Smith School Announces $90M Capital Campaign

Hundreds of UM cupcakes were handed out to the Smith community at Van Munching Hall's entrance on Monday, Oct. 22 to celebrate the Great Expectations Campaign Launch.

Chinese lion dancers raised the enthusiasm of onlookers at an energized celebration on Friday, Oct. 19, when the Smith School announced that more than $47.6 million of the school’s $90 million Great Expectations capital campaign goal had been raised. The school welcomed 150 influential donors and friends to mark the event, part of the university’s Great Expectations: The Campaign for Maryland. Campaign co-chair Milt Matthews ’68 was both host for the pre-program reception and master of ceremonies for the evening program. Dr. C.D. Mote Jr., president of the University of Maryland, shared an overall vision of the university’s Great Expectations campaign. “The future of the university relies on our relentless, unwavering commitment to build stature in every area of the university,” said Mote. “To keep the momentum going requires commitment from alumni, for many of you a first-time commitment.” Mote welcomed those first-time donors with a warning that “giving is habit-forming!”
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Smith Team Competes in Women MBA Competition Finals
The Smith School team made it to the final round of the First Annual National Association of Women MBAs (NAWMBA) Case Competition. Team "The Smiths," consisting of second-year MBA students Liz Slobasky, Anne Zeeman and Lyubov Luzhanova and first-years Kristi Zobel and Varongnard Trongkongsin, will be presenting their solution to the case during the final round of competition; which will be held in Van Munching Hall on Nov. 3, 3:30-6:30 p.m., as part of the National Association of Women MBAs Conference, which is being hosted by the Robert H. Smith School of Business, Nov. 2-3, 2007.
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Smith School Honors State Transportation Secretary for Industry Contributions
Last week, the Smith School's Logistics, Transportation and Supply Chain Management (LTSCM) Society and the Supply Chain Club (SCC) named the 2007 “Person of the Year” — John D. Porcari, secretary of the Maryland Department of Transportation. Porcari accepted the award at a ceremony at the university.  “Secretary Porcari has demonstrated great leadership in managing Maryland’s transportation network,” said Martin Dresner, professor of logistics, business and public policy at the Robert H. Smith School of Business. “Throughout his tenure in transportation administration, he’s been a champion for innovation, which is especially important as technology continues to rapidly evolve. We are very pleased to honor him with the 2007 Person of the Year Award.”
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Mattel Senior VP Speaks to Smith Undergraduates About “Living Brands”
Smith undergraduate students were treated to a presentation by Richard Dickson -- Mattel Brands’ senior vice president of marketing, media and entertainment, worldwide -- on Oct. 23, 2007 in Van Munching Hall. Dickson graduated from Maryland with a degree in consumer economics and was excited to be back. Prior to joining Mattel, Dickson spent over 15 years in the fashion and beauty industry working with top names in retail and design at Bloomingdale’s and Estée Lauder.
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Smith Students Take Manhattan
Nearly 90 Smith students traveled to New York Oct. 25-26 on an overnight networking and career exploration trip organized by the Smith Undergraduate Student Association (SUSA) and the American Marketing Association (AMA). The undergraduates had a chance to network with recent graduates at a young alumni reception on Thursday evening, and then spent Friday visiting employers in the city. The young alumni event was the first for undergraduates in New York and very well- attended and received, with 30 former Smith graduates from 2000-07 joining the 88 current students on the trip at Hurley’s Restaurant in Times Square. On Friday, the Smith undergraduates — freshmen through seniors representing various business majors — split into two groups, a marketing track and a finance track, and spent the day visiting three companies before returning to College Park that night. Students in the marketing group visited marketing services firms Wunderman and MediaVest, and the National Basketball Association headquarters. The finance group visited the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bank of New York and Turner Broadcasting.

Smith School Strengthens Focus on Social Responsibility
The Smith School of Business has recently expanded its curriculum – adding new courses and MBA consulting projects – to strengthen its focus on social responsibility. The announcement closely follows the launch of an endowment fund created through donations from alumni Carly Fiorina, former Hewlett-Packard head, and Kevin Plank, founder and CEO of Under Armour athletic apparel company, that earmarks $50,000 for investment in student-started socially responsible ventures.  “We’re dedicated to teaching the next generation of business leaders to think about the impact their companies will have on the world – not just economically, but environmentally and socially, too,” said Dean Howard Frank. “Students must learn how to create innovative solutions to global challenges in ways that best benefit society as a whole.”
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Venable LLP’s Nancy Grunberg Discusses Securities Fraud Ethics with Smith Students
Nancy Grunberg, head of Venable’s Securities and Exchange Commission and white collar defense practice group, shared her experiences as a securities law and financial disclosure lawyer with 75 Smith students on Oct. 15, 2007. Her lecture was the second installment of the Smith School of Business’s Business Ethics Lecture Series for the fall semester. Grunberg has worked on both sides of securities fraud as a defense lawyer and for the SEC. She was with the SEC from 1988-1992 and from 1996-2002. She earned a bachelor's degree from Stanford University and a J.D. from Columbia University. Grunberg discussed the changes she has seen in the SEC throughout her career. “In the late ‘80s, everyone was paying attention to Wall Street and insider fraud,” she said. “And when I came back to the SEC in 1996, I was told that the high priority cases were accounting and financial fraud.”
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Earn a Certificate in Innovation Mangement from Two World-Class Institutions
Profiting from innovation takes guts, intuition and fundamental knowledge of how to manage new ventures. The University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering and the Robert H. Smith School of Business have teamed up to offer an intensive, challenging five-part executive education series on this critical subject, launching on Dec. 7. Two conferences and several lectures supplement a robust curriculum leveraging the unique capabilities of two world-class institutions. Completion of four of the five modules results in a Certificate in Innovation Management from both schools. Read more at http://www.execed.umd.edu.

2008 Smith Leadership and Excellence Awards
Do you know a business leader who has made a significant and positive impact on the mid-Atlantic region? The Smith School is now accepting nominations for the 2008 Smith Leadership and Excellence Awards, which may be submitted online. Deadline for nominations is Wednesday, Nov. 21.
►www.rhsmith.umd.edu/awards