Hospitality Business Management: - College of Business ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

STUDENT NEWS Postcards from Pullman: My experience as a first-year MBA student I won’t lie; moving from Phoenix, Arizona, to rural eastern Washington was a shock. Before I came to Pullman to pursue my MBA, I had never lived north of the Arizona boarder, and always in metropolitan areas, so settling in to a small college community in the middle of the Inland Northwest was quite a change. After high school, I moved to Flagstaff to study electrical engineering at Northern Arizona University. I was very involved in my undergraduate studies, participating in the school paper, The Lumberjack, where I learned about other universities, and the NAU campus ambassador program where I worked with people from all over the world. I even spent a summer in Texas with total strangers at a youth summer camp. But nothing in my past prepared me for my move to Pullman. Whether I should have or not, I just didn’t expect any differences between the Northwest and Southwest. Both are on the west coast, and are both relatively young areas. Despite the apparent similarities, I learned it’s the subtle differences that are important. For example, I’ve always said “soda,” but here it’s called “pop,” the sun stays out until 10 p.m. in the summer, and this concoction called “fry sauce” that I never expect to understand. But I didn’t have much time to adjust—I had to prepare for my first MBA experience. Boot Camp was designed to introduce the new MBA students to the College of Business and create a foundation of business knowledge we could use in the classroom. It was also designed to give non-business students like me critical knowledge we would use in the program, including spreadsheet design and modeling. It did that, but my learning didn’t stop there. It introduced me to my classmates and soon-to-be friends: 25 business peers I would be spending every day with for the next two years. It also helped me begin to make the desperately needed adjustment from my old family in Arizona to my new family at WSU. The boot camp was capped off with three days at the WSU Outdoor Recreation Center challenge and high ropes course. There, we had to use our physical and mental abilities to overcome barriers, both literally and figuratively. As a team, we climbed walls, balanced on ropes, and avoided obstacles while dealing with different cultural backgrounds, language issues, and the fact that none of us knew each other. It was challenging, but it really helped us bond. After the semester started and my routine had developed, my transition to the Pacific Northwest began to become much easier with the help of amazing professors and a wonderfully developed cohort system. I was constantly surrounded by support from peers, professors, and the college. I was encouraged to work in teams in classroom exercises and develop relationships with my fellow MBA students. The friendly, collaborative environment created by the cohort format allowed me to truly understand difficult material and develop teamwork abilities that came in handy during numerous late-night study sessions. My first year MBA experience has included amazing opportunities. During my first semester, I was offered the honor of representing the College of Business at the PAC-10 Case Competition hosted by the University of Southern California. The competition was intense and the objectives were challenging, to say the least. In 24 hours, we were required to research, analyze, and create a solution for Hewlett Packard in the Carly Fiorina era. We then gave a 20 minute presentation of our solution to a tough panel of judges followed by 25 minutes of questions and answers. My three teammates and I learned a lot, had a wonderful time, and brought home a fourth-place finish for WSU and the College of Business. I hope to 32 WSU College of Business
compete again this year, and bring home a top-three finish and qualify for a spot at the Pac-10 vs. Big-10 Challenge Case Competition. The summer brought hard work and the opportunity to travel abroad. The beginning of the summer was filled with my internship in the College of Business as the project and publications specialist for Dividend magazine. I’ve been involved in every aspect of producing the publication, and have developed and implemented a successful plan to include outside advertising in Dividend—a first for a college magazine at WSU. In July, I traded in my 8-to-5 job for a plane ticket and an English-French translator, and was off to study abroad in Lausanne, Switzerland, with WSU MBA and master of accounting students. My trip to Lausanne was an experience of a lifetime. I was able to travel Europe and learn about different cultures and customs while interacting with students from the Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, the local hospitality and business university where we stayed for the program. This past year in Pullman I have grown and matured as an individual and learned more than I ever imagined I would both in and out of the classroom. Through all my experiences and opportunities at WSU, I have adapted to and now embrace Washington and “Cougar Country.” I am honored to call the Inland Northwest my home. I’m looking forward to my second-year studies, and to welcoming the new first-year students. I’m sure somewhere among them will be a displaced Southwesterner staring in awe at the wheat fields and wondering what the next year holds. I know the feeling, and I know that nothing I can say will prepare them. But I can offer them a warm welcome—and maybe a cold pop. —BRIAN GILLESPIE Presenting a case with teammates Alisha (Runolfson) Merriman, Stephanie Chen, Curtis Hoesing, and Nathan Kipp. Dividend 33
Page 1 and 2: Washington State University College
Page 3 and 4: Dividend College of Business Dean:
Page 5 and 6: Dividend
Page 7 and 8: 1932-2007 a Milestone sors, Greenwa
Page 9 and 10: colleagues are trying to find a way
Page 11 and 12: B O Y D C O F F E E C O M P A N Y S
Page 13 and 14: Brooke Randall at work in Nairobi,
Page 15 and 16: encouraging to see how much you can
Page 17 and 18: ig-name, national companies that on
Page 19 and 20: 1990s found that Russians, as they
Page 21 and 22: C o m p e t i t i o n Final round c
Page 23 and 24: Winnings for WSU Tri-Cities Busines
Page 25 and 26: Invest in the Gold Standard... Coug
Page 27 and 28: Kathryn and her husband J.D. after
Page 29 and 30: World Thailand Last May, hospitalit
Page 31 and 32: and Toyota, and sessions filled up
Page 33: Ph.D. Placements Wei Li, Accounting
Page 37 and 38: have a lot of potential. I’ve bee
Page 39 and 40: MBA Internship Placement Shariar Ba
Page 41 and 42: Outstanding Award Winners Outstandi
Page 43 and 44: New Leadership for Undergraduate an
Page 45 and 46: Ahn New Management and Operations C
Page 47 and 48: CB Faculty advise readers on real e
Page 49 and 50: Celebration of Student Excellence O
Page 51 and 52: An Expression of Thanks Dear Starwo
Page 53 and 54: Member Profile Ryan Lockwood ’92
Page 55 and 56: Connect electronically Subscribe to
Page 57 and 58: College of Business Calendar of Eve

Hospitality Business Management: - College of Business ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?