Archive for September 2009

We want YOU to design the official t-shirt for the First Annual Fall Picnic. It’s a CONTEST and the prize for the winning design is a $50 GIFT CERTIFICATE to the Campus Bookstore. The picnic will take place on Friday, October 16, from 5 - 8 pm, next to the School of Business and Economics. We’ll have food, drinks, games, and prizes. Mark your calendars.

Let your imagination soar, your creativity go wild, and enter the t-shirt design contest. To enter, please send us your design for the back of the t-shirt.

Please send your design to Lynn at lmczarne@mtu.edu. The contest deadline is MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 9 AM. The entered designs will be judged by the Dean’s Student Advisory Council.

Design Specifications

• It’s best if you create your design in Photoshop or Illustrator or another professional design program. If you use another means to make your design, you must be prepared to provide print-ready files of the design should you win. But your submission will be a PDF.
• Your design should contain a maximum of four (4) colors (plus the shirt color).
• Your design can only be on the BACK of the shirt, and must fit within a printable area that is a 10” wide x 13” high rectangular area.
• Your submission should be a PDF file no larger than 5MB. If you win we will ask you for the high resolution files.

Question? Lynn at lmczarne@mtu.edu

The School of Business and Economics is proud to host the Research Seminar Series. This series provides our faculty the opportunity to discuss their recent research endeavors in a setting with colleagues, students, and staff. Each Research Seminar will feature a 25-30 minute presentation, 10 minutes of questions, and then refreshments and socializing for everyone in participation. A new presenter will be speaking each month, please check back for a complete schedule.

Associate Professor of Economics, Bill Breffle, will be speaking on “Assessing the carrying capacity of the Great Lakes natural environment of western Michigan.”

Please join us for Dr. Breffle’s presentation on Friday, Oct. 2, 2009 from 3-4pm in the Academic Office Building, first floor, room 101.

The School of Business and Economics is proud to announce the newest addition to its website, a LinkedIn Student Directory. The goal of this directory is to provide recruiters and industry professionals with another option for finding quality, Michigan Tech business students who are in search of co-ops, internships, and jobs. The directory will be available during the Career Fair on September 29th so please have your information submitted before then to be added.

To be included, please email the following information to Lynn Czarnecki, lmczarne@mtu.edu, as soon as possible:

• Name
• Academic year: 2nd year, 3rd year, etc.
• Major
• What you are interested in: Co-op,Internship, Full/Part time job
• Link to your LinkedIn Profile (go to linkedin.com to set up your profile.)

About LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a business‐oriented social networking site founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003 mainly used for professional networking. As of July 2009, it had more than 43 million registered users, spanning 170 industries. (taken from Wikipedia.org, Sept. 23, 2009)

Resources for Building your LinkedIn Profile

College Graduate guide from LinkedIn

LinkedIn for College Students: Begin Your Networking Early

Personal Branding Tips for LinkedIn

How to use LinkedIn in your Job Search

Orientation week was a blast but I had my doubts that the fun would continue once reality hit. I kept forgetting that I was going to have classes to go to and homework to do every day. However the fun did not end. At Michigan Tech, the first week of classes is called welcome week. Throughout the week there are activities such as movies, concerts, a photo booth, trips, and free plants for you dorm. But in addition to all of these official events organized and advertised by Tech, there was simply a lot going on around the campus…things to do with new friends.

The first week of classes was a lot to take in. It takes a little adjustment. Some of the classes pose a challenge while others may seem pretty easy. It is important to make sure your schedule and classes will work out, as it is best to make changes in the first week. Your advisor becomes a very important resource, plus the advisor for the business program is awesome and very helpful. One of my favorite classes so far, despite the fact that it was the class that I was the least excited for it, is business law. Sounds boring, I know! But it’s not. We do have to do a lot of reading for the class, but the professor is really animated and there is a lot of class participation in discussions of past court cases. It makes you think.

Outside of my classes I have stayed plenty busy. I am worming my way into a few university club and organizations that I want to be part of. There are so many on campus that it is impossible not to find at least one that sounds interesting. Michigan Tech also ran a blood drive during the week. It’s an awesome opportunity to volunteer and do some good. My roommate and I went on a trip to Hungarian Falls on the weekend with the Outdoor Adventure Program. It ended up being more of a trickle then a fall but was really beautiful. I finally got a chance to check out the Tech Trails. A new friend took me mountain biking. It was my first time riding single track and I survived! The trail system is awesome up here. If you are into mountain biking, you are in for a treat! They have some crazy obstacles speckling the trails. You just can’t beat it if you’re into adrenaline rushes!

I have also gotten to know my hall a little bit better. There are ninety people but it feels like an extended family. There is always someone to go eat with or who wants to go out and do something. We have had movies going on in the common room nearly every night. Not to mention cookies, slushies, and popcorn. My hall has also gotten quite into slackline. If you know what that is, props to you, if not, just imagine walking a tight rope between two trees but imagine it more difficult. We also had a challenge course facilitated by our resident assistants, followed up by a barbeque. And last but not least Frisbee!

Over Labor Day weekend the school hosted a concert by Chris Cagle. The tickets were free, yes free, for all students. It was pretty awesome! During the weekend we also had Schoolyard Olympics, where halls compete as teams in different events including sidewalk chalking, musical chairs, relay race, water balloon toss, and steal the beacon. The competition gets fierce! It is a ton of fun to watch and even more fun to be part of.

This next Friday is K-day where classes are cancelled and pretty much the whole school is bussed out to McClain state park on Lake Superior for a day of fun in the sun! (Fingers crossed for the sun part.) Not to mention, that means this week everyone only has three days of class!

Our guest blogger, Danielle Boettger, is from Dearborn, MI and is majoring in Economics at the School of Business and Economics at Michigan Tech.

Before coming to Michigan Tech in 1985, Karol Pelc worked for electric power industry as an engineer, project leader and R&D manager. At the Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland, he lectured on production and R&D management. He was the founder and director of the Forecasting Research Center at that university. He has also served as international consultant in R&D and engineering management.

Karol Pelc

During his years at Michigan Tech, Dr. Pelc taught several courses related to engineering/technology management such as economics of technological change, management of technology, project management and international technology management. In 2001, he became co-founder and the first director of the Center for Technological Innovation, Leadership and Entrepreneurship CenTILE. He also initiated and organized the Entrepreneurs and Inventors Club of Michigan Tech. Since the 1990’s, he has been conducting research on technology strategies in Japanese industry, and on knowledge mapping theories and methods. He published actively in academic and professional journals. In 2004, he received the Excellence in Research Award from the International Association for Management of Technology for being the most prolific author in the domain of technology innovation management.

After retiring from Michigan Tech in 2005, as a professor emeritus Dr. Pelc continues to be active in research, teaching and consulting. In the fall of 2005, he was a visiting scholar at the Japan Center for Michigan Universities in Hikone, Japan. In 2006, he served as Fulbright Professor of technology systems management at the University of Maribor, Slovenia. In 2008, he presented a lecture series on global innovation networks for the International Business and Technology Management Program at the Lappeenranta University of Technology in Finland. In the years 2006 – 2008, he was a visiting lecturer of production and technology management at the Kozminski University in Warsaw, Poland (formerly L. K. Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management). Dr. Pelc has also continued to teach graduate courses at Michigan Tech during the summer terms (2006-2009).

His publications in the recent years (2005 – 2009) include the book Innovation and Technology Strategy published in Poland (2008), coauthored by W. Kasprzak, chapters contributed to three other books, and several publications in refereed journals such as Transformations (2008), International Journal of Technology Management (2005) and jointly with A. B . Jambekar in Team Peformance Management (2007) and Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management (2006). Dr. Pelc has also been actively involved in editorial work and served as guest editor for the International Journal of Knowledge Management Studies (2009), and International Journal of Technology Management (2005).

Links to more information

http://pelcinterlec.com/

http://myprofile.cos.com/pelc

http://karol-pelc.blogspot.com/

http://www.sbea.mtu.edu/kipelc