Simon School Admissions Blog

Record attendance at the Rochester International Jazz Festival

By: Tonya

This past Saturday wrapped up the eighth annual Rochester International Jazz Festival.  A nine-day music event that featured such headliners as: Smokey Robinson, SMV, Jake Shimabukuro, Carolyn Wonderland, the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Michael McDonald, Taj Mahal, and the Susan Tedeschi Band.  An estimated 133,000 people attended over the nine days, exceeding last year's 125,000 attendees.

I had the good fortune of attending Friday night's Taj Mahal and Susan Tedeschi Band performance at a sold out Eastman Theatre.  It was an incredible evening of jazz and blues.  Mayor Bob Duffy kicked off the evening by introducing Susan Tedeschi, a Grammy-nominated blues and soul artist, who amazed with her powerful voice and fearless stage presence.  After a brief intermission, Ursula Burns, the new CEO of Xerox Corporation, introduced Taj Mahal, a Grammy-award winning blues musician who has been singing and performing for over 40 years.  He entertained with his guitar and banjo and had the audience shouting and singing out responses such as "uh huh!" 

The hallmark of the festival is the variety and international flavor -  Columbia, Russia, Finland and the UK were just a few of the countries represented at the festival, with musicians coming from all over the world.  Among jazz enthusiasts, the Rochester International Jazz Festival is considered "top-shelf" and a "must-go" for all jazz fans.

A Simon Town Hall Meeting with the U of R President

By Crissi:

University of Rochester President Joel Seligman came to Simon to hold a Town Hall meeting and get to know the Simon student body.  I was surprised when the President began by requesting each attendee to state their name, intended graduation year, post-graduation career plans and one question they had for him.  The President listened intently and commented as a lecture hall full of students shared their introductions.  He sincerely wanted to get to know each attendee and address their queries. 

After introductions, it was clear that the question on most Simon student’s minds pertained to the University’s 5-year strategic plan and how this related to various arms of the University – the college, the medical center and the business school – Simon!  We learned that the University of Rochester is one of few private, research intuitions with a medical center; compared to competitor schools, the U of R has half the student body and fewer faculty.  This opened the discussion: how do you grow a University?  Here, President Seligman revealed the 4 goals of the strategic growth plan:

1. Become among the top 20 Research Institutions
2. Increase faculty, heighten the school’s reputation and students will follow
3. Work with the Rochester community
4. Manage the endowment

Keen to the audience he was addressing, the President framed the situation, challenges and opportunities for the execution of each goal.  This included leveraging new funding lines opened by the Obama Administration as recently as last month.

The beauty of a business education is learning through case method and experiences – typically focused on public, private and corporate firms.  It is rare that students are provided the opportunity to examine the workings of an educational institution and provide feedback and observances from their experiences that go directly into shaping and executing a University’s strategic plan.  The transparency of mission within the Simon and University community is one more thing that makes the Simon experience so unique.  As students learn in Marketing, internal marketing is of paramount importance for brand consistency; understanding and commenting on a University’s growth plan is the most efficient way this can be actualized in a higher education setting.

Simon Sunset Concert Series

By: Stefanie

I am continuously amazed by our students.  Not only are they smart and business saavy, as time goes by during their time here at Simon, we discover the special talents they have that make them unique individuals.  In an effort to celebrate those that are musically talented, the Student Services Office created the Sunset Concert Series this past fall.  Recently, I attended the spring quarter's concert which highlighted the vocals of first year joint MD/MBA student, Jason Reminick, and his girlfriend, Sheira Feuerstein.  Sheira came up from NYC where she performs in shows full-time to join Jason for our Simon concert. 

While enjoying cheese and crackers and sipping on wine, the crowd of MBA and MS students as well as staff were captivated by their performances of such favorites as "All I Ask of You" from Phantom of the Opera, "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables,  "Mr. Cellophane" from Chicago, and "Suddenly Seymour" from Little Shop of Horrors to name a few. 

We are truly lucky to have students like Jason in the Simon program!  I look forward to the next Sunset Concert Series in Fall 2009.

Broaden Your Horizons: The Caribbean

By: Tonya

Hot, sandy beaches and palm trees gently rustling in the breeze - just a typical April day in Rochester?  Yes!  If you attended the Broaden Your Horizons: Caribbean event! 

Over a delicious lunch of jerk chicken, rice & beans, and green beans, five of our students shared the culture, history, and traditions of their Caribbean roots with 200 fellow Simon students, faculty, and staff.

Roger Cordero Mueses, MBA '10, kicked off the event with the Dominican Republic.  He talked about their rich musical history and the island sounds of Merengue and Bachata.  Baseball is the national sport and the Dominican has exported such baseball greats as Sammy Sosa, Pedro Martinez, and Juan Marichal. 

Byron Barnes, MBA '10, taught us a little Haitian Creole and shared some beautiful mountain scenery from the "Pearl of the Antilles," also known as Haiti.  Will Reynolds, MBA '09, taught us about the national products of Guyana (sugar cane, timber, rice, fish, gold, and diamonds) and reminded us that Guyana is not the same country as Ghana!

Puerto Rico was up next and Myrdna Vargas, MBA '10, shared beautiful photos of her home country and explained how the people there are made up of Spanish, Taino, and African heritage.  Salsa, Merengue, and Reggaeton is the music you will hear in Puerto Rico.  Last, we got to experience the bright colors and excitement of Carnival in Trinidad & Tobago.  Sean Senhouse, MBA '10, showed us pictures from Carnival and told us that "liming" (the art of congregating with friends and would-be-friends) is a favorite pastime there.

We are truly very fortunate, here at Simon, to have over 33 countries represented in our MBA program.  The Broaden Your Horizons events give us the opportunity to learn about these different countries and regions and expand our knowledge and perspective.  I want to give kudos to the students who presented the Caribbean to us and I look forward to the next BYH at Simon!

Sands Leadership Lecture series at Simon School

By: Rebekah

 

Last week, Bob Eckert, CEO of Mattel and honorary Simon degree holder, was the speaker at the latest Sands Leadership lecture.  Bob remarks covered the traits of successful leaders, his 10 career lessons, and how to lead during a crisis (in his case, the Mattel toy recall for lead paint). 

 

As always, we are very grateful to Richards Sands, chair of the board of Constellation Brands, for his continuing support of this lecture series.  Through the “magic” of Echo360 we recorded Bob’s presentation and it is available for you to view by clicking on this link:

 

http://echo1.simon.rochester.edu:8080/ess/echo/presentation/2b4e5af9-e4bd-40ce-aedf-0a1811336678

 

Enjoy! We hope to see you at the next Sands Leadership lecture!

Spring Break 2009 with Simon

By: Tony

Spring fever is in the air around Simon!

Finals for winter quarter are coming to an end this week and students are eager to enjoy the upcoming week-long break from classes before the Spring Quarter starts on March 30th.  Students have planned trips throughout the US and internationally, some of which include trips to China and Washington, DC.

Students, staff, faculty and alums will be participating in the China International Seminarthis coming week.  This trip is a conclusion to the Global Marketing Strategy course taught during the winter quarter and includes a trip to Shanghai and Beijing to meet with Simon alumni and business partners.

Simon's Center for Pricing is sponsoring a 4 day corporate trip to the Washington, DC area to meet with alumni and industry executives at several companies including AOL, Deloitte, Seabury Group, Sentrana and Gallup.

Enjoy your spring break!

New faculty member joins Simon School for 2009-10 year

By Rebekah:

  Today the Simon School will formally install Toni Whited as the inaugural Michael and Diane Jones Professor of Finance.  This professorship supports a faculty member whose work successfully exemplifies the Simon School mission.  Toni is an expert in finance, macroeconomics and econometrics and comes to us from the Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.  She earned a B.A. from the University of Oregon, majoring in French literature and economics, and a Ph.D. from Princeton University in economics, working with Ben Bernanke. 

Toni worked at the Federal Reserve Board and was on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Iowa, before joining the University of Wisconsin in 2003.  She has taught at the undergraduate, M.B.A., and Ph.D. levels in her former positions.  Her research deals primarily with the effects of financial markets on firm capital budgeting decisions.  She has also conducted research in the areas of theoretical econometrics, asset pricing, macroeconomics, and corporate debt policy.  She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Financial Economics and the Journal of Macroeconomics and was one of the co-editors of Finance Research Letters.

We look forward to seeing Toni on the faculty in a teaching and research capacity in fall 2009!

Mr. Potato Head Arrives in Rochester

  BY: Tonya

As a parent, I feel so fortunate to live within 20 minutes driving distance to the Strong National Museum of Play in downtown Rochester.  Strong is recognized as one of the nation's top museums for families and children and is home to the National Toy Hall of Fame.  My children love visiting the museum, so much so that we purchased a family membership for the year.  The membership entitles us to unlimited general admission for the year - a great deal since my children want to go all the time!

This weekend, Strong welcomed their newest exhibit, The Adventures of Mr. Potato Head.  The exhibit allows children to take an "outer-space journey to a jungle safari, archeological dig, and undersea trek."  These "adventures" are designed to provide children with engaging learning experiences that will assist them in developing school readiness, literacy, problem-solving, mathematics, science, and social studies skills. 

For me, walking through the National Toy Hall of Fame is a blast from the past!  The halls are lined with glass cases of the world's largest collection of toys, dolls, and games.  It brings back such memories to see my old Donny & Marie dolls and my first Easy Bake oven!  There are more than 70,000 toys to see here!

The folks at Strong will tell you that "toys are among the most important human artifacts, they are learning tools that foster imagination, creativity, and critical thinking."  As a parent I agree.  This is a great way to spend a day in Rochester!

Women Alumnae Share Benefits of Getting a Simon MBA

By: Tonya

This month we hosted our first "Women's Conference," an event for prospective female Simon students.  What a great event!  We had women come from Chicago, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City to learn more about the Simon MBA experience.  The women had the opportunity to meet with our current students and alumnae who shared their stories about getting a Simon MBA.  Our alumnae touted the MBA as "a degree for life," and told the women how the Simon MBA has prepared them for the various leadership positions they have fulfilled in their careers.

The keynote at dinner was given by Deborah Soffin '01, Iams Dog Brand Manager, who discussed her 7 years at P&G and her work with Dryel, Gain, and Iams Multi-Cat, as well as Iams Dog Brand.  The following morning the women had breakfast with Denise Fitzgerald '02, Chief Executive Officer, Midlakes Management Corporation, who shared her insights on leveraging the MBA in the field of health care management. 

We are so appreciative of the following alumnae who shared their experiences on the alumni panels: Katie Dudek '05, Financial Analyst, Xerox Corporation; Malati Patil '08, Business and Planning Analyst, Executive Associate Compensation and Benefits, M&T Bank; and Kristin Short '02, Assistant Vice President, The Bank of New York Mellon.

We look forward to this becoming an annual event!

Annual Simon School Secret Santa Silent Auction

Last week, the Simon Volunteers student club completed their annual Silent Auction to raise money to purchase Christmas presents for underprivileged children in the Rochester area.  Auction items included a number of items donated by local businesses, such as gift certificates for spa treatments, restaurants, coffee shops, an oil change for your car, and hair salons.  There were also some special items that members of the Simon community donated such as desserts by Associate Dean Holli Budd, and lunch or dinner with Dean Zupan.  Almost $2000 was raised this year through the Silent Auction - an increase over last year's fund raiser. 

In early December, the Simon Volunteers will coordinate their annual gift wrapping party.  They invite staff, faculty, and student body to come together as a community for a half day to wrap the presents that were purchased for these children.  For those of us who have participated, it is truly one of the most enjoyable and meaningful activities that brings members of the School together.  It allows us to make a difference in the lives of some special families in the Rochester area, while also supporting Rochester area establishments.  This is just one example of the type of student activities that are planned each year.