INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
FOCUS
News from the School of Business and Economics
Lincoln Financial partnership with
the SBE
1
Student Appreciation Day—Feb. 20
3
A Message from Dean Bailey
1
Enactus Spring Activities
3
Coming Soon
2
The SBE Student Investment Fund
3
Student & Faculty trips to Ghana
2
Student Athlete Academic Advising
3
Student Profile
2
The Future Begins, Now, with Lincoln Financial Group
presentations held at both the
university and the LFG offices in
Greensboro, North Carolina.
Lincoln Financial Group
(LFG) and the School of Business
and Economics took a critical step
toward implementation of an
ambitious partnership on January
30. Dr. Jessica Bailey and her SBE
team joined with representatives of
a broad swath of LFG's business
units to finalize plans for the launch
of the recruitment and professional
development phase of the
partnership. Dean Bailey's SBE team,
consisting of Mr. Nicholas Daves, Dr.
Sharon White, Dr. Janice Witt
Smith, Dr. Alex Kondeas and Mr.
Don Wood, heard presentations,
engaged in lively exchanges with
LGF executives and toured the
facilities in preparation for
initiating upcoming student
recruitment activity and the visits
to WSSU by LFG speakers. The
meeting is the culmination of over a
year of discussions and
To kick-off the planned
activities, LFG will hold an
information session on February 7 at
12:30 p.m. in RJR 136, to prepare
students for interviews and summer
internships. The event will be cosponsored by the Professional
Development Center (PDC) and
Lambda Epsilon Chapter of Beta
Alpha Psi and conducted by Stacy
Brown, Enterprise IT Planning
Manager. Later that day Karla
Munden, Vice President and Chief
Auditor will bring her expertise and
gripping personal experience to
"Straight Talk," a presentation
hosted by the PDC and WSSU's NABA
student chapter. The events of
February 7, constitute a major push
toward bringing industry and
academics together to create
opportunities for our students to
succeed.
A Message from Dean Bailey
While North Carolina has reached the
“winter doldrums” (that’s what I call
weeks with no holidays,
no rousing sports
events, and stay-athome weather), the
School of Business and
Economics has turned
into a hotbed of
activity. A lot is going
Dr. Jessica Bailey on in the SBE every
day.
This week, for example, Beta
Alpha Psi, one of our honor societies,
is co-sponsoring this weeks
Information Session being conducted
by Lincoln Financial Group. Mock
interviews with Lincoln Financial
Group executives are scheduled for
the following week. Throughout this
week, the Department of Management
and Marketing will be interviewing
candidates for a tenure-track position
in management. That means a
schedule of demonstration teaching
and research sessions has been
planned for both the faculty and
students.
This week is the fourth week
of classes, so things are really
beginning to shift into high gear in the
classrooms. Assessments are starting
to be administered and assignments
are due. Just step into the R.J.
Reynolds Center and you’ll see
students huddled together; study
groups are everywhere. Clearly, the
SBE is a great place to be!
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.
C o m I n g
S o o n !
MBA/MHA Open House
Rams Go Red!
Thinking of Graduate School?
Want to further your career?
Support the American Heart
Association during American
Heart Month by wearing RED
Attend the MBA/MHA Open House
Thursday, Feb. 7
Thursday, Mar. 7
Thursday, Apr. 4
from 6:00-7:30 p.m.
On Valentine’s Day,
Thursday, February 14
(1922 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive)
Join us at a Commemoration
from 11:00am to 1:00pm in
the Stock Ticker Lobby
Please join us in support of
our student competitors
RJ Reynolds Center Room 201
RJR 1st Floor, by Room 109
RSVP to greenebp@wssu.edu
Page 2
Saturday, February 16
10:00 am-3:00 pm
The Enterprise Center
FOCUS News
SBE Student/Faculty Trips to Ghana
Fishermen at the Ghana coast Students from the School of
Business and Economics, including
Bryant Bell, Dominick Olshanski, and
Ricky Burns traveled to the West African
countries of Ghana and Benin with
Faculty Advisor, Dr. Alice Etim for a full
month in Summer, 2012. This trip
exposed our students to the political,
economic, social and cultural realities
of contemporary West Africa. During the
trip, students attended the AITEC Africa
Mobile Money in West Africa Conference
where they watched Dr. Etim
participate as a featured presenter.
Topics of particular interest
included the historical legacy and
economic effects of the trans-Atlantic
slave trade of British and French
colonialism; the recent substantial
upward trends in Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) and Foreign Direct
Investments (FDI) in Ghana resulting
from commerce improvements, a move
to a new currency, and opening of
1
Business Plan
Competition
1
markets. This economy has benefited by
a quarter century of relatively sound
management, a competitive business
environment and sustained reductions in
poverty. Ghana has excellent natural
resources and agriculture with gold and
cocoa production comprising major
sources of foreign exchange. In
addition, oil production, which began in
late 2010 is expected to boost economic
growth.
Previously, Dr. Craig Richardson
also traveled to Ghana in March of 2011.
While there he visited with the
Department of Economics and the
Department of Agricultural Economics at
Cape Coast University. “This trip gave
me a lot of important information about
Ghana which is one of the fastest
growing countries in Africa. It also
helped me with my research on subSaharan Africa.” says, Dr. Richardson.
The experience is integrated into his
Economic Growth and Development
class taught at the undergraduate level
and in the Masters of Business
Administration (MBA) program.
Following his visit, a foundation grant
was awarded to Dr. Richardson for three
WSSU students from the SBE to
participate in Ghana’s Summer Program
in 2011. Dr. Richardson says that he
“Really enjoyed visiting the country. It
was safe and the people were incredibly
friendly.”
Student Profile
Bryant Bell, a junior double-major in
Economics and
Finance, has been
a member of the
Dean’s list for the
past four
consecutive
semesters; is a
recipient of the
Outstanding
Achievement
Bryant Bell Award from the
Federal Reserve Bank in Richmond,
Virginia; was recently selected as a
Stock Analyst for the newly created
Student Investment Club and serves as a
member of the Student Advisory
Council.
A native of Durham, Bryant has
significant experience in providing
outstanding service to visitors to the
Office of the Dean where he works as a
Student Assistant. He previously worked
for Club Demonstration Services,
Costco’s premiere event marketing
company and as a waiter for one of
Durham’s finest restaurants and resorts.
Bryant has a burgeoning interest in
investment, asset management and
financial analysis and reporting. He has
traveled to Ghana and Benin in West
Africa to observe their substantial
economic growth firsthand.
Sources include Dr. Alice Etim, Dr. Craig Richardson, Bryant Bell, the WSSU Office of International Programs, the CIA World Fact Book, and AITEC
conference brochures. The section on Dr. Richardson’s trip was written by Brianna Galbreath, WSSU Alumni.
Student Appreciation Day at
LJVM Coliseum—February 20!
The SBE and all of its stakeholders are
encouraged to
support the WSSU
basketball team on
Student
Appreciation Day,
WSSU Men’s Basketball
Wednesday,
February 20. They will be playing
Johnson C. Smith in the final home
game of the season, to be held at
Lawrence Joel Veteran Coliseum. We
are anticipating a large crowd and
encourage all to turn out in support of
the home team.
Enactus at WSSU Spring Activities
The WSSU Enactus team, including
President, Johnene Benson and
Faculty Advisors, Professor Melvin
Williams, Dr. Notis Pagiavlas, and
Professor Nicholas Daves are hard at
work with a variety of Spring
activities. Projects include the
Lowe’s Community Improvement
Project where the team received a
grant to expand WSSU’s Simon’s Green
Acre, an organic community garden at
The Enterprise Center; Aid to Habitat
for Humanity; Change for Sandy DormStorm where funds are being raised
for Hurricane Sandy Relief and Project
Energy in conjunction with Duke
Power to help families to reduce home
energy costs.
In addition to these projects,
Enactus is providing organizational and
personnel support for the SBE Business
Plan Competition on February 16.
To learn more please plan to
attend the Competition Showcase at
WSSU on March 19 at the Enterprise
Center. Details will be forthcoming.
From this showcase, we will present
projects at the Enactus Regional
Competition in Charlotte on March 20.
The SBE Student Investment Fund: Endowing our Future
The WSSU Student Investment
Fund was established in the Fall of
2012 from a $1.25 Million BB&T
grant to the School of Business
and Economics. The BB&T grant
supports a commitment of the SBE
to expose students to the moral
underpinnings and ethical values
of capitalism.
Fifty thousand dollars of
this overall grant is devoted to the
Student Investment Fund. This
fund will enable our students to
supplement classroom instruction
by investing in a portfolio of
stocks, bonds and mutual funds
using actual funds. As an integral
part of the process, students have
prepared an Investment Policy
Statement that establishes criteria
to select, monitor, evaluate and
compare performance. They will
set goals for the preservation of
principal, evaluate the cash flow
needs of the organization and
maintain compliance with the
same fiduciary, legal, and due
diligence requirements used by
experienced investment
professionals. Upon completion of
stated principal growth goals,
returns will be used to support
student scholarships and student
exposure to investment
professionals through attendance
at conferences and on campus
visits.
Duane Davis, Senior Vice President and
Investment Officer with First Tennessee
Brokerage, meets with the Student Investment
Fund students and faculty advisor Professor Nick
Daves in the New Trading Room
Participants in the Student
Investment Fund submitted
applications for admission and
were selected on the basis of the
strength of their résumé and a
personal interview.
Student Athlete Advisors
University College has assigned
three professional advisors to work
with approximately 300 students
athletes, assisting
them with
communications
with faculty, travel reports, and
book vouchers. They are Yolanda
Childs, Ashley Kelley, and Arthur
Hardin. For the past five years, Dr.
Edward Zajicek has served that role
in the SBE. He advises SBE student
athletes, monitoring their academic
progress and consulting with the
Athletic Department in support of
the students’ unique needs. Kudos
to Dr. Zajicek for the assistance
that he provides to the SBE’s
student athletes! Dr.
Zajicek also serves on
the Chancellor’s
Athletic Advisory
Board and is a member
of the Athletic
Compliance Team.
Dr. Edward Zajicek