Price Newsletter - April 2022

Friends,

Less than one month from now, hundreds of Price College students will take the final step in their current educational journey. As they cross the stage at our May convocation ceremony, they will officially close one chapter in the story of their success and take their next exciting steps in becoming the business leaders our state, nation and world need.

I am extremely proud of the graduating class of 2022 and their commitment to overcoming the incredible challenges they faced over the past few years, especially the fears and obstacles of navigating a global pandemic. Their success is shared with our friends, alumni and partners, like yourself, who have supported Price College through your time, talent and giving. I hope you’ll join us for our spring convocation celebration at 8 a.m. Saturday, May 14, at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman.

Speaking of support, I want to thank each of you who participated in OU’s Giving Day on April 14th. Because of your help, Price College raised significant funds for student scholarships and faculty development that will help us become bigger, broader and better. While we wait on Price College’s final Giving Day numbers, I’m pleased to share it was a record-breaking fundraising day for OU as a whole – in just 24 hours, more than $11 million was raised university-wide, setting a new one-day fundraising record.

These exciting announcements come at a bittersweet time for the college, as we continue to mourn and process the passing of our beloved friend and benefactor, Michael F. Price, who passed away on March 14.

Michael was a 1973 business graduate and renowned global expert on value investing. His experience at OU was so positive, and his hope for future business students was so bright that, in 1997, he returned to his alma mater to make history with the announcement of an $18 million gift to the College of Business Administration. At that time, Michael’s contribution was considered the single largest gift to a public university or any Oklahoma higher education institution. The OU Board of Regents officially designated the college as the Michael F. Price College of Business, making it the first college in OU history to be named for an individual.

Years later, Michael donated over seven million dollars to help expand the physical footprint of Price College. In 2005, OU honored Michael at the dedication of Michael F. Price Hall, a 55,000-square-foot building dedicated entirely to student learning.

 Michael also gave generously with his time to aid in the development of OU’s business students. When he visited campus, he took a hands-on approach with the Student Investment Fund class, offering his advice and feedback on their stock choices. 

Michael loved the University and Price College. He showed his love by pushing OU to be better for our students and the state of Oklahoma, and by enabling us to be better, by generously giving of his time, expertise and treasure. He was deeply involved in our recent strategic planning process and was excited about the future of Price College.

An extraordinary investor, Michael’s substantial investments in OU were a declaration of confidence in the university and what it could become. His generosity inspired others to contribute in ways the university had never experienced.

Michael F. Price, a 1973 OU business graduate and renowned global expert on value investing, passed away peacefully Monday, March 14, 2022. As Price College’s namesake, and one of its most beloved friends and benefactors, he leaves a legacy that will continue transforming generations of students. A future celebration of his life will be announced soon.

Thanks so much to everyone who participated in this year’s annual OU Giving Day on April 14. We are so grateful for partners like you, whose continued support ensures the success of our students and the future of the Price College of Business. Stay tuned for a future update with more details about the day’s success.

Making education affordable and accessible is core to our mission at OU and Price College. Please consider giving to our Momentum Scholarships, which support undergraduate students, or to our Do More Sooner® Scholarships for MBA students. Both scholarships allow students to focus more on their studies and less on financial concerns while obtaining the education necessary for success.

The master’s degree in construction business, a program jointly offered by Price College and the Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture, has been ranked No. 2 on Online Master’s Degrees’ 2022 list of top programs in construction management.

The MIS Division’s Master of Science in Management Information Technology has been ranked No. 23 in TFE Times’ 2022 list of Best Master’s of Business Analytics Programs in the United States.

CEO Magazine has ranked Price College’s MBA as a Tier One program in North America, the EMBA in Energy as No. 55 in Global Executive MBA Rankings, the EMBA in Aerospace and Defense as No. 65 in Global Executive MBA Rankings, and the Online MBA as No. 60 in Global Online MBA Rankings.

The Executive MBA in Energy was included in a list of U.S.-based graduate energy education programs in Oil and Gas Investor magazine. The full report is available on the Oil and Gas Investor website with a subscription, but an excerpt of the list is accessible on Yahoo! Finance.

After back-to-back wins, a team of Price students will compete in the Americas Final of the CFA Institute Research Challenge. The team is one of only three from U.S. universities that remains in the global competition. This is the first time Price College has participated in the competition and the team already has placed in the top 2% of teams competing this year.

International business/Spanish and marketing double major Samantha Cooper received a $4,500 Gilman Scholarship for her summer study abroad program in Spain. Over eight weeks, she will study international marketing and communication and global competence.

Price College and its new FinTech course were highlighted in an article about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in the Winter 2022 issue of Sooner Magazine. Finance doctoral candidate Peter Mueller, who created and teaches the course, is featured in the article, as well as Chitru Fernando and John Paul Broussard.

Twenty-four students in the Executive MBA in Aerospace and Defense program recently traveled to Washington, D.C., as part of their 12-month program. Highlights of the trip included meeting with Azerbaijan’s ambassador to the United States and visiting the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, a museum dedicated to aerospace.

Class 15 of the Executive MBA in Energy program recently completed their 15-month curriculum. The students represented 10 companies and seven states. Please join us in congratulating these students for this major accomplishment that will prepare them for their next successful chapter.

Nicholas Tobey has joined Price College as the inaugural Executive Director of Executive Education. Tobey has more than a decade of experience in business school-based executive education. He will be responsible for building and managing a portfolio of non-degree professional and executive education offerings for individuals and organizations.

Amber Theinert has joined Price College as the new marketing and communications director. With more than 15 years of mar/comm experience, she will be responsible for developing and managing an integrated and comprehensive mar/comm plan in support of the college’s strategic plan, including strengthening, amplifying and protecting the college’s brand.

The JCPenney Leadership Program hosted its annual Alumni Career Conference April 22 at The Forum. The conference title was OklaHOMEa: Finding a Home, Working from Home, and Feeling at Home in a Post-COVID World, and Lester Claravall with the Oklahoma Department of Labor delivered the keynote address for the event.

Price College and the Review of Financial Studies held the 2022 OU Energy and Climate Finance Research Conference April 22-23. Lars Peter Hansen, 2013 Nobel Laureate in Economics, gave the keynote address. Five sessions included presentations such as Environmental and Climate Risk, Real Consequences of Oil Prices and Climate Policy Risk.

Tom Lumpkin was a featured presenter at the Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research Exchange Conference at the Swinburne University of Technology. The conference is a space to exchange ideas and entrepreneurship research in order to build a better tomorrow. Other speakers included guests from MIT Bootcamps, mobile learning platform Quitch and SUT.

Lubo Litov organized the Colloquium on the Peril & Promise of Artificial Intelligence for Corporations on March 18. The Zoom-based event featured guest presenters from around the globe and addressed such themes as Information Technology in Banking and Entrepreneurship; Artificial Intelligence, Firm Growth, and Product Innovation; and Augmented Lawyering

Tom Wavering, instructor of entrepreneurship and economic development and executive director of the Tom Love Innovation Hub, was a featured guest on the Work in Progress podcast, presented by Working Nation. The episode is titled, Building a tech hub on a strong foundation of talent and ideas.

Craig Shimasaki, adjunct professor and Senior Entrepreneur in Residence, was interviewed on Innovate That, a podcast with Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell that highlights Oklahoma companies. Shimasaki explains how his company, Moleculera Labs, is researching possible future COVID treatments, plus he gives advice to fellow biotech entrepreneurs.

A 2010 co-authored article (pdf) by Margaret Shaffer, Elucidating the positive side of the work-family interface on international assignments: A model of expatriate work and family performance, is ranked among the Top 20 articles on Global Careers by the board of the Women in the Academy of International Business.

Additionally, a 2012 article co-authored by Mark Bolino, Margaret Shaffer and two others, Choices, challenges, and career consequences of global work experiences: A review and future agenda, also is ranked among the Top 20 articles on Global Careers by the board of the Women in the Academy of International Business.

Mark Bolino’s paper, May I Please Go the Extra Mile? Citizenship Communication Strategies and Their Effect on Individual Initiative OCB, Work-Family Conflict, and Partner Satisfaction, which is co-authored with Price College Ph.D. graduate Thomas Kelemen and two others, was published in the A-level Academy of Management Journal.

Brant Christensen’s co-authored article, The PCAOB Inspection Process: A Client-Level Analysis of a Large Firm’s Experience, has been accepted for publication in AUDITING: A Journal of Practice & Theory.

Karen Hennes’ co-authored article, The Nonlinear Relation between Effective Tax Rates and Tax-Related Restatements, has been accepted for publication in Accounting Horizons.

The Oxford Blog on Business Law posted an article about the paper, Venture Capitalist Directors and Managerial Incentives, co-authored by Lubo Litov, finance Ph.D. candidate Xia “Summer” Liu, Bill Megginson and finance Ph.D. graduate Romora Sitorus.

Pankhuri Malhotra’s co-authored paper, Express: Leveraging Co-Followership Patterns on Social Media to Identify Brand Alliance Opportunities, was published in the premier Journal of Marketing. The American Marketing Association also promoted the paper through a news release and article on its website, plus posts on the Journal of Marketing social media accounts.

John Paul Broussard co-authored two articles that have been accepted for publication. The complex nature of financial market microstructure: the case of a stock market crash has been accepted for the Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination and Time-Variation of Dual-Class Premia is forthcoming in the Nordic Journal of Business (pdf).