Price Newsletter - February 2022

Friends,

As we near the end of our second month of the spring semester, a quiet determination and a sense of hope for the future have descended upon the hallways of the Price College of Business. The fall semester and all its seasonal festivities have passed, and the end of the academic year, with the excitement of May’s commencement ceremonies, draws near. This is a time of year that students focus and forge ahead, knowing Spring Break will soon provide a welcomed reprieve for the semester.

While February is typically a quieter time of the year for our community, Price College continues making important strides. The college has moved up in new reputational rankings released by U.S. News & World Report and Poets & Quants for Undergrads, we launched the world’s first Executive MBA in Renewable Energy, and our faculty continue receiving international recognition for their impactful research. Morale has improved greatly as the threat of the global pandemic wanes, bringing with it a renewed optimism about a return to normalcy soon.

This April 14th marks the return of OU Giving Day, an annual fundraising initiative by the OU Foundation that enables us to target specific areas of need for students and faculty. It’s an excellent opportunity for alumni and supporters, like you, to come together and directly impact the success of our students and the future of Price College. I look forward to joining you for this important and fun day of sharing. This year’s event features (healthy) competitions with the other schools and colleges at OU. I hope you’ll help us beat this year’s goals and come out on top. More information will become available soon, so please stay tuned.

I am energized by the drive of our students and colleagues, and I am proud of the successes we continue achieving together. Please enjoy the latest news from Price College. Thank you for your continued support.

On April 14, the OU Foundation will launch its fifth OU Giving Day. This 24-hour fundraising campaign supports the success and innovation of Price College students and programs. This year, we are introducing an exciting new format where Price College alumni and supporters can compete with other colleges and academic units across the university. Your participation will help impact the lives of many Price College students, so stay tuned!

In its new Online Program rankings, U.S. News & World Report ranked OU No. 31 for Best Online Master’s in Business Programs for Veterans (Excluding MBA) and No. 67 (tied) for Best Online Master’s in Business Programs (Excluding MBA).

Price College jumped seven spots to No. 53 in a new Best Undergraduate Business Schools ranking for 2022 by Poets & Quants for Undergrads, the leading online publication for undergraduate business education news. The comprehensive study ranks the top nearly 100 business programs in the United States.

To meet the needs of energy sector professionals and those who work with them, the OU Energy Institute has scheduled an event in Houston on Financing Hydrocarbon Projects. The program, set for April 7-8, will cover valuation and financial structuring, ESG and carbon footprint considerations, and how to match project economics to investors.

Thirty-one students traveled to Costa Rica in January, making history for the JCPenney Leadership Program for its largest study abroad group yet.

The first cohort of students in the Executive MBA in Renewables program and the 17th cohort of EMBA in Energy students spent a week on campus in January to take part in their first sets of classes. The cohorts took two classes together and two separately. The week included tours of campus highlights, group dinners, and a welcome from Dean Corey Phelps.

Boyd Street Ventures, which connects partners and OU alumni with high-growth investment opportunities within the University of Oklahoma, highlighted a partnership between the firm and Price College’s Finance Division in a recent newsletter.

The OU Undergraduate Student Congress appointed Price junior Lauren Roberts as chief of staff for the Lissau-Akuffo administration. Roberts is a double major in entrepreneurship/venture management and finance pre-law, as well as the 2021-22 director of alumni relations for the JCPenney Leadership Program.

The Oklahoma Catalyst Programs, part of the Tom Love Innovation Hub, is partnering with the Nebraska Business Development Center to promote entrepreneurship in Nebraska and assist innovators in applying for and obtaining SBIR funding.

Lubo Litov, Finance Ph.D. candidate Xia “Summer” Liu, Bill Megginson, and Finance Ph.D. alumnus Romora Sitorus co-authored a Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog post about their recent paper, Venture Capitalist Directors and Managerial Incentives. 

Psychology Today published a new blog post by Mark Bolino about how to combat the “Great Resignation” and improve the workplace in 2022.

Tom Lumpkin received the Social Entrepreneurship SIG Award for Excellence for Programs or Events for his Social Entrepreneurship Doctoral Seminar. The USASBE Social Entrepreneurship SIG Awards honor scholars, educators, practitioners, and programs for their outstanding contributions to the field of social entrepreneurship.

Numerous Price College faculty members were included in Research.com’s 2022 ranking of the Top 1,000 Scientists in the fields of Business and Management and Economics and Finance, including Mark Bolino, Mike Buckley, Jayanth Jayaram, Tom Lumpkin, Bill Megginson, and Wayne Thomas, plus emeritus professors Lowell Busenitz and Robert Zmud, and distinguished visiting professor Paul Cousins.