F A L L 2015
SIGM UND WEIS SCHOOL OF BUSINES S AT SUSQUEHANNA UNIVERSI T Y
F E AT U R E
Getting to the Table at the Top SWSB Women Challenge the Gender Gap in Business Leadership | p.8
A LSO I N T H I S I SSUE Making the Most of the First Year Student and Facult y Spotlights Alumni News VENTURES | SUSQU.EDU/BUSINESS
D E A N’S CO RNER
W ITH MARSHA K E L L I H E R FALL 2015 THE WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP SYMPOSIUM WE PILOTED LAST SPRING WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF OUR ALUMNI. By the end of the event, 54 alumni financially supported the program, and 10 served as guest speakers and/or provided company tours and job-shadowing opportunities. Additional alumni attended the keynote address by Susquehanna Trustee Mary Cianni, a principal at Towers Watson specializing in global mergers and acquisitions, as well as the luncheon featuring Susan Smith Ellis, chief marketing officer of Getty Images, and the farewell networking event. The impact of the event was beyond my expectations, and I am proud of how the 20 students who participated are pursuing the connections that were made, identifying ways to share their experience with others, and creating additional support networks for other young women in the Sigmund Weis School of Business. The event was a collaboration with the Office of Alumni, Parent and Donor Engagement; the Career Development Center; and the offices of Development and University Communications. It was an excellent example of how the Susquehanna University community works together to deliver exceptional curricular and cocurricular experiences to our students. For the 2016 symposium, scheduled for the second week of February, the students who participated last year will take the lead on event coordination and preparing this year’s student attendees so they can make the most of their time with our impressive women alumni. They serve as role models for us all. I can’t imagine a better outcome—just 48 hours in New York and our alumni transformed 20 young women into budding leaders. My deepest thanks to everyone who helped take an idea and turn it into what is now on a path to becoming a tradition.
Dean of the Sigmund Weis School of Business
MARSHA KELLIHER Chief Communications Officer
ANGELA BURROWS Editor
VICTORIA KIDD Associate Director, Advancement Communications Contributing Writers
AMANDA O’ROURKE Digital Communications and Media Specialist
JULIA LESPERANCE ‘15 Design and Layout
AMANDA LENIG ‘07 Creative Services Manager
COLBY WALLS Graphic Designer Copy Editors
KATHLEEN LARSON FLORIO BETSY K. ROBERTSON Director, Digital and Print Communications
SIGMUND WEIS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS Susquehanna University 514 University Ave. Selinsgrove, PA 17870 570-372-4455 As one of the few undergraduate business programs in the world to earn AACSB accreditation, we pride ourselves on our highly qualified faculty, rigorous curriculum, and continuous assessment and
Kind regards,
improvement processes.
SUSQU.EDU/BUSINESS
Marsha Kelliher, J.D., LL.M. Dean, Sigmund Weis School of Business
ON THE COVER Lauren Tishkevich (left), a finance and economics
If you would like to get involved in the business school’s 2016 Women’s Leadership Symposium, please contact the Office of Alumni, Parent and Donor Engagement at 570-372-4115 or alumni@susqu.edu.
major from Brunswick, Maine, and Bailey Baralt ‘18, a luxury brand marketing and management major from Selinsgrove, at the Women’s Leadership Symposium in March.
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4 | S tudent Spotlights Student Wastes No Time Earning That All-Important Experience Alumni Connection Leads to Deloitte Internship
6 | Faculty Spotlight Game Theory Brings Economics Principles to Life
8 | Top Story Getting to the Table at the Top
16 | Campus News Twelve Join the Ranks of Beta Gamma Sigma Habegger Directs London Program Stein Fellows Spend the Summer Abroad
20 | Student Spotlight International Internship Supports Victims of Sex Trafficking
22 | Alumni News Internship Lands New Grad A Job at Bloomberg Alumnus Enjoys Sweet Career with Hershey
Enactus Advisor Earns National Recognition Making the Most of Business Students’ First Year on Campus
VENTURES | SUSQU.EDU/BUSINESS | 2015
J A M E S N O R M A N ’18 accounting
S T UDEN T WASTES NO TIME E A RN I N G T H AT A L L -IM PORTANT EXP ERIEN CE
BY JUL IA L ES P E R A NC E ’15
The business school provides numerous resources to help guide students on the path to success, but some come with enough drive, determination and intellect to forge their own path. James Norman ’18, an accounting major from Bronx, N.Y., is one such student. This summer Norman interned with Moody’s Corporation in New York City. In the tax department of this World Trade Center holding company, he honed his accounting and financial skills and reaffirmed his dedication to the world of finance. Norman is no stranger to the competitive world of business internships. In his junior year at the High School of Economics and Finance in the heart of the New York financial district, he interned with Ernst & Young Global, a “Big Four” audit firm. “[These internships] have shaped me into a better person because I have learned to appreciate and take advantage of every single opportunity,” Norman says.
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When the time came to pursue a college education, the Sigmund Weis School of Business offered Norman just the opportunity he was looking for. As a part of the new Global Business Living-Learning Community, he has been able to grow and encourage his peers as they learn together. “I’m an O-Team [Orientation Team] leader for the incoming class, and I look forward to possibly becoming a Global Business Perspectives coach,” he adds. Norman’s passion for business was sparked at a young age. He began learning about financial literacy in the fifth grade at the knee of his godfather. Initially excited by the prospect of earning his own money, Norman quickly cultivated a desire to help others through financial literacy. “When I get older I want to go back to my neighborhood and teach students about financial literacy,” he says. “I also want to provide them with internship opportunities, just as I had, so that they can use this knowledge in the workplace.”
S T U D E N T S P OT L I GHT S
O U R B E S T A N D BRI GHTE ST
A LUMN I CONNECTION LEA D S TO D E LO I T T E I N T E RN S H I P
BY AMANDA O’R O U R K E
Digital Communications and Media Specialist
In her role as a leader development intern for Deloitte last summer, senior Danielle Boutwell experienced firsthand the benefits of having a strong collegiate alumni network. During her junior year at Susquehanna, Boutwell contacted Jeff Orlando ’00, chief learning officer of Leader Development & Performance for Deloitte. “I received Jeff ’s name through multiple mentors and advisors at Susquehanna, and as soon as I learned what Jeff did at Deloitte, I reached out and we started having the conversation about what I was interested in pursuing professionally,” says Boutwell. “Jeff and I both found that this seemed like a great fit, and I was persistent in staying in contact with him to secure a summer experience.” With a major in psychology and minor in human resources management, Boutwell has a unique combination of educational tools that qualified her for the internship. “I have the analytical research and experimental design background from psychology, paired with the business background from my human resources minor that I needed to succeed in this internship.”
From initial design to final delivery, Boutwell got the chance to see what professional leader development programming looks like from start to finish. She also traveled across the country to implement such programs. In Texas she visited Deloitte University, a leadership center for company employees, where she helped deliver a program for new partners in the firm. Along the way, Boutwell also worked with Bill Cleary ’01, a senior manager in the firm’s Human Capital practice. As she looks to the future, Boutwell hopes to find a career in leadership and organizational development. “The mentors that I gained at Deloitte are interested in helping me understand where I can go with this experience. I met people inside and outside of Deloitte that will influence my opportunities.” Boutwell encourages other Susquehanna students to use the alumni network to their advantage. “If you put yourself out there and utilize networking opportunities, that’s what will result in gaining relevant experience. Be persistent but stay professional; don’t be pushy. Just make sure that they can see your drive.”
DANIELLE BO UT WELL ’16 psychology
VENTURES | SUSQU.EDU/BUSINESS
FAC ULT Y SPOTLIGHT
IN T HE CL ASSR O O M
M AT T R O U S U professor of economics
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GAME THEORY BRINGS ECONOMICS PRINCIPLES TO LIFE BY AMAN DA O’R O U R K E
Digital Communications and Media Specialist
We’ve all been there—sitting in traffic wondering, “Should I go this way or that way? Which route will get me home/to work faster?” Matt Rousu, professor of economics, brings this and other everyday decisions into his classroom with the course “Game Theory,” in which students attempt to mathematically determine the actions they should take to secure their own best outcomes. “We take strategic choices that people make every day—which traffic route to take, whether or not to wait in a line—and we set it up as if it were a game,” Rousu explains. In one of Rousu’s classes last spring, students were asked to decide between two different driving routes. Success within the game also depended upon how many students chose either route. They had three and a half minutes to make up their minds. While much of the class quickly jumped from their seats upon the word “go”, sophomore accounting major Jeremy Witter, of Shippensburg, Pa., sat quietly at his desk, head down, calculating. Toward the end of the exercise, just before time ran out, he rose and chose a side—all very deliberate. As it turns out, he chose the right side. But how? “I figured out the equilibrium,” Witter says, meaning he determined that, with 21 students in class, the successful route would need to have 13 or fewer “drivers,” in order to be the fastest. “Once I found that equilibrium, I then knew that whichever ‘route’ was less crowded would give me the highest payoff. I waited till the final seconds to make sure not too many people would switch over in the final seconds, and then chose the group that had fewer people, guaranteeing myself the highest possible payoff.”
Other games have included prisoner’s dilemma, in which students must decide whether to share or hoard goods. The game builds upon the concept of Nash equilibrium, the idea that no player can do better by unilaterally changing his or her strategy. “The class constantly challenges me to find hidden strategies and think through problems before making decisions, a tactic that I hope will allow me to make better decisions later in my professional career,” Witter says. “Dr. Rousu’s teaching methods push us to hone our strategic thinking skills, and I personally find the challenge very fun!” The class is made all the more interesting by the fact that students each throw $25 of their own money into a “pot,” so to speak. Their ability to make the right strategic choices will result in either more or less money to their name at the end of the semester. “The stakes are low, but they still take it incredibly seriously. You learn fast if your money is on the line,” Rousu says. “These are probably some of the coolest problems that they’ll do. They’re fun. They’re not easy, but they’re fun.”
“ T H E S TA K E S A R E LO W, B U T T H E Y S T I L L TA KE I T I N CR ED I B LY S E R I O U S LY. YO U L E A R N FA S T I F YO U R M O N E Y I S O N T H E L I N E.” —Matt Rousu
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afi ahama
’17
accounting
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getting to the ta b l e at t h e
by victoria kidd
there ’ s just one way to reach the view , new york ’ s only revolving rooftop restaurant : go to the third floor of the marriott marquis on broadway . take one of the view ’ s dedicated glass elevators
48
floors up ,
and don’t look down.
VENTURES | SUSQU.EDU/BUSINESS
L
ast spring, 20 young women studying in the Sigmund Weis School of Business were inspired to do much the same thing with their careers: Take a deep breath, hit the “up” button, and don’t look back until you have a seat at the top.
This empowering message permeated the atmosphere at a first-of its-kind Women’s Leadership Symposium held at the Marriott Marquis. The symposium, supported and executed by Susquehanna alumnae and friends, provided the women with practical career advice designed to help them rise through the ranks of the corporate world. All of the women left New York inspired, but none more so than Afi Ahama ’17. The accounting major spent the summer meeting with female business executives, including several she was introduced to during the symposium, to learn more about the challenges they’ve faced in their careers. She’s using the insights they shared to develop Lean In Circles—one on campus and one back home in the Bronx—where women can gain the peer support they so often need to break the proverbial glass ceiling. She’s also
It’s a tall order in a world where only 4.8 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. But if you were to ask the woman behind the concept of “leaning in,” she’d likely say that women hold some responsibility for the gender gap at the top. In her wildly popular 2010 TED Talk, Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, explained that the inequity occurs, at least in part, because women often don’t “take a seat at the table” and “lean in” when it comes to accepting roles that lead to advancement. The concept sparked a sensation that led to Sandberg’s bestselling book Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead and a network of Lean In Circles across the country. In short, Sandberg is convinced women are dropping out of the race to the top. But why? Because, as she explains, women face more challenges in balancing professional success and personal fulfillment. First, she says, they “systematically underestimate their own abilities” and don’t negotiate for themselves in the workplace. Why? Because, as studies show, success and likeability correlate positively for men but negatively for women. It’s
“I want us to come together and fight the fear away. I want us to be confident graduating and walking into our prospective fields knowing that our gender is not a barrier.” — afi ahama ’17 working to establish a PIER (Professional Internship and Employment Readiness) organization for students of color. The accounting major sees her efforts to establish the Lean In Circles and PIER organization as the “first steps toward becoming an extraordinary executive in my field.” And she wants the same for her female counterparts in the business school. “I want us to come together and fight the fear away. I want us to be confident graduating and walking into our prospective fields knowing that our gender is not a barrier [to advancement],” Ahama says.
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a misperception that Sandberg encourages women to challenge because, as she said in her TED Talk, “No one gets to the corner office by sitting on the side and not at the table.” Susquehanna University Trustee Mary Cianni spoke to this at the Women’s Leadership Symposium. Cianni, principal at Towers Watson, a global professional services company, cut her teeth in the business world at a time when it was rare to see a woman at the corporate conference table. So what did challenging the status quo teach her? Firmly in the camp that says leaders are made, not born, Cianni told the women that to be a leader they need to find their
“leadership voice.” She encouraged them to be who they are and to be assertive in their identity. “It’s the way we feel about ourselves that exudes confidence,” she said. “Don’t be intimidated. Occasionally, you have to stand up for yourself.” And as Sandberg would say, “lean in” once you get a seat at the table and take advantage of opportunities for growth.
h av i n g i t a ll Sandberg’s TED Talk arose from her desire to see women stay in the workforce after starting a family. Unfortunately, she says, women often start “leaning back” in their jobs when they decide to have children. In other words, they stop stepping up for promotions, special projects and other opportunities for advancement. Susan Smith Ellis, chief marketing officer for Getty Images who also spoke at the symposium last spring, encouraged the women to “never say ‘no’ to opportunities” because you never know where they could lead. “Careers aren’t always linear,” said the former CEO of Product (RED), the global marketing
company founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver to raise money to fight AIDS in Africa. “There’s lots of ways to get where you’re going.” Her own life is a case in point. Smith Ellis planned to be a book editor until she was 27, at which point she and her first husband were going to start a family—four children whom they’d “dress in matching sweatshirts while vacationing at the Jersey Shore.” But as life would have it, plans changed and Smith Ellis ended up on a different path. She and her first husband divorced, and after remarrying, she took six years off to raise her two children to school age. But by not saying “no” to the opportunities that came her way, she proved that a woman can have a family and a highly successful career—perhaps just not at the same time. She encouraged the women to find balance between their personal and professional lives, and understand that the scales will shift from one to the other over the course of their lives. That said, Smith Ellis readily admits that she thought she was “toast” when she first stepped back into the work world after children. But following her father’s advice to face her fears
“ DON’T BE INTIMIDATED. OCCASIONALLY, YOU HAVE TO STAND UP FOR YOURSELF.” — MARY CIANNI Susquehanna University Trustee
VENTURES | SUSQU.EDU/BUSINESS
“CAREERS AREN’T ALWAYS LINEAR. THERE’S LOTS OF WAYS TO GET WHERE YOU’RE GOING.” —SUSAN SMITH ELLIS Getty Images
Kristin Konski ’10 Rodale Inc.
Bria Parker ’17 business administration
Autumn Arthurs ’15 business administration
and conquer them, she managed to climb her way to the top of her field. By staying open to opportunities, working her networks and not giving up, Smith Ellis went on to become one of the top marketers in the world.
she’s establishing for women in the business school is designed to help them recognize their potential, and challenge the social norms and belief systems that too often hold them back in their careers.
l e a r n i n g to “ l e a n i n ”
It’s a role Ahama could scarcely have imagined for herself as a child growing up in the small West African nation of Togo, a place where most women do not work outside the home. But as fate would have it, Ahama did not grow up in a typical African household.
Encouraged by the successful female executives she’s met, Ahama, an ambitious young woman who identifies herself as an “aspired CPA and JD” in her email signature line, is now working to inspire her classmates. The Lean In Circle
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Her father immigrated to the United States five years before the rest of the family so he could get established in their new
home. Ahama was only 8 years old at the time, and over the next five years, she was raised by her mother and five aunts. With fiercely independent aunts and a mother whose circumstance required she work outside the home while raising four children, Ahama says she was largely unaware of women’s discrimination issues. “I was raised to believe that hard work pays off, and that’s all I did,” she explains. But after moving to America and becoming interested in the corporate world, the newly naturalized U.S. citizen says she began to realize that hard work isn’t enough. “Hard work won’t pay off the way we would like it to if we don’t sit at the table and explain how we did the work,” Ahama says. Even here at Susquehanna, a college campus where free expression and open communication are invited and applauded, Ahama says she’s felt the weight of unchallenged and often subconscious social norms holding her back. “I began to realize that there were times [in class discussions] where I bit my tongue on certain issues, just because I was afraid how my opinion would be taken or sound. But then two minutes into the conversation, a male student would raise his hand and say the exact same thing I bit my tongue on and be praised for it.”
i n v e s t i n g i n s t u d e n ts Recognizing a pattern of this behavior among the student body, Marsha Kelliher, dean of the Sigmund Weis School of Business, is intent on making the Women’s Leadership Symposium an annual event. She is also developing a Women’s Leadership Council that, among other things, will create a team of mentors to work with female students. Additional efforts are being explored campuswide, including individual and collaborative research projects aimed at educating the campus community about women and gender issues, cross-cultural programs focused on these topics, internship and assistantship opportunities for women, and student participation in leadership institutes and related academic conferences. Initiatives such as these are exactly what Janet Fowler ’68 Grey had in mind when she established a women’s leadership fund at Susquehanna University earlier this year. The fund supports experiential leadership opportunities for female students enrolled at Susquehanna University. It is intended for academic and cocurricular activities, such as the Women’s
“I was definitely entering a field dominated by men.” — janet
fowler ’68 grey
Leadership Symposium, that help female students “aspire to, prepare for and achieve positions of leadership in their careers and their community.” Grey became interested in women’s leadership issues after spending much of her career in education, family counseling and nonprofit development, areas in which women were exhibiting skills that would lead to success in any field. Yet she saw substantial gender disparity in corporate settings. “These were intelligent, creative, resilient individuals who made decisions and problem-solved on a daily basis, and held themselves accountable for outcomes. They could think strategically when setting goals and objectives. Networking and collaboration were crucial to accomplishing goals and objectives. In addition, the women I encountered tended to be supportive of each other, readily validating the efforts and successes of their colleagues,” Grey says. “Clearly, there are many women in today’s workforce with leadership capabilities. Why then,” she wondered, “in the highly competitive and results-oriented world of business is this significant resource so underutilized?” It’s a question that stuck with Grey through the years. Then, in 2003, she and her husband, Richard, purchased Genie Products Inc., a manufacturer of precision equipment for the thermal spray, or metallizing, industry. “I was definitely entering a field dominated by men,” Grey recalls. And yes, there were occasions in which she experienced gender bias. Despite being an equal partner with her husband in the business and holding the title of CEO, Grey noticed a disparity in the way people reacted to her and her husband. She initially noticed this in her interactions with potential service providers. “There was the subtle implication that I might not be qualified to make decisions [for the company],” she says. However, the bias was most evident when Grey and her husband were both representing Genie Products at trade
VENTURES | SUSQU.EDU/BUSINESS
shows or business meetings. “Although my knowledge of our product line and relevant application to customer requirements matched that of my husband’s, inquiries were most often directed to Richard. If he was occupied and I offered assistance, individuals would defer and request to come back later to meet with Mr. Grey,” she says. “These experiences, although infrequent, were frustrating and annoying. Again, I considered the thousands of highly qualified women in corporate settings today who are forced to confront numerous barriers to career advancement in what continues to be a man’s world.” She began exploring how business schools were dealing with the question of women and leadership. She read the findings of the Princeton Steering Committee on Undergraduate Women’s Leadership, and noted that students who hold leadership positions as undergrads develop skills that enhance their opportunities for leadership roles in their careers. Around this same time, Sandberg’s Lean In was published— a book that, Grey says, convinced her “if women are to
successfully acquire greater responsibility [in the workforce] while allowing themselves time for family commitments, they must first work to change the rules of the game.” Grey began thinking about what she might do to prompt change. In the fall of 2013, while on campus for her 45th class reunion, Grey had the opportunity to talk with Kelliher about her plans for a Women’s Leadership Symposium. “I came away feeling very excited about efforts being made to expand educational, networking and mentoring opportunities for women in the business school,” Grey says. It was her chance to make a difference—she took a deep breath, hit the “up” button and didn’t look back. Like any good leader, Grey is fixed on the possibilities to come. “It is my hope that over the next two decades, leadership in corporate America will be far less homogeneous,” she says. “Helping female business students gain the skills and resources to advance in the current climate allows for a vision of what might be possible in the future. Positive change will not only benefit women in business, it will also benefit the corporations they will eventually lead.” ■
Katie Farber ’06 (center) talks with 2015 business administration grads Meghan Plunkett (right), of Ambler, Pa., and Autumn Arthurs, of Raleigh, N.C., during a site visit to the Silicon Valley-esque office of Initiative, the global marketing agency in Manhattan where Farber works as manager of talent acquisition. Visiting alumni at their places of employment was a highlight of the Women’s Leadership Symposium.
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JOIN US FOR A JOLLY GOOD TIME
reliving—or at least reminiscing about—your study semester in London! The Sigmund Weis School of Business is hosting a London Alumni Tour in the spring and you’re invited.
WHEN: April 23–May 1 COST: $3,250 (includes lodging and select meals; airfare excluded) DEPOSIT: $500 with balance due Dec. 31 THE TOUR INCLUDES • Four-star accommodations in the heart of London. • Two days at a stately manor house and spa in the English countryside. • Tours of Oxford, Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral and Bath. • And plenty of time for exploring, shopping and visiting your “old haunts.”
LEARN MORE AT WWW.SUSQU.EDU/ LONDONTOUR.
NI M U L A S S E N I S ! D N BU U O -B N O D N ARE LO VENTURES | SUSQU.EDU/BUSINESS
2015 Beta Gamma Sigma Class
TWELVE JOIN THE RANKS OF BETA GAMMA SIGMA
Rachel Bachman ’16, a marketing major from Chalfont, Pa.
Each spring, students in the Sigmund Weis School of Business are inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society for collegiate schools of business and management. Membership in this group is the highest recognition a student can receive in a program accredited by AACSB International—The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. To be eligible for membership, a student must rank in the top 7 percent of the junior class or the top 10 percent of the senior class, and be committed to the principles and values of the society: honor and integrity, pursuit of wisdom, earnestness and lifelong learning.
Kade MacGregor ’16, an accounting major from Centreville, Md.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NEWEST MEMBERS OF SUSQUEHANNA’S BE TA G AMMA SIGMA CO NTI NG E NT!
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Jorden Bailey ’17, a marketing-turned-English-literature major from Beavertown, Pa. Brandon Jackson ’16, a global management and finance major from Olyphant, Pa. Kelly Jockwer ’16, an accounting and Spanish major from Metuchen, N.J. Mohan Liu ’15, a global management major from Beijing, China
Kegan Moesta ’16, a global management and economics major from Lansdale, Pa. Jennifer Nagy ’16, a finance major from Jessup, Pa. Philip Pecora ’16, a finance major from Princeton, N.J. Kristen Rice ’16, a finance major from Danville, Pa. Colleen Scanlon ’16, an economics major from Wharton, N.J. Ellen Wilhour ’16, an accounting major from New Berlin, Pa.
C A M P US NE W S
C ATCH IN G U P W IT H T H E B U S IN E S S SC HOOL
HABEG G ER DIR ECT S LOND O N P RO G R A M Veteran faculty member Jerry Habegger has been named executive director of the business school’s popular London Program. The position was created to give faculty members leading the program the ability to focus more fully on the student experience.
Habegger
“By having one person coordinate the application and selection process, communications with students and their families, facility selection for classrooms and housing, the hiring of adjuncts, and logistics such as travel, it takes a burden off the faculty members who will be leading the program for the semester,” says Marsha Kelliher, dean of the Sigmund Weis School of Business. “I want faculty to be able to focus on the quality of the classes and cross-cultural experiences of students.” She says it also “allows for some standardization and will improve risk management.”
Habegger is the Allen C. Tressler professor in accounting and chair of the Department of Accounting. A certified public accountant with experience in both public accounting and industry, he teaches courses in financial accounting and reporting, auditing and financial analysis.
EN AC TUS ADVISOR EAR NS N AT I O N A L RE CO G N I T I O N SUSQUEHANNA UNIVERSITY’S ENACTUS ADVISOR, GEORGE CRAVITZ, WAS INDUCTED INTO THE HALL OF FAME FOR SAM WALTON FREE ENTERPRISE
With Cravitz as advisor, Susquehanna’s Enactus chapter has regularly received regional and even national recognition for its volunteer projects.
HELD IN ST. LOUIS, MO., LAST SPRING.
Each year, Enactus national leaders recognize three faculty advisors who have made significant contributions to furthering the organization’s mission.
Cravitz received the award for his notable contributions, service and commitment to the Susquehanna University Enactus team and to the advancement of the entire Enactus organization.
Cravitz serves as Susquehanna’s Sam Walton Fellow, a position affiliated with the business school. He has served as the Enactus team’s advisor for the past 10 years and has worked at the university for 35 years.
Formerly Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), Enactus is an international nonprofit organization that applies business concepts to community outreach projects that improve the quality of life and standard of living for people in need. In the process, student teams develop leadership, teamwork and communication skills.
A former director of the business school’s Leadership Institute for Entrepreneurship, Cravitz teaches education courses in curriculum, instruction and assessment. He also supervises student teachers at the undergraduate and teacher intern levels, and he serves as a committee member of the State System of Assessment.
FELLOWS AT THE ENACTUS NATIONAL EXPOSITION
VENTURES | SUSQU.EDU/BUSINESS
CO L L E E N S C A N LO N ’16 economics
STEIN FELLOWS SPEND THE SUMMER ABROAD While living and working abroad, the late Eric Stein ’69 realized the importance of building international business competency in students. Prior to his death in 2006, he generously created the Eric Stein Fund for International Experience, an endowment that enables students in the Sigmund Weis School of Business to intern with companies around the world.
THIS YEAR, FOUR STUDENTS WERE NAMED STEIN FELLOWS AND SPENT THEIR SUMMER WORKING ABROAD: Brandon Jackson ’16, an Olyphant, Pa., native studying business
administration with emphases in global management and finance, did an internship at the New Zealand Post, a staterun enterprise providing postal service to the island nation. There he worked with members of the sustainability team on a corporate wardrobe project aimed at reducing uniform waste. Jackson says the experience convinced him to pursue a career in the “sustainability space” of the business world. Colleen Scanlon ’16, an economics major from Wharton,
N.J., spent the summer working with field loan officers at
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Temmbeka Social Investment Co. in Cape Town, South Africa. During the internship, she created and launched a mobile app that will aid them in their work. Scanlon, who also participated in the London program, says “studying abroad in London taught me who I was, but interning in South Africa showed me who I want to become.” Jeremy Hand ’16, a business administration–finance
major from Macungie, Pa., worked with the lead project management team at Hellenic Aerospace Industry in Greece. Hand says the internship greatly increased his understanding of the financial aspects involved in project management of a manufacturing business. Moreover, he had the opportunity to present his résumé to representatives of Lockheed Martin, where he hopes to work someday. Efthimios Mastrokyriakos ’16, an accounting major from
Shamong, N.J., did an internship with the accounting firm CFO Services in Dublin, Ireland, where he learned about the differences in U.S. and Irish accounting practices. Echoing the sentiments of all the fellows, Mastrokyriakos says, “Being a Stein Fellow was a life-changing experience, and it will have a huge impact on my life going forward.”
BRANDON J AC K S O N ‘16 business administration
EFTHIMIOS M A S T R O K Y R I A KO S ‘1 6 accounting
MAKIN G THE MOST OF BUS I N E S S S TUDE N T S’ FIRST YEAR ON C A M P US The transition from “What’s your major?” to “What do you do for a living?” is a daunting one for students to consider, especially in their first year of college. Fortunately for students in the Sigmund Weis School of Business, the Global Business Living-Learning Community (LLC), which launched last year, is designed to prepare them to meet that challenge head-on. For Austin French ’18, a business administration–finance major from Susquehanna, Pa., the business school seemed the perfect place to embrace his budding fascination with finance. Charmed by the picturesque campus and cheerful conversation with President L. Jay Lemons, he quickly decided he wanted to be a part of the program. “I had many different options I was looking at, but if I could do it 10 more times, I would become part of the Susquehanna family, the Sigmund Weis School of Business and the LLC,” French says. Living and studying with like-minded peers in Reed Hall, French has been able to make social and professional connections that have helped him better define his own path. “The LLC will help me in the future because it has provided me with opportunities to meet business professionals. I now know many new resources, and I have made lifelong friends because of it.”
Contributing writers to Campus News are Victoria Kidd and Julia Lesperance ’15.
Rachel Wood ’18, a Spanish and business administration major from Shippensburg, Pa., who also participated in the Global Business LLC, says the program helped fine-tune her professional direction as well. “I learned a lot from my peers about what they were interested in, and it helped me figure out what would be best for me,” she says. Another member of the program’s inaugural year, James Norman ’18, an accounting major from Bronx, N.Y., says he found the transition to college life much easier thanks to the LLC. “It’s like we had friends already coming to college,” says Norman, who landed an internship with Moody’s this summer. (See related story, p. 5) In addition to living and learning with each other, students in the program work closely with the Career Development Center to learn about internships and career opportunities. Ryan Smolko, assistant director of the Career Development Center, mentors the students in an Introduction to Professional Development course specifically tailored to business students. The course introduces students to career options, résumé preparation, interview skills and even dining etiquette.
VENTURES | SUSQU.EDU/BUSINESS
S T UDEN T SP OTLIGHT
OUR BEST AND B R I G H TE S T
M A N O U C H K A PAU L E M O N T ’16 business administration
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INTERNATIONAL INTERNSHIP SUPPORTS VICTIMS OF SEX TRAFFICKING BY AMAN DA O’R O U R K E
Digital Communications and Media Specialist
More than 2,000 miles away from her hometown of Reading, Pa., Manouchka Paulemont worked last summer in San José, Costa Rica, to help victims of sex trafficking restart their lives. Now a senior at Susquehanna, Paulemont applied for a summer internship through International Studies Abroad (ISA), an organization that provides students with quality global-learning experiences. Upon her internship acceptance, ISA found Paulemont a work placement at Fundación Rahab, a nonprofit rehabilitation organization for individuals and families linked to the sex trade. Fundación Rahab offers a comprehensive care program that includes a job-training initiative. “I loved being able to talk with the victims of sex trafficking and be a part of them starting over and doing something positive with their lives that they never thought possible,” says Paulemont. At her job, Paulemont put the breadth of her liberal arts education to the test. She says that Susquehanna’s Central
Curriculum prepared her to tackle a multitude of tasks that were not always related to her major field of study. “I helped write a grant [application] to the U.S. Embassy for $1 million,” she says. “I also helped teach an English class and taught some of the women who had finished their vocational training about business. And I also helped them write a business plan to start their own company.” That work is good preparation for Paulemont’s own postgraduate plans. As a business administration major with emphases in global management and human resources, she dreams of being able to start her own business internationally, focusing specifically on the Latin American region. Paulemont advises other students to take a chance on internship possibilities. “Don’t be afraid to accept a position that isn’t directly related to your major, because you never know what you may end up doing or who you will end up helping,” she says.
“ D O N ’ T B E A F R A I D T O ACC E P T A P O S I T I O N T H AT I S N ’ T D I R E C T LY R E L AT E D TO YO U R M A J O R, B E C AU S E YO U N E V E R K N O W W H AT YO U M AY E N D U P D O I N G O R W H O YO U W I L L E N D U P H E L P I N G.”
—Manouchka Paulemont ’16
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PAT R I C K B R O W N ’ 15 finance
Brown (right) shows off the Bloomberg Terminals in the Student Investment Center to Trustee Jeffrey A. Roush ’71, P’12.
R EC E N T GR AD MELDS INTE RN S H I P I N TO BUS I N E S S C A RE E R
BY AMANDA O’R O U R K E
Digital Communications and Media Specialist
Patrick Brown ’15 didn’t have to look far when searching for a job after graduation.
program to learn about all the data products Bloomberg has to offer.”
The global economy and financial markets major spent 10 weeks interning at Bloomberg L.P. as a data analyst intern during the summer before his senior year. Just weeks after his graduation from Susquehanna University, Brown began a full-time job at Bloomberg L.P. in the same role, a direct benefit of his internship.
Brown credits his Susquehanna education with preparing him for his internship, and now career, at Bloomberg. He gained experience on the Bloomberg Terminals at Susquehanna’s Student Investment Center in the Sigmund Weis School of Business—tools that most business undergraduates at other institutions don’t encounter. These are the same terminals he uses as a data analyst at Bloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg L.P. is a financial software, data and media company headquartered in New York City that provides financial software tools, such as an analytics and equity trading platform, data services and news, to financial companies and organizations through the Bloomberg terminal. “As an intern, my role was on the ‘stake holdings’ team, updating insider shareholders on any publicly traded stock exchange in the world,” Brown said in an interview his first week on the job. “I am not sure what data team I will be on as an employee. I am currently going through the training
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“The experience was amazing,” Brown says of his internship. “I learned so much about the financial world and how data is used to move the markets. Bloomberg is at the front of data supply, and it was very exciting to intern for a company that is used by so many people around the world every day.” Though his experience could have taken him anywhere, Brown chose to stay at the place where he felt valued. “I stayed at Bloomberg because of the culture and ability to make an impact right away,” he says.
A LU M N I NE W S
O U R B E S T A N D BRI GHTE ST
A LUMN US ENJ OYS SWEET C A RE E R W I T H H E RS H E Y
BY VIC TO RIA K I D D
Associate Director, Advancement Communications
Three weeks after graduating from Susquehanna University in 1983, Mark Dieffenbach was in Louisville, Ky., going from grocery store to grocery store selling Hershey’s candy. That was 31 years ago, and he’s never looked back. He’s been in sales—and at The Hershey Company—his entire career. Working for one company that long may sound “old school” in an age when experts predict that today’s college students will hold as many as 29 jobs in their lifetime. But Dieffenbach’s career has been anything but dull. In fact, the supplier sales industry is very entrepreneurial in nature. A good sales executive for a supplier company such as Hershey has to understand market trends for each retailer it works with and the demographics of their customers, Dieffenbach explains. It’s this momentum of the markets and the ability to adapt to them that has kept him in the business for so long.
a leading advocate for the vending and refreshment services industry. As a member and former chair of the National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA) Board of Directors, he has led the organization’s public policy efforts to preserve the viability and profitability of the industry. In April, he was named NAMA’s Person of the Year for his work on behalf of the organization. “It came completely out of left field,” Dieffenbach says of the honor, noting that it’s uncommon for someone from a supplier company to receive the award. He attributes the adaptability he has demonstrated throughout his career to his liberal arts education at Susquehanna. “The liberal arts experience provides you with a lot of diversity in your curriculum,” he says. “Obviously, you have your major, but you also get exposure to a lot of other things in a liberal arts program that serve you well in life, not just your career.”
He really hasn’t found a reason to change employers, either. In addition to working for what he calls a “fabulous company,” Dieffenbach’s trajectory with Hershey has been straight up. From selling candy door to door, he moved into key account and management roles, and worked his way up from there. He returned to corporate headquarters in Hershey, Pa., the self-proclaimed “Sweetest Place on Earth,” nine years ago to head up the company’s specialty sales channels. Dieffenbach and his team of 17 employees are responsible for national sales to such venues as movie theaters, sports stadiums and arenas, and nontraditional candy retailers like Best Buy, Michael’s, Kohl’s department store and Auto Zone. Then there’s the vending machine side of the business, which has become increasingly complicated and dynamic due to government mandates on labeling, better-for-you snack trends, and an increasingly competitive sales space.
UNCO MMO N R E CO G N I TI O N Despite the pressures that come with increased competition for Hershey’s “share of the stomach,” Dieffenbach has been
MARK D I E F F E N B AC H ’8 3
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The Sigmund Weis School of Business at Susquehanna University ranks among the top 5 percent of business programs worldwide, and is one of the few undergraduate programs to have earned AACSB accreditation, a marker of excellence. We’re proud to be in the company of other AACSB schools, including Harvard Business School, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business.