VCU + ELS Business Leaders Get Awards!!!

The VCU School of Business proudly announces their 2011 award recipients.  While we love to congratulate all honorees, we will highlight the winners of the VCU School of Business Awards as well as ELS Members that won other awards...congrats to you all! We are very proud of our very own Mike Fisher, Timmy Nguyen, and Kwaku Osei!

School Awards

Davis Ratcliffe Insurance Award
Michael E. Fischer

The Ann G. and Barney Roland Freasier, Sr. Tax Award
Melinda A. Tanner

Outstanding Co-op Student Award
Rachel L. Keener

Delta Sigma Pi Scholarship Key Award
John H. Bell, Justin N. Richie

Wall Street Journal Award
Timothy H. Nguyen

Staff Member of the Year
Jason A. Chan

Faculty Award of Excellence
Gupreet S. Dhillon

Distinguished Scholar Award
Michael A. McDaniel

Distinguished Teacher Award
Sven Kepes

Distinguished Service Award
Randolph T. Barker

Professional Faculty Excellence Award
Manoj A. Thomas


Departmental Awards

Marketing
Distinguished Service - Kwaku Osei

Deloitte 1st Annual Case Competition @ VCU This Friday!

Verizon Speaker Series: Driving Success in Today's Workplace Can Be Easy as PIE

Verizon Communications, in collaboration with the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business Marketing Department, will present Driving Success in Todays Business World . . . can be easy as PIE: Personal Strategies for Managing Performance, Image, and Exposure by Eric D. Cevis, Vice President of Verizon Enhanced Communities. The lecture begins at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 24 in Snead Hall B1115. A welcoming reception preceding the event will begin at 2 p.m. in the Snead Hall Atrium. This lecture is the third in an ongoing Verizon Communications/VCU Department of Marketing speaker series. This dynamic lecture presents concepts that students and professionals can use to position themselves for success in the contemporary job market. Dont miss this opportunity to gain insights into the realities of todays workplace and learn concrete, proven strategies for advancement from a senior executive in a Fortune 500 company.This event is expected to attract over 100 students, faculty, staff, alumni, and executives. The lecture will take place in Room B1115 of Snead Hall, located at 301 W. Main St. on the Monroe Park Campus of VCU. The event and reception are free, but RSVP is required. RSVP at 828-1618 or at mktgdept@vcu.edu.

Dr. Urban Officially Becomes School of Business Dean

Yesterday marked the beginning of the month as well as a new era within VCU's School of Business. Dr. Sesnowitz officially retired and Dr. Urban became VCU's S of B Interim Dean. The 4th floor office was filled with excitement as they knew that after 9 years of service as the Dean and leader of VCU's S of B, Dr. Sesnowitz would finally get some rest and also because they knew that VCU found the right person to replace him. Dr. Urban, who is a distinguished and nationally recognized marketing professor has served VCU since 1989. Within just one year of being the Chair of VCU's Marketing Department, Dr. Urban implemented a multitude of reforms that have brought drastic improvements to the Marketing program at VCU. We actually had the great opportunity to meet with Dr. Urban soon after it was announced that he would become the Interim Dean and although we won't go into details, you can rest assure that under Dr. Urban's leadership, major things are coming to the School of Business and very soon!

Dr. Sesnowitz retires as Dean of the School of Business

Although his retirement was announced sometime ago, the fact that it is actually close to happening seems surreal. He came to VCU in 2000 and although not many business students have been at VCU for more than 4 years, they all know the extent to which his leadership allowed the School of Business to grow and flourish. This is a great time to reflect, thank, and appreciate... even for ELS, Dr. Sesnowitz pointed our society in the right direction in regards to establishing the right relationships within VCU and even connected us with one of the greatest people he could have, our advisor, Mr. Doug Knapp.

Fortunately, Dr. Sesnowitz isn't retiring completely, he will be joining the Dept. of Economics as a professor. Meanwhile the search for a new Dean is ongoing. Until one is found Dr. Urban, the current Professor of Marketing and Chair of the MKTG dept. will be the interim Dean. Dr. Urban, who is a leader himself also has a proven track record of swift change and reform as recently proven by his vast improvements to the MKTG dept all within a year's time. It's going to be very interesting to see who VCU finds to fills Dr. Sesnowitz's shoes, but judging from other recent appointments, such as Michael Rao as VCU's new president and others....the new Dean of the School of Business is sure to be a real game changer!

Thanks Dr. Sesnowitz, our society wishes you continued progress and success.