Category: Competitions

SBE Student Wins National Essay Competition

By Mark Wilcox

A promotion used at his financial institution, provided the inspiration a Michigan Technological University undergraduate needed to take the top prize in a prestigious national essay competition.

For the past four years, teams from Michigan Tech’s School of Business and Economics had advanced to the finals of the iOme Challenge. In 2012 the SBE team took home Honorable Mention and a $2,000 prize. Finally this year, a Husky has emerged as the champion.

Jerrid Burdue has been named winner of the iOme Challenge for his essay and innovative video focused on federal government proposals related to education requirements, the myRA program, Social Security taxes and the Saver’s Credit.

As a result of the win, the third-year student from Niles, Michigan, was awarded the top prize of $5,000 and will travel to Washington, D.C. later this month to present his essay at the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER) Forum.

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Jerrid Burdue

SBE Student in Finals of National Essay Competition

An entry from Michigan Tech’s School of Business and Economics (SBE) has been named a finalist in the iOme Challenge, a national competition.

The SBE’s entry was an essay written by Jerrid Burdue. Emaneul Oliveira (SBE) is the faculty advisor. The official announcement of the ultimate winning team will be June 6.

This is the fourth time SBE has participated in the iOme competition with our team reaching the finals each time they competed. SBE did not participate in 2015 because the competition changed the time frame from the Fall to Spring semester.

The iOme Challenge is coordinated by WISER (Women’s Institute For A Secure Retirement), in Washington D.C. and sponsored by entities such as the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries, Financial Planning Association, Prudential, Experian, among others.

The winning team will go to Washington June 28 and 29 and present their essay to members of Congress, policy-makers and others who are interested in this policy issue.

A top prize of $5,000 will be awarded to the winning student team and $1,500 to the team’s faculty advisor.

More information can be found on the iOme Challenge and WISER web sites.

– Tech Today

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2016 Sam Tidwell Outstanding Man and Woman in Business

Each year the School of Business and Economics recognizes two students who bring honor and pride to the School through high scholastic achievement and involvement. Students eligible for this honor went through an intense interview process that included an essay and interview with faculty.  This year 8 men and 11 women applied.  We are pleased to announce our winners: James Sturos, Accounting and Hailey LaFleur, Marketing and Management!

 

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The Outstanding Man and Woman in Business award is sponsored by Peter Negro of Negro and Associates, CPAs.

MTU’s DECA Soared at State Conference

SGroup DECA 2016tudents from Michigan Tech’s chapter of Distributive Educational Clubs of America (DECA) attended the State Career Development Conference over spring break. The competition has three different types     of events which include case studies, business simulations, and prepared events. The students are given thirty minutes to an hour to prepare the event depending on the type, and then present their findings to judges who grade them based on specific performance indicators. For the business simulations and case studies, no outside materials are allowed. The competition is designed to take the knowledge students learn inside the classroom and apply it to real world problems. The judges are professionals from that specific area meaning that the judge typically works for a firm within that industry and/or holds certifications which makes them competent to judge the event. This year, eleven members from Michigan Tech attended the conference, and nine qualified for the International Career Development Conference. Ken Arndt placed third in the corporate finance event, and Cassandra Barry (pictured below) placed first in the accounting event. In Michigan Tech’s chapter of DECA, placing first in any event had only occurred three times, once when the chapter was established, and twice in 2013.

 

C Barry DECA

 

 

Project Management Institute Competition

Each year Michigan Tech’s OSM4200 Advanced Project Management course competes in the West Michigan Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI) competition in Grand Rapids Michigan. This year’s project plan was based on improving the health of children ages 5-18 years of age in the State of Michigan. Michigan Tech Team B placed 3rd out of 13 teams in THE Project 2016 project management plan competition on Monday, April 11, 2016 held in Grand Rapids, MI.  The team’s mentor was Shawn Rathbun, a Michigan Tech alum. Dr. Dana Johnson, Professor of Supply Chain and Engineering Management was the teams Project Champion and Faculty Advisor.  The team members were:

Erika Tenizbaeva, Undergraduate Student – Management major with concentration in Supply Chain and Operations Management

Kwang Suthijindawong: Undergraduate Student – Management Information Systems and Operations & System Management majors

Syed Awn Muhammad Jafri: Graduate Student in Electrical Engineering

Karan Gujarathi: Graduate Student in Mechanical Engineering

Cody Waffle: Undergraduate Student – Engineering Management

This is the fifth year of the competition. Michigan Tech is the only University to place at least one team in the top four for all five years.  This year’s team was awarded $2,000 to split between the team members.  To learn more about the competition, http://www.mtu.edu/business/more/orgs-activities/the-project/.

– Story by Dr. Dana Johnson

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