School of Business

Center comments on current events

When President Bush’s tax commission announced a Nov. 1 proposal date, Arthur Hall, executive director for the Center for Applied Economics, marked his calendar. Not many professionals let news flashes set their schedule, but the center, in its efforts to educate the public, focuses on economic issues that affect the state and the region. Changing the tax code is the kind of pocketbook issue that the center was established to address.

“One of the things I tried to do was have my report ready by the time the commission reported.  It was intended to let people know that for 80 years we’ve had this fundamental problem with the income tax code, and we had yet another chance to fix it,” he said.

The center, founded in 2004, strives to inform public discourse using sound economic principles and logic. Since 2004, Hall and his colleagues have tackled subjects such as the impact of high-speed Internet access on local economic growth and whether public highway expenditures improve growth.

To view other publications and reports released by the Center for Applied Economics, visit its Web site.

Business executives advise classroom

Three corporate professionals dropped in on Jane Zhao’s strategy class to share their strategic planning knowledge with KU business students.

“Strategy is very experiential,” said Zhao, assistant professor of management.  “I wanted to complement the textbook lessons with real-world perspectives.  Speakers are a great channel to get that perspective.”

Victoria Barnard, vice president of corporate strategy and development for Hallmark; Arthur Chaykin, general counsel for Shinn Fu of America; and Joseph Patterson, president and CEO of The Bridge-Asia, all spoke to Zhao’s class of 25 seniors.

After detailing their backgrounds, the executives shed light on important concepts and strategies gleaned from their own careers, and students followed up in a Q&A session. Chaykin summed up all three speakers’ advice best: “When strategy gets divorced from operations, it’s relatively useless. In fact, strategy and operations should be very much thrown together or they will both suffer,” he said.

Zhao said her class found the session extremely informative and worthwhile.  “All three speakers have done so much.  One hour with students can be worth a lot.”

Student wins prize for internship poster

Business student Zach Renn earned more than just experience from his internship at Zouire Marketing Corp. He also picked up $1,500 from the KU School of Business by winning this year’s Business Career Services Center (BCSC) Poster Contest.

In its second year, the BCSC contest encourages students to summarize their internship experiences visually. The options are endless, and most students find creative ways to display the projects they completed, how they got their internships, the biggest lessons they learned, personal accomplishments and company profiles.

Employers, faculty and staff judge all entries and nominate the top three. This year nine students entered the contest. They completed internships with companies such as Target, Red Cross, Hallmark, Waddell & Reed and KPMG. The top three poster designers received $1,500, $1,000 and $500, respectively. Second place went to Nicole Schumaker, who completed an internship with Hallmark Cards Inc., and third place went to Rachel Rundle, who interned at Target.

“I really think that a lot of students do it not necessarily for the scholarship dollars but because they take a lot of pride in their experiences,” said Jennifer Jordan, BCSC director.

The contest is extremely beneficial for students and companies, Jordan said.  Students get insider information about various internship possibilities, and employers gain added visibility with potential interns.