The Master Plan for September 29, 2011

MBA student Dave Gutos spreads some Seminole spirit at the United Way’s Downtown Get Down onSept. 16. MBA Ambassadors manned the College of Business booth at the downtown street party, where they painted faces and promoted the college’s graduate programs and The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship’s eWeek. Also representing the College of Business at the event were Dr. Doug Stevens, MBA program director, and Kelli Lampkin, a senior majoring in entrepreneurship, professional sales and management, who each delivered a brief talk from the event stage. Check out more photos from the event here.

Atkinson speaks at ethics seminar

According to Professor Rob Atkinson of the FSU College of Law, the measure of any individual’s success boils down to three things. “Work where you can most enhance the production of basic necessities, work where you can provide the most of what makes for human excellence and, highest of all, work where you can encourage people to be the most excellent human beings that they possibly can.”Atkinson, one of the country's leading scholars on legal professionalism and a noted scholar on the law of nonprofit organizations and the relationship between business ethics and legal ethics, was keynote speaker at the Rollo Knight Ethics Seminar on Tuesday at the College of Business. Cooper Baker, MBA 2012, was awarded the second annual Rollo William Gilbert Knight Scholarship during the seminar. The character- and merit-based award provides $1,000 a year to a College of Business graduate student who is actively involved in the community and demonstrates leadership qualities. The scholarship fund was established in honor of Rollo Knight, who died soon after achieving his MBA from the College of Business in 2009. The Rollo Knight Ethics Seminar is a part of the MBA Ethics Roundtable, a series of speakers and events designed to explore and clarify the relationship of ethics to business decisions for students, faculty,and staff to improve the quality of business education and business decision-making. The next speaker in the series will be Mark O'Bryant, CEO of Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare and a national leader in the health care industry, who will discuss the intersection of ethics and health care October 25 at 11 a.m. in Starry Conference Room, 214 Rovetta Business Building.

The Jim Moran Institute wants to hear your big ideas

The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship is urging entrepreneurial-minded students to compete in the 2011 InNOLEvation Challenge business-plan competition. The Jim Moran Institute and a host of corporate sponsors have joined forces to sponsor the high-stakes competition, contributing more than $250,000 in cash and in-kind services, to be awarded to the creators of the top 10 student business plans. “This is an opportunity for students to learn how to develop the best approaches to selling those ideas to venture capitalists and other potential backers,” said Dr. Tim R. Holcomb, The Jim Moran Institute’s executive director and the university’s Jim Moran Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship. “This also is a way to cultivate creative new businesses that could potentially create new jobs in our community.” For a detailed schedule of events and information about entering the competition, visit www.Innolevationchallenge.com.

Marketing students awarded fellowship

Elizabeth Nealing and KelseyReddick, students in the College’s combined BS/MS program in marketing, received the 2011 Bob and Pam Sasser Marketing Excellence Fellowship.  “This is a highly selective and exclusive honor,”said Dr. Michael Hartline, director for the Master of Science in Marketing program,“available to only our best and brightest MS students.” The $2,000 award is made possible by the generosity of the Sassers, longtime supporters of the FSU College of Business. Sasser Fellowships are awarded each summer to the top two students in the Master of Science in Marketing program.

MBA student shares job opportunity

Online MBA student Waco Hoover, principal and advisor at The MichaelBass Group, has an opening for an investment banking associate. The MichaelBass Group is a boutique investment banking firm focused on health-care technology. For application information and a complete position description,visit the firm’s website.

Attention, graduates

Cap and gown ordering for fall 2011 commencement continues through Oct. 28. The online order form is available here.

The College of Business Master’s Hooding Ceremony is scheduled for 6 p.m., Friday, Dec. 16.The hooding ceremony will be followed by a short reception for graduates,family and friends. Universitywide fall commencement will be at 9 a.m., Dec. 17,at the Leon County Civic Center, 505 W. Pensacola St. Both ceremonies require graduates wear the cap and gown regalia.

Check Blackboard’s  “COB Graduation Information” organization for details on both ceremonies. If you haven’t made travel arrangements yet, here's a handy link for making hotel reservations.

You like us; we like you

Be the first to know about collegewide events and news. See photos fromevents, find out about opportunities and contribute to the conversation. Follow College of Business happenings on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.

Get the latest news from the MS-RMI program at http://www.facebook.com/FSUonlineRMImasters, and the MS-MIS program at www.facebook.com/FSUonlineMISmasters.

Mark your calendars

• Oct. 10 – Registration for spring 2012 begins.
• Oct. 14 – End of seventh week of semester. Last day to reduce course load without the permission of academic dean. Last day to drop a course or withdraw without receiving a grade.

For all other important dates and deadlines, see the fall 2011 academic calendar.

Kudos, colleagues

Douglas Schwerdt, MBA 2008, started a new position May 1 as a senior transfer pricing specialist in Hewlett-Packard’s global tax department in San Diego. Schwerdt is the second most senior professional on the Latin America Region team. In addition to his regional pricing responsibilities, he is responsible for transfer pricing planning and documentation, tax audit defense, advance pricing agreements. "After many years of consulting I spent the past couple of years focused on landing the perfect-fit industry position,” Schwerdt said. “HP has certainly delivered on all fronts, such as providing a wide variety of challenging work at an industry-leading Fortune 15 company, a true career position with great potential for advancement, the opportunity to work on teams with some of the smartest people I’ve ever met, and, of course, the weather!” Schwerdt said he was recently nominated for an “eAward” for his work on a project that will save HPclose to $1 billion. “My advice for new or recent graduates is to find a niche area of business that you truly love. Niche skills get jobs in this economy, and a true love for my work makes every day fun.”

Amberly Zauche, MSM-RMI student, recently accepted a position at Apalachee Center in Tallahassee as a performance improvement specialist in the Risk Management/Quality Improvement Department.

Grady Enlow, MBA 1994, is the new deputy director of The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. Enlow will lead the day-to-day administration, finance and strategic planning for all service areas of The  Ringling Museum, adivision of Florida State University and the State Art Museum of Florida. Before taking his new position, Enlow currently served as associate director of FSU’s University Business Administrators program

Alishia Piotrowski, MBA 2010, has been promoted to the position of director of industry relations for the Dedman School of Hospitality at Florida State University.

The Master Plan is a monthly newsletter sent to all on-campus and online master’s students in the Florida State University College of Business. The newsletter is coordinated by Michael Baggett and designed by Andrew Burgess. Please e-mail Baggett, newsletter editor, with any news or career updates about our students or alumni.