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A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management
EDUCATING PROFESSIONALS
The A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management (AGSM) offers a broad portfolio of programs: MBA
PROFESSIONAL MBA
MBA and Professional MBA concentrations:
Accounting
Finance
Information systems
Management Marketing Operations and supply chain management
Master of Finance
158 188 171 320
2017 2018 2019 2020
Enrollment in Graduate Programs
48.3%
domestic students
51.7%
international students
52%
male students
Diversity in Graduate Programs
48%
female students
MASTER’S STUDENT
EMPLOYMENT
89.5%
EMPLOYED IN THE USA 10.5%
EMPLOYED INTERNATIONALLY
Organizations that have recently hired UCR Business graduate students:
4th Sector Innovations
All States Engineering & Surveying
AmeriSave Mortgage Corporation
Antec Lighting
CITIC Securities Co. Ltd.
CPU Power Group Inc.
Deloitte ESRI
EY
Fast Enterprises
FJDZ International Inc.
F&J Express Inc.
J.B. Hunt
KAF Group LLC
Niagara Bottling Northrop Grumman
The Pacific Bridge
Precise Aerospace Manufacturing Inc.
PwC
Robinhood
RSM US LLP
Ventura Foods
CAREER SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS AND ALUMNI
The AGSM Career Development Center ensures our graduate students have the resources and tools they need to advance their careers. Among the center’s services: • Executive Mentor program • Career development resources and workshops exclusively for graduate students • Quarterly career panels and networking events • One-on-one and group career counseling • Live job board and search engine access • Career readiness assessments
Alumni also have access to resources and services:
• AGSM and campus Career Center workshops and job fairs • UCR Handshake job search platform • An additional year of career center services for new graduates
For more information, email agsmcareercenter@ucr.edu.
Prestigious STEM Designation for Master’s Degrees
The STEM designation from the Department of Homeland Security recognizes the rigor of our business school’s graduate courses and allows international students to work in the U.S. for three years after graduation
The UCR School of Business earned STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) designation from the Department of Homeland Security for its MBA and Master of Science in Business Analytics programs, making all of its graduate programs STEM-designated: the Full-time MBA, Professional MBA, Master of Finance, Master of Professional Accountancy, and Master of Science in Business Analytics.
The designation triples the amount of time UCR’s international students will be able to work in the United States after graduation: By enrolling in optional professional training, or OPT, international students may work in the U.S. for one year after graduation. Since 2016, the Department of Homeland Security has allowed international graduates of certain STEM programs to work for an additional two years through a program called STEM OPT, designed to help fill gaps in the labor force. The graduate programs at UCR School of Business have always focused on utilizing scientific methods and data to support the practices and theories within the fields of business,” says Dean Yunzeng Wang. “Therefore, attaining the STEM certification was not a challenge for the School of Business, but rather a testament to the rigorous curriculum of our programs.”
Smart Investing: Hylander Student Investment Fund Outperforms Benchmarks
The March 2020 stock market selloff was a challenging event for the Hylander Student Investment Fund (HSIF), says Sindy Fabrizio, a first-year Master of Finance student and student investor with the fund. “No one had any idea how long that decline would last, so those few weeks were scary and uncertain. throughout the year. … Instead, the decision was made to overweight technology, consumer discretionary, health care, and communications sectors,” stated the report. The fund outperformed the market portfolio in the technology, consumer discretionary, and health-care sectors.
“Nonetheless, not every student can say they were able to manage a portfolio well through a market downturn, so 2020 was a very good learning experience for us.”
In their 2020 fourth quarter report, the fund’s student managers stated their target asset allocation was 80% equity and 20% fixed income, and they credit the portfolio’s outperformance in the quarter to this strategy. Their benchmark was 70% of the Russell 3000 and 30% of the Bloomberg Barclays Aggregate Bond Index.
“Given all the market rallies that occurred during the year, posting returns above the benchmark was a challenging thing to accomplish, but the team did this through research and collaboration,” says Fabrizio, who will graduate in fall 2021 and plans to work for an investment firm as an Sindy Fabrizio ’21 analyst in either the buy or sell side. “For instance, lately we have seen value stocks outperform growth stocks. We’ve learned to be adaptable by looking at value companies but sticking to fundamental quality research.”
For the 2020 calendar year, the HSIF portfolio returned 20.84%, while the benchmark returned 15.77%, reported the investors.
“At the beginning of the [fourth] quarter, … the team decided not to invest in the energy sector … due to the historical underperformance What she finds most interesting is that “no matter how much investors try to predict the market’s next moves, in the end, in an ‘efficient market,’ returns are unpredictable.
“All we can do as investors is know our investments well and analyze in detail our risk-reward trade-off.”
— By Laurie McLaughlin
Anderson Chair in Finance Jean Helwege (center) is the Hylander Financial Group’s faculty advisor.
The Real Deal: Hylander Student Investment Fund
Founded in 2014, the Hylander Financial Group (HFG), a UCR student club, initially managed a paper portfolio without actual funds. In 2019, a $200,000 donation from an alumnus established the Hylander Student Investment Fund (HSIF) with real money managed by club members. HFG is open to all students with about 50 members, and 20 students actively manage the HSIF portfolio. The group’s faculty advisor is Anderson Chair in Finance Jean Helwege, who offers a 90-minute “boot camp” for students who want to become full voting members.
Benjamin Gonzalez ’21
Knowledge Is Empowerment
Having completed a successful seven years in the military, Benjamin Gonzalez ’21 entered the private sector and soon realized a Professional MBA degree would expand his knowledge, increase his confidence, and advance his career
Among the life lessons Benjamin Gonzalez says he’s learned is, “Personal and professional growth begin by not knowing something.”
With a bachelor’s degree in biology from Iowa State University, Gonzalez entered the U.S. Army and served in Iraq, Germany, and Afghanistan. He worked his way up in a variety of medical, transportation, and operations roles and finished his seven-year career as a medical platoon trainer at the Army’s National Training Center, where units are prepared for future deployments.
In 2015, Gonzalez re-entered the private sector with The Gill Corporation, an aerospace manufacturing company—which produces floor panels for airplanes, including the Boeing 787 and 777—in El Monte, California.
Even with his considerable military experience, he realized a few years ago that a master’s degree was an important next step in expanding his career. “In the Army, I learned a lot about leadership, but the move from the military to manufacturing was difficult for me,” says Gonzalez, who is currently a planning manager with The Gill Corporation. “I wanted to improve my skill sets and increase my knowledge of business. I knew if I did that, it would put me in a better position for success within the operations and productionscheduling field.”
In 2018, he began his Professional MBA studies at the A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management (AGSM) with a concentration in operations and supply chain management, and he graduated in March 2021.
“I have learned more in two-and-a-half years at AGSM than I would have on my own in five to seven years,” says Gonzalez. “The school helped me grow professionally and as an individual. Prior to my MBA experience, I struggled a lot with personal confidence and a fear of failure—it’s humbling to admit that, but I can now confidently say my graduate experience helped me grow out of that type of thinking.
“I realized it is OK to not know something because, in the end, you can be vulnerable; you can ask; and you can learn.”
True to the maxim he keeps front and center, he says again, “Personal and professional growth begins by not knowing something. Knowledge is very empowering for me.” — By Laurie McLaughlin
Benjamin Gonzalez ’21 earned a Professional MBA after a career with the U.S. Army. He’s pictured, center, with a MEDEVAC helicopter at the Army’s National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California, in 2015.
The Pandemic’s Lessons for the Supply Chain
Lecturer Suri Gurumurthi’s career and research in operations and supply chain management find real-time relevance in the classroom
Suri Gurumurthi
Due to COVID-19 precautions, Professional MBA student Benjamin Gonzalez ’21 participated remotely in the Project Management course taught by Supply Chain and Operations Management Lecturer Suri Gurumurthi. As the lectures unfolded, Gonzalez realized the course’s immediate applicability. “I have used what I learned in my current position,” he says. “The pandemic has forced companies to re-evaluate how they source their materials and how we prepare for catastrophic events, whether they are regional or international.”
Gurumurthi incorporates the pandemic’s influence on global commerce in his courses, and Gonzalez appreciated the chance to learn and observe the implications in real time, along with an admiration for the lecturer’s instructive style.
“He has a lot of career experience with all things related to supply chain management and provides relatable case studies and expert analysis,” says Gonzalez, who recently earned his master’s degree with a concentration in operations and supply chain management and is currently a planning manager at The Gill Corporation. “I am impressed by how much he enjoys teaching his craft to us.”
Gurumurthi specializes in operations and supply chain management as well as project and strategic management— areas of business that are presently in the spotlight as a result of pandemic-related issues affecting the general public, such as the shortage of products on grocery-store shelves last year and the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccinations this year. “The pandemic has taken business leaders to an important crossroads, and supply chain globalization trends of the past 40 years or so will be re-examined with a view to building greater resilience and to meeting business and environmental sustainability goals,” says Gurumurthi. In recent years, he has studied supply chains rooted in China and the ways they have adapted to global corporate initiatives and sustainability concerns.
“In my view, operations and supply chain management education can help train a new generation of leaders who are unafraid to tackle complexity and harness the latest technologies to solve problems,” says Gurumurthi.
“Connecting frameworks from different fields and topics creates a bridge for highly effective leaders who are not just generalists but also effective managers of complexity making critical decisions based on cross-functional analytics.” — By Laurie McLaughlin
AGSM Ambassadors: A Select Group
The A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management Ambassador program expands the leadership experience and network of a select group of graduate students. The ambassadors serve as representatives of the school as they host official events, participate in public service, and help with recruitment of prospective students.
AGSM Ambassadors Mentor Students Across the Globe
Students studying business virtually at UCR due to COVID-19 precautions receive valuable assistance from grad student mentors
The students representing the A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management’s Ambassador Mentors program are helping 15 students in China complete their fourth year at UCR through the Master of Business Preparation Program (MBPP).
The program allows undergrad students to earn a bachelor’s degree after completing the first three years at their home universities and fourth year at UCR’s business school. They may then apply to a graduate management program at UCR or another university. MBPP prepares these fourth-year students for their graduate school experience in the United States. Because MBPP students were not on campus as usual due to the pandemic, UCR’s business school created the new MBPP Ambassador Mentorship program offering virtual support long distance: Current MBPP students are paired with current UCR graduate student mentors, many of whom were previous MBPP students themselves.
“Having a mentor is extremely important because it provides professional socialization, and it instantly enhances the chances for success,” says mentor Amisha Sharma, a 2021 MBA student and co-chief ambassador. “The mentorship program is valuable for both the ambassadors and the current MBPP students.”
Award-winning AGSM Ambassadors Recognized for Civic Involvement
The A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management student ambassadors remained busy during the pandemic: The group’s volunteer service was recognized at a March 2021 ceremony with the Community Partnership Award from the city of Banning, California, for their charitable work supporting the municipality’s food distribution program. Co-chief Ambassadors Amisha Sharma and Danielle Wright accepted the awards on behalf of the ambassadors.
AGSM Ambassadors, from left, Amisha Sharma ’21 MBA and Daniela Andrade ’22 PMBA are joined by Tamra Johnson, associate director of International Relations, and Ambassador Danielle Wright ’21 PMBA.
A Mission of Inclusion
Alyssa Stump ’16, ’18 is the mission advancement director at Best Buddies International and adjunct business professor at a Colorado community college
During the course of her day as mission advancement director of Best Buddies International, alumna Alyssa Stump oversees all aspects of the efforts to raise funding, establish programming, and open state offices in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Best Buddies serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in a number of ways, including forming friendships, gaining meaningful employment, leadership development, and inclusive living.
“What’s most rewarding about my job is that I bring our mission of inclusion to new markets and see the impact firsthand in the communities I am now a part of,” says Stump, who handles all social media and public relations, plans annual walks and galas, manages volunteer committees and advisory boards, cultivates and manages donor and corporate relationships, and oversees the regional budget.
Alyssa Stump ’16, ’18 earned both a bachelor’s degree in marketing and an MBA at UCR’s School of Business. At UCR, Stump earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing in 2016 and an MBA with an emphasis in strategy in 2018. She began her relationship with Best Buddies at the university as president of the organization’s campus chapter. “This led to my full-time career,” says Stump. When she earned her MBA, Best Buddies promoted Stump to regional director and relocated her to Denver.
She has also found time to pursue another professional goal: teaching business to college students. “I started teaching as a discussion leader during my undergrad years and then as a teaching assistant while studying for my MBA,” she says. Her focus is on ethics and marketing as an adjunct professor at Front Range Community College. “Teaching for me is all about the ‘aha’ moments students have when I can take a familiar concept and advance it to a whole new meaning.”
In the immediate future, Stump is headed back to school to earn a Ph.D. focusing on marketing at Georgia State University, and she says, her current UCR mentors guided her through the application and review process.
She continues to keep in touch with her vast UCR network of faculty members and friends, particularly fellow students in the University Honors program and professional business fraternity: “These groups of people made me feel like I had a family on campus, and we mutually pushed each other to be our best selves.”
— By Laurie McLaughlin
