Michigan Tech College of Business Newsblog

Category: Student Organizations

DECA Students Travel Downstate

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Michigan Tech’s Collegiate DECA members attended the DECA State Career Development Conference earlier this month. In addition to networking with thousands of DECA members from Michigan, members were afforded the opportunity to take knowledge developed inside the classroom and transform it into solutions to real world problem. Of the students who attended, 75% of them qualified for the National Conference to be held in Orlando, FL at the end of April. One of the students, Jeffery Hines, even placed 2nd overall in his event. Other awards were handed out to the National Conference nominees, proving not only their ability to be hands on with problems, but the ability to solve them in a timely, and professional manner.

Are you interested in joining Tech’s DECA team? Contact Advisor Soonkwan Hong at shong2@mtu.edu or visit their webpage.

This article was written by Cassandra Barry.

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“So you want to be a CFO…”

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On September 11th, Barbara Johnson-Rossi spoke with Accounting students about her field, and how they can aspire to be Chief Financial Officers. Johnson-Rossi worked for nearly 30 years within the healthcare industry as an Internal Auditor, Manager of Accounting, Director of Operations, and CFO. Now retired,  she maintains 8-10 hours/week of consultancy work helping with payer contracting and managing data around cost-of-care.

Barbara Johnson-Rossi, former CFO for Essentia Health, speaks to Michigan Tech's accounting students.
Barbara Johnson-Rossi, former CFO for Essentia Health, speaks to Michigan Tech’s accounting students.

Based on popular demand, Johnson-Rossi will be presenting once again, this time to the Kappa Sigma Iota (KSI) Accounting Club and members of the greater Tech community. Her discussion will cover the various career options available within the field of Accounting, including a deeper look at the jobs she has held. KSI Accounting Club welcomes any interested parties to join them in welcoming Barbara Johnson-Rossi back to campus this Wednesday, October 1st at 5:30 pm in Fisher Hall, Room 131.


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FinanceU Is Most Exceptional!

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At the 20th Annual Student Leadership Awards on Friday, April 18, FinanceU received the honor of Exceptional Program of the Year.  FinanceU, an event in financial literacy put on by the Office of Financial Aid and the School of Business and Economics’ Finance Club on November 20, owes some of its success to its partnership with Michigan Tech’s Office of Financial Aid and Wells Fargo Bank.

The Finance Club and the Office of Financial Aid have partnered to produce the successful FinanceU events in order to help students make informed financial decisions.  FinanceU’s mission is to foster a greater sense of financial literacy among all students, regardless of major.  Topics discussed at this year’s event included financial aid opportunities, how to manage one’s personal finances, starting and continuously funding a substantial retirement plan, and provided students with online tools to help manage all of these aspects.  Financial Aid Advisor, Cindy Cowell, and Wells Fargo Store Manager, Ellie Freeman, were on hand to answer questions from audience members, but the main focus of the event was for students to present information to other students, since research shows that individuals are better able to understand a message when it is delivered by a peer.

This second consecutive FinanceU event held at its roots the same message as last year’s activity; Michigan Tech students were given the knowledge and power needed to enable them to begin making sound financial decisions before even graduating from college.  Similar to the previous year’s event, a survey was administered to participants, asking them to rate their knowledge of budgeting.  This year’s FinanceU event was so successful that the number of participants doubled, with over 200 students completing the surveys.

Brett Ludwig, 2013/2014 President of the Finance Club was extremely proud of FinanceU’s accomplishments.  “With this year being the second time FinanceU has put on the event,” Ludwig remarked, “we were hoping that it would be bigger and better than last year.  Mission accomplished.  With Donzel Dixson [Finance Club member] on the bullhorn outside, the flow of students coming to the booth as well as Finance Club members going throughout the library to ask people questions were astounding.  We’re excited to host more events in the future.”  Ludwig will be graduating in a few weeks, but will leave the Finance Club in the capable hands of Heath Johnson, 2014/2015 President.

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No Longer ‘Broke and Hungry’

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Front left moving clockwise: Heath Johnson, James Sturos (Treasurer), Daniel Olson, Derek Menard (Secretary), Brett Ludwig (President), and Cory Sullivan pose with Shelly Larson and Dan Dalquist, Edward Jones advisors

On Wednesday, April 9th, The Michigan Tech Finance Club hosted their second event of “Broke and Hungry?”.  53 students attended the event, lured by the promise of knowledge and pizza.  This year, local Edward Jones advisors Dan Dalquist and Shelly Larson took the time to talk to students about investing their money.  The main topic for discussion was the transition from college life to getting that first job, as well as the importance of saving for retirement.  Dalquist preached to students from all majors about technical financial topics such as tax savings, retirement plans, and asset securities.  Presenting some scary statistics about the current financial situation of most Americans, Dalquist and Larson appealed to audience members about the merits of getting their finances in order.  Since Tech students are numbers-driven, students were able to clearly see the drawbacks of waiting to save for retirement.  Ensuing the presentation was a barrage of questions.  Students were very interested in both advisors’ opinions of the future states of the market, social security, inflation, and how Edward Jones operates.  Even after the session concluded, both advisors spoke with many students one-on-one to answer specific questions.

Brett Ludwig, President of the Finance Club, talked to a few of the students in order to gauge their reactions to the presentation.  Overall, everyone seemed to enjoy the event and got a lot out of it.  One student, who is going to work for a company in Texas after graduation commented, “I’m looking at all this right now and this is exactly what I needed to know.”  The event was a hit and the Finance Club hopes to be able to host more events of this nature in the future for students.  A huge thank you goes to Dan Dalquist and Shelly Larson for making this one possible.

On behalf of the Finance Club, we hope you don’t wait until you’re broke and hungry to join us for the next event!

**This article was written by Brett Ludwig, with contributions from Emanuel Oliveira and Laura Bucci.

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