Fourteen students joined faculty and administrators from the Eberly College to participate in numerous conference sessions and two keynote addresses at the conference, including: Muhammad Amin (MBA), Brendan Bash (MBA), Jose Diaz (Sport Administration and International Business), Josh Frankenfield (International Business), Tracy Inzinga (Undeclared Business), Amandine Miodek (MBA), Doris P. Quispe (Management), Nicole Ramberger (Finance), Raven Sams (International Business), Brandon Shaw (Human Resource Management), Bhishma Solanki (MBA), Teddi Valeski (Social Studies Education), and Sarah Wagner (Business Education). Students Anastasia Arikidis (International Business) and Faustina E Shedlock (MBA) assisted with conference registrations. Bhishma Solanki also provided support in preparing the agenda and audio-visual preparation.

IUP students had the opportunity to meet keynote speakers Dr. Mark Doms, chief economist of the U.S. Department of Commerce, who spoke about “The Current State of the U.S. Economy, the Importance of Innovation and Trade, and the Important Role of the U.S. Department of Commerce,” and Robert Davis, University of Virginia, who spoke on “Beyond Oil, Coal, and Gas.”

From left to right: Robert L. Lattimer—American Society for Competitiveness chairman, Teddi Valeski , Josh Frankenfield, Raven Sams, Anastasia Arikidis, Dr. Mark Doms—Department of Commerce chief economist, Tracy Inzinga, Faustina Shedlock, Brandon Shaw, Bhishma Solanki, Brendan Bash, Dr. Abbas Ali, Dr. Prashanth Bharadwaj

The number of total conference participants exceeded 125 and included faculty members, students, business people, and policy makers. The conference had international participants from several countries, including Canada, India, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Taiwan. Academic awards were awarded, sponsored by the publishing house Emerald in the categories of a) best case study, b) best empirical research and c) best conceptual paper.

ASC has had a rich history of attracting prominent keynote speakers from business, academe, and industry. There were thirty different conference sessions held over a three-day period for our students and conference participants to chose among, such as “Market Trust and Corporate Image,” “National Competitiveness and Social Development,” “Corporate Governance and Competitive Advantage,” “Industrial Renewal: Promises and Challenges,” and “Public Policy and Public Goods.”

In addition to the annual conferences, ASC has three publications—Competitiveness Review, Advances in Competitiveness Research, and Competition Forum. Dr. Abbas Ali is the executive director of the ASC, Dr. Robert Camp is a founding board member of the ASC, Dr. Prashanth Bharadwaj is the academic program chairperson of ASC Conferences, and Ms. Susan Brant is the treasurer of the society.

The students were given a tour of the company’s cleanroom facilities where MEDRAD manufactures many of its high-volume medical devices. Students were exposed to several lean manufacturing and quality management practices in action. Following the tour, the students had an opportunity to interact with managers in the company’s manufacturing, purchasing, warehousing, industrial engineering, and human resource functions. The students discussed topics such as 5-S, Kaizen, supplier selection, preventative maintenance, incentive systems, and corporate culture (as being a subsidiary of the Bayer Corporation). The human resources manager provided the students, including international students, a short overview of the hiring process at MEDRAD.

MEDRAD is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacturing of high-tech medical devices. MEDRAD was awarded the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 2003.

Keith Young, a human resources executive at MEDRAD, serves on the Eberly College Business Advisory Council.

Results were as follows:

• First place winners are Megan Coffey (International Business, upper-class) and Sarah Finn (Undeclared Business, freshman)
• Second place winners are Stephanie Pelch (Marketing, upper-class) and Robert Gearhart (Nursing, freshman)

Recipients of Meritorious Distinction are the following freshmen:

• Grey Berrier (International Business)
• Courtney Roth (Business Education)
• Catie Shontz (International Business)
• Lauren Young (Marketing)
• Lauren Young (Undeclared Humanities and Social Sciences)

All winners will receive letters and certificates from the provost and will be invited to the dinner with Mr. Bill Strickland, author of this year’s Common Freshman Reader, Make the Impossible Possible.

The two first-place winners received the opportunity to introduce Mr. Strickland at his lecture!

PES, a prominent partner of IUP’s business school, has been conducting a highly successful annual competition for business students for several years. The event, known as MANage, includes competitions in six business categories and in various cultural categories, such as Indian contemporary dance, face painting, etc.

The students that participated included: Courtney Monn and Greg Petrun (Marketing), Faith Mutanga and Emily Shubra (Finance), Allison Abey and Nick Parrish (Human Resources), Brendan Bash and Brad Roach (Information Systems), Alyssa Shubra and Joe Pelland (Business Quiz), and Mike Rivera (Best Manager).

The competition included four preliminary rounds over three days that led to a final event in each category. Among other assignments, the students took tests, created presentations, created videos, participated in interviews, and participated in mock financial trading. Many teams worked late into the night to complete assignments for the next morning. Each of the six IUP teams reached the third round and four teams reached the finals in their respective categories. The Marketing team (Courtney Monn and Greg Petrun) won the second place overall, and Mike Rivera finished second overall in the Best Manager category. Based on total points accrued by each business school, Eberly’s team won second place overall. St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore, won the first place.

During their trip to India, the students also visited Infosys, the leading software company in India, where they were given a tour and interacted with the company’s executives. They also visited the historic city of Mysore, a palace, and a temple. They attended a concert on campus that featured a rock group from New Delhi and were treated to a special dinner that featured students and cuisine from Thailand, Sri Lanka, and South Korea. Students stayed on the PES campus during the event.

Each of the students acknowledged that this was a unique, enjoyable, and insightful experience for them.

If you would like to preview the program, visit TalkShoe.com, Episode 36.

Mr. Bem has more than twenty years experience as a management consultant and investment advisor to senior executives. His expertise is primarily in crafting and implementing winning strategies for corporations using sound customer analysis combined with innovation portfolio valuation. Eugene is also researching green corporate strategies.

He will be making presentations regarding innovation, product development, and green strategies to students in Entrepreneurship, Small Business Management, Quality Management, Operations Management, Supply Chain Management, and Graduate Marketing Management classes. He will also be meeting with several faculty members and administrators in Eberly.

Nineteen individuals representing thirteen small businesses are currently participating in a noncredit MBA Certificate Program offered by the Department of Business Development and Training Services.

The program, customized to the needs of small businesses, consists of ten six-hour sessions. The classes are taught by IUP faculty members who deliver a similar curriculum in the MBA credit program.

Individuals from the following businesses are participating in the program: Romeo’s Pizza, Indiana Total Therapy, Heritage House Suites, Environmental Land Surveying & Solutions, Diamond Pharmacy Services, Tracey’s Upscale Resale, Product Strategy Network, Downtown Indiana, Indiana County Commissioners, COSM, IUP Center for Family Business, Bridges to the Future, and Remedy Repack, Inc.

For more information on the MBA Certificate Program, please visit Business Development and Training Services or contact Jane Gardner.

The program will run from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and include a lunch.

The focus of the program is on developing processes to foster and nurture innovation within manufacturing firms. The target audience for this program is small manufacturers and IUP personnel who are interested in this subject.

At this workshop, participants will:

• Learn how to develop better, new product faster from veterans who have done it
• Gain critical insights into how to be sure you are solving the right problem
• See how looking (observation) at potential customers can produce more insights than talking to them
• Learn from pros who have done it many times

Please review the forum flyer. After reviewing the material we hope you will decide to join us on October 16. Register now to participate and engage in this timely issue and challenge.

See the Center for Family Business website for information and registration.

The event will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. in the Eberly atrium. If you are able to join us, please contact Maureen Bash at mbash@iup.edu.

The Eberly Outstanding Business Professional award is presented to an IUP graduate who demonstrates success in leading an organization to new levels of achievement and who serves as an executive in a publicly held corporation, privately owned business, or chartered nonprofit entity. Selections for the award are made each year by the Eberly College Alumni Awards Committee. Leyh was recognized during the nineteenth annual IUP Business Golf Classic, benefiting a scholarship endowment fund for IUP students, on July 13 at Longue Vue Club in Verona.

Leyh is one of the founders of Enterprise Bank, a commercial niche bank that assists small to midsized businesses and specializes in helping startups and distressed companies. In addition to serving as chairman of the board and president, Leyh serves on the bank’s Senior Loan and Finance committees.

Leyh is a certified public accountant and partner in the public accounting firm of Kinol, Sharie, Leyh & Associates. At the firm, Leyh’s focus is on small to midsized businesses, with an emphasis on tax accounting, business analysis, and valuations. He has more than thirty years of experience in public accounting.

Leyh also is active in professional organizations. He is the treasurer of the Pennsylvania Association of Community Bankers and holds memberships in the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Tax Division of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He previously served as a board member of the Atlantic Central Bankers Bank and as chairman of the Audit Committee.

He is a board member and serves as chairman of the Finance Committee and treasurer of the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh.

In addition to his IUP degree, Leyh earned a Master of Science in taxation from Robert Morris University in 1988.

Malin Bergquist—listed by Pittsburgh Business Times as one of the top twenty certified public accountant firms—has offices in Pittsburgh, Erie, and Greensburg.

The Eberly Outstanding Entrepreneur award is presented to an IUP graduate who demonstrates success in creating and leading an entrepreneurial venture to a high level of achievement. Selections for the award are made each year by the Eberly College Alumni Awards Committee. Bluemling was recognized during the nineteenth annual IUP Business Golf Classic, benefiting a scholarship endowment fund for IUP students, on July 13 at Longue Vue Club in Verona.

In 2004, Bluemling was recognized by Pittsburgh Business Times as a “Fast Tracker,” one of fifty Pittsburgh area professionals under the age of forty-five who have made significant contributions in business and the community. He was the only CPA firm managing partner selected for the honor that year. He has also been recognized by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and is an annual presenter at the Pittsburgh Business Times’ 100 Fastest Growing Companies event.

Since 2001, he has presided over three Malin Bergquist mergers, quadrupling the firm’s size. He also helped to develop the firm’s first strategic plan to leverage its differentiating strengths.

Bluemling is a board director of CPAmerica International, the world’s sixth largest association of independent CPA firms. He was responsible for bringing the organization’s annual accounting and auditing conference to Pittsburgh in 2008 in celebration of the city’s 250th birthday.

He also is a member of the Estate Planning Council of Pittsburgh.

He is immediate past chair of the Baierl Family YMCA program and is a board member of YMCA Camp Kon-O-Kwee/Spencer, which raises more than $100,000 for programs for the disabled.

He and his wife Sheila are the parents of three sons.

As you can see, our chapter has definitely made a name for themselves with the national organization, and the students are gearing up now for a trip to compete against forty-eight other states in June in Anaheim, California!

Category: Graduate Specialized

Client Name: Indiana Printing and Publishing

Faculty Advisors: Stephen Osborne, Eric Palmer, and Ramesh Soni

Students’ Names: Gregory Clay, Elizabeth Griffith, and Marko Mitrov

This year’s book is called the Best 296 Best Schools. The Princeton Review’s guidebooks program accepts no advertising dollars and uses independent surveys from current students, recent graduates, and college officials to determine which colleges and universities merit inclusion. The 2009 edition is a reflection of interviews with more than 18,000 business students from across the nation. There are approximately 1,600 schools or colleges of business throughout the United States.

The Eberly College offers seven hundred work stations, nine computing labs, and high-tech classrooms throughout the building. A forty-four-station financial trading room provides students with the ability to create hypothetical portfolios and track all purchase and sale transactions in order to gauge performance and document trading strategies. Students use a database and related software to conduct financial analyses and learn valuation techniques, arbitrage techniques, and portfolio risk management strategies. Both faculty and students can conduct research using real-time data from markets all over the world. Guidebook editors also recognized Eberly’s numerous partnerships with overseas schools.

The Eberly College achieved accreditation of its bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in business administration from AACSB International in May 2001. AACSB International is one of higher education’s most rigorous accrediting bodies. Fewer than one-third of the business schools in the United States and a limited number of schools internationally have earned AACSB International accreditation.

IUP has been selected for the Princeton Review’s Best Universities guidebooks as an overall university for the past eight years and has been included in all of the Princeton Review’s Best in the Mid-Atlantic guidebooks.

In 2007, IUP was ranked fourth in the nation by Consumers Digest as a best value in public education and fortieth in Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine’s 2007 Top 100 Best Values in Public Education.

The next part of the trip was to visit the headquarters of two professional associations—Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA-PBL) and the National Business Education Association (NBEA). Both FBLA-PBL and NBEA executives spoke with the students about continual involvement in the professional world and becoming a leader in the field. The group also had the opportunity to tour Washington, D.C., and spent time visiting the Holocaust Museum and the beautiful memorials throughout our nation’s capitol.

For more information, contact Dr. Bill McPherson (mcpherso@iup.edu) or any Eberly College honor student.

Spring is here and that means golf!

Participate in the Eberly College of Business and Information Technology 2008 Annual IUP Business Golf Classic to be held at the Longue Vue Golf Club in Verona, PA, on Monday, July 21.

This is not only a great way to catch up with your colleagues and to meet new ones, but it is your opportunity to contribute to the most important fundraiser of the year for the Eberly College. The money we raise goes into a special endowment that is being used solely for student scholarships in an effort to recruit high-ability students into our college.

We offer both a competitive event and scramble format.

If you are not a golfer, you may want to attend dinner, bid on or donate something for the silent auction, make a monetary donation, etc. There are a number of sponsorship opportunities.