THE LOOP SPRING 2016
Pictured: Students travel to Cuba for immersive cultural and business tours during spring break. As we head toward the finish line of another academic year, I am pleased with our momentum on many fronts, two of which are particularly noteworthy. First, providing opportunities for international experiences for students and faculty was an element of the strategic intent document created in fall 2014. This year we have initiated or furthered relationships with universities in Sweden, Italy, Germany, China and India. While the benefits of these relationships will depend on significantly more effort from both parties, they should include new and meaningful opportunities for faculty and students. Also, the number of international field studies led by faculty and staff that are underway or are being planned has grown rapidly during the year. This spring we have students in Brazil and Cuba, and planning is underway for trips to Ireland, Germany, Argentina and New Zealand. I recently read reflections from students who participated in the trip to Saigon and Shanghai in December, and am convinced that these trips and traditional study abroad experiences impact students’ worldviews and will be among the most meaningful experiences they will remember about their time at Cal Poly. I am also excited about the conversations underway to create separate RPT and governance committees for the college. I think a healthier culture can be created if a committee is responsible for facilitating faculty ownership over governance of the college. I am not comfortable with the Dean’s Office calling and running faculty meetings. Currently the more salient RPT responsibilities of the FAC mean that governance duties can only be addressed as time permits. I’d like to see a separate and smaller committee elected annually by the faculty that is in charge of scheduling and running faculty meetings, working with the Dean’s Office to plan retreats, and working with the faculty to create and amend governance structures as needed. I’d like to thank Cyrus for his leadership in facilitating the faculty conversations about changes to the RPT process and our governance. Have a great spring term! Scott facebook.com/calpolyorfaleacollege
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IN THE NEWS CAL POLY WINS CFA INSTITUTE RESEARCH CHALLENGE FOR THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR For the third year in a row, Cal Poly won the local Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Research Challenge. Under the guidance of Professor Cyrus Ramezani and financial advisor Phillip C. Cohl, agribusiness and finance students teamed up to make buy/sell/hold recommendations for video game vendor Activision. Cal Poly defeated teams from USC, Loyola Marymount University, UC Santa Barbara and Claremont Graduate University. The team advances to the Americas Regional competition in April. For more details, visit goo.gl/BzxHX2.
ORFALEA STUDENTS TACKLE THE CHARTERED FINANCIAL ANALYST EXAM In December, 14 Cal Poly students took the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Level 1 exam. Eight students passed, giving Cal Poly an average pass rate of 57 percent, outpacing the international average of 43 percent. Students study for the exam as part of a year-long senior project course taught by Professor Brian Ayash. More students will take the CFA exam in June.
LOW INCOME TAXPAYER CLINIC CELEBRATES CASES SOLVED AND IRS GRANT Cal Poly’s Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC) finished 2015 with major success: 109 cases worked, 69 cases closed, $28,000 refunded to clients and $1.3 million in liabilities saved. The clinic also handled 21 US Tax Court Cases. The LITC was recently awarded a $95,000 grant from the IRS to be utilized in the 2016 year, which is a significant increase from the previous year. The Orfalea College of Business matches grant funding to support the clinic’s work serving local clients who face significant tax fines, fees and levies.
ORFALEA STUDENTS TOUR ERNST & YOUNG More than 40 students in the Leadership for Diversity & Inclusion cohort of BUS 100 spent the day at Ernest & Young in San Jose in January to shed light on opportunities in the accounting field. The tour included immersive simulations on audit, tax and advisory roles with EY staff. Students met with Ken Bouyer, head of EY’s diversity and inclusion team, Al Carrasco, director of America’s talent team, and Nicole Kikos, EY’s lead for Cal Poly recruiting, who shared their perspectives on the value of an accounting degree and how diverse teams strengthen business culture.
STUDENTS PREPARE FOR THE WORKFORCE The Information Systems Association’s annual Preparing for the Workforce event drew dozens of student teams from Cal Poly clubs to discuss workplace inclusion with leading women in technology fields. The event featured Gina Roldan of Microsoft, Christine Songco Lau of Google, Heather Bunyard from Amgen, and Avital Arora of NetApp.
ALUMNI GIVE BACK TO ORFALEA’S ADVANCEMENT CAMPAIGNS Joanne Smith (Business Administration, ’82) recently contributed $250,000 to the Orfalea College of Business Building Success Campaign. With the gift, the college has raised more than $1 million for the renovation project. The president of Innovated Packaging Company, Ben Polando (Business Administration, ‘76), also contributed $25,000 to the Center for Packaging Value Chain. With the gift, he is the first Founders’ Circle member of the campaign which aims to raise $450,000 in its first phase.
CAL POLY INVITES COLLABORATION WITH INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITIES The Orfalea College of Business is building partnerships with the Stockholm School of Economics, the University of Milan, and the Politecnico di Milano. After Deans Scott Dawson, Kevin Lertwachara and Sanjiv Jaggia visited each institution last year, the college now welcomes ideas from faculty who want to build lasting partnerships. Faculty interested in exploring specific research collaboration, sabbaticals, short visits or teaching opportunities should contact Associate Dean Rami Shani at ashani@calpoly.edu for more information.
OUR TEAM BEENA KHURANA PROMOTES CAL POLY IN INDIA WITH PRESIDENT ARMSTRONG Beena Khurana, director of MBA programs, accompanied President Armstrong in January to promote Cal Poly and Orfalea College of Business Graduate Programs to Indian universities and students. They met with the director and faculty of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and the executive director and staff of the United States-India Education Foundation (USIEF) Delhi. Both directors were highly impressed with what Cal Poly has to offer. Associate Deans Sanjiv Jaggia and Kevin Lertwachara traveled to Delhi in March to follow up on the links forged by the president. For Kuhrana’s insider perspective on her travels with President Armstrong, visit goo.gl/mUF90j.
JONATHAN YORK FEATURED IN WALLETHUB Entrepreneurship Professor Jonathan York was recently featured as an expert in a WalletHub’s “2016’s Best & Worst Cities for Women-Owned Businesses.” York, who is the faculty director of the Center of Innovation & Entrepreneurship, discussed how critical mentors are to female entrepreneurs, as well as the importance of confidence as an entrepreneur. To read the full story, visit https://goo.gl/2DTde8.
STEVE HAMILTON RECEIVES GRANT TO STUDY WATER IN TEXAS Steve Hamilton and a team of coauthors have received a $250,000 grant funded by the Texas Comptroller. Hamilton’s research will seek to predict the economic cost of water flow restrictions, ultimately aiding stakeholders in developing cooperative solutions to reduce water use in an attempt to help endangered species in the Texas river basins. This grant builds on Hamilton’s previous water research, including the article, “Measuring the Welfare Losses from Urban Water Supply Disruptions,” which will publish in Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists this year.
STAFF AND FACULTY ATTEND WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE In March, 22 Orfalea staff, faculty and leaders attend the Professional Business Women of California’s (PBWC) annual conference in San Francisco. The event featured keynote speakers and sessions dedicated to female entrepreneurship, networking and career advancement. For more information on PBWC, visit http://pbwcconference.org/.
FACULTY ATTEND CONFERENCES NEAR AND FAR • Industrial Technology and Packaging Professor Manocher Djassemi presented a paper titled “ATMAE Accreditation Case Study: Meeting the program outcome criteria” at 10th annual International Technology, Education and Development Conference in Valencia, Spain in March 2016. • Lecturer Lisa Simon represented Cal Poly at the National Conference in Sales Management in Milwaukee, WI in March. Simon is the conference’s proceeding’s editor and a board member. • Economics Professor Jonathan James attended the Pacific Conference for Development Economics at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. on March 5.
DEANS BUILD PARTNERSHIPS IN CHINA AND INDIA Associate Deans Sanjiv Jaggia and Kevin Lertwachara visited Wuhan University and Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing in March. Dean Scott Dawson visited the universities in October, where he discussed a mutual interest in Cal Poly’s master’s in business analytics program. Jaggia and Lertwachara will also ventured to Delhi, India to meet with peers at Amity University and the U.S.-India Educational Foundation to market the Orfalea College of Business and Cal Poly to students in the region
STUDENT SUCCESS ORFALEA STUDENTS REPRESENT CAL POLY ON STATE CAPITOL TOUR Four Orfalea College of Business students were among 21 Cal Poly students who toured Sacramento, met with lawmakers and networked with alumni in February. Reese Woodard (business administration), Janel Takeda (industrial technology and packaging) Jimmy Phung (entrepreneurship) and Elaine Cohen (marketing) were recognized for previous competition wins and continued academic excellence.
WOMEN IN BUSINESS CLUB HOST LEADERSHIP PROGRAM GRADUATION Cal Poly’s Women in Business club recently graduated 32 members from its first Women’s Business Leadership Academy. The quarter-long program included weekly meetings, and professionalism workshops, executive roundtables, guest speakers, peer and executive mentorship, and Bay Area company tours. The club was founded by Orfalea students Hannah Poplack and Shelby Sly in 2014.
CAL POLY STUDENTS COMPETE AT AMA’S INTERNATIONAL COLLEGIATE CONFERENCE Cal Poly was recognized one of the top 25 chapters at the American Marketing Association’s (AMA) International Collegiate Conference in New Orleans. At the conference, students took second place in AMA’s sales competition, video competition, and SABRE business simulation. Cal Poly reached the semifinal rounds of the marketing strategy and pitch competitions. Marketing student Chris Melchione also received an honorable mention from the University Sales Center Alliance. Lecturer Lisa Simon advises the club and coached the students.
STUDENTS TRAVEL TO BRAZIL AND CUBA OVER SPRING BREAK Professor Ahmed Deif, Professor Javier de la Fuente and Advisor Justin Gomez led a cohort of BUS 304 students on an immersive trip to Brazil during spring break. The group toured supply chain businesses and cultural attractions. At the same time, Professor Barry Floyd joined Advising Center Director Amy Carter, Advisor Katelyn O’Brien and 22 students on the colleges first official trip to Cuba to explore the nation’s emerging economy.
PACKAGING STUDENTS SPEAK AT TRANSPACK INDUSTRY CONFERENCE Industrial technology and packaging students Sean Maguire, Paul Woodman and Sean Gorman made a presentation to industry professionals at the annual TransPack Forum in Florida. The team presented its research on using stretch wrap to secure pallete loads in different configurations. Learn more at http://goo.gl/79zEZP.
MARKETING STUDENTS CONDUCT ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH FOR LOCAL CLIENTS Students in Professor Joachim Scholz’s BUS 407 course recently made presentations to local clients Bella Mundo Café and Whalebird Kombucha. Teams of students conducted in-depth research into each client’s customer base and made targeted recommendations for social media strategies, customer retention programs and product marketing runways.
CAL POLY WINS 48 HOUR REPACK COMPETITION A team from Cal Poly has won first place at the 48 Hour Repack, a national packaging competition. Industrial technology and packing students Brooke Billmeyer and Mackey Peek teamed up with art and design student Samuel Barber to redesign coffee pod containers. The team traveled to Atlanta, GA on March 21 for the final results. Cal Poly took second at the 48-Hour Repack in 2015. For more details, visit http://goo.gl/k0wIdp.
STUDENT START-UP DEBUTS AT CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW Business sophomore Dylan Brodsky debuted his startup, Spritely, at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Spritely is a smart alarm clock and sleep analytics system that began as a senior project and was further developed through Cal Poly’s Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s Summer Accelerator program this past summer. Brodsky and his team launched a crowdfunding the project on Indegogo and hope to have a market-ready product to sell at next year’s CES. More information at http://goo.gl/G9HrKg.
STUDENT RESEARCH ON FRACKING TO APPEAR IN ECONOMICS RESEARCH JOURNAL The Undergraduate Business and Economics Research (UBER) Journal will soon feature the work of four Cal Poly economic seniors, Anthony Berardi, Joseph Fazackerly, Max Fishman, Luke Wills and Jeffrey Wilson. The paper, titled “Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Clean Power Plan and the Effects of Fracking,” was originally written for ECON 431 by the students and was then edited and submitted for publication in UBER in December. The article has been accepted and will run in UBER in the upcoming months.
ACCOUNTING STUDENTS TOUR BAY AREA FIRMS A group of 24 Cal Poly accounting students from the Cal Poly Accounting Club toured Bay Area firms BPM, Frank, Rimerman, Moss Adams and BDO in March. Sheri Boscaro and faculty member James Kaney joined the students as they met with c-suite executives and recruiting managers to discuss job opportunities in the field. After visiting the firms, the group enjoyed a reception with Bay Area accounting alumni on the Embarcadero.
MBA STUDENTS EXPERIENCE BAY AREA COMPANIES FIRST-HAND One early morning in March, nearly 30 MBA students and five faculty and staff boarded a bus headed to the Bay Area for an industry tour. Over the course of two days the students visited Driscolls, Amazon Music, Zynga, Silicon Valley Bank, Hampton Creek and Clif Bar. Students toured the facilities, spoke with company leaders, and heard inspiring stories about company origins. MBA Director Beena Khurana remarked on how engaged the students were at each stop, asking informed questions about everything including research and development, business operations and how to be an attractive candidate for employment. In the evenings, over dinner at various Bay Area eateries, students debriefed with faculty and staff about what they learned. A post trip survey indicated the trip enhanced MBA students’ understanding of business strategy and company culture, offered insights in the impact of changing economic conditions, and enhanced classroom learning.
ALUMNI IN THE NEWS ALUMNI STARTUPS GRADUATE FROM SLO HOTHOUSE INCUBATOR Two companies graduating from the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s Incubator program include Orfalea College of Business alumni. Boost Acquisitions, founded by industrial technology alumnus Josh Hirahara, is a data analytics company that is targeting the auto industry. Moja Outdoors, cofounded by entrepreneurship graduate Sander DiAngelis, builds content- and community-driven retail experiences for outdoor enthusiasts. These companies have co-worked at the SLO HotHouse for two years and benefited from the CIE’s entrepreneurial resources. To date, the CIE’s graduating incubating companies combined have added 30 new jobs to the overall economy and 19 locally.
ALUM AND RUNNER SEAN DAVIDSON COMPETES IN OLYMPIC TRIALS Sean Davidson (Information Systems, ’14) recently ran in the men’s distance U.S. Olympic Trials. Since his graduation in 2014, Davidson has been running with Asics Aggie Running Club in Northern California and working for San Luis Obispo-based Running Warehouse. During his time as a Cal Poly cross country runner, Davidson won the 10K title at the Big West conference championships and placed fourth in the conference finals. For more information, visit http://goo.gl/JuAES4.
INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY AND PACKAGING ALUMNI SELECTED FOR THE 2016 CSU STUDENT RESEARCH COMPETITION Kristen Leemon, Christina Liu, and Daniel Tachibana, recently took their research on medical device packaging usability to the California State University’s (CSU) annual research competition. The research, conducted in 2015, was funded by the Orfalea College of Business and allowed the students to work with Serra Vista Regional Medical Center as well as the Graphic Communication and Statistics Department at Cal Poly. Last year, economics graduate student Mathew Thomson took second at the CSU competition.
CAL POLY GRAD MAKES HEADLINES AS HOLLYWOOD STUNTMAN Ryan Gray Anderson (International Business ’02) was featured in the New Times for his work as a stuntman in several major Hollywood films. After nearly six years of training and endless auditions, Gray broke into the stuntman industry and has since been featured in films like Spider-Man 3 and Brooklyn 99. Gray spoke about his experience as a stuntman at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival on March 19. http://goo.gl/WP2SZo
ORFALEA ALUMNUS LAUNCHES NEW KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN Brett Edwards (Entrepreneurship, ‘13) has launched a Kickstarter campaign to support his new educational rap album for kids called “Renewable Rap.” Edwards performs as Mr. Eco, an environmental rap superhero that encourages kids in elementary schools to conserve, recycle and become “EcoHeroes.” His YouTube videos have attracted more than 620,000 views. Read the full Tribune article at http://goo.gl/jUW6hH.
ALUMNA HONORED AT BLACK ENGINEER OF THE YEAR AWARDS Monique Smith of Northrop Grumman (Industrial Technology, ‘86) was recently honored for her decades of service to her Southern California community at the 30th Annual Black Engineer of the Year Awards. Smith is a strong supporter of a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) educational programs that helps provide African American role models in technological fields to young students. For a full list of winners, visit http://goo.gl/fa8B7T.
ON THE HORIZON OPEN HOUSE BEER AND WINE GARDEN SLATED FOR APRIL 16 All staff and faculty are invited to attend a Cal Poly alumni beer and wine garden on Saturday, April 16 at Open House. The event, cohosted by the Orfalea College of Business and College of Engineering, the event will welcome back business and engineering alumni and share local beer, wine and appetizers. The registration fee is waived for Orfalea faculty and staff; guests may attend at $20/person. To RSVP, visit http://bit.ly/CPBeerWineGarden.
ORFALEA COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AWARDS SLATED FOR MAY 13 Faculty, staff and students are welcome to attend the Orfalea College of Business Awards on May 13 at 3 p.m. on O’Neill Green. The ceremony will recognize outstanding students, clubs, and faculty.
FREE LEAN FORUM SCHEDULED FOR APRIL 7 Central Coast Lean will hold its next Leadership Forum on April 7 from 4-6 p.m. at Zurn Wilkins at 1747 Commerce way in Paso Robles. This forum, which focuses on lean warehousing, will feature a stockroom tour and a presentation by Nathaniel Kimble of Zurn Wilkins. Register online at: http://goo.gl/vYkzF5.
ORFALEA TO HOST STUDENT DIVERSITY & INCLUSIVITY CONFERENCE The Orfalea College of Business will host its first Leadership Beyond the Resume Conference for Diversity and Inclusivity on Saturday, April 23 in Chumash Auditorium. The event will engage 150 of Orfalea’s leaders, including tutors, peer mentors, peer advisors, ambassadors, and club leaders. Organizers say a slate of panel speakers, interactive workshops and personal presentations will prepare attendees to foster a more inclusive culture on campus and in their workplaces. The conference was inspired by a trip that Student Services staff and students took to the National Student Leadership Diversity Convention in November 2015.
MINI SUMMER RESEARCH GRANT APPLICATIONS DUE APRIL 15 This year, Orfalea College of Business will continue to offer faculty members the opportunity to continue their research and produce scholarly work with the assistance of the Mini Summer Research Grants. The past two summers have produced nearly twenty publishes papers, and many more that are still under review. Applications are currently available and are due April 15, 2016 to McKenzie Cox via email. Recipients of the grant will be notified of their award by May 16 after their proposal has been reviewed and processes by the Professional Leave and Research Committee as well as the Dean and his team.
FACULTY AND STAFF CELEBRATE AT ANNUAL SERVICE AWARDS Six Orfalea College of Business faculty and staff will be honored at Cal Poly’s Annual Service Awards April 4. Barry Floyd, John Dobson and Doug Cerf celebrate 25 years; Sharon Dobson celebrates 20 years; and Sheila Smith and Keith Vorst celebrate 10 years. Reserve a ticket for the event by contacting Jennifer Luedtke in the Cal Poly Corporation at 805-756-6446.
STUDENT LEARN BY DOING GRANT PROPOSALS DUE APRIL 25 Students can apply for Learn by Doing grants to fund research projects by April 25. Past awards have included student projects in a wide range of academic programs and on a diversity of ideas. Winners will be announced and projects can begin by the end of May. Students will have one year to complete their projects. More information is at provost.calpoly.edu/endowments.
MUSTANG MEMORIES
This year, many Orfalea College of Business alumni submitted “Mustang Memories” about faculty members past and present who had a major impact on their college careers. We shared dozens of submissions in area newsletters to alumni throughout the year. Find more in the news section of cob.calpoly.edu.
Lauren Stapleton (nee Parente)
Chelsea Mallozzi
“Professor Michael Marlow was my favorite professor at Cal Poly. I took his Monetary Economics class. We had relevant videos, great discussions and debates, and he had amazing stories. I could read and digest The Wall Street Journal cover to cover.”
“Tad Miller’s life lesson stories during our breaks in our accounting classes were always either funny or inspirational. They always made class that much better!”
(B.S., Business Administration, 2004, Economics Minor) Business Strategy, Enjoy
Tony Narduzzi
(Business Administration, Management Information Systems, ’00) North American DevOps Team Lead, IBM “It’s been 15 years, and so many of my professors were great. I’ll give two examples. I remember international business law with Chris Carr being very interesting and entertaining. He had real world examples and personal experiences to relate to every lesson. Even though it was an evening class during my last quarter before graduation, I looked forward to attending every class. Being an MIS concentration, who could forget Barry Floyd. He was quite possibly the most personable instructor ever, willing to discuss anything with a genuine interest in helping students find their way.”
(Business Administration, Accounting, ’14; MSA Tax ’15) Audit Associate, KPMG LLP
Joshua Burroughs
(Business Administration, ’08) Senior Development Manager, Barry Swenson Builder “I had the pleasure of traveling with Lynn Metcalf to Peru with 20 other Cal Poly graduates and deliver over 500 wheelchairs to children and adults with disabilities. I’ll never forget the year we spent raising $100,000 together as a team and Professor Metcalf’s leadership as our fearless advisor.”
Max Levine
(Industrial Technology, ’10) Technology Implementer, Oztera “Learning lean with Dr. Olsen was amazing. Learning JIT, Kanban, and Tact times using the Toyota Production System car assembly exercise was awesome. I have utilized this philosophy and skills throughout my professional career and always remember where I first learned about this!”
UPCOMING EVENTS Monday, April 4
Annual Service Awards 11:30 a.m. in Chumash Auditorium
Thursday, April 7
Lean Forum At Zurn Wilkins in Paso Robles http://goo.gl/vYkzF5
Thursday, April 14 to Saturday, April 16
Cal Poly Open House http://goo.gl/18GE89
Saturday, April 16
Business and Engineering Alumni Beer and Wine Garden 2:30 p.m. in the Engineering Plaza
Thursday, April 21
Start-Up Career Fair 9:30 a.m.- 1 p.m. in Chumash Auditorium www.cpentrepreneurs.com/scf16/
Friday, May 13
Orfalea College of Business Awards 3 p.m. on O’Neill Green
Saturday, May 14
Cal Poly Accounting Club Day in the Park 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. on O’Neill Green
Tuesday, May 24
All College Meeting 11 a.m. in 03-111
Sunday, June 12
Spring Commencement 9 a.m. in Spanos Stadium http://goo.gl/JtDJVz
Pictured: Industrial technology alumnus Chris Penner, senior vice president of global channel sales and alliances at Box, talked to students as part of his Executives in Residence visit to campus.