INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
FOCUS
News from the School of Business and Economics
March 25, 2013
Volume 4, Issue 11
SBE students at the CIBER Competition
1 Happy Nowruz
2
A Message from Dean Bailey
A Message from Dean Bailey
1 The Financial Trading Room Opens
3
Student Profile—Allan Younger
2 Coming Events
4
Women of Purpose conference wraps up
2
Last week was a great one for the SBE!
Thank you to all who were able to attend the
Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony for the Finance
Trading Room. It was an event with which we
were all proud to be affiliated since it was the
culmination of thousands of hours of work from
planning to execution. Special thanks go out to
Mr. Nick Daves for his efforts.
WSSU students make their mark at the CIBER Case Competition in Atlanta
Students from the School of Business and
Economics joined other business school
competitors in Atlanta at the first annual
Southeast Consortium Case Challenge
Competition on March 7 and 8. This competition
was sponsored by Georgia State University’s
(GSU) J. Mack Robinson College of Business and
the GSU Center for International Business
Education and Research (GSU-CIBER).
Representing the WSSU Business School were
Johnene Benson (Management); Bryant Clinton
(Accounting/Marketing); Heidi Jaimes (MIS); and
Dustin Pickett (Marketing). They all found it to
be a great learning experience as expressed by
Ms. Benson, “I enjoyed being a part of this
experience
because it helped
me to realize that
I will be
presented with
problems, in
which I will need
to develop the
solution in a matter of time for my career, so
this was excellent practice. I am honored to
have been chosen to represent Winston-Salem
State University and the School of Business and
Economics in such a learning-based
opportunity.”
During the competition, students from
different universities were placed on teams to
solve a real-world business problem. Ms. Jaimes
stated, “The overall experience was priceless. I
really enjoyed networking with other students
that were in the same career path as me. I
enjoyed having the opportunity to compare and
contrast the way that material is being taught at
other universities.” Participants represented one
of four functional areas including finance,
accounting, marketing, management or a
combination. Students were given a little
less than 12 hours to read, analyze, and
prepare solutions to the case. Institutions
taking part included the Florida Institute of
Technology, Fort Valley State University,
Georgia College and State University,
Georgia Perimeter College, Georgia State
University, LaGrange College, Morehouse
College and Winston-Salem State University.
This competition offered an
opportunity for WSSU students to meet
peers from other schools and to gain insight
into business issues and their resolution.
Over the two-day competition, students
participated in networking and social
events, two rounds of presentation analyses
judged by a panel of executives and an
awards ceremony. Although, there were
only first and second place standings in the
competition, WSSU was proud to have one
of their own, Bryant Clinton, on the second
place team. Mr. Clinton summarized the
team’s success in this way: “The team that I
was assigned to (The Angels) consisted of 4
men of various backgrounds, but numerous
similarities. We each appeared to be on the
“same page” throughout the whole process,
which made the transition and
implementation of our planning run as
smooth as possible.” Dr. M. Dee Guillory,
the faculty advisor for the GSU CIBER
Challenge is still smiling with pride. When
asked how she felt the experience went,
she said, “I could not be prouder of all of
our student participants. They represented
Winston-Salem State University, the School
of Business and Economics and themselves
well.”
Also, kudos to all the
faculty, staff, and students
who participated in and made
the Women of Purpose:
Leading for Life Student
Leadership Conference a
rousing success. Dr. Janice
Dr. Jessica Bailey Witt Smith deserves special
thanks for that event.
Our ENACTUS Chapter competed in a
regional competition in Charlotte last week and
brought back honors for the SBE. Our thanks go
to Mr. Melvin Williams for his work on behalf of
the organization.
A public announcement was made of
the $40,000 gift to the Enterprise Center by
Datamax. We thank Dr. Notis Pagiavlas for his
work with the Center for Entrepreneurship.
As we approach the coming holiday, the
university is gearing up for a short, but full
week. Representatives of the SBE will
participate in the Community Luncheon for
Urban Initiatives Wednesday, March 27th. We
continue to prepare for upcoming events and
activities that will make spring semester 2013 a
memorable one. Look for notices of our annual
Ethics Event, the induction ceremonies for our
honor societies, the last Chomp-and-Chat session
of the year, and the Business Advisory Council
meeting.
All university activities are suspended
Friday, March 29th, as WSSU and other state
entities will be closed.
Have a solemn Good Friday and a Happy Easter.
Jessica Bailey
FOCUS is published weekly by the School of Business and Economics at Winston-Salem State University. For information concerning the
newsletter, or to contribute an article, please contact Ben Greene at (336) 750-2330 or by forwarding an e-mail to
greenebp@wssu.edu.
FOCUS News
Page 2
Student Profile—Allan Younger
accepts position at Forsyth Tech
Women of Purpose Student
Leadership Conference Wraps Up
Happy Nowruz 1392
(Written by Aparna Shivram, MBA Student
and Graduate Assistant)
More than 75 individuals participated in
myriad of events held during the inaugural
2013 Women of Purpose: Leading for Life
Student Conference, held March 18-22,
This year, on Wednesday March 20, 2013
at 7:01:56 AM, spring arrived. The spring
equinox is the moment for the celebration of
spring
and
the beginning
of the Iranian
New Year.
Allan Younger is the newly appointed
Director of the Small Business Center at
Forsyth Technical Community College. In
taking on this role, Allan says he has three
main priorities. First, he wants to strengthen
the operations, workshops,
counseling and marketing at
the Small Business Center.
Second, he wants to
enhance the Small Business
Center’s relationships and
services to small businesses
in Stokes County. And third,
he wants to enhance the
marketing and advocacy of
the Small Business Center
and of Forsyth Tech’s Economic and
Workforce Development division in general.
“We are making plans to improve our
marketing outreach so that more people
know about our services,” he says. Asked
what he sees as the greatest value the Small
Business Center brings to the community,
Allan says, “Our greatest value is that we
help existing and prospective business owners
feel more confident about the likelihood of
their success. We help them to know about
and take advantage of the countless
resources available to them.”
According to the Forsyth Tech
website, “The objective of the Small Business
Center Network (SBCN) is to increase the
success rate and the number of viable small
businesses in North Carolina by providing high
quality, readily accessible assistance to
prospective and existing small business
owners which will lead to job creation and
retention.”
Allan holds a bachelors degree in
Economics and Sociology from UNC-Chapel
Hill and is currently enrolled in the MBA
program at Winston-Salem State University.
He is president of his own company, GRACE
Consulting, which specializes in helping
businesses improve effectiveness, and has
worked with the Small Business and
Technology Development Center (SBTDC).
Congratulations Allan on this new role.
2013. The primary focus of this conference
was to ensure that students have an
opportunity to develop or hone their
leadership skills as they manage the various
areas of their lives. Quite simply, we are
more than the work that we do or the
classes that we take. Whether we are in
formal leadership roles or informally lead
ourselves and others through various aspects
of our tripartite lives, we are leaders -influencers and persuaders of others. We
have to make sure that we take care of
ourselves -- mind, body and spirit.
This conference allowed us to work on
all three aspects by (1) defining what our
true purpose is and what are the critical
factors that we will allow to influence us
(our faith, families, values, friends, etc.);
(2) gaining knowledge about our
personalities and the behaviors we engage in
and how others react to us, whether or not
that is our intention; (3) developing
strategies, tools and techniques to
communicate more effectively; manage and
resolve conflict more appropriately; to have
more impactful influence; become more
vulnerable to allow trust to develop; hold
ourselves and others accountable; and to set
goals, develop action plans, and set
timelines with accountability partners to
improve in areas in which we choose to
improve; and (4) participating in a private
Zumba class to work on improving
cardiovascular conditioning and energy -Leaders tend to be high energy.
As a result of the intensive cohort
experience, participants were able to share
through hands-on activities and critical inthe-moment facilitated debriefs key insights
they had gained about who and how they are
Continued on Page 3
The name
for New Year,
Nowruz, is a
combination
of two Farsi
words: “now” (pronounced no) meaning new
and “ruz” (pronounced roose) which means
day. The celebration starts with a family
gathering, the New Year dinner, and the
exchanging of gifts. During the holiday, family
and friends visit each other and spend time
catching up with new developments in their
lives and recommitting to mutual love and
friendship.
Part of the preparation for Nowruz is
setting up the Haft-Seen table. Haft-Seen has
historical roots to the Zoroastrian celebration
of life and the Haft-Chin. Zoroastrians would
collect and display these items: mirror, apple,
candle, rose water, wheat sprouts, goldfish,
and painted eggs to symbolize and represent
sky, earth, fire, water, plants, animals, and
fertility in their Haft-Chin. Through the years,
for many people, Haft-Seen has replaced the
Haft-Chin. Literally, Haft-Seen means seven
seens; “halt” means seven in Farsi and seen is
the letter of the alphabet that is equivalent to
“s” in English.
All of the items on display in the HaftSeen begin with the letter “s”:
sonbol
(hyacinth) which is spring flower, sumac the
spice of life and color of sunrise, seer (garlic)
representing medicine, sekeh (coins) symbol
of wealth and prosperity, seeb (apple)
representing beauty and health, senjed (dried
fruit of Lotus tree) symbol of love, and sabzeh
(sprout) to represent rebirth and fertility.
Also, the following can be included; samanoo
which is a sweet pudding made of germinated
wheat, serkeh (vinegar) to symbolize age and
patience, and mahi ghermez (goldfish) to
represent life.
Above all, the arrival of Nowruz at the
beginning of the spring, calls for celebration
of life and expressions of love and friendship.
Happy Nowruz and Peace!
FOCUS News
Women of Purpose
(Continued)
and what they need to change. Reflective
journaling allowed them to record insights that
were too personal to share and/or would prod
them to go back and reflect or take action
on. The participants were commissioned to
fulfill their purpose and to assist their cohort
sisters in their unique journeys to become
better at being themselves.
Open sessions which required RSVPS, at
which all cohort members were in
attendance, included the Developing Your
Personal Brand workshop and reception on
Monday, March 18th and Business and Dining
Etiquette Luncheon and closing ceremony on
Friday, March 22, 2013. A number of other
workshops were held for both male and female
students on March 19-21, 2013.
The conference ended with a closing
ceremony on March 22, 2013, and participants
were given Certificates of Achievement and an
8 x 10 color photo of the entire group, along
with key administrators, sponsors, and the
facilitators. Shaundria Lynch received a Kindle
Fire for having completed her required on-line
personality assessment first and having
attended and actively participated in all
events. Congratulations, Shaundria and to all
of our cohort participants.
Page 3
The Financial Trading Room opens to rave reviews
The new Financial Trading Room in
the School of Business and Economics had
its official grand opening on Tuesday,
March 19 before an enthusiastic gathering
of the school’s leadership, faculty,
alumni, staff, students and media
representatives. Dr. Julian Reeves,
Chancellor of WSSU said “I know that the
return on investment will include students
better versed in business, finance and
economics. It is not something you find
every day on every campus.”
The trading room features a 45-foot
long exchange ticker which features New
York Stock Exchange pricing and a
combination of business and news
headlines just outside the entry to the
room. Upon entry, one finds a four-screen
video wall with current information on
stocks, bonds, commodities, foreign
exchange rates and trading indexes from
various markets throughout the world.
Facilitators:
Dr. Janice Witt Smith
Mrs. Janelle Clemons
Dr. Smith also offered special thanks to
faculty and staff who contributed to the
successful event.
The room also includes a world clock,
featuring global trading location times, a
world map with highlighted countries and
capitals, two 55” high definition monitors
to display business news and classroom
materials, a state of the art SMART Board
and projector and 26 dual screen student
workstations with access to Morningstar
Direct.
Nick Daves, added, “We will be able
to teach investment classes with current
market data in the trading room. It will
also be available to other parts of the
University and community.”
Community leaders and WSSU school supporters
visit at the opening of the new Financial Trading
Room
Participants:
Jasmine Berry
Angela Boyd
Lissa D. Cheek
Asia Evans
Antonette Hardy
Anqualita I. Ingram
Padma Kamatkar
Tyler Marie Kendrick
Tonya B. King
Shaundria Lynch
Maylene McLee
Terri S. Morgan
Shaneese Moser
Jessica Neal
Erika Reeves
Olivia Sedwick
Adrienne Smith
Shannon Smith
Dawn Swinnie
Astra Little Thomas
Teressa C. Whitley
Investment Fund said that he and his
colleagues on the fund hope eventually to
turn the $55,000 into $100,000 and noted
that the fund’s gains will be used to
provide scholarships to students.
T. Linwood Woodley (seated), shows Jane Harris
(from left), Deric Lam and Justus Harris the stock
and bond trading programs in the Trading Room
(Photo courtesy Walt Unks, Winston-Salem Journal)
Dr. Jessica Bailey, Dean of the School
of Business and Economics welcomed
guests to the opening and thanked those
who were responsible for making the
trading room a reality. She awarded a
plaque to Nicholas Daves, the Director of
the Center of Excellence in Financial
Services for his tireless work and gave
special recognition to BB&T who provided
a $55,000 grant to enable the Student
Investment Fund to trade using real
currency. Dr. Bailey said, "We are excited
that we can provide a realistic experience
by bringing our students world-wide
current financial market information. This
room, which incorporates the latest in
instructional technology, will allow
students to learn experientially about
financial markets. Having this facility will
let us offer financial seminars for high
school and community groups as well."
T. Linwood Woodley, a senior at
WSSU and manager of the Student
(Photo courtesy Walt Unks, Winston-Salem Journal)
The Center of Excellence in Financial
Services is responsible for the
undergraduate personal financial planning
curriculum. Students completing the
required coursework are eligible to take
the nationally-administered examination
for qualification as a Certified Financial
Planner®. In 2008, WSSU became the first
of the Historically Black Colleges and
Universities to register its undergraduate
finance curriculum with the Certified
Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc.
Watch the Fox8 report on the Trading Room at
http://myfox8.com/2013/03/19/wssu-financestudents-make-real-trades-thanks-to-heftydonation/
Coming
soon
MBA/MHA Open House
Thinking of Graduate School?
Want to further your career
and increase your earnings
potential?
Attend the MBA/MHA Open
House
Thursday, Apr. 4
from 6:00-7:30 p.m.
RJ Reynolds Center
Room 201
Chomp-N-Chat with
Dean Bailey
Monday, April 22
12:00 p.m.
RJ Reynolds Center, Room 107