Archives
March 2006
Save the Date
Reunion Weekend 2006
June 8-11
[more information]
Director's Message: Volunteer leadership key to vibrant clubs
Warm winter wishes from the Johnson School. In January, Johnson School students, staff, and deans traditionally exit Ithaca's winter winds and fan out across the nation and abroad for on-site learning, special events, and alumni interactions. I joined the group this year, which included representatives from admissions, alumni affairs, career center, corporate relations, and marketing and communications. I can't overstate the value of these travels for me, as the new associate dean of development and alumni affairs. [more]
Message from the dean: Importance of alumni participation in rankings
There are now almost a dozen publications that rank business schools and their programs, and each publication has its own objective and methodology. While not all media rankings have equal weight in how they influence perceptions of a program's quality or reputation, a handful do play this role and position themselves in different ways.
Business Week and The Wall St. Journal, for example, focus on "customer satisfaction," (BW with students and recruiters, WSJ with only recruiters.) US News & World Report weighs more heavily a school's reputation among peers, along with measures such as GMAT and GPA. Forbes and The Financial Times factor in "return on investment"—with Forbes focusing on it exclusively—and thus rely heavily on survey information from alumni about salaries and salary progression.
It is clear that alumni responses play an increasingly important role in media rankings. Surveys that solicit information from alumni require considerable time and effort to complete and often come at very inconvenient times. Yet, it is also clear that response rates and sample composition can greatly affect the results. In particular, a low response rate can result in an unrepresentative sample for a given class year that can dramatically affect a given ranking.
A case in point is the 2006 Financial Times (FT) ranking for full-time global MBA programs. The Johnson School was ranked 19th in the US and 36th worldwide. We were also rated 8th best in placement success both in the US and worldwide and included among the top 10 best schools for accounting. We were disappointed, and frankly surprised, with our worldwide standing in this ranking. We know that the points separating the top schools are few, but we are concerned with a downward trend in the FT ranking. We generally do very well in rankings that rely on salary data. In last fall's Forbes ranking, for example, we were 9th on their list of schools offering the best ROI.
I have been working with the editors at the FT to better understand this year's perplexing result. Their initial feedback indicates that our overall response rates from alumni were below the average for all schools and well below the response rates for other top schools. There were also fewer responses from individuals in certain job classifications, industries, and regions with higher initial salaries and higher expected salary progression. While not the entire reason for our ultimate results, we suspect this ultimately skewed our results, particularly compared with our traditional competitor schools.
I ask for your help in completing the surveys you receive and answering as many questions as you can. We are working with individual publications to minimize the demands on your time. Yet, higher response rates and more completed surveys are essential. We recognize that media rankings are far from perfect measures of school quality or "performance" in the marketplace. But these rankings play a significant role in shaping people's perceptions of the reputation of the Johnson School and its graduates. I very much appreciate your support and encouragement in helping us ensure that the responses to media surveys are highly representative of our graduates and their performance.
Encourage young women to join Camp $tart-Up
We are pleased to announce that the fifth annual Camp $tart-Up will be held this summer, June 24-July 1, 2006, at the Johnson School. Camp $tart-Up is an interactive business and leadership training experience for young women aged 13 to 19. It is a very important initiative at the Johnson School, championed by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and designed to help combat the relatively low enrollment of women in graduate business programs. The most effective way to increase the pool of qualified women for business education, and ultimately in business itself, is to reach women at a younger age and to teach them fundamental business and leadership concepts.
Last summer, Camp $tart-Up gave 30 young women an opportunity to develop skills in several key business areas, including entrepreneurship, finance and marketing. The goal of the camp is to encourage more young women to consider business careers and entrepreneurial ventures. If you or someone you know has a vested interest in achieving this goal, you may want to sponsor a camper, donate to the camp or invite a young woman to complete an application to attend the camp. For more information please visit our website. You may also contact the Camp $tart-Up planning committee via e-mail at campstartup@cornell.edu or telephone at 607 255-1437.
Beverage sales to support Camp $tart-Up
LightFull Foods, created by Lara Jackle '94 (profile below), has announced that the company will donate 10 percent of revenue generated from sales in 60 Wegmans stores between now and March 31 to Camp $tart-Up. LightFull foods was recently established in California and has launched its debut product, a 90-calorie, all-natural LightFull Satiety Smoothie, in January 2006. The drink has been developed especially for women and is available in four flavors: Strawberries & Cream, Peaches & Cream, Dutch Chocolate, and Café Latte. The refreshing drink is packed with nutrients, including metabolism-boosting antioxidants, calcium, and more fiber than a bowl of oatmeal. In addition to donating money from sales, LightFull is also contributing $1 to Camp $tart-Up for every feedback survey completed from people who try their drinks. Surveys can be found at www.lightfullfoods.com/survey.
LightFull Foods is the first company in the world to develop products based on the food science concept of satiety, or fullness. LightFull Foods strives to help people lead healthy, balanced lives by creating and bringing to market delicious, low-calorie, all-natural, highly nutritious snacks. LightFull is an innovative company devoted to developing satisfying foods that are a convenient part of an active lifestyle.
JS welcomes assistant fund director
We are pleased to announce that Virginia Augusta has joined the staff of the Johnson School as the associate director of the Annual Fund. Virginia comes to the Johnson School with a newly minted Cornell PhD in Social and Philosophical Foundations of Educational Administration and a minor in Organizational Behavior. She also holds two master's degrees, one from Cornell and one from the University of North Carolina, and a BA also from the University of North Carolina. Prior to beginning work on her PhD, Virginia served as Cornell's assistant director of athletics for six years. Virginia's knowledge of and devotion to Cornell come across immediately when you meet her, and we hope you'll have the chance to do so soon!
Alumni, faculty discuss asset management
The Johnson School continued its successful "Business of ?" forums in January in New York City's financial district. Between 150 and 200 Johnson School students and alumni attended a January 17 symposium entitled "The Business of Asset Management: Is it all about Hedge Funds Now?" The event, which was the third "Business of?" forum sponsored by the school, took place at the Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. headquarters in Manhattan. The discussion was moderated by Richard Marin '76, chairman and chief executive officer of Bear Stearns Asset Management. The panelists included Peter Wright '76, founder and general partner of P.A.W. Partners; David Breazzano '80, co-founder of DDJ Capital Management LLC; Josh Weinreich, retired head of Global Hedge Funds, Bankers Trust/Deutsche Bank; Steve Semlitz '76, managing director of Hess Energy Trading Co. and Sanjeev Bhojraj, associate professor of accounting and faculty director of the Parker Center for Investment Research. The discussion, which had been preceded by a reception, lasted an hour and half and was part of the school's annual Week on Wall Street student trek.
Durland lecture features Deloitte chairman
Sharon Allen, chairman of the board of directors, Deloitte & Touche USA LLP will deliver the 19th annual Durland lecture. Allen will discuss "The Workforce of Tomorrow: Leadership, Integrity and the Changing Business Environment." The lecture is scheduled for Tuesday, February 28 at 5:00 p.m. in 305 Ives Hall. A reception in Dyson Atrium, Sage Hall, will follow the lecture.
The Durland Lecture Series is the most prestigious invitational business-speaking event at the Johnson School. Initiated in 1983, its purpose is to bring distinguished executives from the fields of business, finance and investment management. It was established in memory of Lew Durland, treasurer emeritus of Cornell, who served as the university's chief financial officer for more than 25 years.
Boardroom program expands to Washington State
The Johnson School's Cornell-Queen's Executive MBA program has been approved for offering in Washington State. The Boardroom EMBA, which is taught in partnership with Queen's School of Business in Kingston, Ontario, enrolls more than 80 students currently and has learning teams in several locations in New York State and across many provinces of Canada. The first participants graduate from the intense, team-based program in November 2006 with two MBA degrees: one from Cornell and the other from Queen's, and will be full-fledged alumni of both schools. [read more]
Featured alumni
Janet A. Carr '90 has been appointed as senior vice president of Consumer Insights and Strategic Planning at Coach, Inc. [more]
Scott C. Taylor '90 has been appointed as president and CEO of Dr. Murray Natural Living Inc., producer of all natural, functional foods and beverages. [more]
Lara Jackle '95 is CEO of LightFull Foods, a company that is pioneering "satiety" (learning how to feel satisfied with fewer calories) as a sustainable strategy for eating right. [more]
Recent media hits
Professors Robert Frank, Yaniv Grinstein, Ori Heffetz, Mark Milstein, Danny Szpiro, Brian Wansink, and Student Fatiha Jillali appeared in the Associated Press Newswires, BBC News On-line, Businessweek.com, The Calgary Herald, The Courier-Mail, The Christian Science Monitor, The Daily Mail, The Daily Reporter, The Economist, The Edmonton Journal, Financial Times, Guelph Mercury, International Herald Tribune, Irish Independent, Management Today, Montreal Gazette, The New York Times, Newsday, The News Tribune, The Oregonian, Ottawa Citizen, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Record, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Times, The Times Union, The Washington Post, Worth Magazine, USA Today, and 60 Minutes.
View the online alumni events calendar to check out the latest offerings in your area. It's a great way to keep in touch!
