Tag: SBEatMTU

Meet Tim Spehar…

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Tim Spehar is a spring 2017 graduate of our engineering management major! He recalls visiting a series of universities during his junior year of high school. He and his Dad traveled around the state of Michigan before making it up to the U.P. to check out Michigan Tech’s School of Business and Economics.  During his visit, Tim found exactly what he was looking for: the opportunity to combine both business and technical skills into one program. When he left his campus visit, Tim knew he had chosen his college! He knew he would be coming to Michigan Tech to major in engineering management.

Tim’s four years on campus were packed with classes, involvement in student organizations, and playing outside. As he reflects on his experiences, he came up with some advice he would like to share with future students:

  1. Academics come first. College chemistry is a lot more difficult than high school. When arriving on campus Tim was used to being able to get good grades without putting in extensive study time. Even if you’re at the top of your high school class, you are going to need to devote more time to your studies in college.
  2. Get outside your comfort zone. In his first year of college Tim’s roommate was a guy he went to high school with. Although they came to school together, Tim said he was surprised at how quickly he branched out and met new friends. “It is important to get out and meet people during orientation week when everyone is trying to find their place on campus.” He advises getting to know your neighbors in the residence hall. When Tim moved off campus, he moved into a house with guys that lived near him in Wadsworth Hall.
  3. Pick up new hobbies. Tim played rugby and lacrosse in high school, but when he started at Michigan Tech he decided not to play on the club teams here. Instead, he got involved in starting a new student organization on campus! American Society for Engineering Management (ASEM). Tim worked closely with both Dr. Dana Johnson and Roger Woods and became the first president of the Michigan Tech chapter of ASEM. This organization is a student based chapter of a national organization that is centered around raising awareness of engineering management as a profession.
  4.  Attend every career fair. You just never know who you are going to meet. During the fall career fair of his senior year, Tim was waiting in a long line to talk to a recruiter from a company he was interested in.  While he was waiting in line he started reading information on a nearby table for a different company. He ended up going to their table and talking to a representative for Therma-Tron-X Inc. After talking a while he was offered an interview for the next morning.  It wasn’t long before Tim was invited down to their office in Wisconsin and ultimately was offered a job.

Tim has already started his position as Project Engineer at Therma-Tron-X Inc. and has been enjoying his first few weeks on the job. On behalf of the School of Business and Economics, we congratulate him and wish him the best on his future endeavors! If you’d like to get in touch with Tim please feel free to send him an Email at tmspehar@mtu.edu, or follow him on Instagram @the_cycling_engeineer

Tim commencement with parents

Michigan Tech School of Business and Economics Faculty and Alums Receive the Keweenaw Chamber of Commerce Spark Plug Award

Each year the Keweenaw Chamber of Commerce presents awards in the following categories:

  • Community development,
  • Growth,
  • Customer Service/Quality/Teamwork,
  • Transformation/Innovation
  • Young Professional of the Year, and
  • Person/Project of the Year

The 2016 SparkPlug Award for Project of the Year was awarded to Leadership Keweenaw, with a mission to challenges participants to develop their leadership skills through networking, education, exciting and fun activities and community involvement. The vision: Leadership improves the quality of life for Keweenaw residents and guests via its graduates’ active, consistent practice of inclusive leadership.  To build our leadership talent to positively impact our economy, environment, and society.

This award is provided to a high impact project that is notable within the community and will provide lasting benefits to businesses and community member.  Leadership Keweenaw was one of eight nominations for the Project of the Year category.

Dana M. Johnson, Ph.D., SBE faculty and alum and chair of the steering committee for Leadership Keweenaw, along with Marilyn Clark, MTEC SmartZone CEO and SBE alum, were two of the nine team members to receive this award for their work in the design, development, and presentation of the leadership program.  The team has been working on the project since summer 2015, with the first class beginning in August 2016 with a planned graduation of 2017.

Dana Johnson 20170228002

Meet Erin Lipp…

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Erin is a second-year accounting student from Traverse City, Michigan. During her search for the perfect university, she recalls looking for school with a prestigious academic atmosphere in a location that would allow her to continue to enjoy the outdoors. In the fall of her senior year, Erin was invited to participate in the School of Business and Economics’ Impact Scholarship Competition. At the competition, Erin and her family had the opportunity to meet several faculty members.

This fall, two years after participating in the scholarship competition, the same professors that Erin met during Impact, she now had as instructors in class. They remembered having met Erin and her parents at the competition and were excited to have her in class. Erin says this is just one example of our faculty truly caring about their students.

Erin Lipp II

All through high school Erin was an avid runner and skier, but was not sure if she would continue to compete at the collegiate level. During her first year at Tech, she was a walk on for both the Nordic and running teams. Needless to say, she never looked back. Erin has continued as a three season athlete. That means she runs on the cross country team in the fall, skis on the Nordic team in the winter, and runs track in the spring. “Being an athlete really has taught me time management. I need to go to sleep early so I can wake up and be productive in classes and at practice.” Traveling many of the weekends throughout the year requires her to stick to a strict study schedule so she is able to make the most out of every day. One of her favorite parts about competing on the home trails is seeing her professors in the crowd. “It is much different for someone to show up to a ski race and stand around in the snow than it is to come to an indoor sporting event and sit comfortably in the stands.” Erin says she can’t imagine what she would do with all her time if she wasn’t involved in athletics.

Erin Lipp III

While being a student athlete does take up on average 15 hour a week (plus travel), Erin has also made time to get involved in an academic organization, Kappa Sigma Iota (KSI). KSI is a student organization dedicated to helping students gain an understanding of the business world through networking, guest speakers, and CPA/industry tours.  In her first year at Michigan Tech, Erin went on a trip to Minneapolis with KSI. They visited a few companies and firms including Caterpillar, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and Grant Thornton. After their tours, she sent a follow up Email to Grant Thornton thanking them for the experience, and mentioned she was interested in exploring a career with a CPA firm.  The representative from Grant Thornton got back in touch with Erin and invited her to participate in a four day recruiting conference known as Grow with Grant Thornton. In July, she headed to Chicago with other college students where they were exposed to Grant Thornton’s services lines such as audit, tax and advisory. Shortly after the program ended, Erin was offered an internship for the following summer. Erin is excited to spend this summer in Minneapolis where she will work as a tax intern.

While Erin is only half way through her second year, she knows she will pursue the Accelerated Accounting (MS) Michigan Tech and take the CPA exam. We are excited to see what the coming years have in store for her!

If you’d like to learn more about Erin, or get in touch with her check her out on ZeeMee!

Study Abroad in Valencia, Spain

Hunter Austin, a second year engineering management student wrote home to tell us about his first few weeks studying abroad in Valencia, Spain!

“Studying abroad offers so many advantages. For myself, as an Engineering Management major it allows me to learn another language and become familiar with another part of the world. These attributes are ones that employers love to look for in applicants. In addition, I choose a program, which allows me to continue to take classes in my chosen field so as to not fall behind on my degree. Those things aside, being a college student is about so much more than just getting a degree and a job. It’s about becoming a better person who’s compassionate, analytical and has the tools to contribute to society in a positive way. I try to strive towards this everyday and I believe Michigan Tech does an amazing job of preparing us for our future. We pride ourselves on being analytical and you can see through our alumni just how much of a difference we make in the world. However, often college students in the United States never make it out of the country during their studies. This is a big disadvantage being that we don’t have the luxury of being able to travel and see multiple cultures just hours away. In the context of our globalized world this make studying abroad undeniably crucial. Going abroad opens your perspective to cultures you’ve never made contact with in your life before. I know that in just the short while I’ve been in Valencia, Spain I’ve learned so much about Spaniards, about Europe, and about just how connected we all are as a human race. I’ve gained so much since my first day here and everyday is a new experience and challenge. The people I’ve met and the places I’ve gone, I know I’ll never forget. I encourage everyone to take the opportunity to study abroad as it could be the most important experience you have in all of college.

Also, if that didn’t convince you the food is utterly amazing here!!!”

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Hunter representing Michigan Tech will visiting Xativa, a small city outside of Valenica.

Economics Student Returns from Washington DC

Jerrid Burdue (a third year economics student) just returned from presenting his winning iOME essay in Washington DC.  Faculty adviser, Dr. Emanuel Xavier-Oliveira and the Interim Dean of the School of Business and Economics, Dr. Dean Johnson accompanied Burdue on his trip.  Jerrid discussed his proposal for improving the savings of millennials with Senator Stabenow, and met with Senator Peters to talk over his currently pending bill, THE COMPETES BILL.  This bill would increase funding for STEM research.  Burdue, Oliveira and Johnson discussed ways the School of Business and Economics could assist with the implementation of the bill. The group was also able to spend extended time with Senator Peter’s key staffers that work with retirement savings where they discussed the importance of the commercialization of this research.

While in Washington, Jerrid was also featured on a panel to discuss millennial savings patterns and habits.  Other panelists included representatives from the Department of Labor, the Treasury Department, and Congressional staff from both republic and democratic parties.

Gary Peters Debbie Stabenow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read more about Burdue, and see his essay here.