beings for lasting value. He also fielded questions from the audience, ranging from multinational corporate behavior in underprivileged countries to specific situations where The World Bank has withdrawn or reduced support due to instability in the region.

Cadario is currently the senior manager for trust fund quality assurance and compliance within The World Bank. He has been there since 1975, beginning in the Western Africa Regional Office, then moving to the Asia/East Asia and Pacific Regional Office. Cadario has also served as operations advisor for the Network/Operations Policy and Country Services area and as chief administrative officer for the Europe and Central Asia region. Cadario has a masters in organizational development from American University, a BA in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford University, and a B.A.Sc in civil engineering from the University of Toronto.

For further information about the topic of leadership, ethics and compliance, Cadario recommended the following articles and books on which he had drawn for his presentation:

• Bakan, J. (2004) The corporation: The pathological pursuit of profit and power. Toronto: Penguin.
• Dunphy, D., Benveniste, J. & Griffiths, A. (2000) Sustainability: The corporate challenge of the 21st century. London: Allen & Unwin.
• Gunn, R. (2004) The Normalization of Deviance. Strategic Finance (85), 11, 8-9.
• Lipman-Blumen, Jean. (2004) The allure of toxic leaders: Why we follow destructive bosses and corrupt politicians--and how we can survive them. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Martin, R. (2002) The responsibility virus: How control freaks, shrinking violets--and the rest of us--can harness the power of true partnership. New York: Basic Books.
• McLean, B, & Elkind, P. (2003) The smartest guys in the room: The amazing rise and scandalous fall of Enron. New York: Penguin.
• Tapscott, D. & Ticoll, D. (2004) The naked corporation: How the age of transparency will revolutionize business. New York: Free Press.
• The Economist (2005). The good company: A survey of corporate social responsibility. January 22, 2005
• Treviño, L., Hartman, L., & Brown, M. (2000) Moral person and moral manager: How executives develop a reputation for ethical leadership. California Management Review (42), 4, 128-142.

Upcoming Ethics Lecture Series Events:

When Ethics and Employment Clash
2/17/05 5:30 -7 p.m., Frank Auditorium, 1524 VMH
Former Fannie Mae accounting manager, Roger L. Barnes, made claims that  bolstered an SEC investigation of the mortgage giant. Their investigation found the company violated accounting rules, forcing it to restate earnings for the last three and a half years. This coming Thursday, Mr. Barnes will engage us in a discussion about the moral responsibility of doing the right thing. [Read more about the investigation]

$$$For What Profit$$$/Prisoners Insight to the Bottom Line of Living on the Ethical Edge, 2/24/05 5:30 to 7 p.m., Frank Auditorium, 1524 VMH
Wrapping up the Ethics Lectures Series will be Alfred and Joan Porro, both lawyers, who were convicted on fraud and tax charges that put the couple behind bars for a number of years. Prosecutors accused them of using their law firm to charm and then cheat clients. The Porros will discuss the ramifications of white collar crime and what makes a business person do the wrong thing. [Read more about the Porro's case]

National Survey by Center for Excellence in Service Finds 22.9 Million Hours a Week Wasted on Spam

Spam’s price tag now reaches $21.58 billion annually in lost productivity according to the results of the 2004 National Technology Readiness Survey (NTRS). Findings from the 2004 NTRS, an annual survey that tracks U.S. consumers’ technology opinions and behaviors, indicate that online users in the United States spend an average of three minutes deleting spam each day they check e-mail. Aggregating their usage across the 169.4 million online adults in the United States, this equals 22.9 million hours a week, or $21.58 billion annually when based on the average working wage.

The study was produced by the Center for Excellence in Service at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and Rockbridge Associates, Inc.

“We all know that spam is a nuisance, but this allows us to assign a real value to what it is costing U.S. society,” said Roland Rust, director of the Center for Excellence in Service. “A $1 billion solution doesn’t sound so outrageous in the shadow of a $22 billion-a-year problem.” [ Read more about the NTRS Survey]

Smith School Students Testify Before Maryland Senate
Finance Committee

Smith students, Sparkle Douglas, Christina Nichols, Mary Byrd, and Eduardo Mihura, had an exciting, and possibly unprecedented, opportunity to participate in state legislature when they and their faculty advisor, Charles Olson, teaching professor of logistics, business and public policy, presented research findings from a PEPCO group field project (GFP) to the Maryland Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, Feb. 15.

The students presented findings that addressed legislation (SB-39) allowing municipalities within Maryland to enact a practice called “opt-out” – aggregating and acting as the retail electricity provider for all residential and small business customers within their jurisdictions. Under the proposed legislation customers would automatically be switched to municipal service unless they actively rejected it.

The students’ analysis included visits to two states that had already instituted similar programs as well as interviews with public officials, state consumer advocates, state utility commissioners and staff.

“It is enormously exciting and a huge honor for the students’ research to be held in such serious regard and value before the members of the finance committee,” said Olson. “What a wonderful testimony to the quality of our students.”

The group field projects are part of Smith’s MBA Consulting Program, which offers second-year students a chance to step into the business world as active participants. Working under the direct supervision of a faculty member, MBA students spend a semester helping clients solve complex business problems and explore new initiatives. The arrangement is “a win-win situation,” with students getting valuable industry experience before graduation and companies benefiting from the up-to-date business knowledge and fresh ideas of Smith School MBAs.

Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship Provides Hook & Ladder Brewing Company 10K in Start-up Funding

The Smith School's Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship announced that it has invested $10,000 in start-up funding to Hook & Ladder Brewery, a student-run business founded by second-year Smith MBA student Matthew Fleischer. The investment is part of the seed stage funding the center makes available to student-run, start-up companies.

The Dingman Center, a nationally-recognized, leading entrepreneurial center, assists students and regional entrepreneurs with expertise, resources and funding. As part of the center’s mission in nurturing regional entrepreneurship, students are eligible to compete for $50,000 of seed stage funding per year. Investment is determined on a case-by-case basis with a maximum investment of $10,000.

“This seed funding provides a great opportunity for students to take the required steps towards becoming successful entrepreneurs,” said Asher Epstein, managing director of the Dingman Center. “Too often people associate entrepreneurs with the Bill Gates of the world and that can be intimidating. The Dingman Center is singular in its commitment to providing entrepreneurs with the tools they need and in recognizing entrepreneurship as a key driver of the global economy.”

Fleischer founded the brewery with his brother in 1999 after a year of successful experimentation. Hook & Ladder won a Gold Medal at the 2001 Great American Beer Festival, the beer industry’s equivalent to an Academy Award. As a result the beer has successfully been distributed in select parts of California, Florida, and the Washington, D.C., area. The funding from the Dingman Center will enable Fleischer to focus greater expansion in the DC metro area.

“Growth is good and so is success, but each brings its own set of challenges to a small business,” said Fleischer. “Access to the Dingman Center’s mentors, funding and resources has put me in a stronger position to navigate building on a winning formula.”

The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, is one of the first and leading entrepreneurial centers in the nation. The Dingman Center has facilitated, supported and guided entrepreneurs in the Mid-Atlantic region since 1986. More information about the Dingman Center can be found at www.rhsmith.umd.edu/dingman.

Technology@Smith

eSmith Portal

Better Compatibility with Firewalls! We’ve upgraded eSmith's Windows Applications to work better with very restrictive corporate firewalls. People who previously had trouble connecting, particularly from office environments, should now have no problems. You may notice that the first application launched might take about one second longer to start up than it did previously, due to the extra network setup. After launch, though, programs will run as quickly as they did before.

New Applications for Spring! The much requested SAS is now available under Statistics! Also new are MarkStrat Online and the Queuing Toolkit!

Fed up with Spam?

We realize the problem of spam has been growing significantly. We have initiated a 60-day pilot for a new spam utility. The first 30 days included a trial within Smith IT (1/5 – 1/26) and the second 30 days will extend to 50+ Smith community members (2/2-2/23).

We are evaluating three areas:

• Message Center Usability (how easy is it to use without training?)
• False/Positives in Quarantine (how many e-mails were caught as spam but were not spam?)
• Decrease in Spam (have users seen a significant decrease in spam?)

The expected rollout of this utility is March 6, pending adequate evaluation results.

Blackberry not synching correctly?

You may have noticed that your read and unread marks don't sync properly on your device. We are aware of the issue but unfortunately it is a technical limitation. We will be upgrading our existing BES server to a new release over the Spring Semester, which will resolve the known issues.

E-mail Tip of the Month

Have you ever deleted an e-mail by mistake and needed to retrieve it back, immediately? By setting your e-mail deletion preferences, your mailbox can hold deleted emails for up to two weeks AND allow you to retrieve them back, immediately.

How to set your preferences:

• Open your Mail and Click Tools > Preferences.
• Under “Soft Delete” change 48 to 336 (This will set the soft delete for two weeks instead of two days)
• Click “OK”

How to Restore a deleted email:

• Open the TRASH folder
• Click on a message and click the “Restore” button

Note:

• To restore multiple messages, highlight the messages you want to restore and click “Restore”
• To restore all the messages, click “Restore All”

Reminder:

You can also find a detailed review of this email tip in our online tutorial: http://bmgt3-notes.umd.edu/mentor_notes/GMLN65XX.NSF

Top Executives To Visit Smith for Maryland Tech Council’s CIO Series

The Smith School will welcome top executives to the Technology Council of Maryland's "CIO Series" on February 23. The CIO Series, produced in partnership with the TechExec Forum, is designed to bring together CIOs from local organizations to share best practices and address issues of the day that face the technology community. It is targeted at business-people, IT professionals, students, and IT suppliers.

Speaking on the importance of the event, Filomena Thompson, director of IT and advanced technology networks at the Technology Council of Maryland, says, “This series will give business people in attendance a chance to have their questions addressed by the CIOs, will provide a great networking opportunity for students and IT suppliers and all attendants will gain insight into the marketplace, future trends, employment, and development opportunities.”

The event will be in a panel discussion format and will feature four area CIOs including: Ira Hobbs, CIO of the Department of Treasury; Gloria Parker, CTO of HUD; Leslie Bower, CIO of Radio One; and Barry Smith, CIO of Merkel.

The event will be held in Van Munching Hall’s Executive Dining Room on Wednesday, Feb. 23, from 7:30 – 9:30 a.m. The event is free for students. [Register online now]

Women’s Leadership Conference on Friday, March 4
Sponsored by the Smith Association of Women MBAs and Bank of America

In celebration of Women’s History Month, the Smith Association of Women MBAs (formerly known as the Graduate Women in Business or GWIB) is excited to announce their marquee event – the Women’s Leadership Conference. The event, which will be held on March 4, will bring together full-time and part-time students at Smith, as well as alumni and industry professionals from the D.C. area. The keynote address will be given by Cynthia Flanders ’82, MBA ’88 senior vice president, commercial market executive, Bank of America, and a member of the Smith Alumni Chapter’s Board of Directors. There will also be three discussion panels led by distinguished women from organizations such as Marriott, UBS, Discovery, the Calvert Foundation, Accenture and many more. A networking lunch will follow, and the afternoon will also include a class led by Joyce Russell, professor of management and organization, on “Salary Negotiation Tips and Strategies for Women.”

Tickets for this exciting event are $5 and will be on sale from February 21 to March 1. The Smith Association of Women MBAs strongly encourages their female classmates to take advantage of this unique opportunity to meet other fabulous women and hear their success stories.

Smith School in the News

Results from this year’s National Technology Readiness Survey, produced by the Smith School’s Center for Excellence in Service and Rockbridge Associates, Inc., made hundreds of headlines worldwide. Articles on the survey’s findings about spam and quoting Roland Rust, director of the Center for Excellence in Service, included a widely-distributed story from Associated Press (2/2) that appeared as a front-page technology story on CNN.com (2/3), a mention on the front page of USA Today’s Money section (2/4), a story in The Washington Post (2/4), and radio interviews that played in several major markets nationally. Rust was also widely quoted as a marketing expert in an Associated Press (2/5) article on a local radio station’s switch to a new format, and an Associated Press (2/7) article that focused on new, longer advertising. Robert H. Smith’s $30 million donation to the university and the Smith School made front-page news in The (Baltimore) Sun (2/4), and was extensively covered in regional news outlets including the local NBC affiliate (2/3) and The Washington Post (2/4). David Kirsch, assistant professor of entrepreneurship, was quoted as an expert on Internet-based business models in a BusinessWeek online (2/3) story about online ticket resellers. Peter Morici, professor of international business, was quoted as an economic and trade expert in articles that appeared in Bloomberg (2/3), Investor’s Business Daily (2/4), WSJ.com (2/4, 2/10), Los Angeles Times (2/10), The New York Times and other leading business news outlets.

For more Smith School media highlights and links to articles, visit Smith School in the News.

Recent Alumni Flourish in Game Business

Cluzzle® -- a comical game of clay puzzles where players outwit their friends through bad sculpting, tricky questions, and insightful guessing -- is the flagship product of North Star Games LLC, which was founded by Dominic Crapuchettes and Satish Pillalamarri in the summer of 2003. Dominic and Satish both graduated from the full-time Smith MBA program in May 2004 with concentrations in entrepreneurship and finance.

Cluzzle’s hilarious concept is to reward players for being good at making bad sculptures. That’s right, your intentionally poor sculptures will not only get extra points, but the laughter they inspire will be remembered for years to come! Cluzzle can be bought at the Smith Store or at www.toysrus.com.

Their next release, Trivia Casino®, will be available in late April. Trivia Casino® is a fast-paced party game that combines the most interesting elements of trivia with the excitement of gambling. Players can win by making educated guesses or by having the guts to place bets on the high-payout answers of their friends.