Michigan Tech College of Business Newsblog

THE Project Competition: Two School of Business and Economics Teams

Published January 27, 2012

When people hear the word “manager”, they think of a supervisor or someone in charge of making a schedule. Images of Bill Lumburgh from Office Space talking about memos and TPS reports come to mind.

However, in recent years, Project Management has grown into an important profession and Michigan has begun to take notice. Spectrum Health, Steelcase, Amway, the Grand Rapids Business Journal and other local businesses have partnered with the Western Michigan chapter of The Project Management Institute (WMPMI) to host an intercollegiate project management competition simply known as THE Project 2012.

Eight teams from six colleges and universities compete for $10,000 in cash prizes and paid internships at major corporations in West Michigan. Dana M. Johnson, Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management and Michigan Tech Champion, formed two team of four students each from the School of Business and Economics, Michigan Tech for the competition.

”This is a great opportunity for our students to apply what they learned in the project management course to a real-life situation. At the competition, students will not only be able to network with other teams, but gain valuable exposure to companies who are seeking to hire graduates through a reverse career fair.”

The student teams, along with their school, business, and PMP mentors, must create a project management plan for a business seeking B Corporation certification. B Corps permits and protects businesses in making social and environmental decisions. Instead of being accountable only to shareholders, B Corps businesses must also consider their impact on employees, their community, and the environment.

“B Corps certification allows a business to have a triple bottom line focus of profit, people and the environment,” Kelly Talsma, PMP, Vice President of Education at WMPMI, said.

The Project Management Institute recently released a study stating there were 90,000 job openings in the United States where businesses required or preferred PMP certification. Many colleges and universities have recognized this trend and have responded with several courses and degrees with a focus in Project Management.

THE Project 2012 wants to give students real-life business experience rather than a mere academic exercise. The winning team will have an opportunity to make their presentation in front of 500 business and academic leaders as well as members of WMPMI.

For more information on project management or WMPMI, go to www.wmpmi.org. To learn more about B Corporations, visit www.bcorporation.net.

iOMe Challenge Update: Michigan Tech Receives Honorable Mention

Published January 24, 2012

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G5J-p7ktbM[/youtube]

Four teams of Michigan Tech students competed in the 2011 iOMe Challenge, that builds awareness for ways that local organizations might engage the Y or Millennial generation to think about their own future, 40 years from now. Three of the four MTU teams made it to the final round of judging and one team has received an honorable mention in the 2011 competition. Students were judged on a video submission (above) and an essay. The team receiving the honorable mention was awarded $2,000 and was composed of:

Katie O’Connell, Economics major
Tianlu Shen, Environmental Engineering major
Adam Stigers, Economics major
Teddy Broe, Economics major
Walker Derby, Finance major

Lecturer in Economics, Emanuel Oliveira, was the academic advisor of the four teams competing in this year’s iOMe Challenge. Commenting on the contest’s two components, Oliveira said, “The students put together an excellent essay that contained innovative policy recommendations, considerable statistical analysis, and it was very well written.”

Team leader of the winning team and economics major, Katie O’Connell, noted that it was amazing to find out that their group had received honorable mention in the iOMe Challenge. Recalling her feelings prior to the competition and why she chose to compete she said, “I remember hoping to do well! Receiving an honorable mention was great. I decided to compete in this challenge to get a closer look at how to encourage people to save money. It truly is a challenge in an economy where interest rates are so low and there is no obvious and immediate reward. But it’s also critically important to the future of our economy, and even our society, to reverse the downward savings trend. I hope that our participation in this process will at least help to open discussion as well as spark ideas and interest in creating an America that saves more.”

Congrats to all of this years competitors and Dr. Emanuel Oliveira!

iOMe results from 2010-2011

Networking Equals Career Fair Success for 2011 Woman of Promise

Published January 23, 2012

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Caitlin Pionke networks to receive job offer at DOW Chemical in Midland, Mich.

Caitlin Pionke jokingly refers to herself as a “business management major who got a job in the IT department at a chemical company.”

Pionke was named the 2011 Woman of Promise for Michigan Tech’s School of Business and Economics and has taken full advantage of the honor. She is a senior in Management and an active student across campus belonging to Beta Gamma Sigma International Honor Society and the International Business Ventures Enterprise among other commitments. For her, being selected as the Woman of Promise by the School of Business and Economics, opened up possibilities for networking with the Presidential Council of Alumnae (PCA) and landed her a job at DOW Chemical.

Immediately upon receiving the award this spring, Pionke began attending PCA events and developing relationships. The time she spent networking allowed her to identify helpful people who would best assist her in finding employment. Almost immediately Caitlin noticed how important networking was to her job search. She made contacts with DOW Chemical prior to the Michigan Tech Fall Career Fair and was then able to secure follow up interviews—both on campus and on site in Midland.

When thinking about her job hunt, Pionke recalls, “It was a great feeling walking up to the DOW Chemical booth at the Career Fair and having the recruiter already know me. Not only did they know my name but they had also already reviewed my resume which had been sent directly to them by my contacts in the company.”

Networking undoubtedly played a large role in her success at the Career Fair. Pionke noted that for her it wasn’t just the day of the Career Fair that was important, but rather Career Fair month. Prior to the event she sent out resumes to targeted companies and followed up with thank-yous after the fair. Even though DOW Chemical did not list that they were looking for Business Management majors, Pionke’s networking had allowed her to stand apart from the crowd and prove herself worthy of an interview.

Pionke will begin her new job at DOW Chemical in Midland, MI as an Information Systems Analyst on June 18^th. Our School is happy to report that she is living up to her name as the 2011 Woman of Promise.

Management Information Systems Class Partners with RMS

Published January 19, 2012

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Business Intelligence students to work with Revenue Management Solutions on a Project to gain real world experience in MIS.

MIS 3400 Business Intelligence is giving students what all undergraduates look for, practical experience in the classroom that can be translated into the real world. For the first time, students taking this course will have the opportunity to partner with Revenue Management Solutions (RMS) to work on a project proposal and a mock client contract that resembles work being done currently by international consulting firms. This opportunity has been made available by utilizing Associate Professor of Management Information Systems (MIS), Mari Buche’s, excellent networking skills. She reached out to Ashley Johnson, a 2008 MIS and Marketing alumna and RMS employee, and the idea for the partnership was born.

Johnson noted that even in the three years since she graduated from Tech, there have been updates to the curriculum to meet industry needs. This course is particularly advanced because it gets practical experience into the classroom to students from a variety of disciplines. The students were given a project proposal that is supportive of the Business Intelligence curriculum, and they will compete in five or six teams of three to four students. All of the groups will be working on the same client contract. They will each need to present a deliverable, in the form of either a Microsoft Excel decision support tool or web portal, while functioning under a team structure with positions including: consultant, analyst, and developer. A combination of technical and business skills will be required to produce the desired outcome.

Through this partnership, RMS will provide SBE students with a dedicated server, demonstrations of BI applications, and access to project specific sales data for student manipulation. In return, RMS is looking for an innovative data warehouse design that can meet the Tampa-based company’s increased demand for decision support services based on transaction level data. For this project MIS 3400 students will be required to develop and document implementation of a new data system that fuels business decisions for any retail or restaurant company. By the end of the semester, each group will have achieved the following objectives:

Data Assessment Document
Data Dictionary
Entity-Relationship Model
Dimensional Model
Extract-Transform- Load Process Document
System Prototype
System Proposal Document

This project is still in the early stages, with the students only just being introduced to the project and made aware of the client expectations at the RMS Project Kick-Off event this week; however, Johnson and RMS are excited about the opportunity to work with Buche and Michigan Tech students who are creative and innovative. I’m sure the feeling is mutual.

Jim Trethewey ’67 – A Different Route to Success

Published January 18, 2012

By Tanya Maki

Alumni Spotlight

"A really good education is your ticket to opening up opportunities. When opportunities struck, I was well prepared to take advantage of them.” Jim Tretheway '67

Taking “the road less traveled” takes courage, especially for a college student. Many students come to Michigan Tech for engineering, but an elective can lead to a different career path. Such is the story of Jim Trethewey.

Trethewey, from Ironwood, began as a mechanical engineering major. Then he took an accounting elective from Professor Sam Tidwell. Because he did well in the course, Tidwell encouraged him to change majors. After some soul-searching, Trethewey switched to accounting.

As an undergraduate, Trethewey was involved in Theta Tau fraternity and intramural sports. His academic achievements led to the honorary accounting fraternity Kappa Sigma Iota. “I made many good friends and liked the students’ work ethic,” says Trethewey. “And, in my career, it turned out to be a very good thing to have a mix of business and technical courses.”

After graduating, Trethewey accepted a position as an auditor for Copper Range, a copper mining concern. He next joined Cleveland-Cliffs (now Cliffs Natural Resources), an iron ore mining company in an exciting growth period, as a financial analyst in its Ishpeming office.

Cleveland-Cliffs offered Trethewey a wide variety of opportunities. From Ishpeming to Ontario to Cleveland, Trethewey worked in positions of increasing responsibility and became vice president-controller and chief accounting officer. Along the way, he also earned his MBA from Baldwin- Wallace College.

In his final years with Cliffs, Trethewey was senior vice president of business development and worked with the senior corporate team in reshaping the company, adding international experience to his career. He retired in 2007.

Looking back, Trethewey says, “A really good education is your ticket to opening up opportunities. When opportunities struck, I was well prepared to take advantage of them.”

Being open to different types of jobs within a company is helpful, as many newly learned skills could be transferred to other areas, he says. “Mobility is also important. Don’t tie yourself down to one location.”

Being involved in both professional and community organizations has also been important to Trethewey. He networked with professionals in the American Mining Association, the Society of Mining Engineers, and other industry groups that gave him a broader understanding of his field.

“I worked with community organizations such as United Way and currently serve on the boards of two charities,” says Trethewey. “I was always looking for ways to give back to society. It’s important to stay active in other things besides work so you can expand yourself.”

Trethewey credits a lot of his success to family support, especially from his wife, Dee. The couple divides their time among a winter home in Florida, a summer home in Chautauqua, New York, and a townhouse in Cleveland, where three of their five children and five of their eight grandchildren live.

Trethewey has found time in his busy retirement to continue giving back to Tech. In 1994, he began serving on the School of Business and Economics advisory board, and since 2009 he has served as a trustee of the Michigan Tech Fund.

Trethewey reflects, “My newer role as a trustee lets me deal with the entire University. It gives me an opportunity to participate in activities with other devoted graduates who care where the University is going. We help raise funds for the University, network, and work to form corporate partnerships. These activities are important to maintain sound financial footing and ensure the University continues to advance.”

As an advisor to the School of Business and Economics, he has been involved in AACSB accreditation, which has been particularly gratifying for Trethewey. Providing input on curriculum and meeting with students and faculty have been valuable for him. He is excited about many School and University programs including the Applied Portfolio Management Program (APMP) and Enterprise.

“I like that the School is getting involved directly with corporations and the hands-on nature of these programs,” he says. In addition, Trethewey has started two endowed scholarships for business students from Gogebic County. Other possible contributions are in the planning stages.

“The School of Business and Economics was my foundation, my beginning on the road to success,” he says. “So it’s really important for me to have a part in its growth. The current direction of the School is right on track. Being involved has given me the opportunity to have a voice in where the School is going and ensure it’s constantly getting better. And that’s very fulfilling.”

This article was originally published in Impact, the Michigan Tech School of Business and Economics magazine.