N E W S : S H O R T TA K E S A Distinguished Fellow Ryan Ballestero, a Ph.D. candidate in accounting, was named a 201617 Harrington Fellow, one of the highest honors given to faculty and graduate students at the university. “The Donald D. Harrington Fellows Program is the most prestigious and competitive fellowship offered by the Graduate School,” says Marvin Hackert, interim dean of graduate studies. Ballestero was selected based on his potential for research success. “In his application, Ryan clearly articulated a love for accounting, a desire to research areas related to financial reporting and audit quality, and an interest in understanding the ways that market participants utilize and react to accounting information in allocating capital,” Hackert says.
STOCK PICKS
A group of MBA students won the UNC Alpha Challenge last fall. Yamel Cotero, MBA ’17, Ian Ricks, MBA ’18, and Jonathan Evans, MBA ’18, faced off against three-person teams from other top MBA programs and successfully presented stock picks to a panel of judges. “The Alpha Challenge is known as a highly competitive investment competition with a strong set of peer schools,” says Tina Mabley, assistant dean and director of the Texas MBA program.
AP Big 12 Team
Connor Williams, BBA ’18, left tackle on the UT football team, was named last fall to the Associated Press All Big 12 Team. He earned freshman All-America honors, started all 12 games, and transferred into McCombs with a 3.65 GPA. “I've always tried to lead by example,” Williams says.
FACULTY BOOKS Get a global perspective in three new titles from McCombs faculty. Information, Risk, and Operations Management Professor Sirkka Jarvenpaa co-authored Words Matter: Communicating Effectively in the New Global Office; Associate Marketing Professor Orlando Kelm co-wrote The Seven Keys to Communicating in Brazil: An Intercultural Approach, and Deirdre Mendez, CIBER program coordinator, penned The Culture Solution: How to Achieve Cultural Synergy and Get Results in the Global Workplace.
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TECH LEADERSHIP
Marketing Lecturer Ben Bentzin received the 2016 Technology Community Leadership Award from the Austin chapter of the Society for Information Management. Bentzin is the CEO of Interactive Health Technologies LLC, which offers a program for K-12 physical education.
