Simon School Communications Blog

Simon Announces Partnership with Management Leadership for Tomorrow

To further promote diversity among the student body, the Simon School has announced a strategic partnership with Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT), a national nonprofit that develops African-American, Hispanic-American and Native American young people for leadership positions. The goal of MLT is to smooth the transition from early career to an MBA and from an MBA to executive leadership.

“We are pleased to partner with MLT to attract more diverse MBA candidates to the Simon School,” says Dean Mark Zupan. “A diverse student body reflects the global business environment and enriches the experience for all,” says Dean Mark Zupan.

Currently, Simon is one of the most globally diverse business schools.  At Simon, 26 percent of U.S. students are under-represented minorities. According to a joint study by MLT and Boston Consulting Group, minorities comprise only 16 percent of graduates from the top 100 colleges and 8 percent of all students at the top 30 M.B.A. programs (versus 12-13 percent at top law and medical schools).

Simon School Celebrates Commencement 2009

On June 14, 2009, the Simon School gathered to proudly celebrate its alumni, faculty and degree candidates at Commencement. Held at the Eastman Theatre in downtown Rochester, the ceremony featured insightful addresses, well-deserved awards, and the graduation of 408 students.

   

Edmund Hajim B.S. '58, chairman and CEO of MLH Capital LLC, delivered the Commencement address and was honored with the David T. Kearns Medal of Distinction. Hajim, also chairman of the University Board of Trustees, has been a longtime supporter of the Simon School and recently gave a transformational gift of $30 million to the University of Rochester. 

The School also recognized longtime supporter Edward Ackley B.S. '53, M.S. '64 with the Distinguished Alumnus Award. Ackley's recent donation to the School established the Edward J. and Agnes V. Ackley Executive Professorship in Entrepreneurship. The position is currently held by Professor Dennis Kessler.

Before distributing degrees, students awards were announced for exemplary performance. Five students were specifically honored for excellence in academic achievement:

• John M. Brophy Award (part-time MBA): awarded to Jay Rajda
• Karl Brunner Award (non-US student, full-time MBA): awarded to Juanjuan Qin
• Philip T. Meyers Scholarship Award (US student, full-time MBA): awarded to Brian Mirochnik, Lisa Teitelbaum
• Hugh H. Whitney Award (executive MBA): awarded to Jiye Shi 

Three Longtime Faculty Members Awarded Professorship Appointments

(Pictured from left: Simon Professors Greg Shaffer and John B. Long Jr.; University of Rochester President Joel Seligman; Simon Professor Ronald W. Hansen; J. Peter Simon, son of the School's late benefactor, William E. Simon and chair of the Simon School Executive Advisory Committee; and Dean Mark Zupan.)

The Simon Graduate School of Business is proud to announce that three longtime professors have been appointed to chaired professorships. "These three members collectively have given over 90 years of service and dedication to the Simon School and have significantly contributed to its international success and prominence," says Dean Mark Zupan. 'We deeply appreciate their long-term investment in the future of this great business school and are pleased to honor their positive impact through these distinguished professorships."

Ronald W. Hansen has been named the William H. Meckling Professor of Business Administration. He will also become the senior associate dean of program development as of July 1, 2009.

John B.Long Jr. is now the Frontier Communications/Rochester Telephone Professor of Business Administration.

Greg Shaffer is now the Frontier Communications/Rochester Telephone Professor of Business Administration.

 

For further information: Press Release

The Temple of Heaven and the Great Wall

Our last seminar day in China was spent at two magnificent locations, the Temple of Heaven and the Great Wall!

We visited the Temple of Heaven, visited by emperors for centuries. We witnessed many retired Chinese citizens doing their daily exercise.

After the visit, we traveled about 1 1/2 hours outide of Beijing to a remote location to have lunch at the Schoolhouse (a renovated Chinese schoolhouse) where we had a wonderful buffet. The owner is an American and his wife. He briefly visited each table and described his life and his entrepreneurial ventures in China over the past 25 years.

Later, we climbed the Great Wall. It was hard work, but an experience not to be forgotten.

Tomorrow, we leave Beijing for Rochester. The entire trip has been an educational experience from beginning to end. Professor Matteson has led us on a global and enlightening experience for all.

Beijing and the Forbidden City

On Sunday March 29, we visited Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. It is a fascinating, mile long gated residence of the emperors, their families and their concubines.

Much of the city remains as it did hundreds of years ago. It was quite cold there, some snow falling as we moved through many of the residences.

We lunched at Wahaha restaurant, owned by the beverage company, and then proceeded to rickshaws that took us on the old city streets, called hutongs. There, we visited a family home and saw how so many Chinese live. This area is in sharp contrast to the city itself which has been updated for the Olympics.

Ironically, we ran into some University of Rochester undergrad students, who saw the Simon logo on our sign. We invited them to attend the alumni event this evening at the Hard Rock Cafe in Beijing.

Tomorrow, we go to the Great Wall....and the Temple of Heaven.

Beijing and the High Speed Train

On Saturday, March 28, we traveled from Shanghai to Beijing. In order to get to the airport, we went on the MagLev (Magnetic Levitation Train), traveling 301 km, or close to 180 miles per hour.

Then a short flight to Beijing. After arriving to a very welcoming reception at the hotel, and our new guide, Henry, we enjoyed a traditional Peking Duck dinner complete with an entertaining group of dancers.

Tomorrow, we explore Beijing, I can already tell this city is quite different in tone and style than Shanghai.

Final Seminar Day in Shanghai

Friday was our last seminar day in Shanghai. We had a speaker in the morning, Dr. Frank Peng, professor of economics and finance at TongJi Univeristy. Dr. Peng also works with the World Bank and consults the Chinese government on a variety of subjects. He worked on bringing the World Expo to Shanghai in 2010.

Dr. Peng reiiterated China's strengths for us and talked about how China is planning on dealing with the world financial crisis. He believes that we will see an upturn in the economy by the end of 2009 and into 2010. He is optimistic about the future and how China will fare.

During the afternooon we had an interesting panel of speakers, who were able to give a variety of views of China from their perspective.

Jay Chen '99 owns retail drugstores in China, he talked about dealing with the government in managing his growth. Diana Smith Walsh '96 talked about being an expatriate, along with her husband, and how her life has changed in this process. Diana spends much of her time now as a social entrepreneur, living on two continents. Emily Carder works for I.B.M. and has spent the last two years in Shanghai. She discussed being a female executive and working mom and how she gains respect from her employees. Liang Heng '06 talked about her experiences moving back to China after working in the U.S. for a number of years.

In the evening, we had a nice reception and then rounded out the day with a special dinner at Kathleen's 5, on top of the Shanghai Art Museum. The resturant is surrounded by glass on all sides. Professor Matteson toasted to a successful trip and all of the interesting things we have learned. It has truly been an incredible experience.

Tomorrow, we head to Beijing. Thanks to Erik from Far East Expeditions for sharing his city with us.

Lenovo Tour and a Night in Shanghai

On Thursday, March 26, we traveled to Lenovo's new manufacturing plant in Shanghai. It was built in 2008 and opened in September. They manufacture Netbooks, Notebooks and Desktops. We were all able to go on the production floor and see how they manufacture the variety of computers. According to the general manager, they complete the production cycle in 13 days, and hope to reduce that to seven days in the near future. We were unable to take cameras into the company for security reasons, so I was unable to get good pictures of all of us in yellow Lenovo caps, white lab coats and slippers. That is a shame!

After the tour, we traveled to the Shanghai World Financial Center also built in the past year.

The brave ones went up to the top floor, 100 floors up. There, we took pictures of the skyline, and walked on glass floors that allowed you to view the ground so far below.

After the day was over, we all met for a spectacular boat ride. We had a chance fireworks display that was great!

Tomorrow, we have one more day of class and a panel. Then, we head off for Beijing. I am excited to see the difference in the two cities.

A Different Kind of City: Hangzhou

Today, we visited a different kind of city, Hangzhou. It is 100 miles south of Shanghai. It is full of beautiful gardens and a lake, called West Lake. Hangzhou is surrounded by mountains on three sides.

We went on a boat tour, had lunch and then left to visit Simon School Executive MBA student Jun Carter's college friends at Zhejiang University. Chen Shao Yi, marketing manager of Air Liquide, a French company, gave a lecture about the air products industry and how they are effectively moving into China.

From there, we went to a tea plantation and learned how they harvest and package the tea. All of us got a chance to purchase some of the best green tea in the world.

From there, we went to a silk market and used our bargaining skills to purchase beautiful scarfs and ties. Jun and Min Hao were very helpful in learning the tactics.

Then, off to the West Lake Xia Tian Di for dinner and shopping. We arrived back to Shanghai around 11:30 p.m. Certainly a cultural experience. And that is what this global trip is all about!

Lessons from Shanghai

--by Dawn McWilliams, Simon School Executive Director of Marketing and Communications

Today, March 24, we had a variety of speakers in China about topics ranging from Chinese opportunites to issues which companies face when expanding service into China.

Our first speaker, Urs Buchmann, from Credit Suisse, has lived in China for the past 23 years. He has seen an incredible amount of change and believes that the 8 percent growth rate makes China an attractive area to expand services. He cautioned us on continuing issues such as health care, education and environmental issues.

Our second speaker, after Professor Larry Matteson presented, described the details of the Lenovo case. He was Chi Cheung, a consultant, who helped Staples enter the Shanghai market. As a co-founder of OA365, he described the advantages of using an international partner in establishing business in China, understanding the people and management, relating to organizational fit and keepng a line of communication as open as possible.

Our final speaker of the day was Li Wei, senior operations manager from Lenovo in China. He gave more details to the students about the Lenovo case.

All in all it was a very good day for learning. Tomorrow, we visit a second-tier city, Hangzhou, and will experience the culture as well as attend a class at the University there.

Hello from Shanghai

Today is our first day in Shanghai. Simon Graduate School of Business Professor Larry Matteson says that the best thing we can learn today is about the culture. Eric, our tour guide, showed us new Shanghai, primarily built in the past 15 years. Then, we visited old Shanghai. The pictures accurately show the difference.

The city has been involved in quick construction of many of the buildings seen here. They are preparing for the World Expo in 2010. It is bustling.  

Once we left new Shanghai, we headed for Old City, there the difference is quite apparent. See photos below.

Tomorrow is our first full day of classes. It will be interesting to hear about international marketing after getting a visual context of what the city is like.

More soon!