2014 Belk College CONNECTS

business

innovation spotlight on

Fall 2014 No.

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Belk College Students are part of inaugural Levine Scholars experience page 4

BELK COLLEGE CONNECTS

CONTENTS 2

FEATURES: INNOVATION

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ALUMNI NEWS

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STUDENT NEWS

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FACULTY NEWS

Congratulations to UNC Charlotte’s M.S. in Mathematical Finance program.

The program was recently ranked in the top 25 by The Financial Engineer. For more information about the 2015 Master of Financial Engineering Program Rankings and UNC Charlotte’s Math Finance program, visit belkcollege.uncc.edu.

BELK COLLEGE SOCIAL MEDIA Facebook: facebook.com/BelkCollegeOfBusiness Twitter: twitter.com/belkcollege LinkedIn: Belk College of Business Flickr: flickr.com/photos/belkcollege/

THE BELK COLLEGE OF BUSINESS UNC Charlotte 9201 University City Boulevard Charlotte NC 28223 belkcollege.uncc.edu COLLEGE LEADERSHIP Steven H. Ott Dean Richard Buttimer Senior Associate Dean for Faculty, Research and Graduate Programs Daryl Kerr Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs Kirsten Khire Executive Director of External Relations Colin O’Connor Senior Director of Development DEPARTMENT CHAIRS Hughlene Burton Accounting Antonis Stylianou Business Information Systems & Operations Management Jennifer Troyer Economics Dolly King Finance David Woehr Management Sunil Erevelles Marketing

CONTRIBUTORS Photography: I rina Bakalenko, Wade Bruton, Sean Busher, Stephanie Chesson, Kim Hummel Design: Spark Publications www.sparkpublications.com Printing: iTek Graphics Writers: Laura Williams-Tracy, Kirsten Khire Belk College Connects magazine is published by the Belk College of Business at UNC Charlotte.

To suggest story ideas, share feedback or change your mailing address, email belknews@uncc.edu.

27,000 copies of the magazine and annual report were printed at a cost of $23,743.29. © 2014 UNC Charlotte

Belk College Connects

LETTER FROM THE DEAN

Dear Alumni and Friends,

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public urban research business school. We thank you for being with us on this journey and supporting your business school.

As you read this edition of Belk College Connects, keep in mind ways that you can get involved with the Belk College: guest speaking, sharing job opportunities, supporting interns, attending programs and events and giving to the College. As you can see from the examples above, your gifts make a huge difference to the Belk College and ensures your business school provides a high-value, high-quality education.

DR. STEVEN H. OTT, DEAN

Belk College Connects

his issue of Belk College Connects features innovation - ideas and processes that add value to business, customers and society.

We are showcasing this topic from many perspectives in this issue: our faculty members, undergraduate students, graduate students, alumni and our presenter of the 2014 Next Speaker Series.

It’s a quality we see over and over again in conversations we have among our more than 26,000 alumni of the Belk College – students and alumni who are developing their own businesses, graduates who are leaders within companies and alumni who are making a difference in the world.

Innovation is one of the areas of growing expertise within our college, and it is a significant part of the $5 million transformational gift we received from Belk, Inc. last year. With this support, we are building on our strong reputation of collaboration with the business community by moving into new areas of growth and opportunity, including innovation and analytics.

The gift included an endowed professorship in innovation with matching funds from the State of North Carolina, and we have been pleased to bring Dr. Justin W. Webb on board this fall as the Belk Distinguished Scholar in Business Innovation. This faculty position will add expertise in the research and teaching of innovation while creating new curriculum and opportunities in innovation.

Our alumni base is growing every year, in every direction of the world. We have alumni in every state and in more than 65 countries.

When we unite, we are truly able to make a difference. This was visible this summer in a campaign led by alumni of the Accounting Department to honor retired faculty member, Mr. Thomas C. Turner. Over the summer, more than 100 alumni contributed over $239,000 in Tom’s honor. This alumni-led effort is a truly generous gesture demonstrating the impact of Tom’s teaching and service to the profession, and also the caliber and commitment of our alumni.

This gift supports a student scholarship, a faculty teaching award and renovations to a conference room.

More than ever, I am excited about the direction the Belk College is headed. The College is becoming the region’s school of choice for business education, and is recognized as a preeminent

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FEATURE: INNOVATION

What is innovation?

Faculty perspectives

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s it technology? Is it creativity?

Is it imagination?

With companies such as Google, Dropbox and Netflix dominating the news landscape, innovation seems to be everywhere yet frustratingly elusive to those seeking it in their own business.

Innovation can be magical when it happens, but Belk College faculty say innovation isn’t at all mythical. By adopting the right mindset, using the right tools and studying the right information, innovation can be methodically pursued and effectively attained.

Fortified by a $5 million gift from Belk Inc. made in February 2013, the Belk College of Business is strengthening its research and teaching capabilities in innovation, ensuring that graduates will be prepared to lead the quest for innovation for their companies. The transformational gift – the largest in college history – is also funding an expansion of the college curriculum, including new focuses on business innovation and data science and business analytics, all with the goal of making innovation more attainable for Belk College graduates.

“There’s so much uncertainty,” says Dr. Justin Webb, the Belk Endowed Business Innovation Scholar, who joined the college this summer from Oklahoma State University. “Most innovations do fail. Six in seven product ideas will fail. It’s uncertain what customers’ needs and wants will be in the future or how competing firms will act.”

Yet in that uncertainty lays opportunity.

And faculty say innovation is a process that can be taught to better evaluate opportunities and assess the relative costs associated with exploiting opportunities.

Webb says he defines innovation as the activities through which someone leverages or applies a new product or service to create value in addressing needs or wants. It’s different from invention because many new ideas are patented, but they aren’t necessarily creating value for anyone. Many patented ideas go unused.

“Innovation is the actual application of invention as a solution to someone’s needs or wants, thereby creating value.”

—Dr. Justin Webb “Innovation is the actual application of invention as a solution to someone’s needs or wants, thereby creating value,” Webb says.

In his research, Webb focuses on how entrepreneurs’ contexts influence their innovation and how entrepreneurs interact with their contexts to facilitate innovation activities. One of Webb’s key interests is crowd-funding platforms. He is looking at what enables some entrepreneurs to motivate others to provide funding and what hinders other entrepreneurs from jump-starting their businesses via crowd-funding platforms.

“Platforms like Kickstarter are innovations in and of themselves and they are helping

other entrepreneurs attract funding for their own innovations,” he says. “Highlighting the impact of these platforms, millions of entrepreneurs have successfully solicited funds via crowd-funding in the past few years alone.”

Webb also studies social innovation by considering how nonprofit organizations operating in developing markets such as Latin America, Asia and Africa can use innovation to alleviate poverty-related needs in those areas. His research is looking at what business innovation can bring to problems such as world poverty, which have historically only been addressed with charity and without much sustainable success.

His research into market-based solutions to poverty hopes to help local producers differentiate their product or encourage local entrepreneurs to foster innovation there.

Dr. Sunil Erevelles, chair of the marketing department, is a frequent speaker on innovation and is working with some of the Charlotte region’s most dynamic companies as they push toward innovation.

“The innovation train has barely left the station, and even the good companies have a long way to go,” Erevelles says. “Companies know that innovation is critically important, but very few know how to do it or have the tools to accomplish it.”

Instead, even good companies focus on linear, incremental improvements within their industry rather than non-linear, game-changing innovation that potentially can reinvent an industry, while destroying competitors or making them irrelevant.

“Innovation is all about mobilizing imagination and exploiting ideas to create new wealth for the future,” Erevelles says.

That means focusing as much or more

“Innovation is all about mobilizing imagination and exploiting ideas to create new wealth for the future.”

on business model innovation rather than on mere product innovation.

Consider, Erevelles says, two companies: Tesla and Google. Tesla has reinvented the car and has created an amazing electric car. Google on the other hand hopes to completely reinvent the car industry with a self-driving car, eliminating the need for owning a car when you can simply call a self-driving Google car to pick you up and then let it go on to serve the next customer.

“The focus of Google’s business model is not to create a better car but to destroy the rest of the car industry as we know it today,” Erevelles says. “If I were betting on who would have a greater impact on the car industry 20 years from now and create more

Dr. David Woehr

Dr. Jennifer Ames Stuart

guru but who have innovative cultures.”

And the most important element of creating an innovative culture, Stuart says, is diversity because it leverages the different perspectives of people with different experiences.

“It’s hard to see something differently from the way you’ve always seen it,” Stuart says. By creating an organizational structure that’s diverse, companies are on their way to innovating. “Diversity is not only in a company’s best interest, but it has a bottom line impact.”

Dr. Sangkil Moon, associate professor and Cullen Endowed Scholar of marketing who came to UNCC from North Carolina State University because of the university’s focus on business analytics, says recently available analytics techniques offer pathways to innovation.

“A lot of marketing problems tend to be innovation problems,” says Moon, who teaches how to use analytics to drive innovative methodologies. “You need a new strategy and a new tool to innovate” Moon champions innovation in marketing by trying new methodological approaches. The field of big data offers the opportunity to mine information that will lead to new approaches to market products, Moon says. Sources of that data are often consumer’s product reviews from social media sites such as Twitter or Facebook.

“Innovators and new product developers need to hear from their target audiences,” Moon says. “You can easily collect that information online. Next is to figure out how to analyze it. If you don’t do that you will fall behind.”

Dr. David Woehr, chair of the department of management, also sees innovation as a process.

Woehr says innovation has four parts – knowledge, analysis, creativity and the final critical step of putting those ideas into action.

“There are a lot of thoughtful creative people that come up with ideas that haven’t moved forward,” Woehr says. “I don’t think any one of those four is more important than the others, but for me as an academic,

“A lot of marketing problems tend to be innovation problems.

You need a new strategy and a new tool to innovate.”

—Dr. Sangkil Moon what I see is an awful lot of emphasis on creativity and imagination and not as much on knowledge and analysis.”

That emphasis solely on creativity may be part of why companies struggle with innovation. But there are other reasons.

“Organizations are like people and they develop habits and patterns of action that are hard to overcome,” says Woehr. “Habits can help you function efficiently but they can also hold you back and can impede progress.

Innovation requires moving past some of that.”

Erevelles agrees.

“Companies are devotees in the temple of orthodoxy,” Erevelles says. “Most got where they are because of their last great idea and they constantly protect that old idea.”

Erevelles says companies shut down innovation by not providing a way for good ideas to gain an audience. Employees with great ideas generally go to their immediate boss. If the boss doesn’t like the idea, it’s the end of the idea.

Companies need an innovation engine – which includes a panel to hear the good ideas – among other tools to create a marketplace for ideas and a market that makes judgments about those ideas.

“The crowd is almost always more right than the boss,” says Erevelles.

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new wealth, I’d bet on Google. That’s the power of innovative business models.”

Dr. Jennifer Ames Stuart, an assistant professor of marketing, spent 15 years in industry, most recently as vice president of marketing and new business for Bayer Consumer Care. Her definition of innovation is “profitably creating value by doing things in new and different ways.”

Stuart says the go-to analogy of Apple being the most innovative company doesn’t work for her.

“People like Steve Jobs come around once in a generation,” Stuart says. “What’s more important, and more replicable, is to look at companies like Netflix, Amazon and Starbucks that aren’t led by one innovative

—Dr. Sunil Erevelles

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Belk College Connects

FEATURE: INNOVATION

Undergraduate students

demonstrate innovation

The Levine Scholars Program is UNC Charlotte’s most prestigious merit scholarship program that was established in 2009 by benefactors Sandra and Leon Levine. The inaugural class of Levine Scholars entered in the fall semester of 2010 and graduated in 2014.

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ne student pursued and won a prestigious internship in the United Kingdom’s House of Lords.

Another is backpacking through Africa. And a third remains in Charlotte, putting his scholarship resources toward launching new social entrepreneurs.

The first graduates of the Belk College of Business who attended UNC Charlotte through the generous Levine Scholarship program set the standard for fellow students and are now ready to make their mark in the next stage of their young adult lives.

Established in 2009 through a $9.3 million

“The Levine Scholarship is spurring innovation in the Belk College of Business about what the possibilities are and what they can be. The first three Levine Scholars in the business school set the bar so high, it sets new goals and aspirations —Dr. Daryl Kerr for everyone.” gift from Leon and Sandra Levine through their foundation, the Levine Scholars Program was created to recruit extraordinary high school students based on scholarship, ethical leadership and civic engagement.

Recipients receive a four-year scholarship covering tuition, room and board, stipends

for four summer experiences, including ones abroad, and a grant to implement a service project of their own design.

“The Levine Scholarship is spurring innovation in the Belk College of Business about what the possibilities are and what they can be,” says Dr. Daryl Kerr,

Levine Scholars during their senior year at UNC Charlotte.

“Coming to Charlotte was the best decision I could have made, because the scholarship was so new we had the latitude to choose what we wanted to do. I could have gone somewhere else and had a quarter of a million dollars of debt and no unique experiences.”

—Vrushab Gowda, ‘14

“You get so used to looking at outsiders as different.

When I realized that I was the outsider it challenged me in a way that I’ve grown more than at any point in my life.” —Sam McClenney, ‘14

decision I could have made,” Gowda says.

“Because the scholarship was so new we had the latitude to choose what we wanted to do. I could have gone somewhere else and had a quarter of a million dollars of debt and no unique experiences.”

Sam McClenney graduated in May with a degree in economics and minors in math and political science and spent the summer working with Queen City Forward, a Charlotte nonprofit focused on helping social entrepreneurs launch their businesses.

McClenney spent a semester at Kingston University in Kingston-upon-Thames in the United Kingdom where he worked for Impact Hub, an incubator for social entrepreneurs in Europe and says it was a transformational experience. From Cary, he is considering pursuing a job in fundraising and development.

“You get so used to looking at outsiders as different,” McClenney says. “When I realized that I was the outsider it challenged me in a way that I’ve grown more than at any point in my life.”

Finally, Laura Outlaw from Mount Olive, NC, graduated magna cum laude from the Belk College of Business in May with a degree in international business and finance with a concentration in accounting.

She studied abroad for a semester in Sydney, Australia, and for a year in Salamanca, Spain. She has traveled to 35 countries, most of which were during her time at UNC Charlotte. She spent the summer after graduation backpacking through Africa before starting work with the

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undergraduate associate dean of the Belk College. “The first three Levine Scholars in the business school set the bar so high, it sets new goals and aspirations for everyone.”

Consider Vrushab Gowda.

Gowda entered the Belk College in 2010 already with 55 college credits and will graduate in December with more than 200 college credits, far more than the 120 credits needed for graduation. He’s pursued multiple interests, double majoring in economics and biology. His last semester will be spent interviewing with medical schools, writing a thesis and completing a research fellowship at Carolinas Medical Center’s Liver, Digestive and Metabolic Lab. While pursuing his interest in business, Gowda spent a year studying abroad at the London School of Economics and while there worked his way into an internship with British Parliament, an almost unheardof accomplishment for an undergraduate.

“I basically stalked everyone in the House of Lords and sent emails to those with interests similar to mine,” says Gowda, a New Jersey native who hopes to one day combine his dual interest in medicine and economics in a role in health policy.

Gowda turned down offers from William & Mary and Vanderbilt to attend UNC Charlotte on the Levine Scholarship.

“Coming to Charlotte was the best

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Belk College Connects

“The traits you gain by spending an extended period of time out of your comfort zone are applicable to most parts of your personal and professional life.”

—Laura Outlaw, ‘14

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accounting firm Ernst & Young. While a student, she ran the New York Marathon.

“The traits you gain by spending an extended period of time out of your comfort zone are applicable to most parts of your personal and professional life,” Outlaw says. “I gained the understanding that no matter how much traveling you have done or planning, things will go wrong. There will be unexpected triumphs and you will meet people that alter your previous view on something.”

Dr. Diane Zablotsky, director of the Levine Scholars Program, says what distinguished the program is commitment to civic engagement and a focus on gaining an international experience. Each year 15 recipients are chosen from over 800 applicants.

“They were a very special group of students from a pool of very special students,” Zablotsky says. “We attracted students, especially in this first class, who really did want to take a risk and create something new. It’s with a spirit of being grateful for the resources given that they find ways to use those resources on campus and in the community to put together wonderful undergraduate programs for themselves. Hopefully by graduation they see themselves as citizens of world.”

Students attend the Levine Scholars banquet

“All of the Levine Scholars that I’ve encountered have these experiences and they bring these experiences back to the university and they want to share. They certainly don’t view those experiences with the Levine Scholarship as separate from their Belk College experience.”

—Dr. Ted Amato Dr. Ted Amato, director of the Business Honors Program, says the influence of highachieving students on the rest of the Belk College student body is significant.

“The impact on campus and in the Belk College of Business is much greater than the 15 Levine Scholars that come each year,” Amato says. “Having those students in the program and the Business Honors Program has caused a lot of the students in the program to raise their game. Those students on full-scholarship are students who could have gone to school almost anywhere. They bring a level of academic achievement and a level of motivation that has

been good for our Business Honors Program.”

The Belk College’s Business Honors Program also facilitates a study abroad component for top performing students, and Amato says the infusion of experiences from the Levine Scholars gets more students thinking about such experiences.

“All of the Levine Scholars that I’ve encountered have these experiences and they bring these experiences back to the university and they want to share,” Amato says. “They certainly don’t view those experiences with the Levine Scholarship as separate from their Belk College experience.”

Belk College Connects

FEATURE: INNOVATION

Graduate students

explore global innovation

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to increase its international programs. The tragedy of 9/11 created a difficult immigration environment, and Mexican students and those from other countries could no longer get visas to study in the United States. That atmosphere

get some recognition for our college as an international entity, which was at the time fairly novel for a school of our size. It’s been a good marriage for us for 10 years.”

In any given semester, three Belk College

Dr. Richard Conboy with MBA students from EGADE and UNC Charlotte during the summer course in Charlotte.

“The Belk College’s affiliation and double degree program with EGADE 10 years ago was a true innovation.”

—Dr. Richard Conboy led to a strengthening of the relationship whereby Belk College professors traveled to Monterrey to enable EGADE to offer a U.S. degree in Mexico.

“The Belk College’s affiliation and double degree program with EGADE 10 years ago was a true innovation,” Conboy says.

“As much as anything we were looking to

professors will travel to Monterrey over the course of three weekends to teach.

Each course also includes video conference teaching to students in Mexico. To earn the dual degree, students must meet all of the requirements of both programs and earn at least half of their credit hours in classes taught by Belk College faculty.

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loria Appiah-Danquah came to Charlotte from her native country of Ghana seeking an MBA and an international experience, a common goal among today’s business students.

Here she found not only the Belk College’s diverse student body, but in her Strategic Competition in Latin America course this summer, Appiah-Danquah and 19 of her Belk College classmates were joined by another 15 students from Mexico’s premier business school. It’s an exchange now moving into its second decade that has expanded opportunities for Belk College faculty to learn from Mexican businesses and culture and for students to gain a broader perspective of global business.

“With the world becoming more global and smaller, these experiences will help me when I need to take a position in a different country,” Appiah-Danquah says. “It has actually piqued my interest in looking for opportunities in multi-national corporations where I get to work with people from all over the world with diverse cultures and backgrounds.”

The course is part of the Belk College’s dual MBA program with EGADE, the Graduate Business School at the Monterrey Institute of Technology, the major university system in Mexico. As part of the exchange, EGADE students can earn a dual MBA from UNC Charlotte, taking some courses in Charlotte. In return, Belk College faculty gain the opportunity to teach in Monterrey and learn from students, faculty and businesses there. EGADE professors also travel here to teach Belk College students.

Dr. Richard Conboy, associate professor of management and associate dean for international programs at the time, says the relationship with EGADE started small more than a decade ago as the Belk College looked

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Students from UNC Charlotte and EGADE in Mexico at Center City, summer 2014

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“There is knowledge and learning that’s gained working with international partners and competing internationally,” Conboy says. “Sharing teaching methodologies and learning from others is how innovation benefits a school. It continues to improve our curriculum.” Gary Kohut, director of the MBA program and a professor of management, says the summer program that brings EGADE students to Charlotte provides a modified international experience for the Belk College’s working MBA students who can’t leave their jobs for extended international study.

“We introduced an innovative way to bring a global experience without traveling,” Kohut says. “It’s an intensive week with lectures during the day and networking opportunities in the evenings.”

Kohut says U.S. students are frequently struck by the EGADE students’ passion and work ethic.

“Students from the domestic group are surprised by the long hours the EGADE students keep as well as the fact that many of them already work for U.S. companies,”Kohut says. “We have this exchange of information about what’s going

“Students from the domestic group are surprised by the long hours the EGADE students keep as well as the fact that many of them already work for U.S. companies. We have this exchange of information about what’s going on in business and between the US and Latin America. We also get a fair number of individuals who continue the connections, both professional and personal, they made during this one week course.”

—Dr. Gary Kohut

“The MBA partnership between EGADE Business School and the Belk College of Business is unique, consolidating the best education from two internationally recognized business schools. The program prepares executives to define and implement business strategies in a variety of environments, leading to a competitive advantage for their employers.”

—Dr. Luis Garcia-Calderon, EGADE Business School trains as many engineers per capita as the United States.

“Students’ impressions of Latin America and particularly Mexico change because they learn to respect and appreciate the immigrants that we have here, some of whom provide a significant contribution to the economy

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on in business and between the US and Latin America. We also get a fair number of individuals who continue the connections, both professional and personal, they made during this one week course.”

Conboy says Mexico’s influence in the U.S. economy is growing as the country

in N.C.,” Conboy says. “They also realize that Mexico has a population of very highly skilled managers, scientists and engineers in an emerging economy that is very competitive and collaborative with the U.S.” For EGADE, the partnership with the Belk College is unique to its Monterrey campus and a meaningful experience for its students, says Dr. Laura Zapata, director of the MBA program at EGADE. “For our students working for multinational corporations, having an international perspective is vital,” Zapata says. “This partnership with UNC Charlotte allows our students to have global exposure through UNC Charlotte professors and case studies.”

Zapata says she hopes to see the exchange grow with more summer courses specifically related to areas which are new or different for EGADE, such as business analytics and innovation.

The experience entices students to want additional international experiences.

This summer, Conboy took a group of graduate students for an 8-day trip to Poland to learn about the former Communist country as it builds a new economy very much dependent on Germany as an economic engine.

Tammy Kaufhold, a second year MBA student, participated in both the EGADE exchange class and visited Poland, completing a research project while visiting Warsaw and Krakow.

“I was amazed by the caliber of business professionals that we were able to meet with,” says Kaufhold, who already holds a master’s degree in geography and is focusing her MBA on global business. “Poland has such a rich culture and is finding its identity as a new country.”

While Kaufhold isn’t looking for an international assignment in her job as a business manager for a Fortune 100 company in Charlotte, she hopes the international experience will help her evaluate future business prospects.

Kohut says infusing an international experience moves most students out of their comfort zone and gets them thinking about problems in new ways.

“If you are too comfortable in the program then we have not taught you,” Kohut says.

“We need to stretch you a bit.”

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Belk College Connects

FEATURE: INNOVATION

UNC Charlotte’s new

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Executive Education program U

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NC Charlotte will launch one of the nation’s first executive education programs emphasizing data science and business analytics as the university moves to serve a region ripe with data-intensive industries. UNC Charlotte Executive Education is a campus-wide initiative, led by the Belk College of Business.

“Companies are faced with the opportunity to collect more data than they’ve ever had to collect in history. But what do you do with that data?” says Dr. Christie Amato, a Belk College professor of marketing and director of executive education. “We think about it from the executive’s perspective of how to build strategy around that data and how to create data-driven decision making.”

Ultimately, strategic use of data can facilitate all stages of the innovation process, where ideas are vetted and move through the development stage before launch, Amato says.

“Innovation and analytics go hand-in-hand when you think about using analytics from a decision-making standpoint,” Amato says.

“Data can drive that whole process, producing unique insights and bottom-line results.”

UNC Charlotte Executive Education will offer a broad range of programs aimed at connecting business leaders with forwardlooking ideas on topics relevant to industries facing a complex, disruptive and intensely competitive business environment.

Among UNC Charlotte Executive Education’s first offerings will be a day-long program with Jacob Goldenberg, a professor of marketing at IDC Herzliya in Israel and a visiting professor at Columbia University, whose research focuses on creativity, new product development and diffusion of

innovation. Goldenberg will present a case that better and quicker innovation happens not from thinking “outside of the box” but from working inside your familiar world. The talk relies on his pioneering

idea,” Goldenberg says. “People confuse fun and effectiveness and often believe that if they are having organizational fun the ideas are more creative. The truth is that these two dimensions are orthogonal – process fun has

Dr. Christie Amato and Dr. Rita Smith discuss UNC Charlotte Executive Education. Dr. Smith is an executive coach, learning and OD consultant and an adjunct faculty member in the Belk College of Business.

“Companies are faced with the opportunity to collect more data than they’ve ever had in history. But what do you do with that data? We think about it from the executive’s perspective of how to build strategy around that data and how to create data-driven decision making.”

—Dr. Christie Amato academic research into the creative process and five templates that form the basis of the innovation method called Systematic Inventive Thinking.

“Thinking outside the box is a fun process.

Thinking inside is more difficult because there are moments when you don’t have an

nothing to do with creative output.”

Johnson & Johnson used Goldenberg’s SIT method to create a new type of anesthesia machine. P&G used SIT to develop an electric air freshener.

Executive education programs, which usually don’t offer academic credit or

Dr. Anu Brookins, Vice President of Customer Insights & Analytics at Belk, Inc., is co-facilitating the Maximizing Digital Presence executive education session November 5-7.

“Thinking outside the box is a fun process. Thinking inside is more difficult because there are moments when you don’t have an idea. People confuse fun and effectiveness and often believe that if they are having organizational fun the ideas are more creative.

The truth is that these two dimensions are orthogonal – process fun has nothing to do with creative output.”

—Dr. Jacob Goldenberg

It’s estimated that by 2018 the US will have a deficit of 200,000 professionals with deep analytical skills and another 1.5 million workers will be needed to capitalize on the value of big data to business.

Amato says UNC Charlotte Executive Education will be among very few universities providing executive education opportunities in data science and business analytics, offering relevant programs for both technical and non-technical business leaders.

“A lot of companies say big data is important, but the understanding hasn’t permeated the C-suite or upper tier of management,” Amato says. “The biggest bang for the buck for companies is when they are able to integrate data analytics with business strategy.”

UNC Charlotte Executive Education has hired a program manager and an assistant director for marketing and business development as it gears up to coordinate more programming and training programs to be led by UNC Charlotte faculty.

“We’ll be looking at programs from the strategic aspect and not just the technical aspect,” Amato says. “We will look at how our programs help build core competencies and how they help improve bottom-line efficiencies.”

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degrees, are in high demand as companies seek to respond to shifting markets. Beyond the unique strategic analytics emphasis, UNC Charlotte Executive Education will offer traditional open enrollment programs that provide focused, short-term learning experiences at its Center City campus in uptown Charlotte.

This fall UNC Charlotte Executive Education will offer three open enrollment programs at its Center City campus. The programs will include the day-long seminar on innovation strategy with Goldenberg, two half-day sessions on leadership and decision-

making and a 3-day program on enhancing your organization’s digital presence.

The Belk College will also grow its customized executive education programs, which represent the fastest growing sector of executive education nationally. Customized programs are tailored to a specific business’ challenges and give executives and business teams the chance to work on current and relevant business issues under the guidance of academics and experts in the field. The development of custom programs is already underway with companies in the energy, finance and retail sectors.

UNC Charlotte’s data science and business analytics initiative is among the earliest and largest initiatives in the nation to integrate data science and analytics with business processing and decision-making.

As such, UNC Charlotte will offer one of the few executive education programs emphasizing this growing field. UNC Charlotte received approval starting this fall to offer a master’s of science in data science and business analytics program. The groundbreaking curriculum is the result of collaboration between the College of Computing and Informatics, and the Belk College of Business.

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FEATURE: INNOVATION

Alumni honor retired Professor

Thomas Turner

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n the early days of the Belk College of Business, Thomas C. Turner was the ultimate startup expert.

In 1966, a year after UNC Charlotte became a part of the UNC system, Turner joined the Belk College faculty to start an accounting program. Over 26 years he built the department from just a few students to a widely respected public university program producing students who have gone on to key financial roles at leading companies.

To commemorate Turner’s impact on the Department of Accounting and its alumni, the college completed a successful fundraising campaign in his honor this summer with more than 150 alumni and friends raising more than $239,000. The money raised will be used to create an endowed scholarship to support undergraduate accounting students, provide additional funding for the Thomas C. Turner Teaching Award, and support a renovation of the Department of Accounting conference room, named in Turner’s honor.

More than 55 friends and alumni gathered in June for a reception in his honor.

“It was a real pleasure to see former students and friends and a great honor,” Turner says of the reception. “There were students I haven’t seen in a long time.”

Turner says his teaching style was influenced by fine teachers in college and in officer candidate school in the Army.

“I always had a written plan for a class starting out with the objective for the class that day and a plan for how I would achieve that objective,” Turner says. “I got students involved by asking questions and inviting students to ask questions. My goal was to bring out the best in students.”

Because of his dedication to teaching,

“I always had a written plan for a class starting out with the objective for the class that day and a plan for how I would achieve that objective. I got students involved by asking questions and inviting students to ask questions. My goal was to bring out the best in students.”

—Thomas C. Turner Turner received the Bank of America Teaching Award and later five other Accounting faculty members received the same award. Their results were obvious.

Over a 20-year period, 20 students earned medals on the CPA exam, signifying that they’d scored one of the top three scores in the state.

Former UNC Charlotte Trustee Gene Johnson ’73 and UNC Charlotte recipient

of an honorary Doctor of Public Service ’14 said the campaign happened as a result of alumni support for Turner – and the desire to honor him. Both Gene and his wife Vickie graduated in accounting and took classes with Turner, and have kept in touch with him for more than 40 years.

“I was really amazed not only by his knowledge, but teaching was at the core of who he really is. It was fun to go to

Even 22 years after retirement, Brower says Turner will still send a new tax client his way.

Mike Wike, UNC Charlotte Class of ’93, says Turner helped him feel comfortable in a difficult program and in a new city much larger than his native Taylorsville, N.C.

Belk College Connects

his classes, it was challenging to go to his classes, and I enjoyed being his student assistant. The foundation that he laid here is not something you often find in every college –Tom insisted on teaching first and he really cared about his students, and he cared that we were prepared to go out to the workplace and be successful from day one.”

Dr. Howard Godfrey, a professor of accounting for 39 years and one of the first PhD professors with a CPA hired by Turner, says Turner’s commitment to students was obvious and extended beyond the classroom.

“You became impressed at just how deeply held his convictions were about serving students,” Godfrey says. “He had a high degree of respect for students. They were the most important player in the classroom.”

Some students needed Turner’s uplifting and guidance. Others needed financial help, and he found it. For others, the connection to a job after graduation made an impact.

Robbie Brower graduated from the Belk College in 1977 when a recession made jobs scarce for new graduates.

Brower was back home in Wadesboro, N.C. for about three weeks when Turner called him to ask if he had a job yet.

“He said, I’ve got a name of a person I want you to call,” Brower remembers. “The company was Dixon Odom and I interviewed and got the job, and I’m still here.”

“He had a profound impact on me,” says Brower, a partner with DixonHughesGoodman. “When you were in his class he was interested in you doing well.”

“I came from a very rural area and we didn’t have internet in 1993. I didn’t have a clue what business was,” Wike says. “He just seemed like he was a down-to-earth guy. He was teaching you information but it felt like he was teaching you common sense.”

Turner’s students remember his classes were tough, his standards were high and he placed a strong emphasis on ethics. That approach led to an impressive list of alumni who are partners in accounting and law firms, CEOs and CFOs, Godfrey says.

“When the number of faculty under his direction and his inspiration increased, this approach became the identity of the department. Now it’s Tom’s legacy. If quality was slipping, he did not hesitate to come in.

That didn’t happen often.”

Along with his strong guiding hand, many students remember seeing Turner running on campus for exercise. His love for the accounting department was matched by his commitment to student athletics.

Turner served for many years as the Chancellor-appointed Faculty Athletic Representative to the NCAA. He was a guiding force in the university joining the Sun Belt Conference in 1976 and a year later the 49ers men’s basketball team made it to the NCAA Final Four. The conference did not have a commissioner in its early years and Turner served as the president of the executive committee.

“Tom is a dear individual and a friend of athletics,” says UNC Charlotte Athletic Director Judy Rose.

As the representative of the academic side of intercollegiate athletics, Rose says he took the appointment and voluntary role as seriously as being chairman of the accounting department.

Even today, Rose says she still gets phone calls from Turner who is keeping abreast of college athletics and wants to ensure the university is staying on top of issues.

“That defines Tom Turner for me,” Rose says. “When he says he’s going to do something he does it.”

To make a gift to the Thomas C. Turner Fund, contact Belk College Senior Director of Development Colin O’Connor at colin.oconnor@uncc.edu.

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Belk College Connects

NEWS: ALUMNI

ALUMNUS KYLE WHITE - AN AMERICAN HERO AND MEMBER OF THE NINER NATION “During a long dark night, Spc. White’s uncommon valor and perseverance saved lives… Extraordinary and consistently selfless actions by a young paratrooper.”

—Lt. Col. William Ostlund

Belk College Connects

A

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lumnus Kyle White received the Medal of Honor during a White House ceremony on May 13. He is the seventh living recipient to be awarded the medal for service in Afghanistan or Iraq.

White, of Bonney Lake, Wash., earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University in fall 2013; he entered UNC Charlotte in fall 2011 after separating from the U.S. Army. Currently, he works in Charlotte.

According to the Seattle Times, in 2007 White was serving as a radiotelephone operator when his team of 14 U.S. soldiers, along with Afghan National Army soldiers, was ambushed at a meeting with village elders in Aranas, Afghanistan.

During the attack, White was knocked unconscious by a rocket-propelled grenade that landed near him, according to the

Stars and Stripes. “When he woke up, 10 of the 14-man American element and the ANA soldiers were gone. To avoid the enemy fire, they had been forced to slide 150 feet down the side of a rocky cliff.

“White noticed that his teammate, Spc. Kain Schilling, had been shot in the arm. After White and Schilling found cover under a tree, White put a tourniquet on Schilling and stopped the bleeding. Then White saw Marine Sgt. Phillip Bocks lying out in the open, badly wounded.

“White sprinted 30 feet across open ground under a hail of bullets to reach Bocks. White made four runs out in to the open to drag Bocks out of the line of fire. He succeeded, but Bocks eventually succumbed to his wounds. Soon afterward, Schilling got hit in the leg by small-arms fire. White again saved his life, using his belt as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding.

“Then White noticed his platoon leader, 1st Lt. Matthew C. Ferrara, lying face-down on the trail, motionless. White again exposed himself to fire and crawled to Ferrara’s position.

After he realized Ferrara was already dead, White returned to Schilling’s side and began using his radio, until an enemy round blew the hand-mic out of his hand and disabled the radio. White grabbed Bocks’ radio and used it to bring in mortars, artillery, air strikes and helicopter gun runs to keep the enemy at bay.

He suffered his second concussion of the day when a mortar round landed too close and knocked him off his feet.

“After nightfall, White marked the landing zone and assisted the flight medic in hoisting the wounded Americans and Afghans into the helicopter. White would not allow himself to be evacuated until everyone else was in a position to leave.”

The Seattle Times printed a 2008 statement from White’s battalion commander Lt. Col. William Ostlund that stated “During a long dark night, Spc. White’s uncommon valor and perseverance saved lives… Extraordinary and consistently selfless actions by a young paratrooper.”

Moving forward, White said he wants to be an advocate for the men and women in uniform who will continue to come home from the Middle East and elsewhere.

His goal is to help them understand the opportunities the current GI Bill provides them and to urge them to pursue the best possible university educations. In White’s case, that was what he found at UNC Charlotte.

Watch an interview with Kyle White on Inside UNC Charlotte: http://inside.uncc. edu/news/item/alumnus-kyle-white-heroamong-us Story by UNC Charlotte News

NEWS: ALUMNI list. For 2014, DeVore ranks No. 68.

DeVore has led Charlotte-based Premier, Inc. since 2009. She joined the company in 2003 as president of its supply-chain division.

Gene Johnson, recipient of the honorary Doctor of Public Service

predecessor to Deloitte and Touche.

He went on to head the Mergers and Acquisitions Group of Cable Investments Inc., and he also owned a cable television construction and engineering firm and served as chief operating officer of Enstar Cable Corp. He then became president of JC&A Inc., an investment banking and brokerage firm providing services to cable television, telephone and related industries. In 1991, he co-founded MJD Communications Inc., a provider of communications services that later became FairPoint Communications. During his tenure at FairPoint, Johnson also led corporate development efforts and served as executive vice president. He retired as chairman and chief operating officer of FairPoint Communications in 2009.

ALUMNA SUSAN DeVORE AMONG TOP 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL IN HEALTH CARE Premier Inc. President and CEO Susan DeVore is one of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare, according to Modern Healthcare.

The publication focuses on health-care business and policy news, research and information. Its annual ranking recognizes individuals who are the most influential in the industry, based on the comments of peers and a panel of experts. Individuals are chosen because of their leadership and impact in the health-care arena.

This is the fourth time — and third consecutive year — DeVore has made the

DO YOU HAVE NEWS TO SHARE WITH THE COLLEGE? WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! Give us the good news online at http://alumni.uncc.edu/connect/ update-your-info or email belknews@uncc.edu.

We will share your updated contact information with the UNC Charlotte Alumni Association and with your permission, will add your class note online at belkcollege.uncc.edu.

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ALUMNUS, FORMER TRUSTEE GENE JOHNSON RECEIVES HONORARY DEGREE Gene Johnson, a 1973 graduate of UNC Charlotte and the first alumnus to serve as chair of the University’s Board of Trustees, received an honorary Doctor of Public Service during the commencement ceremony on May 9.

Johnson, who completed a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the Belk College of Business, has held a number of influential roles at the University. He was Alumni Board president, and he served on the 49er Athletic Foundation Board, the Board of Visitors and the Belk College of Business Advisory Council. Most recently, he finished eight years on the UNC Charlotte Board of Trustees, the last three years as chair. During his time as a trustee, Johnson chaired the Football Fundraising Capital Campaign, too.

As a philanthropist, Johnson provided financial support to construct the Barnhardt Student Activity Center and the Harris Alumni Center. He also established the Johnson Endowment for Teaching in the Belk College. In addition, Johnson was the driving force behind the establishment of a drum line to support the University’s football program, and he and wife Vickie have donated $2 million to the UNC Charlotte Marching Band.

Following graduation, Johnson joined the U.S. Army and rose to the rank of captain. After his discharge, he began a successful career as a certified public accountant with Haskins and Sells, a

ALUMNI RECEIVE CFO OF THE YEAR HONORS The Charlotte Business Journal has named the 2014 winners of its CFO of the Year Awards, including two UNC Charlotte alumni. The honorees were recognized Aug. 19 at a luncheon at The Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte hotel.

Rebecca Hardin, (MACC ’08) CFO of Verigent, LLC, was named CFO of the Year of a small privately held company category.

Scott Childress, (BS Accounting ’00) COO of United Protective Technologies, LLC, and affiliates, was named CFO of the Year “Turn Around Award.”

Several other Belk College alumni were named CFO of Year Finalists: John Adams, Viewmont Urology Clinic, PA (BS Accounting - 1980); Teresa Hinson, FJC, Inc. ( BS Accounting 1995 Cum Laude) (MACC 2007); and Cassmer Ward, Intelligent Design Engineering, PC (BS Accounting/BA English-1998).

In addition, Elizabeth Hardin, ViceChancellor of UNC Charlotte, was named CFO of year: large nonprofit and government. Belk College Advisory Board member Brian Marley was named CFO Lifetime Achievement Award winner.

Marley is retired CFO & EVP of Belk Inc.

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NEWS: ALUMNI BELK COLLEGE ALUMNI COUNCIL GROWS

Belk College Connects

2014-2015 Committees

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Executive Committee Phil Hains ’85 —Chair Tim Ralston ’09 — First Vice Chair Anne Bateman ’08 —Second Vice Chair Community Service Committee Brian Duggan ’94 —Chair Gerald Burgess ’12 Jessica Dill Gidney ’00, ’02 Tina Enrique ’12 Cameron Jennings ’08, ’14 Michael Kowalchyk ’12 Matt MacCaughelty ’09 Joseph Rinaldi ’07 Stephen Yeh ’09 Sarah Yoder ’15 Development Committee Derrick Smith ’00 —Chair H. Parry Bliss, Jr. ’69 Harvey Brown ’78 Brad Clinard ’09 Jon Ferrer ’10 Charles Kistler ’06 Jeff Thomas ’95 Greg Ross ’99 Han Zhang ’04 Industry-Alumni Engagement Committee Andrew Morton ’11 —Chair Kirk Beatty ’87, ’10 Louise Fuller ’09 Heidi Hansen ’95 Cochoan Jackson ’13 Mark Joyce ’82 George McGough ’00 Alyson Metcalfe ’13 Todd Phillips ’13 Amanda Self ’07 Doug Southerland ’10 Wanda Throneburg ’09 Student-Alumni Engagement Committee Terrence Hawkins ’04 —Chair Erik Cobb 05, ’07 Frank Coleman ’77 Fabian Elliott ’12 Rick Ferretti ’98 Todd Keenan ’10 Alfred Minter ’01, ’05 Nikita Patel ’05 Jamie Rizzo ’97

The Belk College welcomed over 400 first year students this fall. Members of the Alumni Council attended the annual Freshmen Picnic on Friday, August 22 to welcome our newest Belk College students. Julie Harris ’00 and Jonathan Ferrer ’10 are pictured with “future alumni” at the event on the Cato-Fretwell Quad.

Belk College alumni and friends are invited to the second annual Belk College Day tailgate and football game this fall. Join us at the Alumni Association’s Tailgate Tent for food, beverages, music and family friendly activities on Saturday, November 8. Visit belkcollege.uncc.edu/ belkcollegeday for ticket and event information.

The Belk College Alumni Council hosts an Alumni Coffee before the quarterly UNC Charlotte Economic Forecast. Join us for networking and a college update at the next Alumni Coffee on Tuesday, December 9.

The Belk College Alumni Council co-chairs, Jeff Stewart ’93 and Greg Ross ’99, delivered the game ball before kick-off at the first Belk College Day.

The Belk College hosted a reception for our 579 new alumni following the May Commencement Ceremony.

Belk College graduates celebrated with their families, faculty, and staff in the Student Union.

Andrew Wullschleger ’10 Alex Yaconetti ’15 Belk College Day Committee Jon Bowman ’94 —Chair Megan Bailey ’08 Lisa Hardee ’09, ’12

Jeff Stewart ’93 McKenna Stewart ’06 Alex Yaconetti ’15 Bylaws Committee (Ad Hoc) Anne Bateman ’08 —Chair

Belk College Connects

NEWS: STUDENTS

UNC CHARLOTTE BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS STUDENTS WIN TARGET CASE STUDY GRANT

T

arget awarded $1000 to a team of UNC Charlotte students for their winning proposal in a case study competition. Emily Huckin (accounting), Nou Xiong (accounting), Chris Fowler (finance) and Mohamed Kdemati (operations and supply chain management) were part of the winning team.

Five teams in a recent business communications course taught by Melody Dixon-Brown worked on

proposals to look at possible ways to increase Target’s grocery market share by using multiple channels (online, mobile, in-store, etc.). The team used primary and secondary research to write a proposal and present it to Target on August 7. Target selected the winning team after the final presentations.

This was the second time Target awarded grants to UNC Charlotte business communication students.

Winners of the UNC Charlotte business communications Target Case Study Grant pictured are Donald Manley, Emily Huckin, Nou Xiong, Chris Fowler, Mohamed Kdemati, with instructor Melody Dixon-Brown and Target executives.

NEW MASTER’S PROGRAM IN DATA SCIENCE AND BUSINESS ANALYTICS The Professional Science Master’s degree in Data Science and Business Analytics program was approved by the UNC System Board of Governors and the first students enrolled in fall 2014. The program is a collaboration between the Belk College of Business and the College of Computing and Informatics and is designed to develop a new generation of data scientists, business analysts, and managers with the technical and business skills to transform data into smart, innovative strategies.

Economics: • Two students in the MS in Economics program have been studying at the Copenhagen Business School (CBS) this academic year, as part of the dual degree program.

1st row, LtoR, Stefanie Weigelt (Swiss Re), Leena Barghouthi, Tonya Ashcraft, Karen Abarca, Sue Vang, 2nd row, Andrew Vimbela, Tom Marshall, Danielle Amster, Priscilla Sanchez, Brandon Luckey, Layton Barker, 3rd row, Luke Vernon, Travis Breen, Tori Neale participated in a risk management and insurance course to Zurich, Switzerland this summer. Photo at Swiss Re.

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STUDENTS GAIN INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE Because business success requires a global perspective, the Belk College of Business offers a variety of global business programs for undergraduate and graduate students. Here is a sample of some of the recent global experiences.

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NEWS: STUDENTS Finance: • Undergraduate Finance Program with a Risk Management and Insurance (RMI): Ten students participated in the London experience in October 2013 followed by a student presentation to industry professionals.

• Undergraduate Finance Program with a Risk Management and Insurance (RMI) Concentration developed a new study abroad course to study reinsurance in Zurich, Switzerland to be taken the first summer session of 2014.

Twelve undergraduate students participated in a management study abroad program in Tuscany, Italy this summer.

Management: • Twelve undergraduate students participated in a management faculty lead study abroad program in Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy.

Marketing: • A member of the marketing faculty led a group of undergraduate students on an educational trip to India as part of the following course: MKTG 3000: Global Marketing Practicum • Eight MSRE students participated in the International Real Estate Study tour in 2013, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Students met with developers, financiers, urban planners and real estate service providers to discuss the opportunities and challenges associated with doing business in an emerging market.

Belk College Connects

• Eleven MSRE students and 11 graduate students from other Belk College of Business graduate programs participated in the International Real Estate Study tour in 2014 to Vietnam and Thailand.

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PHD STUDENTS AND MASTER’S STUDENTS PUBLISH PAPERS AND RESEARCH ARTICLES Three students presented papers at the Midwest Finance Association Meetings held in Orlando, FL in March 2014, and two presented papers at the Eastern Finance Association Meetings held in Pittsburgh, PA in April 2014: • Ambrose, Brent W., Yiying Cheng, and Tao-Hsien Dolly King, 2013, The Financial Crisis and Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program: Their Impact on

Fixed-Income Markets, Journal of Fixed Income, 23 (2), 5-26.

• Chen, Xianzhe, and Weidong Tian, 2014, Optimal Portfolio Choice and Consistent Performance, Decisions in Economics and Finance.

• Panttser, Ekaterina, and Weidong Tian, 2013, A Welfare Analysis of Capital Insurance, Risk, 1(2), 57-80.

Xianzhe Chen had a paper entitled “Optimal Portfolio Choice and Consistent Performance” accepted for publication in Decisions in Economics and Finance. The paper is coauthored with Professor Weidong Tian.

Kate Panttser had a paper entitled “A Welfare Analysis of Capital Insurance” accepted for publication in Risks. The paper

is coauthored with Professor Weidong Tian.

The Organizational Science PhD program students were very active in publications this year, many of which were coauthored with Belk College of Business faculty including Janaki Gooty, Tammy Beck, and David Woehr. Andrew Loignon won Best-in-Track Human Resources & Careers Research Methods Paper at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Management Association.

All first-year MSRE students were required to draft a research article suitable for submission to a real estate trade journal for publication. The assignment is designed to provide students with skills necessary to convert academic research into a format more appropriate for business professionals.

Belk College Connects

NEWS: FACULTY

FACULTY MEMBER AND TEAM PART OF NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION GRANT

D

epartment of Management Chair and Professor David Woehr is part of a multi-disciplinary, multiuniversity team funded by the National Science Foundation for work on effective team building.

With colleagues from Purdue University, Georgia Southern University and RoseHulman Institute of Technology, Woehr has been awarded more than $1.7 million over four years to expand research on how faculty members can build student effective teams, particularly in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

“Team skills are vital to success in STEM and at the top of the list for job recruiters.

Yet students often graduate from college without training in how to work effectively as a team on engineering or technology projects. When students do have a teambased learning experience, it often happens without training or guidance. Many college instructors simply create teams and hope that students will develop team skills. Our research taps into ways professors and instructors can create effective teams and also teach team skills,” Woehr said.

Dr. David Woehr The research team has built support tools for instructors and professors to use in classrooms, such as how to rate teamwork accurately to improve learning, fairness and behavior toward teamwork. The webbased tools are called CATME SMARTER Teamwork, designed to enable instructors to implement best practices in managing student teams.

Woehr leads the data analysis and provides expertise in performance ratings, rater training, teamwork and quantitative methods for assessing rater accuracy.

“Our research is focused on improving the student experience, but also in building trained professionals who contribute effectively to teams in today’s work environment,” Woehr said.

Previous NSF funding has allowed the researchers to build the CATME SMARTER system of ready-to-use, free and secure tools. The CATME project began in 2003 with the development of an instrument for self and peer evaluation called the Comprehensive Assessment of Team Member Effectiveness. To date, the system has been used to assist more than

Dr. Stephen Billings

we find no impact on crime of being assigned to schools with more non-poor minorities or poor non-minorities,” says the study by Stephen Billings (UNC Charlotte), David Deming (Harvard Graduate School of Education) and Jonah Rockoff (Columbia University Graduate School of Business) published in The Quarterly Journal of Economics earlier this year.

The research has been featured in The Charlotte Observer and Slate magazine.

For more information, read the full journal article in The Quarterly Journal of Economics or access an earlier working paper on the website of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Belk College Connects

FACULTY MEMBER’S RESEARCH WITH HARVARD, COLUMBIA IN THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS Associate Professor Stephen Billings’ work with colleagues from Harvard University Graduate School of Education and Columbia University Graduate School of Business looks at “School Segregation, Educational Attainment, and Crime: Evidence from the End of Busing in Charlotte-Mecklenburg.”

“The results show clearly that it is the combination of race and income segregation that leads to increases in crime. Minority males have significantly more arrests and days incarcerated when they are assigned to schools with more poor minorities. However,

200,000 students by more than 4,500 faculty members. In 2013, the research team received the Maryellen Weimer Scholarly Work on Teaching and Learning Award.

Professors and instructors can download the tools as www.CATME.org.

This work is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0817403 and 0243254.

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NEWS: FACULTY

BELK COLLEGE WELCOMES FACULTY MEMBERS THE BELK COLLEGE OF BUSINESS WELCOMES SEVEN NEW FACULTY MEMBERS THIS FALL 2014 SEMESTER:

Gabriel

Hunter

Belk College Connects

Metcalfe

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Schulkind

• A manda Gabriel is a new Lecturer in the Department of Accounting.

“I plan to leverage my industry experience to help the students connect classroom learning with real world application,” Gabriel said.

• Shirley Hunter joins the Department of Accounting as a Clinical Assistant Professor.

“The opportunity to work with a group of dedicated faculty and students who are interested in partnering with development agencies to improve financial literacy in emerging economies is one of the factors that attracted me to UNC Charlotte.”

• A lyson Metcalfe is the new Director of the Master of Science in Real Estate program.

“As a graduate from the inaugural class of UNC Charlotte M.S. in Real Estate students, I hold both in-depth knowledge of the program and am deeply vested in its success. I cannot imagine a more rewarding way to grow this program than to serve as its Director and to be directly involved in both teaching and curriculum development,” Metcalfe said.

• Lisa Schulkind is a new Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics.

“I am excited to join a fastgrowing university with a strong commitment to becoming a leading U.S. research institution. Much of my research is in the field of health economics, so I am also excited to be so close to the Carolinas

Medical Center and to be at a University that also houses a College of Health and Human Services,” Schulkind said.

Silver

Webb

Womack

• Reginald Silver joins the Department of Business Information Systems & Operations Management as a Clinical Assistant Professor.

“I will be working with a number of subject matter experts and thought leaders to make a difference as an educator, researcher and thought leader in business. By joining the faculty, I will be uniquely positioned to participate in the college’s mission of advancing the community,” Silver said.

• Justin Webb in the Department of Management is the Belk Distinguished Scholar of Business Innovation.

“The leading factor that attracted me to UNC Charlotte was the strong, burgeoning interest in the development of new knowledge. This is particularly important to me because new concepts and ideas are constantly emerging in the world of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs recognize needs, develop solutions and bring those to the marketplace.

As an entrepreneurship scholar, I too want to understand the needs of entrepreneurs as well as the broader entrepreneurship community, and add value to their work,” says Webb.

• K iplan Womack is an Assistant Professor in Real Estate.

“I am excited about being a part of the Center for Real Estate, which works with trade organizations, businesses leaders and policymakers both in Charlotte and beyond on emerging real estate issues,” Womack said.

BELK COLLEGE

MASTER’S PROGRAMS • MBA - Ranked in the top part-

time MBA programs by U.S. News and Businessweek • Master of Accountancy • MS in Economics • MS in Mathematical Finance • MS in Real Estate • PSM in Data Science and

Business Analytics (in collaboration with the College of Computing and Informatics)

Leticia Foster MBA, ‘12

Gold Perks Program Green Perks Program

belkcollege.uncc.edu/connect

9201 University City Boulevard Charlotte, NC 28223

MAKE A GIFT MAKE A DIFFERENCE

“I’m so thankful to the Belk College of Business Alumni Council for offering me its first scholarship. This scholarship makes a financial difference, and it also shows me that the college recognizes the effort I’m making as a student who will soon be an alumna of the Belk College.”

- Sarah Yoder, Finance ’15 Business Honors Program and Alpha Kappa Psi

Your gift – in any amount – adds up and makes a huge difference for students in the Belk College of Business. Choose from a variety of funds online at www.giving.uncc.edu or return the envelope inside the magazine. For more information, please contact Senior Director of Development Colin O’Connor at 704-687-7631 or Colin.OConnor@uncc.edu.