Price Newsletter - April 2021

Dear Friends of Price College,

 
Welcome to our redesigned Newsletter. We are excited to share the latest news from the Price College of Business. As our new strategic plan comes into focus over the coming weeks and months, please watch as this bi-monthly email evolves to reflect our new focus.

Strategic Planning Update

Since I announced our new strategic planning effort in February, our consulting partner, Juniper, and a team of talented students from our own Ronnie K. Irani Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth, have recently completed a rigorous and forward-looking external analysis of our competitive environment and an internal analysis of our strengths and limitations. This involved 24 in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, a survey sent to over 1600 members of the Price College community, a competitive benchmarking exercise and a review of trends in higher education and business schools.

The resulting SWOT analysis will inform our choices about our desired vision for Price College, and the strategic priorities, objectives and initiatives we must pursue to realize this vision. With an additional survey and feedback sessions planned for April and May, we’ll begin drafting a strategic plan, which will be reviewed, refined, and elaborated over the course of May and June. Our goal is to have a completed plan in early July. Please stay tuned in case we contact you to participate in this important initiative. If you’ve already contributed, let me say “thank you” for helping to build a brighter future for Price College and our stakeholders.

Internships & Job Opportunities

While our students have shown incredible resiliency and commitment to learning in the face of the pandemic, their opportunities to use and apply what they’ve learned have been diminished. Fewer employers are recruiting from OU and fewer organizations are offering internships this year because of the economic fallout of COVID.

Here’s how you may be able to help. If you influence or manage hiring in your organization, please consider Price College students for internships and our graduates for full-time employment.  Even if you can hire one Price graduate or extend one internship offer to a Price student, it will make a difference. You can’t go wrong hiring students from Price College. With your help, they can put their education to work while delivering value to your organization. If you’d like to learn more about how you can help, please email me at pcobdean@ou.edu.  Thank you for considering our students, and for your continued support of the Price College of Business.

Giving Day Thanks

Thanks to everyone who participated in this year’s OU Giving Day earlier this week. Because of your help, Price College helped bolster student scholarships for the coming years. Your support and contributions are greatly appreciated and will help guarantee that our students can obtain the quality education they need and deserve for years to come.

Please take a moment to review our short video below, and please enjoy the latest news from Price College. Thank you for your continued unwavering support.

OU Recognizes Price College Faculty

OU Provost Jill Irvine has announced this year’s OU Norman Campus Faculty Tribute Awards. Alexandra Durcikova received the Mertes Presidential Professorship, while Dipankar Ghosh was recognized for 30 years of service and Laku Chidambaram was recognized for 20 years of service.

EMBA in Energy Receives Accolades

Oil and Gas Investor magazine included the EMBA in Energy program in its recent Graduate Energy Programs Report. The program also was ranked #7 out of 15 Best Online Executive MBA Degrees for 2021 by Great Business Schools.

Cordney McClain Recognized for Community Work

Cordney McClain, director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, has received a We See You Award from the OU Black Faculty and Staff Association and a Community Service Citation for his commitment to service for the past decade, signed by State Legislator Ajay Pittman.

MIS Division Ranks High Among Peers
 

The MIS division is ranked #1 in bachelor’s degrees for 2021 by Best Value Schools, and the division’s faculty are ranked nationally at #22 and #26 globally in a 2021 ranking of per capita faculty research productivity, based on the widely recognized University of Texas at Dallas Top 100 Business School Research Rankings.

Students Take Third in CUIBE Competition
 

Price College’s student team earned third place in last month’s CUIBE International Business Case Competition. The interdisciplinary team, comprised of Elizabeth Sparks, Danielle Merrick, Richard Papenfus, and Samuel Hilliard, analyzed a real corporation and focused on its supply chain issues.

MBA Students Place Fourth in Big XII Case Competition
 

Graduate students Aaron Feazelle, Mansi Patel, Mark Allen, and Omer Rehman won fourth place in last month’s Big XII MBA Case Competition. Full-time MBA student Aaron Feazelle also won an award for Best Presenter.

Pascal Nitiema Awarded Bullard Dissertation Completion Fellowship
 

Pascal Nitiema, MIS doctoral student, has received an OU Nancy L. Mergler and Bullard Dissertation Completion Fellowship for his dissertation, Toward A Framework for Alleviating Technostress: The Role of Affect State, which examines coping mechanisms to alleviate “technostress” that arises through the use of technology devices.

WEOKIE Federal Credit Union Creates Accounting Endowment
 

WEOKIE Federal Credit Union has established a $50,000 endowment in honor of Price alum Brent Taylor (BBA, Accounting, 1987), upon his recent retirement after 30 years’ service. The E. Brent Taylor Endowed Accounting Scholarship will benefit generations of accounting students at Price College and will further the legacy of one of our esteemed alums.

Margaret Shaffer’s co-authored article, A Typological Theory of Domestic Employees’ Acculturation Stress and Adaptation in the Context of Globalization, has been published by the Academy of Management.

Tom Lumpkin and Lowell Busenitz presented at the inaugural L.I.F.E. Conference, which looked at faith and entrepreneurship, at Miami University’s Farmer School of Business on April 8.

Richard Price’s recent research, An Alternative Approach to Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity, was published in March’s issue of the American Accounting Association’s Accounting Horizons.

Mark Bolino’s article about the post-pandemic workplace was published by Psychology Today, and his co-authored article on the “dark side” of mindfulness was published by Harvard Business Review.

Jeremy Bellah’s second article in his series about developing a standards-based project management information system was published in the PM World Journal.

Nick Pan’s paper, The Cross Section of Monetary Policy Announcement Premium, was accepted for publication in the Journal of Financial Economics.

Marcus Wolfe’s article, Everybody hurts: Self-employment, financial concerns, mental distress, and well-being during COVID-19, was accepted for publication in the Journal of Business Venturing Insights.