4 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Thursday, March 7, 2013
NEWS
MBAs Heading for Tech, Start-Ups Prof Teaches ‘Sophistication’ BUSINESS
Continued from page 1
There is a real focus on fostering the engagement of students with innovative technology companies.” Prof. Deborah Streeter, personal enterprise, noted that although the pursuit of finding a startup has become more popular in recent years, not all students are eager to pursue such a nontraditional path. “Cornell students still see entrepreneurship as the path less traveled, and in some ways that makes sense,” she said. “The startup venture involves more ambiguity, less structure, perhaps more risk –– although corporate life can also turn on a dime. ... The positive is that in a startup, students are going to have many more chances to do a wide range of things.” However, despite the nontraditional and unpredictable nature of the entrepreneurial path, Staudmyer said that many student groups are working to enhance the presence of entrepreneurship on campus and to help students transform their ideas into a reality. “The percentage of our graduates going into startups is still not large,” he said. “But groups — like our Johnson Entrepreneurship and Venture
Capital Club –– are very active and taking advantage of the many resources available to learn about and foster new business ideas and the commercialization of technology.” Staudmyer said that students engage with entrepreneurialism in a variety of ways: many work on their business ideas and company development during their time at Johnson, while others start their own businesses after school. For example, during his time at the Johnson, Nick Nickitas grad developed Rosie — a smartphone app that notifies its users when they run low on basic necessity items at home, like groceries and paper towels. Nikitas said he found that the Johnson School helps support students who want to pursue a career in entrepreneurship. “[By] doing everything from helping us provide marketing, consulting, feedback to the way we are building our brand ... I would say that the student body at Johnson has embraced [the startup culture]. ... It has just been tremendous,” Nikitas said. “I feel lucky to be at a school that supports entrepreneurs the way [the] Johnson does.” According to Nikitas, many
Recycle.
MBA students are motivated to found their own startups because they see startups as a less traditional way to influence society. “You are seeing now more than ever, as a result of the last financial crisis, students that are interested in making impactful contributions to the world outside of financial engineering,” he said. “These are students that are pursuing –– not in 20 years, but today –– their business ideas and aspirations, and immediately applying the lessons learned in the classroom ... to their startups.” According to Staudmyer, as a result of the changing nature of the modern business industry, Johnson graduates will have the opportunity to find more jobs across the economy. “I think the future is exciting for Johnson MBAs, as there are more types of companies hiring MBAs, including a larger demand from technology companies,” he said. “MBAs are thinking more broadly each year about the new economy, how best to use their skills in the current market and what types of careers will make them happy.” Jonathan Swartz can be reached at jswartz@cornellsun.com.
WINES
Continued from page 1
said. “I saw the class as a new adventure.” He began teaching the class full time in 1984 and has taught thousands of students since. At one point, he said, the class reached a total enrollment of 880 students. Mutkoski said many people are curious about the liability of running a classroom where alcohol is not only discussed, but also tasted. According to Mutkoski, he keeps the atmosphere controlled with measured pourers and over 10 teaching assistants to monitor the class. Mutkoski said, however, that most students take the class seriously. “Ninety-nine percent of students come into my classroom with the right intention,” Mutkoski said. “We weed out the ones who don’t fairly quickly.” “Introduction to Wines,” an item on the “161 Things to Do At Cornell” list, typically fills up within minutes of course registration opening. Mutkoski likes to say he’s teaching far more than what’s in the glass; he’s developing “sophistication.” “Years later you run into these people all over the place,” Mutkoski said. “They’ve had time to travel the world and visit places we learned about in class, and I’m so happy they can bring this piece of Cornell with them.” Besides obtaining his undergraduate degree from Cornell, Mutkoski also recieved his Ph.D. from Cornell in 1976. Between degrees, Mutkoski operated a restaurant on Long Island, which he later sold to another Cornell graduate. According to him, it was a natural progression to become a teacher. “To work in food service and management, you need to develop your own staff to become as efficient as possible,” Mutkoski said. “I’ve found teaching very similar. It’s rewarding in the same ways.” Mutkoski has traveled extensively to conduct research for his class and other projects, visiting France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and Chili, among other countries. According to Mutkoski, whenever he has at least a week off from work, he tries to visit a wine region. “On my last sabbatical I visited South Africa and New Zealand. I made five or six trips to Australia because it’s so vast and spread out,” Mutkoski said. He added that while he cannot pick a favorite wine, he said he recommends South Africa or the Douro area of Portugal. Although Mutkoski has traveled the world researching and tasting thousands of varieties of wines, he says he appreciates his quiet Wednesday afternoons teaching “Introduction to Wines” the most. “I enjoy sharing the subject of wine with these students,” Mutkoski said. “For me, it’s a window to the entire University.” Erika Hooker can be reached at ehooker@cornellsun.com.
A
ttention dvertisers
It’s SPRING
BREAK!
The DEADLINE to e-mail advertisements for Display and Classified Ads for the Monday, March 25 issue of
The Corne¬ Daily Sun is THURSDAY, MARCH 14 3:30 P.M. The DEADLINE for Display Ads for the Tuesday, March 26 issue is FRIDAY, MARCH 15 12:00 NOON
The Corne¬ Daily Sun 139 W. State Street • 273-3606 E-mail: advertising@cornellsun.com classifieds@cornellsun.com