Fogelman Focus : Spring 2016

All In TheFogelman FamilyA Look into Family Lineage at Fogelman

FOGELMANFOCUSSPRING 2016 A PUBLICATION OF THE FOGELMAN COLLEGE OF BUSINESS & ECONOMICS

INSIDE LOOK @ THE GENEALOGY OF KINDNESS: FCBE’S NEW STAIRWELL ART MURAL / PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT UPDATE / WHAT’S NEW AT FOGELMAN

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ALL IN THE FOGELMAN FAMILYA LOOK INTO FAMILY L INEAGE AT FOGELMAN

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CONTENTS

Carol Spiceland Warren, University of Memphis bursar

ALL IN THE FOGELMAN FAMILY

CULTIVATING SUPERIORSTUDENTEXPERIENCES

While most business schools and universities alike boast top-notch student services, many institutions fall short of these claims or require a fortune to offer such one-to-one attention. But at the Fogelman College of Business and Economics, we are dedicated to providing a positive, well-rounded academic education for all of our students – at a reasonable cost. We not only instill necessary attributes by offering rigorous courses and cutting-edge resources, but we also inspire our students. We strive to encourage them to become caring, insightful, and healthy (mentally, physically, and fiscally) business professionals.

By dedicating a core part of our college’s mission to student service, we have witnessed many remarkable results. This magazine’s feature story focuses on a handful of families with five or more members throughout generations who can testify to the benefits of Fogelman’s special attention to student needs. Many of these (now) high-powered individuals

began their academic pursuits at Fogelman College with little training and even fewer means. However, over the course of their academic careers, they received the educational preparation and overall inspiration that led to their eventual professional success. Furthermore, they later encouraged other family members to attend FCBE despite, in many cases, having numerous other options.

This message addresses why these Fogelman family traditions continue to emerge. Under our model of operation, we consider members of the business community our customers, the students our products, and the faculty and staff our employees who manufacture the product.

Our faculty and staff take great pride in producing quality products by paying close attention to the students’ specific needs. While many faculty members are committed to research-oriented endeavors, we operate as a student-centric school. It is vital to remain research-active, but we do not cannibalize the student experience to do so.

Dean Rajiv Grover

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Dean’s Message

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The first is to instill students with a mastery of academic and interpersonal skills. We differentiate ourselves by providing cutting-edge teaching techniques that revolve around the implementation of real-world experiences and innovative resources.

As you may be aware, we recently opened the Cook Analytics & Trading Lab that is equipped with Bloomberg terminals to help supplement traditional classroom teaching. In addition to that facility, we secured an exclusive partnership with Oxford Analytica, whose services include the Daily Brief, which delivers global analysis

to top corporate and government executives. We are the only business school worldwide to have access to this instrumental tool. Both the Cook Analytics & Trading Lab and the Oxford Analytica partnership were enabled by the generous support of Michael W. Cook Sr., chairman of SouthernSun Asset Management.

We are currently renovating two facilities that will house the Customer NeuroInsights Research Lab and the Dell-supported Business Information and Technology Lab. The latter will allow us to better teach all dimensions of data analytics.

In addition to the above, the Customer-Driven MBA program, the nation’s only full-time, corporate-sponsored MBA program, and the Executive Lecture Series are two other formalized programs that incorporate relevancy and timeliness into our teaching.

Finally, programs such as the Avron B. Fogelman Professional Development Center’s Complete Professional Program and the MILE program provide undergraduate students with real-world mentoring opportunities and major-specific tutorials.

The second, and equally important, strategy is to inspire our students. It is imperative to not only prepare students for success in the business world, but to also light a fire in their bellies. We want them to graduate with an eagerness to better themselves, both personally and professionally, and to enhance the community around them for years to come. Simply put, our desire is to help our students achieve their own professional aspirations that will, in turn, create a positive ripple effect across generations.

The Complete Professional Program is one way we inspire our students.

This program focuses on holistic development by providing training on ethics, healthy living habits, business etiquette, networking, philanthropic activities, and more. Against All Odds is a program hosted by the Avron B. Fogelman Professional Development Center in which successful businesspeople lead seminars for students. All of the speakers share stories about how they overcame obstacles. Because many of our students are nontraditional and/or are facing similar challenges, this program motivates them to never give up on their professional aspirations. We also launched a program called Women in Action (WIA) for female Fogelman majors. WIA guest speakers help our young women navigate how to achieve business success despite the many adverse gender roles in today’s culture. Those are only a few examples of the formalized programs designed to motivate our students.

But our efforts do not stop there. Our faculty members take pride in providing extra care and attention in a manner that is often unexpected in large business classrooms. Here are a few examples: Professors like Dr. Brian Janz, Department of Business Information and

There are two ways in which we cultivate quality products(i.e., our students).

The first is to instill students with a mastery of academic

and interpersonal skills.

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Technology and Dr. Charlene Spiceland, School of Accountancy, supervise numerous honors theses and term papers, serve as mentors for dozens of students, and each semester lead study sessions prior to exams for all students – even those not enrolled in their classes. They operate with an open door policy to ensure that students’ questions and concerns are addressed outside class periods or office hours. It is no wonder they have received awards from students and alumni alike.

Dr. Michael Cervetti from the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management takes it one step further and gives his personal cell phone number to all of his students so he can be reached directly at any time. He teaches many online courses, but that does not prevent him from meeting with students during the weekends or after hours at Starbucks to discuss statistics questions or to offer tutoring sessions.

School of Accountancy professor Dr. Irvin Tankersley meets students one-on-one so he can assist with career planning. He spends his valuable time learning about his students’ hobbies, interests, families, and aspirations in order to provide guidance during a stressful time when students are trying to

figure out what they are going to do after they graduate. He meets with approximately 200 students each semester.

Dr. Greg Boller, Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management, incorporates his passion for acting into his upper-division courses to help business students become more confident in leading presentations and in public speaking. Recently, a student came to him for help because she was slated to give a presentation to her company’s senior management team, and she was terribly nervous. Dr. Boller spent three hours working with her on her voicing, movement, intention, emotional engagement, and confidence. Later, she reported that her boss was so blown away by her performance that she was granted a highly visible opportunity to speak in front of the company’s corporate leaders.

But for Fogelman professors, it’s not only about meeting with students outside of designated hours. Professors like Dr. Orrin Cooper, Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management, also incorporate modern teaching techniques designed to promote student learning in a profound and nontraditional manner. Professor Cooper teaches Business Analytics using the flipped classroom approach, meaning that the appointed times for listening to lectures and doing homework are reversed. Students are required to watch the prerecorded lectures

The second, and equally important, strategy is to

inspire our students.

and take a quiz before coming to class; class time is then dedicated to discussions, hands on projects, and homework while the teacher is there to facilitate and/or answer student questions. This leads to a role change for the teacher during class time from a front-of-the-class lecturer to a mentor and cooperative contributor. There is more time in class for meaningful conversations as students ask about applying what they have learned to a real-world scenario. Dr. Cooper also has seen his students’ grades improve by utilizing this student-centered technique.

These are only a few of the numerous examples of ways our faculty is committed to providing top-tier student service. We have been operating under this philosophy for some time, and our efforts seem to be working. By identifying an important part of our College’s mission as student-centeredness, we are building better students, graduates, and community leaders at an affordable cost. As you will see in the “All in the Fogelman Family” article, this student-specific attention has made a profound impact on the lives of numerous individuals and their families. It is one of the core reasons that people continue to choose Fogelman College for their business degrees. Our goal is to zestfully continue to improve our methods to keep current with the changing times and to provide the best overall academic experience for all of our students for generations to come.

We hope you enjoy and are further inspired by these stories because, after all, that’s our business.

dr. rajiv grover

Dean, Fogelman College of Business and Economics

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FOGELMAN COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS

President, University of Memphis: Dr. M. David Rudd

Provost: Dr. Karen Weddle-West

Dean, Fogelman College: Dr. Rajiv Grover

Associate Dean for Administration: Dr. Thomas Miller

Associate Dean forAcademic Programs: Dr. Lloyd Brooks

Design: Archer Malmo

Editor and Writer: Anna Michael

Additional Contributing Writers: John BranstonCedar Nordbye

Fogelman Focus is a publication of the Fogelman College of Business and Economics, The University of Memphis, Second-class postage paid at Memphis, Tennessee. Postmaster: Send address changes to Fogelman Focus, Fogelman College of Business and Economics, 432 Fogelman Business and Economics Building, Memphis, TN 38152-3120. The University of Memphis is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action University.


Cook Trust enabled Fogelman College to sponsor the 2015 Oxford Analytica Global Horizons Conference in Oxford, England

Last fall, representatives from the Fogelman College of Business and Economics (FCBE) traveled to Oxford, England, for Oxford Analytica’s 2015 Global Horizons Conference. The incredible opportunity was enabled by Michael W. Cook Sr., chairman & CEO of SouthernSun Asset Management and founder of the Cook Trust. Furthermore, the Cook Trust generously funded Fogelman College’s participation and sponsorship of the international event.

Among the FCBE group to attend the conference was Dr. Rajiv Grover, dean; Dr. Balaji Krishnan, professor and director of MBA programs; Rebecca Koch, international MBA student; and Anna Michael, marketing and communications manager.

Oxford Analytica is a global analysis and advisory firm that draws on a worldwide network of experts to advise its clients on their strategy and performance. Its services include the Daily Brief, which delivers global analysis that gives top corporate and government executives a proven edge in predicting the course of key trends and preparing for contingencies.

Through the valued partnership between Oxford Analytica and the Cook Trust, Fogelman College is the only business school worldwide to have access to this instrumental tool. The Daily Brief insights are utilized by Fogelman classes to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the global environment in an academic setting. Additionally, the Cook Trust was responsible for the


development of the state-of-the-art Cook Analytics and Trading Lab that is equipped with Bloomberg terminals and that was unveiled at the Fogelman College late last year.

“I am extremely grateful for our partnerships with the Cook Trust and Oxford Analytica. After years of espousing the importance of the role of trusted advisors, rigorous methodologies for collection and analysis of data, and actionable

insights for the very survival of an organization, I am now heartened to see that this partnership will allow us to inculcate these constructs – and at a global level – for Fogelman’s sustainable competitive advantage,” said Dean Rajiv Grover.

The Oxford Analytica Global Horizons Conference was an unprecedented and welcomed opportunity to share Fogelman’s

mission of training students for excellent decision making for which forward-looking, accurate, and complete insights are essential.

Dean Grover also served as a moderator for one of the panels entitled “Getting the Measure: Finding signals in a noisy world.” His panelists included Michael W. Cook Sr., founder, chairman & CEO of SouthernSun Asset Management; Tim Baker, global head of Content

Strategy and Innovation at Thomson Reuters; Lakshmi Shyam-Sunder, vice president and World Bank Group chief risk officer; and Philip Mudd, director of enterprise risk and advisor at SouthernSun Asset Management.

The University of Memphis Fogelman College of Business and Economics earned a spot on The Princeton Review’s list of “Top 25 Online MBA Programs” for 2015.

Among other schools listed were the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Indiana University, Arizona State University, University of Florida, Auburn University, and more.

“We are both honored and proud to be named as one of the ‘Top 25 Online MBA Programs’ in the country,” said Dr. Rajiv Grover, dean of Fogelman College. “The Fogelman College of Business and Economics works diligently to maximize the value our students receive with their education. Our online MBA program is fully accredited and provides a relevant education in a flexible format in order to cater to the needs of people in full-time careers and people with busy schedules.”

The University of Memphis Fogelman College of Business and Economics named to The Princeton Review’s 2015 list of “Top 25 Online MBA Programs”

“This honor by The Princeton Review speaks volumes about the faculty, administration, and students at the Fogelman College of Business and Economics. All have worked hard to produce a nationally-recognized, successful program that provides a streamlined curriculum delivered online by top-notch professors at an affordable cost,” said Brian Miles, a current online MBA student. “Since starting at Fogelman, I have developed business skills and acumen that are helping to open doors for career advancement and professional development, while continuing to practice law full-time in Florida. I would encourage any busy professional thinking of pursuing an MBA to consider the online program at Fogelman.”

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Greg Snook (center), 2015 SPARK Award winner, pictured with his parents, Ronald and Kathy Snook (left), Brandi Kee and Dr. Kathy Tuberville (right)

FCBE student Greg Snook named SPARK Award winnerFogelman MSBA student Greg Snook was named the winner of the SPARK Award for the individual collegiate division. The SPARK Awards Ceremony is a televised event that celebrates individuals, corporations, and schools that are igniting change and making a difference in the community.

Snook graduated with his undergraduate degree from the Department of Finance at the Fogelman College in 2015. He was also the chairman of the Complete Professional Program Student Advisory Board during his undergraduate career. Currently, he is the chair of the Student Veterans in Business Association, a financial analyst intern at Raymond James,

and a volunteer soccer coach at St. Augustine School.

“As a Marine Corps veteran, Greg is living a life of service beyond the call of duty even at a young age,” said Dr. Kathy Tuberville, director of the Avron B. Fogelman Professional Development Center. “His determination and passion for furthering his academic ambitions, as well as his willingness to help others along the way, are truly inspirational. He is most deserving of this recognition.”

“To have even been nominated for a SPARK Award is a true honor. Being involved at FCBE has given me countless opportunities to help my peers in many of the same

“ As a Marine Corps veteran, Greg is living a life of service beyond the call of duty even at a young age.”

- Dr. Kathy Tuberville

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ways others have helped me,” Greg said. “When I look at the positive influence the other winners are having on our community, I can’t help but get even more motivated

and excited about the future of Memphis. The amount of caring and giving in this city really is something to take pride in.”


Former FCBE Ph.D. student awarded prize for research on REIT volatility and liquidity

Former Fogelman College Ph.D. student Dr. Pawan Jain was recently awarded the 2015 NAREIT/AREUEA Real Estate Research Conference Distinguished Research Prize by NAREIT and the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association (AREUEA).

Dr. Jain’s paper, “J-REIT Market Quality: Impact of High Frequency Trading and the Financial Crisis,” used data from the Japanese REIT market. However, his findings have “clear implications for other REIT markets, including in the U.S.,” according to Brad Case, NAREIT’s senior vice president for research and industry information.

Jain’s research focused on liquidity and volatility, specifically how they were affected by the financial crisis

FCBE student receives Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) Student HR Excellence Award

Shelby Yardley, Department of Management graduate and current MBA and MHA student, received the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) Student HR Excellence Award. Yardley accepted this award on stage in front of numerous HR leaders in the Memphis community. Prior to graduating in December 2014,

Yardley had completed three HR internships, MILE, and the Complete Professional Program. She has served as SHRM student chapter president since May 2013. Yardley was well-prepared to enter the workforce and is now an HR Associate with Baptist Memorial Health Care.

Shelby Yardley, recipient of SHRM Student HR Excellence Award

of 2008 and the introduction of a new high-frequency trading (HFT) platform at the beginning of 2010.“While many commentators

have expressed fear that high-frequency trading may increase market volatility, Jain finds just the opposite: The introduction of the HFT platform in Japan actually reduced volatility for Japanese REITs by increasing liquidity in the

market,” Case said. He added that Jain’s research produced another interesting result: REITs were less affected than non-REIT companies

both by the liquidity crisis and by the introduction of the HFT platform.

“That’s because REITs are generally more transparent than non-REIT companies and don’t withhold

information from investors to the extent that non-REITs can, so pricing tends to be more efficient and market crises tend to present less disruption,” Case explained.

Dr. Jain received his Ph.D. from the department of Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate.

“Dr. Jain is a major contributor to our Ph.D. program. He works well with faculty as well as other students. We are extremely proud of him and his recent recognitions,” said Dr. Sunderman, professor of Finance.

Dr. Jain is currently an assistant professor of finance in the Department of Finance and Law at Central Michigan University.

“ He works well with faculty as well as other students. We are extremely proud of him and his recent recognitions.”

- Dr. Sunderman

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Abdullahi Abdullahi, FCBE accounting student and the winner of Beta Alpha Psi’s Medal of Inspiration Award, with his son, Mohamed Abdullahi Abdi

FCBE student honored with Medal of Inspiration Award

Abdullahi Abdullahi, a current FCBE MS of Accounting student, was recently awarded Beta Alpha Psi’s Medal of Inspiration Award. The Medal of Inspiration Award is sponsored by the American Institute of CPAs and is granted to students who have experienced extreme hardships in their lives and who have demonstrated an unusually high level of success despite the adversities.

Abdullahi’s family sought refuge in Kenya in the midst of the Somali Civil War and settled in the United Nations’ refugee camp Dadaab. He remained there until he was granted the opportunity to relocate to the United States and begin college at the University of Memphis. Despite coming from the largest refugee settlement in the world at the time, Abdullahi has always remained optimistic that he would reach his goal of receiving an education.Not only did Abdullahi obtain the education he always wanted, but he also was involved in many activities while attaining his accounting degree. While with FCBE, he was part of the Avron B. Fogelman Complete Professional Program, Suits for Success, Toastmasters, MILE, Accounting Careers of Tomorrow, Beta Alpha Psi, and many other organizations.

In addition, he worked as a math tutor at Central High School and with Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) to provide free income tax preparation for the low-income, elderly, disabled, and limited-English speakers. He continues to give back to his community by coordinating youth engagement activities, speaking out against female violence, and volunteering with HIV/AIDS awareness programs.



Economics Ph.D. students made clean sweep at the Graduate Student Research Forum

Jobu Babin Kayhan Koleyni

Dr. Bill Smith published in Journal of Mathematical Economics

Dr. Bill Smith, Department of Economics chair, had his paper “Changes in Risk in Strategic Interaction” published in the Journal of Mathematical Economics. His paper was coauthored with Diego Nocetti, a former FCBE doctorate student who is now at Clarkson University.

This paper focused on comparing the statics of random dominance shifts in a large class of non-

cooperative games. It considered symmetric and asymmetric equilibria in which the risk changes are individual and not of the same stochastic order. The paper also established conditions for risk changes to produce multiplier effects on equilibrium strategies. It also evaluated the comparative statistics of stochastic dominance shifts in supermodular games that may feature multiple equilibria and non-convex strategy sets.

FCBE Ph.D. economics students received the first and second place awards at the annual Student Research Forum. Jobu Babin was awarded first place for his research and presentation of his paper “Mostly Cloudy with a Chance of Flu: Influenza Trends and their Bearing on Stock Market Behavior.” Kayhan Koleyni took second place

with his paper and presentation of “Financial Crisis and Economic Interdependence: Mexico and the USA.”

“We are extremely proud of both students’ efforts. These awards reflect not only the high-caliber of their research, but also the top-quality economics program

offered at Fogelman College,” said Dr. Bill Smith, chair of the Economics Department.

The University of Memphis Student Research Forum is an annual event that showcases the diverse research of undergraduate and graduate students. The purpose is to provide a venue for students matriculating

at the university to present their research to a panel of faculty judges in their respective disciplines. This forum enables students to develop their presentation skills and present their research in a formal, supportive environment.

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Dr. Jamin Speer to be published in Journal of Human Resources and Journal of Labor Economics

Dr. Jamin D. Speer, an assistant professor of economics at the Fogelman College, recently had a paper accepted to be published in the Journal of Human Resources. The paper is entitled “Pre-Market Skills, Occupational Choice, and Career Progression.”

The paper used a combination of data sources to study the effects of workers’ pre-market skills in various fields on their initial occupation choices and career progression patterns, with a particular focus on understanding gender gaps in occupation. The paper showed that pre-market skills, as measured by test scores and personality traits, accounted for a significant portion of occupational gender gaps, including 71 percent of the gender gap in science and engineering occupations. It also found that career trajectories were remarkably

It is much less harmful for high-earning majors like economics.

High-earning majors are more “recession-proof” than lower-earning majors as the pay gap between high-earning majors and low-earning majors widens when the economy is in recession.

This paper was also used as the subject of a New York Times article that discussed the returns of graduating in certain academic disciplines in a recessionary economy.

“The Journal of Human Resources and the Journal of Labor Economics are two preeminent journals in labor economics. Publishing in either journal alone would be a major accomplishment. However, Jamin has now had papers accepted in both publications within

similar across workers, meaning that initial differences in occupation persist over time and that pre-market skills have long-lasting impacts on careers.

Additionally, earlier last year Dr. Speer had another paper accepted for publication by the Journal of Labor Economics. The paper was titled “Cashier or Consultant? Entry Labor Market Conditions, Field of Study, and Career Success.” The article was coauthored with two Yale University professors, Drs. Joseph Altonji and Lisa B. Kahn.

This paper analyzed early labor market outcomes of U.S. college graduates as a function of their college major and economic conditions at the time of their graduation. The key finding was that graduating into a recession is harmful to early career earnings.

his first two semesters here at Fogelman College,” said Dr. Bill

Smith, chair of the Department of Economics. “Jamin is off to a great start, and we are extremely proud of him.”

“ Jamin is off to a great start, and we are extremely proud of him.”

- Dr. Bill Smith

Dr. Marla Royne Stafford gains recognition for her research

Dr. Marla Royne Stafford, Great Oaks Foundation professor of marketing and chair of the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management, and coauthors from Brigham Young University have a manuscript forthcoming in the American

Journal of Public Health. The paper, “The Laugh Model: Reframing and Rebranding Public Health through Social Media,” provides a framework for the use of low-cost social media platforms in public health by prioritizing the use of humor, content virality, and entertainment

in health promotion messages disseminated to the public. Results from a successfully implemented Laugh Model campaign have implications for healthier eating habits in the home. A paper published last year in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology, with Dr. Brennan Davis and Dr. Chris Pullig, reported significant implications for the well-being of some types of teenagers. And more recently, Dr. Royne Stafford and


coauthor Dr. Kate Pounders of the University of Texas were awarded a grant from the Association of Consumer Research’s Division on Transformative Consumer Research to study how gender identity among young women with cancer influences health consumption decisions. Previously, she had related work funded by the American Academy of Advertising to examine the use of product placement in helping children make healthy drink choices.

between high-earning majors and low-earning majors widens when the economy is in recession.

This paper was also used as the New York Times

article that discussed the returns of graduating in certain academic disciplines in a recessionary

Journal of Human ResourcesJournal of Labor Economics

are two preeminent journals in labor economics. Publishing in either journal alone would be a major accomplishment. However, Jamin has now

proud of him.”

Dr. Jamin Speer


Dr. Thomas McInish receives The Financial Review’s Outstanding Publication Award

Dr. Thomas McInish, professor of the Department of Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate and the holder of the chair of excellence, received the Outstanding

Publication Award honored by The Financial Review. Dr. McInish won this award for his article “The Flash Crash: Trading Aggressiveness, Liquidity Supply, and the Impact

of Intermarket Sweep Orders.” The article was coauthored with Dr. James Upson of the University of Texas at El Paso and Dr. Robert A. Wood, Professor Emeritus, University of Memphis.

The article studied the short period of high stock market volatility on May 6, 2010, that came to be called the Flash Crash. During that time, some stock prices declined to one cent while others increased to $100,000. It examined a type of

order called an Intermarket Sweep Order (ISO) before, on, and after May 6. The researchers found that ISO use was substantially higher on May 6. For the stock prices that fell the most, over 65 percent of the sell volume came from ISOs. During the price recovery period for those stocks, about 53 percent of the buy volume came from ISOs. This study showed that the unusual behavior of ISOs contributed to the sudden drop and recovery of the market.

FCBE students place fi rst in prelims of Global Investment Research Challenge

A team of Fogelman College of Business and Economics students placed first in the local Mid-South round of the CFA Institute’s Global Investment Research Challenge (Global IRC). The team was led and coached by Nap Overton, Department of Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate. Winning team members included Robert Cowan III, Matthew Buxton, Conner Whitney, and Aashish Goyal.The team, which beat five other

universities (Arkansas–Little Rock, Harding, Milsaps, Rhodes College, and the University of Mississippi), advanced to the national competition in Atlanta, Georgia. If the team continues to succeed, it has the opportunity to compete in the global finale.

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual world-wide competition that provides university students with

hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis.

Students worked in teams to research and analyze a publicly traded company. Each team wrote a research report on the assigned company with a buy, sell, or hold recommendation and then presented and defended their analysis in a presentation to a panel of industry professionals.

“This competition is an extremely valuable experience for the team members,” said Nap Overton, “because it puts the students in the position of being a stock analyst and pitching their recommendation to potential investors.”

“The competition has been a great supplement to my education,” said team member Conner Whitney. “FCBE seeks to provide students the opportunity to take lessons learned from class and apply them in real-life scenarios.”

“We are extremely proud of our students’ exemplary performances,” said Dr. PK Jain, interim chair of finance. “In addition, I am very grateful for the mentorship provided by Nap Overton. He has many years of experience as an equities research analyst in the investments industry and his direction of this team was invaluable.”

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Mary Garcia, one of the two recipients of the 2015 Carson Circle Award

Two FCBE students honored with the Carson Circle Award

Mary Garcia and Johnathan Moffett, both Department of Economics majors, were recently honored with the Carson Circle Award, which recognizes seniors who have demonstrated a commitment to placing service above self, treated others with dignity and respect,

established relationships with people different from themselves, had a well-rounded collegiate experience, and contributed positively to the quality of life at the University. The Carson Circle Award is the University’s highest honor for character and campus leadership.


A Look Into Family Lineage at FogelmanBy: John Branston

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Dan and Carol Byrd, Robert “Bobby” Byrd, Harold Byrd, Justin Byrd, and Charles and Joan Byrd Tucker

Byrdthe

family

Are families one of the reasons the Fogelman College of Business and Economics (FCBE) is surviving so well?

Madison Arthur Byrd quit school after the 10th grade, but he wanted his children to go to college, so in 1960 he moved his family from Selmer, Tennessee, to Bartlett, a growing suburb of Memphis, so they could attend

Several families have shown an exceptional commitment as demonstrated by five or more immediate family members earning their undergraduate and/or postgraduate degrees from the college. Why are so many family members committed to Fogelman College? Is it because of our student-centeredness as discussed in the dean’s message? To find out why Fogelman has such strong family support, we contacted dozens of brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, parents, children, and grandparents, and asked why they chose the Fogelman College, how they spent their time in and out of class, what they did with their degrees, and why they encouraged upcoming generations to follow in their educational footsteps.

We discovered that Fogelman College became a tradition for many families because of the superior academic preparation and one-on-one attention they received from faculty and staff during their tenures on campus. The lessons learned while at FCBE shaped the courses of their lives, thereby influencing the college choices of later generations. Every family’s story is different, of course, but a few factors were the same. Most of the first-generation Fogelman students came from working-class neighborhoods in Memphis or from farms or small towns in West Tennessee or the Missouri Boot Heel. If they weren’t poor, they certainly weren’t rich. Whether they were first generation or second generation college students, they worked to pay their way through school, usually 25 hours or more per week, and they thought nothing of it because most of their friends did, too. They were scrappers, go-getters, joiners, Greeks, sports fans, ROTC cadets, Young Democrats or Young Republicans, go-the-extra-milers. Many of them came from big families but, oddly enough, nobody recalled choosing the Fogelman

College at the University of Memphis without considering other options.

And despite their varying beginnings, most of those first-generation students ended up in high-powered, well-respected, lucrative positions. Those testaments are indicative of the level of academic preparedness they received at FCBE. Not surprisingly, when it came time for their sons and daughters to go to college, Fogelman was their top pick despite having a plethora of other choices.

“College taught me to be focused, independent, and resilient,” said Marvin Ellison, who took six years

to earn his degree, but who is now CEO of JCPenney. “Nothing was given to you. Success required hard work, but there were plenty of people willing and

able to help you along the way.”

The world around the various generations at Fogelman evolved, not only from generation to generation, but often over only a few years. The cost of tuition grew larger while computers grew smaller. Recessions and wars came and went. Interest rates soared to 18 percent in 1980 and fell back to near zero 30 years later. Ever popular majors like accounting were joined by new offerings in supply-chain management and international business thanks to FedEx and globalization. And forensic accounting, thank you very much, Enron.

Following are glimpses into nine special Fogelman College families.

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Harold Byrd and Joan Byrd Tucker, brother and sister


1984 1987 2007 2008 2013 2014 2015 2015 20151968 1975

the University of Memphis.

The move paid big dividends for the Byrds and the University. Seven members of the Byrd family earned degrees from FCBE and made their marks in banking, politics, community service, and support of university athletics. They include sons Dan, Bobby, and Harold; daughter Jo Tucker and her husband Charles Tucker; Dan’s wife Carol; Bobby’s son Justin; and Bobby’s nephew, John M. Byrd.

“Options? I guess we could have gone back to the farm,” said Dan Byrd, sitting in an office at Bank of Bartlett where University memorabilia shares wall space with pictures of various Byrds, President Jimmy Carter, Governor Ned Ray McWherter, and local and international celebrities. “To be near the University was pretty much the reason we moved here.”

Dan started college in 1962, and Bobby followed him three years later. Tuition in those days was $112.50 per semester. Business graduates with specialties in accounting, marketing, and management found themselves eagerly courted by companies such as IBM, Plough, Union Planters Bank, Cook Industries, and Holiday Inn.

Dan and Harold Byrd were drawn to politics and served in the Tennessee House of Representatives. Harold was only 25 when he ran for the legislature. “I had modest goals,” he jokes. “I wanted to be president or a professional basketball or baseball player.” One of his proudest achievements is helping Memphis develop a Ph.D. program in business that could compete with the one at Ole Miss.

Together, the brothers founded the Bank of Bartlett in 1980. They marvel at the changes in banking since then, and the amount of business that can be done in a few seconds on a smartphone. Throughout the years, they have hired numerous Fogelman College graduates who, they said, are extremely computer savvy and well prepared for the challenges of the banking business.

They remember fondly the teachings of several key professors who challenged them and addressed them as “scholars” – pretty heady stuff for kids from the farm – and how the lessons continued to be relevant. Lesson One: A growth company is a company whose profits are growing as fast as its sales. Lesson Two: There is a world of

political scientists who can’t read a balance sheet, so get some practical experience.

“Professors had stature and charisma,” said

Dan Byrd. “They wanted people to go out and get a few doors slammed in

their faces to see how they handled rejection.”

Bobby Byrd worked as an adjunct instructor in the business school for five years. “I was amazed at the quality of the students,” he said. “They were hungry to learn.” One such student came to the FCBE after graduating from Ole Miss and earned a master’s degree in accounting in 2011. Justin Byrd, 28, is now chief financial officer for the Bank of Bartlett.

History of Fogelman FamiliesJ Schifani, CPA and audit director, begins working at Cannon & Company

Dr. Jesse Spiceland teaching

Michael Lyons Jr. descending from Mt. Fuji during an internship in Japan

Marvin Ellison and wife Sharyn

Father and son Michael Lyons Sr. and

Michael Lyons Jr.

Brothers Harold and Bobby Byrd,

University of Memphis graduation

at the Mid-South Coliseum

/ A L L I N T H E F O G E L M A N F A M I L Y


1984 1987 2007 2008 2013 2014 2015 2015 20151968 1975

Marvin Ellison, Renatha Ellison, Donavan Ellison, Sylvia Ellison, and Sharyn Stevens Ellison

Marvin Ellison’s trip from the small, western Tennessee town of Brownsville to the University of Memphis campus as a ninth grader made a big impression on him.

“I was a member of the student council, and we had a state meeting in 1979,” he recalled. “It was a spring day, and the

flowers were blooming, students were outside, and it was so vibrant. I said to myself, ‘I’m going to college here.’ And when I graduated years later, that still resonated with me.”

Ellison enrolled in 1983 and worked part-time jobs in retailing to pay his $412 per semester tuition plus expenses while he studied political science and marketing, graduating from FCBE in 1989.

“I could not afford to go to school consistently full time,” said Ellison.

“I got down to six hours a couple semesters, but I never dropped out. I was the classic student striving to do things on my own. I had a commitment to graduate. I knew that was important to my future.”

He remembers walking into an on-campus job placement office one year and asking the interviewer for the highest paying job available, which happened to be at Target for $4.35 an hour. It was a fortuitous placement. After graduation, he climbed the corporate ladder at Target for 15 years, and then he worked 12 years at Home Depot before becoming the CEO of JCPenney in Plano, Texas, in 2015.

Ellison met his wife in the university library while she was also a student, and their son, Donavan, is currently a student at

Donavan Ellison showing school

spirit on the University of

Memphis campus

The Spurlock Family gathered together at the FedExForum to cheer on their Memphis Tigers

Marvin Ellison,CEO of JCPenney

Ben Watkins honored as an Outstanding Alumnus at the 2013 Alumni Day Luncheon

Sisters Renathaand Sylvia Ellison

Ellisonthe

family


Marvin and Sharyn Ellison


FCBE after weighing academic and athletic offers from several universities.

“We did not want to force our son to go to a specific school,” said Ellison. “He

put it on his list, made his visits, and kind of

fell in love with it, but he had never set foot on the

campus until then.”

Ellison’s sisters, Renatha and Sylvia, also graduated from FCBE. “My college choice really was a family decision,” said Renatha, who also grew up in Brownsville. “I studied risk management and insurance. My father was an insurance man, so that piece came easily for me. I was absolutely prepared when I went to work. The University gave me access to a big city, but with a campus that was not so big that I felt lost. You felt like you belonged.”

Marvin Ellison has seen the job placement picture from all sides, and he says FCBE can hold its own with public and private universities in Tennessee, Texas, or the Ivy League thanks to the specific attention provided to students from a top-notch faculty.

“Going to college in Memphis gave me a true life perspective,” he said. “I took classes with other students who were blue-collar kids and kids who were more affluent. It taught me to be focused, independent, and resilient. Nothing was given to you.”

Frank Garavelli, Charlie Garavelli, Christopher Garavelli, John and Donna Garavelli, and Joanne Garavelli Chirumbolo

Frank Garavelli was the first member of his family to go to college, and when he looked back on his on-again, off-again years at what was then called Memphis State University, he readily admits that it wasn’t easy.

After graduating from Bishop Byrne High School in Whitehaven, Tennessee, he started college in 1967 but flunked out a year later. After reenrolling and flunking out a second time, he joined the navy for four years. When he came back to school in 1973 he had a 1.3 grade point average, a new attitude, and maturity. He graduated in 1976 with a 3.1 GPA and a degree in sales and marketing.

“All I needed was a little incentive, and that’s

what I got at Fogelman,” said Garavelli, who also

earned an MBA from FCBE in 1994. He has worked as a regional

sales manager for several companies in the Mid-

South, sold scaffolding by phone, dealt blackjack,

been a debt collector, and organized conventions. “I’ve been around the

block a couple of times.”

Frank is one of four siblings who earned degrees from FCBE. The others are John Garavelli, Charlie Garavelli, and their sister Joanne Chirumbolo. John’s sons Chris and William are also FCBE graduates.

All of the Garavellis worked their way through college, sharing a work ethic learned from their father who owned several grocery stores in the Weona (“We own a . . .”) chain popular with Italian families in those days.

Younger brother Charlie, now 62, lived at home and worked 40 to 50 hours a week at his uncle’s liquor store to put himself through school in six years. He graduated in 1977 with a degree in sales and marketing. Memphis was one of the few schools that had a major

in sales at that time. Frank and Charlie took a sales class together that significantly impacted their outlooks on business and life for years to come. The professor, Dr. Waylon Tonning, referred to them as “Number One” and “Number Two.” The class was a requirement for sales majors, and it was no accident that it met at 6 a.m. “He wanted to make sure you were willing to sacrifice,” Charlie said, “and that lesson stuck with me.”

After graduating, Charlie went to work for his uncle and took over the liquor store when he died, selling it in 1995 and opening another one in Cordova. He now lives in Los Angeles.

Joanne earned a degree in engineering in 1973 and went back to college at night to earn a business and accounting degree in 1980. “I graduated cum laude so I must have liked it better,” said Joanne, an accountant for Employer Services Corporation in Cincinnati. “My biggest influence was my father. He was a bookkeeper, and most men in his generation did not get to go to college.”

John has been with Nortek and its subsidiary, Thomas & Betts, for twenty-five years in Memphis. “The university was close and affordable, and I was offered a scholarship,” he said. “I’m glad I chose to go to Fogelman College. No complaints. It’s been a good degree.”

Garavellithe

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Michael Lyons Sr., Mike Lyons Jr., Danny Lyons, Joseph Lyons, Thomas Lyons Jr., William Lyons, and Nolan Lyons

Some college students dream of studying abroad and learning a foreign language. Some take a break for epic hikes and climbing mountains in exotic places. Others get an MBA and hop the fast

track to a job with a multinational corporation. Mike Lyons Jr. managed to do all three of those things by the time he was 30.

As a project manager, Lyons helps build power transformers for Mitsubishi Electric Power Products, part of the Japanese-based company that opened a $200 million facility in Memphis’

Rivergate Industrial Park in 2013. He got the job at a career fair and was the 12th person the office hired. He earned his MBA in International Business at FCBE. He also did an internship in Japan where he learned to speak Japanese and climbed Mt. Fuji. On his business card his name is printed in English on one side and Japanese on the other.

“Fogelman was the only college that had the

overseas experience I wanted,” said Mike Lyons

Jr. “The two-year MBA was probably the most robust program I have seen. Not all MBAs are

created equal.”

Mike’s father, Michael Lyons Sr., and his uncles – five of them – also graduated from FCBE. The older Mike Lyons was the seventh of 10 children in his family. He took a paper route when he was only 11 to help pay his tuition to Christian Brothers High School. He also worked his way through college from 1971–1975 when

the country was in a recession. With help from the University, he took part-time jobs at Cleo Wrap, Shoney’s, and Goldsmith’s, among others.

He had a knack for accounting and rudimentary computers at a time when phrases such as “supply chain management” and “information technology” were foreign to most people, and punch cards were still in use. Since 1995, he has been a vice president for CTSI-Global, which audits and pays freight bills for Fortune 500 companies.

Another one of the Lyons brothers, Danny, attended FCBE from 1968–1973, the year Larry Finch and the Tiger basketball team advanced to the NCAA Finals. He now works in the cotton business in Memphis and credits his father, Tommy Lyons, for inspiring him and his brothers to earn a college education.

“He liked to say he went to the college of cotton,” Danny said, “and because he was the only one without a college degree, he had to work twice as hard as everyone else.”

For a family with 10 children and not much money, going to college was a privilege, not an extended vacation. Danny lived at home and worked 30 to 40 hours a week. Out of his earnings, he paid his father $75 a month for room and board.

Lyonsthe

family

BIZ INFO & TECH

ACCOUNTING

ECONOMICSMARK ETING

MANAGEMENTFINANCE


The Lyons Family – Dan, TJ, Catherine, Bill, and Nolan


Lewis Winston Perkins Jr., Lewis Perkins III, Kimberly Perkins, Penelope Dawson, Richard Perkins, and Thomas Perkins

When Lewis Perkins III graduated from high school, he wanted to get out of town, so he enrolled at Auburn where he earned a degree in accounting in 1994. But when he decided to pursue an MBA, he chose FCBE.

“I lived at home and paid for school by working in the Management Department of the University,” said Perkins, who is chief financial officer for Paragon Bank, a locally-owned Memphis bank in an East Memphis building that was formerly the headquarters of Fogelman Properties.

Perkins met his wife Kimberly at the University where she was an undergraduate student

majoring in accounting. Other members of the Perkins family with degrees from FCBE include his father, Lewis Winston Perkins Jr.; his uncles, Richard Perkins and Thomas Perkins; and his sister, Penelope Dawson.

“The Fogelman College had a very good

reputation for in-depth knowledge in

the classroom and for professors who did a

good job of using real-world examples,” said

Lewis Perkins III. “Those guys were talking to

businesses every day and brought it back to their

students. They were very in touch, and that really

helped.”

With his MBA, Perkins went to work for Reynolds Bone & Griesbeck as an auditor for 15 years before joining Paragon Bank

where he has been for nearly five years. He has seen his job change from the “bean counter” image to a key role in envisioning and planning the future of the company as CFO. The only downside for Lewis and his wife Kimberly, both diehard Tiger fans, is finding time in their schedules to attend basketball games.

“The season is a tough one to get downtown because January through March are busy,” he said, “especially in public accounting.”

His sister Penelope also earned her undergraduate degree from Auburn and graduate degree from FCBE. “After I spent my four years away I wanted to come home, and the Fogelman College had a great reputation,” said Penelope, who works for the accounting firm of Smith, Dukes & Buckalew in Mobile, Alabama. “I got a job as a graduate assistant in the dean’s office and lived at home while I earned my MBA in two years. I was most definitely well prepared as far as what I could offer employers.”

Auburn and Memphis played each other in the Birmingham Bowl in December. Penelope refused to say who she pulled for but allowed, “I love that Paxton Lynch.”

The first member of the Perkins family to attend the University of Memphis was Lewis Winston Perkins Jr. He started in 1960 when business classes were held in the administration building, the basketball team played in the Fieldhouse, and the football team played at Crump Stadium. He dropped out to join the military, came back in 1965, and finished his degree in 1969, by which time the University had built a business building. He majored in distribution management and interviewed for a job with a General Electric plant in Memphis, but the company’s aptitude test was a career changer.

“Our tests showed you are sales oriented and should not be in distribution,” he was told. So Perkins took heed and began a career as a manufacturer’s representative instead, a position from which he retired in 2013.

When brothers J and Paul Schifani look back at their college years in the late 1970s and early 1980s, it seems almost like a different world. Tuition was less than $300

Perkinsthe

family

Schifanithe

familyJohn “J” Schifani, Paul and Catrina Schifani, and Mark and Tina Schifani



a year. Word processors used floppy discs, and computers were as heavy as boat anchors. The flagship local company names were Plough, Union Planters, Cook Industries, Holiday Inn, Goldsmith’s Department Store, and an upstart called Federal Express, which went public in 1978, and was exploring the exciting possibilities of fax machines and Zap Mail. The airport was the bustling hub of Northwest Airlines. Male students wore coats and ties to football games. Basketball players, even great ones like Keith Lee, stayed around for four years, and they played at the Mid-South Coliseum in the Metro Conference. And if Louisville and Denny Crum were coming to town, you had to get there early.

J, Paul, and their four brothers and sisters came to Memphis from Thibodaux, Louisiana, in 1971. Their father, John, taught at the University in the School of Education where he started the Special Education Department. When J graduated from Christian Brothers High School in 1978, he

applied to LSU and Memphis, but it was no contest. There were job opportunities and helpful professors, as well as other enticements that only the Fogelman College at the University of Memphis offered.

J dove into campus life, participating in fraternities, student ambassador boards, athletics, summer school, the brave new world of computers, and his accounting classes at the business school, which he finished in three and a half years — despite working 30 hours a week every year. Employers noticed.

“They were looking for go-getters,” said J, who took a job as a CPA in Louisiana. He moved back to Memphis in 1984 to work for Cannon & Company, where he is the audit director.

Paul Schifani was a quick study and followed in his brother’s footsteps, graduating from Christian Brothers High School in 1981, choosing Memphis over LSU, working part-time jobs to pay for school, and graduating from the Fogelman College in 1985.

“My girlfriend was in Memphis, and J and our brother David were living in the same house in Memphis, so that influenced my choice,” Paul said. That girlfriend is now his wife Catrina, also a Fogelman College graduate, as are Paul and J’s brother Mark Schifani and his wife Tina.

Paul, who has worked for Perkins & Marie Callender’s for 22 years, credits Dr. Donald Carson, vice president of Student Affairs from 1976 – 1992, and others for helping him succeed. “They were eager to get you involved with the school, even things like the search for a new university president,” he said. “That makes a difference.”

Catrina, senior sales manager for Cordova Safety Products, says

she chose Fogelman because it offered a highly reputable marketing program. That, as well as the fact that Paul was also enrolled, helped solidify her choice. Similar to J and Paul, she worked 20 hours a week at Target and still managed to enjoy a full college life centered around her sorority, Alpha Delta Pi. 30 years after graduation, the sorority sisters still meet once a month.

“I do feel that the Fogelman College had me

ready for the business world,” she said. “And

the activities I was involved in also helped

prepare me. If you really get involved in a school,

you have a greater appreciation for it.”

The numbers tell the story. There has been a member of the Spiceland family teaching accounting at the Fogelman

Spicelandthe

familyJesse Spiceland, David and Charlene Spiceland, Jessica Spiceland, and Carol Spiceland Warren


Drs. David & Charlene Spiceland


College since 1949. Professor Emeritus Jesse Spiceland, 91, taught at the University for over 40 years, including every accounting course in the curriculum, as well as several courses in other departments. His son David has taught in the School of Accountancy for 35 years while authoring several accounting textbooks. David’s wife Charlene is also an accounting professor, and his sister, Carol Warren, also a Fogelman College accounting graduate, is the University bursar. David and Charlene’s daughter Jessica earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting at FCBE.

Jesse Spiceland was not a bookish recluse, poring over ledgers and balance sheets. For most of his career, he worked nine months a year at the University and three months in the summer as owner of Maywood Pool and Beach just over the state line near Olive Branch, Mississippi. Maywood was a man-made, one-acre sandy beach and a clear, artisan, well-fed swimming pool surrounded by 15 acres of shaded picnic grounds that was hugely popular with Memphis residents from the 1930s until it closed in 2003. The Spiceland children spent a lot of time there in the 50s, as did a young Memphis resident named Elvis Presley.

“We were born and raised Memphis State, as it was called then,” said Carol. “That was just part of life.” She enrolled at the University in 1971 and took her dad’s class. “He was tough — a good teacher, but hard. Luckily, I was a good student.”

David wanted to get away and chose the University of Tennessee at Knoxville where he majored in finance. After beginning his academic career at LSU, he returned to Memphis as a

professor in 1981. Like his father, he has a reputation for being challenging and caring as a teacher. He was the first faculty member to own a Mac computer (1984), broke new ground in the use of websites for courses and textbooks, and authored some of the textbooks used not only at FCBE but at hundreds of other colleges and universities nationally and internationally.

“We are able to connect students to local

employers and we have a community that supports

our graduates.”

In recent years, accounting has weathered the recession and the Enron scandal. There is a lot of competition with five accredited state college accounting programs within 350 miles, plus several small

colleges and for-profit offerings, but they cannot match the 40-percent-or-better pass rate that Fogelman graduates have established on the CPA exam since a preparation course was added to the MS program.

“We are able to connect students to local employers and we have a community that supports our graduates,” said Charlene. “We now offer 60 internships a year, and our professional development program is offered to everyone, not just select students. Our faculty work tirelessly to prepare students for the opportunities at hand. You don’t have to spend more to go somewhere else to get this type of an opportunity. You can do it right here.”

And three generations of the Spiceland family have done exactly that.

When Michael Spurlock began taking business classes at the University of Memphis in 1968, he started a family tradition that continues today. His brother Mitchell and sister Melinda are

FCBE graduates, as is Michael’s wife Susan, their son Tyler, and Melinda’s son John Kennedy. “Our family bleeds blue,” said Susan Spurlock.

After graduating from Whitehaven High School in Memphis, Michael chose to stay close to home for college for economic reasons. While in school he worked 30–35 hours a week at a chemical lab that made pesticides. Susan worked her way through school at Goldsmith’s Department Store. They often talk about “How nice it would have been just to go to college.”

Michael was drafted in 1970 and joined ROTC, which led to a 25-year career in the military. After that, he was a pilot for Northwest and Delta Airlines. Now in semiretirement, he teaches simulators at FedEx.

Younger brother Mitchell followed him to FCBE in 1975. Mitchell attended Bishop Byrne High School in Whitehaven. The nuns who taught him didn’t think he was college material, and he readily admits 31 years later that he could not really blame them. He excelled in athletics, but was just so-so in the classroom. After attending community college for a year, he enrolled at the University of Memphis where tuition was $364 a semester.

“My parents could afford it, and my older brother went there,” said Mitchell. “I wasn’t a great student. The whole knowledge thing was different to me. Then I started going to this thing called ‘class’ and doing something called ‘studying,’ and I did better.”

Spurlock shared his older brother’s work ethic. He worked 30 hours a week while he was at FCBE and thrived on tough courses such as

Spurlockthe

familyMitchell Spurlock, Mike and Susan Spurlock, Melinda Spurlock Carter, Tyler Spurlock, and John Kennedy


Mitchell Spurlock and his wife, Janet, with Hilliard Crews (center)


The Fogelman College commitment to education is two-fold: First, provide a solid academic foundation so students are equipped with the understandings necessary to tackle the business world and, second, inspire students in how to achieve their dreams. It is not enough to simply drill students with facts and figures. Instead, teachers should engage with their students to provide a complete academic experience. Fogelman faculty members understand that concept. Their efforts to work closely with students help in ways that are sometimes beyond qualitative measure. It is apparent through these unique and moving stories that many of these individuals would not have otherwise achieved their professional success without the dedicated attention given them by their teachers at the Fogelman College. These familes’ testaments are the epitome of what Fogelman faculty have inculcated for years and are still striving to instill among current generations: superior student academic preparedness, a relentless desire to rise to life’s challenges, and individual guidance on how best to position themselves for a prosperous professional future. That is the Fogelman tradition of teaching, and it is apparent that the lessons have become a cherished part of many family traditions as well.

The following people were interviewed for this story: Dan Byrd, Bobby Byrd, Harold Byrd, Justin Byrd, Jo Tucker, J Schifani, Paul Schifani, Catrina Schifani, Mitchell Spurlock, Tyler Spurlock, Susan Spurlock, Michael Spurlock, David Spiceland, Charlene Spiceland, Carol Warren, Marvin Ellison, Renatha Ellison, Charles Garavelli, Frank Garavelli, John Garavelli, Joanne Chirumbolo, Bill Watkins, Trey Watkins, Michael Lyons, Mike Lyons Jr., Danny Lyons, Lewis Winston Perkins Jr., Lewis Perkins III, and Penelope Dawson.

(ABOUT THE WRITER) John Branston is a freelance writer who lives in Memphis. He started his career with UPI in Tennessee and Mississippi and worked for The Commercial Appeal, Memphis magazine, the Memphis Flyer, and national newspapers and magazines as a reporter and columnist. He is the author of Rowdy Memphis: The South Unscripted, a collection of in-depth stories about Memphis and the Mid-South from 1954-2004.

labor law and labor relations. He earned a degree in accounting and passed the CPA exam before starting a successful career in the transportation business. He is the founder of Power Transport and Power Freight, which features a major operation in Tampa where there is no large public university.

“It makes me realize how important the University is to this city,” he said. “The entrepreneurs program and the FedEx Institute mean so much because there are so many small businesses beneath the giants that can have an influence in the world.”

Melinda Spurlock Carter graduated from the FCBE in 1986 with a degree in finance. “I had always enjoyed Memphis, and my college decision wasn’t really influenced by my brothers,” she said. “I had a really good four years. I started out in accounting, but I realized that was not a life I wanted to

pursue. Raising children was more important to me.” She is a registered sales assistant at Morgan Stanley.

Tyler Spurlock carried on the family tradition while also lettering in football, which he called “kind of a crash course in time management,” and graduated summa cum laude from FCBE in 2013. He earned his master’s degree from FCBE after that and is working as an audit associate for KPMG, one of the “Big Four” accounting firms.

“Memphis is not a huge school, so there was plenty teacher-student time and small classes where you could get to know your teachers and advisors.”

One of his side jobs at KPMG is running all of the talent recruiting events, and he wants it known that “I love to help bring more University of Memphis students in.”

Bill Watkins vividly remembers the first year in the new accounting firm he cofounded in Memphis in 1971: “I had a four-column pad; a fourteen-column pad; a ten-key adding machine; a set of red, black, and blue pencils; and a $100 desk and chair.”

A native of the Missouri Boot Heel, Watkins started school at what was then called Memphis State University in 1964 after a hitch in the Marine Corps. Tuition was $82.50 per semester. Accounting was “the flagship of the business school” and the dozen graduates each year were assured job offers. After short stints at Chevron in New Orleans (“a clerk job”) and two Memphis firms, Watkins decided he would rather be his own boss.

With a foundation in public accounting and clients that included Shelby County, the city of Memphis, and other municipalities, the firm grew steadily as adding machines were replaced by 26-pound personal computers that gave way to the Internet and the Digital Age. In 2000, Watkins merged with Michael Uiberall.

Watkins is a big booster of the FCBE, whose graduates include his son William “Trey” Watkins III, daughter Cynthia Renee, brother Ben, Ben’s daughter Adrianne, and her husband Robert Hoerter. His firm has hired several graduates right out of college and has four interns on the staff as well. “It’s a good opportunity both ways,” he said.

Trey Watkins started working summers at the firm when he was in junior high school. Encouraged to make his own college choice, he started at Alabama but transferred to Memphis and finished his accounting studies at FCBE in 1996 when he joined his father’s firm.

“Accountants are so sought after that job placement is never a problem,” he said. “From that perspective, if you are going to be in Memphis, then the Fogelman College is a great value. You can get the hard-hitting education from teachers who are passionately involved in the betterment of their students’ lives. Also, it is hard to go

Watkinsthe

familyBill Watkins, Ben Watkins, William “Trey” Watkins III, Cynthia Renee Watkins, and Adrianne Watkins Hoerter and Robert Hoerter

wrong with an accounting degree. There is always something you have got to learn if you are going to start your own company. Maybe not all the details, but you’ve got to know how money works.”


Bill Watkins with Dean Grover at the 2013 FCBE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony


Two black leaf-cutter ants meander up the aqua cement wall of the stairwell. The first ant passes behind a stalk of bamboo, and the second ant is covered in water droplets. They pass between a topographical map of the Memphis Sands Aquifer and the Mississippi River, and they play a key role in an epic new artwork on the walls of the Fogelman College of Business and Economics, one that breaks through traditional academic boundaries to define an evolutionary leap made by the business school.

This past July, August, and September, a team of artists, like ants and bees, worked away in the southernmost of three large stairwells of the Fogelman College to create a massive and transformational artwork spanning

more than 2,000 square feet across 12 walls. Fogelman College Dean Rajiv Grover commissioned my team of art students and me, art alumni, and local artists to create an artwork that would redefine academic space and represent the kind of cross pollination and collaboration that defines the University of Memphis. Students, staff, and visitors who enter the stairwell often gasp and pause, stunned, before continuing up the stairs. Inevitably they ask themselves “What is this? Why is this here?” and “What does it mean?”

For scholars of business and economics (disciplines that have historically centered on knowable, quantifiable, and concrete facts, rules, and systems) the slippery, poetic, and mystifying imagery of a large artwork such as this

stands out as a non sequitur, a surprising, incongruous, and alien experience. The existence of this artwork and its reason for being originate in a leap of faith and a vision for a new approach to teaching some difficult aspects of business and economics. The creativity in this mural, this entrance into unfamiliar ways of thinking into an awareness of natural systems, ethics, and underlying philosophical investigations, is a physical marking of the new approaches required to best prepare business students for the challenges of the 21st century.

For many years since his appointment at Fogelman College, Dean Grover had aspired to decorate the College with pieces of artwork that would reflect this vital vision. The goal

was to artistically communicate the importance of personal responsibility to environment sustainability, business ethics, and caring for society and self. “If the artwork was in the stairwells, students, faculty, and staff would be more inclined to take the stairs, as opposed to when the stairwells were not welcoming,” he said. That meant the Fogelman College could promote both physical and spiritual well-being.

The first step to achieving that mission began nearly seven years ago. Dean Grover commissioned an artist from the College of Communications and Fine Arts, Gary Golightly, to create collages that represented key elements of each of Fogelman’s six departments – Accounting, Business Information and Technology, Economics, Finance, Management, and Marketing and

What is that doing here? What does it all mean? What does it have to do with business?


What is that doing here? What does it all mean? What does it have to do with business?

G E N E A L O G Y O F K I N D N E S S \


“Rather than an approach of ‘either or,’ I would like to encourage students to have a mindset of ‘and,’ which is to say that instead of thinking that they can pursue either their economic aspirations or work to make the world a better place, they can, in fact, simultaneously seek a profi table business career and improve the state of the planet.”

Supply Chain Management – in an interesting and artistic manner. The six-foot by-six foot canvases were installed in the totally renovated main stairwell. But that was only the beginning of the overall plan.

Dean Grover was still pining to enhance the other three remaining, barren stairwells. A couple of years ago he attended the opening of a mural in the College of Communications and Fine Arts. It was in a stairwell. Dean Grover saw patterns of meandering abstract shapes and intertwining lyrical, colorful forms in a flowing painting that was the fresh creation of Art Professor Beth Edwards. He reached out to Dean Ranta who, in turn, brought me in to initiate a series of three large artworks for the Fogelman College stairwells.

When Dean Grover and I discussed the artworks, he said the thematic direction he had in mind was the concept of promoting sustainability, ethics, and doing good. He explained that he would like to use the artworks to help push the needle in students’ minds in the direction of concern for the planet and toward the idea of loving oneself

in the first place, stating:

Rather than an approach of “either or,” I would like to encourage students to have a mindset of “and,” which is to say that instead of thinking that they can pursue either their economic aspirations or work to make the world a better place, they can, in fact, simultaneously seek a profitable business career and improve the state of the planet.

After our initial conversation I began sketching ideas. The images of ants and bees kept resonating with me, and I began to think about the symbolic significance of those small things. I also had recently seen a graffiti mural on the Chelsea flood wall (part of Paint Memphis organized by Brandon Marshall and Karen Golightly) in which an artist had covered his imagery with tiny droplets of water. Upon deeper reflection of those images, it occurred to me that a primary deterrent preventing many people from taking on the world’s problems is that of scale. People

feel that the problems are so huge and they are so small in comparison. If people could be reminded that, while they are small, they are not alone, that they are parts of large networks of concerned and engaged beings striving toward common goals, then they could see the great things that are possible.

“All good work is done the way ants do things: little by little.” – Lafcadio Hearn Just as individual water droplets might rest on a flower petal, seemingly with no force, those same drops can move mountains when they flow together as the Mississippi River. In addition to this matter of scale, the theme of water also appealed to me

because so many issues of sustainability revolve around water and because water is tied to core issues of survival, charity, and care. And Memphis has its own special relationship to water. As a river city at the mouth of the delta, and as the only large American city with an aquifer as its sole drinking water supply, water is this inland city’s entire reason for being.

In June, we held meetings composed of Fogelman summer students and faculty members to discuss issues such as philanthropy, legacy, and sustainability. Ideas from those discussions helped shape the ideas that followed and, in a few cases, led directly to images incorporated into the

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Cedar Nordbye, lead artist, working on the FCBE stairwell mural.

art. In July, we painted the entire stairwell an intense aquamarine. I remember the surprise and slight apprehension on the dean’s face the day he saw the cool blue saturation. He expressed his nervousness about the color and simultaneously reminded me that he had profound faith in me as an artist, and that he was confident I would make it work.

In the weeks that followed, we developed images and overcame surprising challenges. For example, how were we to move the 900-pound hydraulic lift to the landing between the second and third floors? After considering building a ramp and even seriously thinking about bribing a dozen football players with pizza, my wife came up with a lateral thinking solution when she asked, “Would it be easier to lower it down the stairs instead?” My first thought was, “Huh? We need to get it up there, not . . . ” and then it occurred to me that she was right, so we brought it up to the second floor in an elevator and lowered it down the stairs with a winch. By August, we had eight artists working up and down the stairwell, airbrushing, stenciling, mixing colors, tracing drawings onto walls, climbing ladders, and moving the hydraulic lift back and forth on the landing and ascending it 30 feet up to the triangular skylight.

In addition to ants and bees, the mural depicts the flow of the Wolf River into the Mississippi, and it also depicts eight people who have made innovations relating to either water or issues of scale and fairness. An image of Jacque Cousteau greets visitors at the base of the stairs. Further up are famous naturalists, including John Muir and local environmental heroes such as Wolf River

Conservancy founder Larry Smith. Celeste Boursier Mougenot, a contemporary French artist and fountain sculptor, is also featured, among others.

The people depicted in the mural are a small sample of a much larger and often invisible network of people all over the globe who are working to improve the state of the world. These are people who are driven by a spirit of generosity to help to make life better for the downtrodden, to rebuild the broken, and to channel their personal aspirations for success and recognition into work that will lift others. In 2005, I interviewed Michael Lustigman, a Jewish sociology professor in Quebec, and he told me of his writing on what he referred to as the “genealogy of kindness.” He explained that we are mostly unaware of all of the people who are not celebrities or leaders but regular people, family doctors, teachers, and veterinarians, who

are driven to serve and derive their happiness from their ability to make life better for others. He felt that if people became aware of this tendency in human behavior, we would all be inspired to do more. In the symbolism of this mural, if we were aware of all of the other drops of water trickling down leaves, into small rivulets, streams, and rivers, we would feel more capable of effecting real change, and we would be motivated to do our part.

Last November, my team of artists began carrying out our second of three stairwell murals at the Fogelman College. That mural’s theme will focus on innovation and invention. In March, we will begin the third mural focusing on the philosophical ideas of ethics, ethical leadership, corporate ethics, management of resources, and structures of human workplaces.

These artistic projects exemplify the kind of cross-pollination that deepens the educational experience for members of a university community. There is an intellectual deepening that occurs when economics students, accounting majors, and international business students encounter walls covered with poetic images that challenge them to utilize parts of their intelligence that are different

from what they are familiar with. There is an artistic growth that takes place when art students work on large-scale creations that bring with them new questions about audience, effectiveness, communication, and receptivity.

Occasionally, observers have questioned why these paintings are in the Fogelman College of Business and Economics instead of in an art building. Their question, ironically, contains its answer. These paintings are here because promoting sustainability and healthy lifestyles choices and inspiring people to act in the greater good is imperative to the study of business. Simply stated, such ideas are the foundation of a brighter and a more profitable future.

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ProfessionalDevelopment

2015 was a productive year for the Avron B. Fogelman Professional Development Center.

With growing innovative programs, enhanced community partnerships, and increasing student internship placements, students in the Fogelman College of Business have a distinctive edge in career opportunities. Dean Rajiv Grover said, “It is our responsibility to prepare students for tomorrow; our community partners need future leaders who are polished and professional as they grow their organizations.” “We wanted to be able to develop a path for our students as they finish their college journeys, so we developed five core outcomes we believe to be critical for their futures. In essence, we want them to be educated, ethical, polished, healthy, and community-oriented, and these became the five core pillars of our program,” said Dr. Kathy Tuberville, director.

Under the educated outcome, the program integrates the “4 Cs” Lecture Series with core courses that all business majors complete, and these speakers focus on

critical business categories including critical thinking, creativity, communications, and emotional control. Over 20 community lecturers bring class concepts into a real-world perspective as they share their professional experiences with students.

Recent national research indicates that college graduates often leave their college coursework with less ethical preparation than employers would desire. Through the Know Good – Do Good – Thrive program, ethics speakers are incorporated into courses from sophomore to senior level to assist students in learning what ethics looks like in the real world. Ethics Executive-in-Residence Harry Smith is one who routinely speaks to graduating seniors through our capstone Strategic Management course, and generously provides his book, Driven to Deliver, to interested students. International Paper General Counsel and Senior Vice President, Sharon Ryan supports this effort with faculty and staff each year by sharing International Paper’s ethical culture. International Paper has been listed as one of the most ethical

Developing Tomorrow’s Talent with Today’s Professionals:An Engaged Approach


Fogelman student signing the Fogelman Code of Professionalism at Promise Day

companies in the Ethisphere’s ranking of companies for nine consecutive years. “We appreciate the time with students and faculty to share our program,” Ryan said, “which has created a realistic and effective ethical culture at our organization.”

How do students receive preparation for the polished, healthy, and community-oriented components of our program?

Through a noncredit certificate program, students have the opportunity to attend unique sessions that are often led by employers. First Tennessee Bank, one of the center’s first community partners, biannually presents Professionalism First! to over 100 students each semester. Students learn about vital topics such as emotional control, office protocol, networking basics, and interview skills from First Tennessee’s expert human resources professionals. The three-session program culminates in a networking session with First Tennessee executives at the Ron Terry Center, where students receive certificates from program leader Rebecca Boyd of the Center for Performance and Learning at First Tennessee. The state’s largest banking system is an avid supporter of the Fogelman College, and has reaped the benefits of this investment through internship and job connections with students.

In addition, the program is further extended to students through such opportunities as Toastmasters International and Dining Etiquette. The Pacesetters Toastmasters program is the community sponsor and lends a

much-needed hand in enhancing the purpose of effective speaking skills. Generous donors also provide the opportunity for students to learn how to confidently dine in interview luncheons and dinners through the Dining Etiquette program, where etiquette consultants share the importance of business conversation, protocol, and mastery of formal place settings.

A focused approach to professional development was created for students when Reynolds, Bone & Griesbeck (RGD) wanted to engage with students. COO Leslie Bouldin approached the center’s director with a desire to “give back” to students. With some brainstorming and creative programming, the Accounting Careers of Tomorrow (ACT) program was launched. Students receive major-specific professional development programming including mock interviews, career panels, ethics scenarios, and professional association overviews

with accounting leaders at the RBG training facility. Receiving their training in an employer’s facility greatly enhances the students’ experiences and helps

them understand what it’s like to be a professional. “We are pleased to be a part of this program as we help future accountants learn how to best choose their career path and use their degrees effectively,” Bouldin said.

The ACT program was the

catalyst for similar major-specific programs including Futures in Finance, graciously hosted by Northwestern Mutual (NWM).

This year’s program involved over 30 professionals from diverse financial organizations. CEO and Managing Partner Jim Meeks kicked off the session with a personality assessment that helped students understand how their interests and personality traits could be utilized best within

their chosen career paths. NWM professionals Andria Simonsen and Darren Grahame graciously welcomed students into their

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We believe that students benefit from meeting professionals in their field as well as learning more about themselves...- Jim Meeks, CEO and managing partner of Northwestern Mutual


elegant NWM offices and provided a concluding reception open to all in the Memphis finance field. “We believe that students benefit from meeting professionals in their field as well as learning more about themselves,” Meeks said.

Additional offerings in the polish area include Technology Careers in Business, also sponsored by community partners Hilton, Methodist LeBonheur Healthcare, and others through the Society of Information Management. “We believe these programs are the future cornerstone for student and employer engagement and are cutting edge ways to help students learn how to productively chart a career path in our community,” remarked Tuberville. “Our Women in Action program also provides a unique opportunity for female students to meet and engage in career-oriented discussions with successful women in our community. Networking in this group leads to additional connections and informal mentoring with caring community partners.”

Physical and emotional health is important for business leaders. Through Fogelman Fit, students can engage in exercise and self-help classes such as Self-Defense Strategies, Yoga, and Nutrition Basics. Emotional and motivational health awareness is achieved through the Against All Odds luncheon series in which community speakers present their stories of overcoming obstacles in their professional journeys.

Community service offers a variety of opportunities with nonprofit partners from Peer Power to Shelby Farms to Clean Memphis. The goal of this program is to build new relationships with key

partners to generate a spirit of giving back. A recent program with Whitehaven High School’s Future Business Leaders provided high school students the opportunity to learn how to begin professional pathways as explained by the PDC student professionals.

What’s the incentive for students to finish the Complete Professional Program?

Successful students receive a certificate, lapel pin, business cards, and stole for graduation. In addition, they have the opportunity to apply for our Suits for Success professional wardrobe scholarship. Starting in Spring 2016, an advanced certificate is also being introduced to extend the professional development process for future FCBE students.

The purpose of preparing and placing students is important. Employers who have hired students from the FCBE report strong results in resume improvement and student performance in internships. That improvement is not without intentional assistance. Assistant

Director Carolyn Cates invests one-on-one time with students to review and polish resumes prior to posting in the Fogelman Internship Network, a database that allows participating employers the ability to view student resumes 24/7. “Carolyn’s work with students is

highly important in helping them see the importance of polished preparation,” Tuberville said. “Her extensive experience in higher education is invaluable as she helps students connect positively with their future employers.”

In the times of tightened college budgets, how can the FCBE provide this programming for students?

Tuberville indicated that these programs are not available in many institutions today as they are unique and degree-focused. “We have approximately 10 weeks of active time to connect with students each semester, and it’s a busy schedule, to say the least.” Given the continued budget restraints, the physical and fiscal generosity of our partners is critical in providing these programs. For

our community partners, this is a chance to give back, but to our students it’s a look to the future.

The Avron B. Fogelman Professional Development Center is the sponsor of a new business student organization,

the Student Veterans in Business Association. This new organization is focusing on building community with business veteran students and providing opportunities for successful career development and transitions.

“The Complete Professional Program is making a difference, not only in our college, but also in our community, with prepared and polished business students who will be the leaders of tomorrow,” Dean Grover said. “Employer response and student feedback provide evidence that the program is working and helping students become the leaders of tomorrow.”

If your organization would like to become involved with the Complete Professional Program or become an internship partner, please contact Dr. Kathy Tuberville at [email protected].

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The Complete Professional Program is making a difference, not only in our college, but also in our community, with prepared and polished business students who will be the leaders of tomorrow.

- Dean Grover


Flatez Dyson

Briana Goode

Nikita Patel

Maggie Courtney

“ Accounting Careers of Tomorrow opened my eyes to career opportunities that I never realized were within my reach. I benefi tted immensely from the one-to-one interactions with many professionals in various industries. Participating in The Complete Professional Program helped prepare me for a bright, successful future.”

“ Futures in Finance was an amazing experience for me. I connected with so many professionals in my fi eld and learned about many career options. Through this program, I gained a stronger understanding of how I could use my degree.”

“ As a recent graduate, I am so appreciative of the skills I learned through The Complete Professional Program. I highly encourage all FCBE students to get their CPP!”

“ Toastmasters has helped me learn how to speak confi dently, whether it’s in class or with a group. I highly recommend other students join this important program!”

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School of Accountancy

Dr. Kenton Walker, [email protected]

I am privileged to have one of the best jobs in the world. I interact every day with bright students, interesting faculty members, dedicated staff, and stimulating business people. These are exciting times for the School of Accountancy at the Fogelman College of Business and Economics on several fronts. This year there were several notable events concerning our faculty, this year. Larry Moore was promoted to full professor. Larry is a veteran faculty member who teaches the college’s

legal environment course and business law. This year we hired three new accounting faculty and two full-time instructors. Joanna Golden and Kevin Kim joined us as new assistant professors, receiving their Ph.D.s from Florida Atlantic University and Texas Tech University, respectively. Charlene Spiceland, an instructor in the department for a number of years, was hired as an assistant professor. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Memphis. Jeff Nevels joined us as an instructor. He is a licensed CPA, a former consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton, and a retired naval officer. Philip Babin, also a CPA, was a senior tax manager with CBIZ MHM, LLC in Memphis. We took steps in the past year to update and improve our degree programs. We enacted two major changes to the bachelor’s degree. First, we revised the financial accounting course sequence to include three (instead of two) courses in order to help our students better learn the growing body of U.S. and international accounting standards. We expect this will improve our students’ performance on the Uniform Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

Updates


Department of Business Information

and Technology (formerly MIS)

Dr. Robin Poston, Interim [email protected]

The Department of Management Information Systems (MIS) has changed its name to the Department of Business Information and Technology (BIT). The new name went into effect for Fall 2015 and reflects the Fogelman College of Business and

Economics’ increasing emphasis on teaching and research. BIT adds focus on collecting and interpreting information for strategic and tactical decision making and how to leverage technology to gain business efficiencies. The newly named BIT Department is proud of the accomplishments of our students who have experienced good internship and job placements at both undergraduate and graduate degree levels. Students continue to excel at the national level with recognition for the AMIS student chapter’s efforts in professional development, careers in IS, community service, fundraising, and membership.

Faculty members have been productive in contributing work to top-rated professional journals. The list of faculty publications is extensive, and here are a few notable examples. At the very top journal levels, Drs. Kettinger and Poston, along with Dr. Hu, a

Examination. Second, we are requiring accounting students to complete a course in accounting ethics and regulation. This class will ensure accounting students receive instruction concerning ethical situations frequently faced by accountants in their roles as auditors, management accountants, and tax professionals. Ethics education targeted to accountants is a requirement for licensure in several states.

We also made two important changes to our Master of Science (MS) degree program. Most of our students earn this degree to fulfill the requirements to enter public accounting. We will require those individuals to complete our CPA exam review course as their capstone experience. Those who do not wish to pursue that option will complete a course in advanced financial statement analysis. We now offer two concentrations for our graduate students: taxation and data analytics. Tax professionals continue to be in high demand. The addition of this concentration provides added training in this important area of accounting and makes our graduates more attractive to employers.

Developments in information technology coupled with explosive growth in the volume of data available to businesses are changing the roles of accountants as auditors and reporters of information, both financial and statistical. To meet market demand for skills in those areas, our MS students may complete several classes offered by the Business Information Technology Department to complete that concentration. Data analytics represents an area of exciting employment growth opportunity for accounting graduates.

There were three notable items concerning students. First, our

students were involved in an important community service activity. Beta Alpha Psi, the accounting student honorary organization, participated in the Voluntary Income Tax Assistance program. This program provides a rich service-learning opportunity. During the 2015 tax season, University of Memphis student volunteers filed more than 400 federal income tax returns for low-income individuals and families, which saved those taxpayers an estimated $120,000 in commercial tax return preparation fees and generated over $500,000 in refunds. Second, 55 accounting students participated in internships last year. These are important learning opportunities for students that we highly encourage. We are pleased that so many individuals take advantage of these opportunities and grateful to the organizations that provide them. Finally, one of our students, Abdullahi Abdullahi, received a $5,000 Medal of Inspiration scholarship from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. This is the largest scholarship they award, and there is only one in the nation each year, making this a truly distinguished achievement.

We continue to experience strong enrollment in accounting on campus and in our online, evening, and accelerated summer courses. Our students are taught by quality, student-focused faculty trained at some of the top Ph.D. and law programs in the nation. Faculty are active in scholarly pursuits but emphasize teaching students to be analytical thinkers, good communicators, and ethical citizens. We pride ourselves on forward-looking programs that will encourage our graduates to be leaders in the profession.

D E P A R T M E N T U P D A T E S \


Ph.D. graduate of our program, published “The Effect of Online Social Value on Satisfaction and Continued Use of Social Media,” and Dr. Kettinger also published with his coauthors, “The Roles of Psychological Climate, Information Management Capabilities, and IT Support on Knowledge-sharing: An MOA Perspective.” Both appeared in the European Journal of Information Systems. Dr. Jong Lee published his dissertation research related to “The Effect of Goal Difficulty on Escalation of Commitment” in the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making and “The Creativity Passdown Effect: Applying Design Theory in Creating Instance Design” in Information Technology & People. Other strong journal publications include Drs. Poston and Dhaliwal’s article on “IS Human Capital: Assessing Gaps to Strengthen Skill and Competency Sourcing” and Dr. Kettinger and Dr. Mahadevan’s, a Ph.D. graduate of our program, article on “Running on Hybrid: Control Changes when Introducing an Agile Methodology in a Traditional ‘Waterfall’ System Development Environment,” both of which appeared in the Communications of the Association for Information Systems.

We welcomed Dr. Naveen Kumar as a tenure-track faculty member in Fall 2015. Dr. Kumar brings a decade of applied research experience in business intelligence and analytics. His research interests are in business analytics with a focus on developing statistical and data mining methods for contemporary big data applications in information systems. During his five-year academic career in Oregon, Dr. Kumar taught undergraduate and graduate courses in business analytics and statistics. He offers students a variety of real-world experiences that he shares in the classroom

through storytelling and practical application exercises. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Washington, Seattle. Highlights from last year include Dr. Bill Kettinger, chair of excellence and a professor, receiving the Best Paper Award at the Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences (HICSS) for his paper entitled “Late to the Game: Assessing IT Integration Risk After the Acquisition Target has Been Identified.” Dr. Brian Janz, a professor of BIT, received the 2014 Society of Information Management Best Paper Award for the paper “Re-Visioning IT for Value: The Value Stream Initiative at Buckman,” which was written with John Oglesby, an advisory council member of BIT. He also received the Schulze Award for his article “After the Big Idea: Entrepreneurial Success through High Performance Start-Up Teams.” Tom Stafford, a professor of BIT, was appointed as editor-in-chief of Decision Sciences

Journal (DSJ), a position he held for a year, which is a premier-level business research journal focused on quantitative aspects of business decision-making. Judy Simon, a professor of BIT, received the Fogelman College of Business and Economics’ George Johnson Fellow Award in the “service” category for her committee work for the college and university, and she was selected as an ISACA Academic Advocate. The responsibilities

will primarily involve developing increased awareness of information security career opportunities.

Three of our Ph.D. students completed their degree programs and have obtained teaching positions that began in Fall 2015. Deepti Agrawal began a tenure-track assistant professor position at The College of Charleston in South Carolina. Jignya Patel began her new career as assistant professor at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida. Jeff Kaleta started his assistant professor position at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia. In Fall 2015 we welcomed three new Ph.D. students to our program: He Li, Zhenya Tang, and Sungjin Yoo.

We’ve adopted several noteworthy teaching innovations to support student development. Our new BIT Points for Enrichment allows students to earn credit for participating in professional development programs, in our

undergraduate introduction to BIT and upper division core critical thinking in project management classes, and Excel Data Analysis Coverage and Watson Analytics use as applied decision-making and critical thinking analysis tools. Margaret Schultz has taken on the role of our internship coordinator while Jong Lee has become an associate advisory for our student organization, AMIS. With the addition of graduate students

and BIT point incentives, active membership has increased. Our degree programs are advised by:• Shelley Bennett and our

undergraduate advising office, which receives excellent survey feedback from our students;

• Dr. Sandi Richardson, who is our master’s degree program coordinator; and

• Dr. Chen Zhang, who is our Ph.D. program coordinator.

The BIT (formerly MIS) Advisory Council, chaired by Brent Nair, CIO with the city of Memphis, provided much-needed support to the department this year in areas including student scholarships, curriculum guidance, professional development of students, research assistance to faculty, and recognition of faculty excellence in the classroom. The department continues to depend heavily on the guidance and support of the Council. The Council meets in May and December for regular meetings, with committee

meetings held as needed. The Council, under Brent’s leadership, also hosted a social hour to engage with Dr. M. David Rudd, president of the University of Memphis, during February 2015, and a luncheon with high-achieving student leaders. Council members meet regularly for lunch discussions relating to areas of interest.

Brent Nair, Gene Fernandez, and Bruce Livesay, who are advisory

We’ve adopted several noteworthy teaching innovations to support student development.

- Dr. Robin Poston

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council members, worked with Dell Inc. to secure a donation of 40 state-of-the-art hybrid-drive computers with Systematica software for our data analytics lab. With the new technology, our faculty members are able to incorporate data analysis and programming applications using R, Python, Java, SAS, Watson Analytics, and others.

Technology Careers in Business (TCB) held its second year of sessions with the help of Dr. Kathy Tuberville. TCB is a professional development program specifically designed for BIT majors to provide insights into different career paths and industries. This year the program covered “Careers in Data Analytics and Security Career Paths for the Future” when visiting First Tennessee Bank, “Technology is Transforming Healthcare for Patients, Families and Physicians” when visiting Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, and “Technology in the Insurance Industry – A Focus on How Emerging Technology is Creating an Industry Evolution” when visiting Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc. We very much appreciate the involvement and support of our industry partners in hosting those events.

Along with our certificate programs in Business Information Assurance, Business Project Management, and Software Testing, the BIT Department began offering a new graduate certificate in Business Analytics starting Fall 2015 with strong enrollments. With these and other changes, we are excited about the future of the Fogelman College of Business and Economics and the Department of BIT, given the talented, engaged faculty, students, staff, and advisory board members who support the department’s mission.

The Department of Economics at the Fogelman College of Business and Economics is committed to excellence in both the study and teaching of economics. The department has developed a research focus in applied economics, particularly on public policy. Our department’s areas of strength are in empirical microeconomics – especially health economics and labor economics – and empirical macroeconomics. We publish regularly in major academic economic journals.

The department offers two undergraduate majors, a BS through the Fogelman College of Business and Economics and a BA through the College of Arts & Sciences. Last fall we had 215 majors, up from 190 majors just one year before. That growth is partly due to the fact that economics is one of the best majors for entry into a wide range of careers and graduate programs. It is also one of the most lucrative majors along with degrees in engineering and computer science. Our undergraduate majors go on to successful careers in business

Dr. Bill Smith, [email protected]


Departmentof Economics


or government and often pursue graduate education in law, business, economics, finance, statistics, or public policy. For example, one student has finished law school at Harvard and is now working with McKinsey; another recently started with BP as an economist on the trading floor in Chicago. Two other graduates are forging careers in the public sector. One is working as a special assistant for the U.S. Small Business Administration; another is earning a Ph.D. in the Public Policy and Administration Program at George Washington University.

Our undergraduate students also have been eager participants in the University of Memphis’ internship program. They have benefited from internships at major firms including Thomas & Betts, International Paper, CB Richard Ellis, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Our graduate students have pursued careers in academia, government, and the private sector. One of our master’s students recently started the Ph.D. program

at Vanderbilt, where he is the recipient of a lucrative scholarship. Another has begun the Ph.D. program at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and has been awarded a generous graduate assistantship. One of our former students is now completing a Ph.D. at Northwestern University, and another recently graduated with a Ph.D. from the University of Houston. Other Ph.D. graduates are professors at Xavier University, Clarkson, Simon Frazier, Georgia Tech, and Florida International.

Our faculty has also been active over the last year. We are particularly proud of Dr. Albert Okunade. This year he was honored with the Willard R. Sparks Eminent Professor Award, the single most prestigious award given by the University of Memphis. Dr. Okunade was also recently recognized with an Eye of the Tiger Award from the University of Memphis. In addition, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of the International Health Economics Association, the largest

and most influential international body in research in health economics, and he was appointed to the editorial board of the top-level journal Decision Sciences.

This fall, the Fogelman College of Business and Economics honored Dr. Andrew Hussey with the George Johnson Award in recognition of his impressive contribution across the board in teaching, research, and service. He has consistently been an outstanding teacher in classes ranging from Principles of Microeconomics to graduate-level Labor Economics and Econometrics. In five years he has published 11 papers in outstanding journals, and as MA coordinator he has spearheaded the recrudescence of our MA program and the birth of our Accelerated Undergraduate/MA program.

Dr. Cyril Chang, director of the Center for Health Services research, contributed to a report commissioned by the Center for Mississippi Health Policy. It analyzed 31 rural hospitals in Mississippi that are so financially vulnerable that they were at risk of closure. The report was highlighted in a story in Becker’s Hospital CFO in November 2015. The research team that wrote the report was led by Dr. Maya McDoom-Echebiri of Mississippi State University; other team members included our own Dr. John Gnuschke of the Sparks Bureau and Dr. David Mirvis of the Methodist Le Bonheur Center for Healthcare Economics.

Dr. David Kemme, our chair of excellence in International Economics, is a distinguished expert on transition economies. This year he played a key role in guiding Kazakhstan as it abandoned its currency band regime in favor of

a flexible exchange rate. We also have been highly successful with research recently. In the last three years, faculty members have published in the Journal of Law & Economics, the B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, the Journal of Human Resources, the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, the American Economic Review Papers & Proceedings, Economic Inquiry, Applied Economics, Economics Letters, the Economics of Education Review, Health Economics, the Journal of Development Economics, Economics Letters, the Journal of Banking & Finance, Medical Care Research & Review, Research in Higher Education, the Journal of Labor Economics, the Southern Economic Journal, and the Journal of Mathematical Economics.

The department has developed a research focus in applied economics, particularly on public policy.

- Dr. Bill Smith



Pankaj K. Jain, Interim [email protected]

The Department of Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate (FIR) received approval from the CFP Board in Washington, D.C., recognizing our educational program as meeting the eligibility requirement to take the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) exam. As a result, students obtaining a finance, accounting, or economics degree in the Fogelman College of Business and Economics can automatically satisfy the educational requirements to sit for the CFP exam by taking only a handful of additional FIR courses. Students now have the opportunity to earn a Financial Planning certificate by completing a series of FCBE courses. Frank Allen, CFP, was instrumental in garnering support from the Memphis Chapter of Financial Planners Association (FPA) toward these efforts.

The FIR program is also recognized by the CFA institute headquarters, which administers the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exam that is widely recognized around the world. Students now have the opportunity to earn a Financial Analysis certificate by completing a series of FCBE courses. Additionally,

experiential learning credit for the University College is available to students for the General Securities Representative Exam (Series 7), the Uniform Combined State Law Exam (Series 66), and the Uniform Securities Agent State Law Exam (Series 63). With recognition from both of the leading financial certification institutions, CFA and CFP in addition to AACSB and SAC, we are able to offer a higher quality education to our students and prepare them for professional certifications.

All FIR students have the ability to become Bloomberg certified in the Cook Analytics & Trading Lab. This cutting-edge educational experience on 12 Bloomberg terminals with Oxford Analytica Daily Brief and real-time tickers, mimicking a Wall Street trading firm, will help students excel in the highly competitive job market. Industry leaders from FTN Financial such as Michael Kisber, Michael Allen, Steve Valadie, and Joel Stark simulate their fixed income trading strategies and engage students in real world transactions within the lab.

FIR is also pleased to offer Personal Financial Management (FIR 1220) every semester. The Faculty Senate and the University Undergraduate Curriculum Committee both approved the course, and it is available to every University of Memphis student to learn how to obtain a lifetime of personal financial stability.

The finance department congratulates Conner Whitney on receipt of the Financial Executives International (FEI) scholarship and Kelly Bostain, Kaitlyn Grant, and Joseph Tagueon on their receipt of the Memphis Chapter of Lambda Alpha International Scholarship.

Department of Finance, Insurance,

and Real Estate



FIR’s Ph.D. program graduate Dr. Pawan Jain won the 2015 NAREIT/AREUEA Real Estate Conference Distinguished Research Prize. Current doctoral students Jared Linna and Vivek Sharma received campus visit invitations from University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Wyoming University, Pacific Lutheran University, and Sacred Heart University.

Interim Chairman of the Department and George Johnson Professor of the Fogelman College of Business and Economics Dr. Pankaj (P.K.) Jain served the DSJ as eminent area editor for finance. He was also reappointed as associate editor of the Financial Review. In 2015, Jain served as the interim director of the Cook Analytics & Trading Lab and also represented the department as the interim program director for the Financial Planning Educational program recognized by the CFP Board in Washington, D.C. Dr. Jain presented his research on the speed of high frequency trading (HFT) at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Western Finance Association (WFA). His coauthors also presented the paper at the Swiss Society for Financial Market Research (SGF) in Switzerland, the Financial Intermediation Research Society (FIRS) in Canada, and the BlackRock Inc. conference in California. Dr. Jain pioneered and promoted the use of Wiggio video conference and screen share tools in his online MBA class to afford the opportunity of optional face-to-face interactions between professors and students in remote locations.

Dr. Sabatino Silveri, who received his Ph.D. from Arizona State University, joined the department in 2015, and hit the ground running with his article on “Executive

Overconfidence and Compensation Structure,” which was accepted for publication in the preeminent Journal of Financial Economics. He also has an article accepted for publication in the Financial Management journal.

Dr. Thomas McInish, a professor in the Department of Finance, Insurance and Real Estate and the holder of the chair of excellence, published his article, “Trading Rules, Competition for Order Flow and Market Fragmentation,” in the preeminent Journal of Financial Economics. He also won the Financial Review journal’s Outstanding Publication Award for his paper on flash crash.

Dr. Ronald Spahr, a professor of finance, and Dr. Mark Sunderman, a chair of excellence and professor of finance, published their award-winning article in Journal of Real Estate Research and another article in International Journal of Strategic Property Management. They received FCBE’s Research Mentoring Excellence Award and held leadership positions in the Lambda Alpha Real Estate Society. Dr. Sunderman is ranked as a top leader of real estate on the annual HSH.com “Innovators and Thinkers” list. He renewed the ARGUS software grant.

Dr. Richard Evans won two best paper awards by the Certified Commercial and Investment Member Institute and NAIOP Research Foundation for his papers presented at the 2014 and 2015 conventions of the American Real Estate Society. His paper, “Forecasting Five Property Types’ Real Estate Cycles as Markov Chains,” is now forthcoming in the International Real Estate Review. He also renewed his Sparks Bureau grant from the City of Memphis.

Dr. Sandra Mortal organized a highly successful seminar series in 2015 that featured high profile speakers such as Dr. Craig Lewis, former chief economist of the Securities

and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C.; Madison S. Wigginton, a professor of finance at Vanderbilt University; Dr. Matt Ringgenberg from Washington University; and Dr. Shmuel Baruch from the University of Utah.

Professor Nap Overton won the FCBE Engaged Creative Teaching Excellence Award at the undergraduate level. He led the student team composed of Robert Elmo Cowan III, Matthew Payton Buxton, Conner Whitney, and Aashish Goyal from FCBE, which won first place in the local Mid-South round of the CFA Institute’s

Global Investment Research Challenge (Global IRC). The team, which bested five other universities (the University of Arkansas–Little Rock, Harding University, Milsaps, Rhodes, and the University of Mississippi) and participated in the national competition in Atlanta, Georgia.

For the second consecutive year, a team of FCBE students placed in the top five in the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Investment Challenge. The team beat Vanderbilt, the University of Tennessee–Knoxville, and the University of Mississippi. FCBE received a performance bonus for the team’s great efforts. Professor Nap Overton trains students on TVA equity portfolio investment challenges in the Cook Analytics & Trading Lab with about half a million dollars of real money. He also cohosted the regional TVA conference in FCBE, featuring a keynote speaker from PIMCO as well as investment management teams from several regional schools including Ole Miss, University of Tennessee–Martin, and Union University, which participated in the TVA challenge

Mr. Leslie Mathis, CFA, mentored students in organizing professional development activities for the local chapter of the Financial Management Association.

In 2016, FIR aims to produce high caliber, skilled, uniquely prepared graduates who can think independently, analytically, logically, and globally. We provide a solid foundation for an innovative educational experience that will help prepare our students with the skills, licenses, and certifications necessary for a highly competitive job market.

FIR aims to produce high caliber, skilled, uniquely prepared graduates...

- Pankaj K. Jain



Faculty in the Department of Management had another productive semester publishing research, teaching undergraduate and graduate students, and engaging in student-centered and professional service. Some of the department highlights are listed below.

Ms. Laura Alderson coauthored an article accepted for publication in the Journal of Business Strategy. She also edited and created instructor resource content for two human resource management textbooks. She was a corecipient of the 2014 Management Department’s Service Award.

Dr. Barbara Davis serves as coordinator of MGMT 3510 Business Communications and the Business Dining Etiquette Program. She had an article accepted for publication in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. She is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Business Communication. Dr. Davis made two presentations at the meeting of the Association for Business

Communication in Seattle.

Dr. Kristl Davison is a new instructor of management. She is currently serving as the awards chair for the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology and is an editorial board member for Organizational Research Methods. She recently published an article in the Journal of Managerial Issues, and she has a book chapter accepted for publication in Social Media in Employee Selection and Recruitment: Theory, Practice, and Current Challenges.

Dr. Frances Fabian serves as a Ph.D. program coordinator and the entrepreneurship minor coordinator. She published three articles this year, two with former Ph.D. students Jack Clampit in Journal of World Business and Rachida Aissaoui in Journal of International Management, and the third in the Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship. Her coauthored paper with current Ph.D. student Ram Reddy won a Best in Track award at the Southern Management Association meeting. Dr. Fabian also presented a paper at the Strategic Management Society meeting in Denver.

Dr. Ben Kedia completed 25 years as a CIBER grant awardee of over $10 million from the U.S. Department of Education. Dr. Kedia, along with Kelly Aceto, edited the book Emerging Markets and the Future of the BRIC Nations. He had articles accepted for publication in the Journal of World Business and International Business Review. He also made two presentations at the Academy of International Business and one presentation at the Southern Management Association.

Dr. Kelly Mollica published an article on banning the box in

Dr. Charles A. (Chuck) Pierce, [email protected]

Departmentof Management



employee hiring in the Journal of Academic and Business Ethics. She gave two presentations at the Academy of Management meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia. She received a Lambuth Faculty Spirit Award to attend the Teaching Professor Conference in Atlanta. She also signed a contract to write a principles of management textbook.

Dr. Chuck Pierce serves as chair of the Department of Management and coordinator of the Mid-South Management Research Consortium (MMRC). He had an article accepted for publication in Personnel Psychology and an article published in the Journal of Applied

Psychology. He was an author and presenter in a professional development workshop, paper session, and caucus at the Academy of Management meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Dr. Alex Rubenstein teaches undergraduate human resource management and will be teaching an MBA seminar on leadership in organizations. He recently presented a paper at the Academy of Management meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, and he was a panel participant at the Society of Information Management Executive Strategy Series.

Dr. Kathy Tuberville was selected by the Memphis Business Journal as one of 25 Memphis “super women in business.” Her class on managing employee wellness was copresented with Dr. Carol Danehower at the Academy of Management meeting as a professional development workshop. The course was also the subject of an article published in the local HR Professionals magazine with the Memphis Business Group on Health and Common Table Health Alliance. Dr. Tuberville had a paper accepted for the University of New Mexico Mentoring Conference with Drs. Robert Renn, Robert Taylor, and Justin

Lawhead and was published in the conference proceedings. She made a presentation at the Cooperative Education and Internship Association meeting in Atlanta. Dr. Tuberville serves as the college relations chair for the Tennessee State SHRM Council and as director of the Avron B. Fogelman Professional Development Center. She also was awarded the Ron Hart Leadership Award.

We are pleased to report that 2015 was a positive year for the management department’s faculty, students, and community partners.

Dr. Marla Royne Stafford, [email protected]

The Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management is excited about the forthcoming opening of their newly constructed Customer NeuroInsights Research Lab (C-NRL). C-NRL is a behavioral research and teaching facility originally founded in 2013. C-NRL features a number of advanced physiological measurement

technologies that place affiliated faculty and students on the cutting edge of applied neuroscience. The technologies include eye tracking, automated facial expression recognition, galvanic skin response (GSR), EEG, and implicit association testing (IAT). These state-of-the-art tools enable researchers to deliver fresh insights into the cognitive and emotional processes that influence individual information processing, attitudes, and choice behaviors in a wide variety of contexts. The C-NRL Lab also has a focus group facility.

Published and forthcoming studies on neuroscience have investigated a wide range of topics including consumers’ responses to service failures depicted in online reviews, recall of promotional information within movie trailers, and the relationship between neurological engagement with Super Bowl advertising and population-level social media-based brand interactions. Construction began during Fall 2015, and the grand opening of the new facility will be held in Spring 2016.

Department of Marketing and Supply

Chain Management



Faculty members remain engaged in a number of research projects, and several departmental faculty members were published in A and A+ level journals during 2015. Dr. Mehdi Amini coauthored an article “Closed-Loop Supply Chain Configuration for New and Repurposed Products: An Integrated Optimization Model,” which is forthcoming in Omega: An International Journal of Management Science, and also published “The Impact of Dual-Market on Supply Chain Configuration for New Products” in the International Journal of Production Research. Additionally, he published “Success Factors in Product Seeding: The Role of Homophily” in the Journal of Retailing with Dr. Emin Babakus and former MSCM doctoral student Dr. Mohammad Nejad. Dr. Nejad, Dr. Dan Sherrell, and Dr. Amini have a paper, “The Profit Impact of Heterogeneity and Assortativity in the Presence of Negative Word-of-Mouth” that is forthcoming in the International Journal of Research in Marketing. Dr. Marla Stafford coauthored an article, “Eco-harmful Media Perceptions and Consumer Response to Advertising,” in the Journal of Cleaner Production. Along with former visiting scholar Dr. Subhash Jha and another coauthor, she published “Customer E-complaining Behaviors using Social Media” in the Services Industries Journal. At the Fall 2015 Society for Marketing Advances Conference, Dr. Stafford and former visiting scholar Dr. Devika Vashisht received the award for best paper in the promotions track. Faculty members regularly present their research at top conferences such as the American Marketing Association’s Educators Conferences and INFORMS.

In the spring of 2015, Dr. George Deitz and Dr. Al Bush were

named George Johnson Research Fellows, an award that recognizes faculty members for their outstanding research records. At the Fall 2015 Fogelman College of Business and Economics’ faculty meeting, both Dr. Amini and Dr. Deitz were awarded George Johnson Professorships. Those professorships are awarded to high-quality faculty members who show exceptional performance in three categories: teaching, research, and service. In addition to engaging in top-quality research and teaching challenging classes at the undergraduate, master’s, and Ph.D. levels, Dr. Amini is the founding director of the enterprise, Simulation and Optimization Lab

(eSOL). Dr. Deitz also teaches in all three programs and is the director of the Customer NeuroInsights Research Lab.

Dr. Michael Cervetti was invited to St. George’s University in Grenada to present on topics related to research and methodology. Dr. Cervetti conducted two seminars:

“Demystifying Statistical Analysis” and “Moving Toward Quality Outcomes-Based Educational Research.” He also is a past recipient of several teaching awards. Dr. Orrin Cooper received the MSCM Department’s Outstanding Teaching Award for 2015.

Our Ph.D. program continues to produce outstanding graduates. Many of them are publishing in a number of journals and have secured positions at a range of universities including Ohio University, University of Puget Sound, Randolph Macon College, Kennesaw State University, University of California-Fresno, and Southern Illinois University.

Two previous MSCM doctoral students, Dr. John Cicala of Texas A & M University–Kingsville, and Dr. Christine Kowalczyk of East Carolina University, both won top teaching awards at their respective schools.

The Student Marketing Association remains active, and the 2015-2016 officers are president Elizabeth

“Beth” James, first VP Leila Zetchi, second VP Samantha Lay, secretary EmaDella Conners, treasurer Tera Jones, programs director Kathryn Marbury, promotions director William Henderson, social media/website director, EmaDella Conners, and membership director Sam Lay. In Fall 2015, SMA members enjoyed a speaker meeting about branding with Melissa Thomson of the Memphis Business Journal. They also enjoyed a speaker meeting with the attorney James Becker. The group is in the beginning stages of affiliating with the American Marketing Association, a national group that recently reestablished a Memphis chapter.

These state-of-the-art tools enable researchers to deliver fresh insights into the cognitive and emotional processes that influence individual information processing, attitudes, and choice behaviors in a wide variety of contexts.

- Dr. Marla Royne Stafford



The Fogelman College of Business & Economics (FCBE) hosted its 23rd Alumni Day Luncheon in November to celebrate some of the school’s most distinguished graduates and to honor its significant supporters.

David Wedaman, chairman and CEO of ReTrans, Inc., received the Outstanding Alumnus award. Brett Norman, CEO and founder of AgSmarts, Inc., was named Outstanding Young Alumnus. Charles McVean, chairman and CEO of McVean Trading & Investments, LLC, was awarded Distinguished Friend of the College. The keynote speaker for the luncheon was Donald E. Godwin, trial lawyer and lead counsel for Halliburton.

David Wedaman, who graduated in 1980 with a BBA in accounting, was honored as this year’s Outstanding Alumnus. He founded ReTrans in 2002 and has since grown the company to a national level. It currently operates with 35 offices across the nation.

AlumniLuncheon

Charles McVean, the 2015 recipient of the FCBE Distinguished Friend award


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David Wedaman accepting the Outstanding Alumnus award from Dean Grover


Charles McVean, the visionary behind the Peer Power Foundation, was named the Distinguished Friend of the College. Peer Power is a nonprofit organization that recruits and trains high-performing students as tutors and mentors of their peers. Several years ago, Fogelman College and Peer Power partnered together to implement this peer-tutoring platform on a collegiate level.

Brett Norman, a FCBE International MBA graduate, received the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award. In 2014, Norman cofounded AgSmarts, Inc., which helps agricultural producers of all size and type boost their productivity and profitability.

David Wedaman and Charles McVean were also inducted into the Fogelman College Hall of Fame, which recognizes our Outstanding Alumni and Distinguished Friends.

The luncheon was concluded by the keynote speaker, Donald E. Godwin, a FCBE School of Accountancy alumnus. Godwin is currently the lead trial lawyer for

Donald E. Godwin delivering the keynote speech

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Dean Grover presenting the Young Alumnus award to Brett Norman


Halliburton in connection with all civil litigation and investigations concerning BP’s Macondo well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. He was also the lead counsel for Halliburton in its asbestos and silica litigation. Godwin has been recognized by Chambers USA since 2014 in the area of general commercial litigation, and he was selected to the “Lawdragon 500,” which recognizes the 500 leading lawyers in America. He also has been named one of The Best Lawyers in America since 2012 and, most recently, he was named one the 50 Lions of the Texas Bar, which is comprised of the top 50 lawyers in Texas.

“All of the award winners reinforced the importance of integrity, hard work, and a well-rounded education. These are the same values we reinforce at Fogelman College,” said Dr. Rajiv Grover, dean of the Fogelman College of Business and Economics. “It is inspiring to hear accounts from individuals who have achieved success by implementing these values in their personal and professional lives.”

Charles McVean gratefully accepting the Distinguished Friend award

Members of the University of Memphis Student Ambassador Board gathering at the 2015 Alumni Day Luncheon

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The Fogelman College of Business & Economics gratefully acknowledges the following individuals for their generous donations to the College during the past year. (Jan.–Dec. 2015)

Your gift is important to us! We have made every effort to report gifts correctly; however, if we have made an error, please bring it to our attention by contacting us at 901.678.3633. Thank you!

HonorRoll

In this picture (from left to right): Dean Rajiv Grover, Bill Watkins, Hilliard Crews, Michael W. Cook Sr., Harry Smith, and George Johnson

Thank you for your continued dedication to the Fogelman College! Your support is greatly appreciated.


Mr. and Mrs. James W. Adams Jr.

Mary Adams

Mr. Waymon E. Ahart

Mr. and Mrs. Jon D. Albright

Susan and Frank Allen

Ms. Deborah L. Allison

Mr. Jerry Allison

Allison & Chumney PC

Mr. G. Robert Alsobrook Jr. and Mrs. Jessica P. Alsobrook

Mr. Robert K. Alvarez

Mr. and Mrs. Timothy W. Amling

Ms. Shannon L. Ancherani

The Brinkley Foundation

Ms. Vickie S. Armour

Mr. Kyle H. Attarian

Tina and Rhomes Aur

AutoZone

Mr. and Mrs. Howard D. Averyhart Sr.

Dr. and Mrs. Emin Babakus

Mr. Raymond G. Bader

Mr. Matthew S. Bailey

Teresa and Chris Bailey

Sandra and Bill Bailey

Anonymous

Mr. and Mrs. James A. Baker Jr.

Mr. and Mrs. James A. Baker III

Mr. John D. Baker

Mr. Steven A. Ballard

Bank of America Charitable Gift Fund

Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation

Mr. Gregory E. Barnes

Mr. Jonathan R. Barron

Mr. James W. Beach

Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth M. Bearden

Mr. and Mrs. Scott N. Beatty

Alberta Bell

Mr. and Mrs. William F. Bell

Richard Bellchamber

Mr. Albert R. Biggs

Mr. and Mrs. Lodie V. Biggs III

Mr. Christopher D. Bland

Mr. Earl Blankenship

Ms. Cherry L. Blanton

Ms. Marion L. Blasch

BMS Enterprises

Ms. Page Boden

Frank Bosco

Mr. Colby T. Bowen

Boyle Insurance Agency, Inc.

Mr. Adam J. Brammer

Brasfield Business Resources

Mr. and Mrs. Steven K. Braun

Mr. and Mrs. Douglas D. Breeckner

Mr. Blake W. Brennan

Ms. Frances Y. Graham

Mr. Robert E. Brittain

Scott Brockman

Dr. and Mrs. Lloyd D. Brooks

Judith and Bernard Brown

Mr. Mitchell J. Brown

Ms. Mary T. Bryce

Mr. Richard A. Bult

Mr. Michael Bulthaus

Mr. Joseph L. Buntin

Mr. William J. Burg

Mr. Ronald G. Burleson

Lillian and Wilfed Busby

Mr. Rene Bustamante

Debra and Robert Byrd

Amber M. Cagle

Ms. Mary L. Caldwell

Anonymous

Campbell Clinic Orthopaedics

Mr. Ira Carbage Jr.

Mr. Sam J. Cardwell

Carl Carson Truck Center Incorporated

Ms. Jeanne G. Carr

Mr. Sean A. Carroll

Mr. Carl J. Carson

Mr. James J. Carter

Ms. Suzanne E. Carter

Mr. Billy T. Cash

Mr. Thomas Cassidy

Mr. and Mrs. Christopher K. Casteel

Ms. Carolyn Cates

CB Richard Ellis Memphis

CBIZ Operations Incorporated

Mr. William T. Chandler

Cyril and Alice Chang

Ms. Michelle R. Charbonnet

Mr. Jiang Chen

Dr. Zhaohui Xu and Mr. Wei W. Chen

THE FOGELMAN COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICSALUMNI CHAPTER IS ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR NEW BOARD MEMBERS.

The Fogelman College of Business and Economics strives to reconnect UofM graduates back to the University by planning and implementing various activities throughout the year, including:

the annual FCBE golf tournament, a fundraiser for our building renovation fund, and Alumni Day, where we honor distinguished Fogelman College graduates and friends of the college.

If you are an alumni of the University of Memphis Fogleman College of Business and Economics and are interested in serving on the board of the FCBE alumni chapter, please contact alumni coordinator Shannon Miller at [email protected] or 901-678-3043.

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Tanya and Michael Cherry

Mr. Randall K. Cherry

Anonymous

Ms. Marie A. Chisholm-Burns

Mr. Bill R. Chism

Mr. Mark J. Christopher

Dr. Shifei Chung

Dr. Brian P. Clifford

Ms. Carla S. Clifft

Ms. Amelia Cole

Mr. and Mrs. John J. Coleman

Mr. Larry E. Coleman III

Mr. Ronald L. Coleman and Ms. Jan S. Coleman

Mr. Matthew T. Collier

Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Collins

Mr. Robert E. and Mrs. Paula Collins

Anonymous Donor

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph S. Cook

Mr. and Mrs. Michael W. Cook Sr.

Anonymous

Ms. Diane F. Coons

Mr. Dennis G. Cooper

Ms. Christine A. Cordts

Megan and James Cornett

Ms. Melinda W. Costable

Mr. and Mrs. H. Wayne Cox

John Crane

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Mr. Calvin M. Curry

William Cutsinger

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Dr. Charlotte Davis

Mr. and Mrs. Fred L. Davis

Mr. Stanley W. Davis

Mr. and Mrs. Robert T. Dawkins

Mr. David M. Dawson

Mr. Joseph R. Dawson III

Mr. Vincent M. DeGutis

Dell Inc

Deloitte Foundation

Mary and David Deterding

Dr. and Mrs. Charles C. Dibrell Jr.

Mary E. Dickerson

Mr. and Mrs. George F. Dittmann IV

Dittmann Family Trust

Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP

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Jeanne and John Duffy

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Bruce Dziedzic

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Dr. and Mrs. Richard D. Evans

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Mr. Wayne H. Fay

FedEx

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Anonymous Donor

Financial Planning Association of Greater Memphis

First Tennessee Foundation

First Tennessee Bank NA

First Tennessee Foundation

First Tennessee Matching Gift Program

Yolonda Fisher

Mr. and Mrs. Randy Flatt

Ms. Sandra C. Flatt

Mr. and Mrs. Avron B. Fogelman

Mr. Hal Fogelman

Martha and Robert Fogelman

Mr. Harold Randall Forrester

Ms. Judy K. Fox

Ms. Jasmine Franklin

Renaissance Charitable Foundation

Mr. and Mrs. Gerald A. Fratini

Frazee Tate and Davis PLC

Ms. Monica L. Frisbee

FTB Advisors

Mr. Brent T. Gallagher

Mr. Jeffrey L. Garner

Ms. Kailee S. Geary

Ms. Sherry D. Gibbs

Dr. and Mrs. Donald R. Gibson

Mr. Eric Gibson

Anne and Roy Gibson

Ms. Mary V. Gillispie

Mr. Steven A. Gilmore

Ms. Luz A. Gonzalez

Mr. J. Waldon Gooch

Ms. Louise C. Goodale

Ms. Devon L. Gosnell

Mr. Raymond J. Grady

Ms. Kelly A. Gray

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Ms. Ruthie D. Grayson

Martha and Robert F. Fogelman

Bradley and Robert F. Fogelman II

Green Mountain Consulting, LLC

Ron Griffin

Brenda and Fred Grinder

Cynthia and John Gunckel

Mr. Mark N. Gustafson

Mr. David A. Hager

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Dr. and Mrs. Carl E. Halford

Shelly H. Baker

Ms. Janice R. Hall

Mr. and Mrs. John R. Hall

William P. Halliday III

Mr. and Mrs. Mark Halperin

SUPPORT THE FOGELMAN COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICSby using the convenient envelope provided in this issue of Fogelman Focus, or by making a gift online at memphis.edu/giving.

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Mr. Randall C. Hampton

Mr. Marino C. Hardy and Mrs. Carolyn C. Hardy

Mr. and Mrs. Stephen A. Hargett

Mr. Mark Harkins

Rev. and Mrs. Bethel L. Harris Jr.

Mr. and Mrs. David G. Harris

Ms. Janet Harris-Smith

Ronald Hart Family Foundation

Anonymous

Marianne Hartquist

Mr. Jay Healy

Herman Bensdorf II Residuary Trust

Hillshire Brands

Mr. Clare C. Hodge III

Mr. Walter F. Hoehn

Alison and Al Hollingsworth

Mr. Frank C. Holloman III

Alissa and James Holt

Ms. Patricia C. Holt

Hope Christian Community Foundation Incorporated

James Hodeshell

Ms. Joyce R. Howell

Joan and Bob Hug

Ms. June T. Hurt

Dr. Andrew Hussey

Mr. Christopher S. Ingram

Interactive Solutions Incorporated

International Business Machines Corporation

International Paper Company

Mr. James T. Irvine

Mrs. Shobha G. Iyer

Ms. Alexandria N. Sharif

Ms. Geneva C. Jackson

Mr. and Mrs. Jason Jackson

Dr. and Mrs. Wade M. Jackson

Mr. and Mrs. James E. Jacobs

Sakshi and Pankaj Jain

Dr. and Mrs. Brian D. Janz

Mr. Robert W. Johns

Emilie Johnson

Mr. and Mrs. George T. Johnson

Mr. James R. Johnson

Ms. Karen S. Johnson

Mr. Micheal Johnson

Carol A. Johnson Bishop

Mr. Jason E. Joiner

Dorothy E. Jones

Mr. Michael A. Jones

Ms. Jolene H. Jordan

Mr. Justin Joy

Ms. Leslie A. Kaplan

Mr. Sidney E. Kaplan

Dr. Ben L. Kedia

Mr. Jason Keen

Mr. John C. Kelley Jr.

Ms. Heidi A. Kendall

Mr. Kevin M. Kent

Dr. William J. Kettinger

Joyce Kilpatrick

Ms. Eun J. Kim Jones

Ms. Billie Kimbrough

Mr. and Mrs. Kevin D. Kimery

Mr. Casey N. King

Mr. and Mrs. Edward L. King

Ms. Patricia C. King

Mr. Raymond E. King III

Mr. David R. Kopald

Mr. S. L. Kopald Jr.

Mr. Richard Kozel

KPMG Foundation

KPMG Peat Marwick LLP

Ms. Evelyn J. Kurtz

Col. Edward T. Ladd Sr.

Mr. Michael J. Lahaie

Lambda Alpha International, Memphis Chapter

Ms. Susan N. Lange

Dr. Craig J. Langstraat

Mr. Kevin L. Lawrence

Mr. and Mrs. David A. Lea

Ms. Sabrina Q. Leatherwood

Anonymous

Dr. and Mrs. Donald L. Lester

Ms. Nancy K. Levinson

Ms. Angela R. Lexner

Dr. Nancy B. Lillie

Mr. Ronald L. Limberg

Lipscomb and Pitts

Mr. Billy R. Little

Ms. Cindie N. Ortega

Mr. Bruce A. Livesay

Lockheed Martin Corporation

Gordon Lohnes Jr.

Dana and Robert Longfield

Dr. Al. S. Lovvorn

LPL Financial Foundation

Dr. James M. Lukawitz

Ms. Jennifer L. Luther

Ms. Connie L. Luzwick

Terry A. Lynch

Mr. Floyd Lyons

George Mabon

Mary D. Maduska

Laura and John Mann

Mr. Joseph F. Manuszak

Mr. Robert F. Marek Jr.

Drs. Frank and Deanna Marion

Anonymous

Marsh and McLennan Companies

Ms. Caitlin H. Marshall

Mr. Frank L. Martin

Rachel M. Mashburn

Mr. Frank A. Masiello

Ms. Janelle M. Mason

Mr. Frank M. Massa

Mr. and Mrs. Fred L. Massa

Mr. Shawn E. Massey

Mr. and Mrs. William A. Mathis

Mr. Nicholas H. Matlock

Nancy and Robert McBride

Dr. Mark W. McCartney

Mr. John J. McCommon Sr.

Mr. Steven M. McCoy

John McDonnell

Mr. William D. McGaughran

Mr. and Mrs. Michael S. McGee

Ms. Wilma M. McGee

Mr. Michael D. McGhee

Mr. Robert F. McGoldrick

Ms. Lauren B. McHugh

Dr. Thomas H. McInish

Ms. Betty W. McIntosh

Mr. Kenneth A. McMahon

Mr. Mark J. McNeil

Mr. Malcolm H. McPherson

Mr. Charles D. McVean

Ms. Julie K. Meadows

Natalie and James Meeks Jr.

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Mehr

Memphis Commercial Real Estate Women, Inc.

Memphis Shelby County Airport Authority

Mohan Menon

Ms. Pamela K. Merritt

Liz and Rick Miller

Dr. Thomas and Mary Jo Miller

Mr. Daniel E. Millican

Chuck and Delia Molinski

JoAnn Montgomery

Mr. George H. Moore

Dr. Larry Moore

Morgan Stanley

Ms. Janice L. Morganfield

Mr. Terry R. Morris

William Morris

Ms. Rebecca F. Morrison

Mr. and Mrs. Saunders Morgan Morton

Mr. Gary T. Mosley

Mr. Timothy W. Mott

Maureen and Jerome Myers

Vinay Nagaraja

Mr. and Mrs. Brenton J. Nair

Nalinikalyan Nallagonda

Mr. and Mrs. John R. Neal

Amanda and Dusty Nelson

Ms. Laura K. Nelson

Dr. Monika Nenon and Dr. Thomas J. Nenon Jr.

Ms. Dorothy H. Neuf

Mr. Carl D. Nguyen

Dr. Ernest L. Nichols Jr.

Mr. Keith Norman

Northwestern Mutual Foundation

Dr. Mary Ellen M. Nourse

Novo Nordisk Charity Trust Account

Mr. and Mrs. Matthew R. Oates

Shane O’Connell

Glenda and John O’Connor

Dr. Albert A. Okunade

Mr. Mobolaji Oladinni

Sara and Alejandro Ordonez

Dexter Orman

Mr. Donald Owens, MD

Ms. Teah R. Palmer

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Dianne and Larry Papasan

Ms. Beverly D. Parish

Mr. Jerry L. Parkhurst

Mr. Anthony H. Parks

Dr. John A. Parnell

Mr. Thomas M. Parzinger

Kathleen and Roy Patterson

Dr. Barbara L. Peery

Mr. and Mrs. Lewis W. Perkins III

Richard and Pamela Perkins

Austin Perry

Mr. D. Keith Perry

Ms. Kimberly A. Perry

Ms. Tameka T. Perry

Phillip Peters

Mr. Chris Phelan

Mr. Arville B. Phillips

Lauren Pickens

William Pickens

David Pickler

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Jonathan Pike Family

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Rebecca and Benjamin Pope

Mr. Ethan A. Porter

Ms. Frances J. Porter

Mr. Jeffrey Porterfield

Dr. Robin S. Poston

Jane and Charles Poulos

Mr. Lynn M. Pouncey

Power and Telephone Supply Company

Barbara and Allie Prescott

Mr. W. Richard Price

Mr. Rick Pride

Mr. Sam Puryear

Lisa R. Ragghianti

Dr. James P. Rakowski

Dr. and Mrs. E. James Randall

Emilie G. Ratner

Mr. David F. Read

Ms. Dale Richmond

Mr. Rolland G. Riesberg

Ms. Geraline Rixter

Mr. William C. Roberts Jr.

Mr. Terry A. Robertson

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Mr. Jeffrey G. Rogers

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Mr. Irwin Z. Rothenberg

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Mr. and Mrs. C. David Ruch

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Mr. Gary M. Rutherford

Ikrimah Sabalillah

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Mr. Letroy E. Sardon

Dr. and Mrs. Carl L. Saxby

Mr. Jonathan Schmitt

Frank V. Schriner Jr.

Margaret R. Schultz

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Ms. Mary L. Sharp

Mr. M. Andrew Shaul

Dr. Martha Kay Hedley Shaw

Ms. Madison K. Shepard

Ms. Tamyra V. Shepard

Ms. Mary E. Sherman

Mr. and Mrs. Earnest C. Shinault

Shoemaker Financial

Dr. Philip H. Siegel

Cathy Simmons

Dr. Judith C. Simon

Ms. Andria W. Simonsen

Randy P. and Tona Jackson Simpson

Mr. Steven L. Simpson

Mr. and Mrs. Trevor J. Skelley

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Anonymous

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Charles T. Smith

Mr. Donald R. Smith

Dr. William T. Smith II

Ms. Bettye P. Snipes

Dr. Young-Seob Son

Mr. and Mrs. John R. Southerland

SouthernSun Asset Management

Ms. Margaret S. Spain

Mr. and Mrs. Dennis G. Springer

Ms. Susan Springfield

Sprint Foundation

Ms. Andrea Stark

Catherine H. Stark

Diana (Zhao) and Michael J. Stauffer

Mr. and Mrs. Mike R. Steckler

Kenneth C. Stellmacher

Nancy and Guy Stephenson

Mr. and Mrs. Dougley E. Stewart

Ms. Mary R. Clemons

Mr. Bradly K. Straw

Judith and B. A. Street Sr.

Mr. Bernard A. Street Jr.

Luke H. Stribling

Joseph Sullivan

Mr. Wei Chen

Bobby and Marty Svoboda

Mr. Thomas F. Svoboda

Mr. Andrew C. Swatley

Mr. Darol L. Swords

Syntel

Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Tackett

Dr. Irvin L. Tankersley

Mr. Rickie A. Tankersley

Mr. Raymond Taylor

Patricia and Robert Taylor

Ms. Stacey R. Taylor

Mr. John R. Teague and Dr. Jennifer L. Troyer

The Brinkley Foundation

The Jewish Foundation of Memphis

The Morgan Morton Family Foundation Incorporated

The Peer Power Foundation

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Alumni giving is universally regarded as a way to measure alumni satisfaction with their alma mater. High alumni participation rates have helped the Fogelman College of Business and Economics achieve a prestigious spot among the top 25 percent of business schools in the country according to US News & World Report (2011-12).

We need your continued support to raise the reputation of your degree. Any donation is greatly appreciated, so please consider increasing our alumni participation precentage by making a gift today. Please make a gift online at memphis.edu/giving or return the

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Mr. Elbert L. Thomas Jr.

Mr. Randall J. Thomas

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Kathy and Paul Tuberville

Mr. Kenneth E. Tucker Jr.

Laurie and John Tucker

Mr. Jeremy B. Turner

Mr. Terry M. Turner

Jennette Tyson

United Parcel Service

UnumProvident Corporation

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Dr. Robert A. Van Ness and Dr. Bonnie F. Van Ness

Ms. Anayeli Vargas

Lionel Varner

Mr. Jan P. Verhage

Verizon Foundation

Vincraft Industrial Floor Care, Inc.

Mr. Michael W. Vinson

Mr. and Mrs. Karl Volner

Mr. John M. Vosse

Ms. Felicia A. Waage

Mr. Ronald D. Wade

Mr. and Mrs. David C. Wadlington

Dr. Adam G. Walker

Ms. Linda K. Wilkins

Col. and Mrs. Floyd E. Ward Jr.

Ms. Geraline Wardlow

Anna and David Ware

Mr. Ben C. Watkins

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Watkins Jr.

Watkins Uiberall PLLC

Ms. Ellen I. Watson

Mr. Theodore C. Watts

Mr. and Mrs. James G. Webb

Ms. JoAnn Wells Webber

Anonymous Donor

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Ms. Daphne Wei

Cathy and Craig Weiss

Mr. Donald A. Welch

Wells Fargo Foundation

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Loren A. Wenzel Ph.D.

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Ms. Sonya D. White

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Ms. Armie J. Williams

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Sharon and Robert H. Williams Jr.

Mr. and Mrs. Spence L. Wilson Jr.

Mr. Timothy N. Wilson

Mr. Joseph L. Wolf

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Mr. and Mrs. Ming C. Wong

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Mr. R. L. (Woodie) Woodward

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Mr. and Mrs. Louis E. Wylie

Mr. William B. Wylie

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Mr. Michael F. Zboyan

Ms. Megan D. Zearfoss

Ms. Sandra H. Zehntner

Sarah F. Zimmerman

The Periodic Table As You Have Never Seen It!

Does your estate plan use all of the elements that will best help you accomplish

your objectives?Our representative from Thompson & Associates can provide a second set of eyes on your plan to make sure it accomplishes everything you hope. Participation is completely confidential and will cost you nothing.

Contact Marianne Hartquist for more information at 901-678-3068 or at [email protected].

Be certain your plans use the best possible tools!

The Periodic Table of Estate Planning

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Fogelman Focus : Spring 2016