Congratulations are in order to Doug Johnson, Senior Insurance & Finance major, for winning recognition by the prestigious Lincoln Academy!

Each year an outstanding senior from each of the four-year degree-granting institutions of higher learning in Illinois is awarded the Student Lincoln Academy Medallion and thereby becomes a Student Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois.

The ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, November 7th in the Hall of Representatives, Old State Capitol, Springfield, Illinois.

Dean Johnson would like to invite you and your family to join him along with department chairpersons, faculty and staff for a continental breakfast and open house on:

November 7, 2009
8:30 – 11:00 am
College of Business Building

There will be opportunities to:

• Meet and mingle with the Dean, professors and staff
• Explore the building and all of the specialized technology rooms at your leisure including:
  • Financial Markets Lab
  • Marketing Focus Group Room
  •  Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation Professional Sales Learning Lab
  • Attend a presentation on Summer Study Abroad at 10:00am

We look forward to seeing you then!

The Professional Sales Institute is proud to host one of the top-rated sales career fairs in the country.  Held during the fall semester each year, this special-focus, Sales Career Fair brings over 45 companies interested in hiring sales professionals together with over 200 students interested in sales careers.

Participate in the Sixth annual Professional Sales Career Fair and Networking Reception to be held Wednesday, October 21, 2009 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Ballroom of the Bone Student Center. The event will provide company representatives an opportunity to interact with students who are interested in pursuing a career in sales, and enjoy light appetizers throughout the event. The combined event will provide the formality of a traditional career fair plus a more informal setting wherein company representatives can socialize with interested candidates.

• Recruiters – Please join us!  Register today and come to the 2009 Sales Career Fair ready to meet outstanding candidates looking to begin their professional selling careers. To ensure your company information is included in the Fall 2009 career section of our magazine, submit your completed registration form and pledge by September 30, 2009.

• Students – Register Today! Save the date and make plans to attend the Sales Career Fair and learn more about professional sales positions offered by some of the country’s leading sales organizations.  Make sure your resumes are up-to-date.  Dress is business professional.

Anson Yeganegi ‘09 (Marketing) is part of the “Best Persons Program” at Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s Midway Airport operations where he is completing extensive training for a position in upper management.

This 22-year-old Wheaton man literally exemplifies “best person” outside the job as well. Last week he dove into a lake and saved the life of a total stranger.  Wheaton police and fire officials are calling Yeganegi a hero.  They are recommending the 2005 graduate of Wheaton North High School be given an award.

Yeganegi said he’s not looking for recognition.

“I am happy enough in myself to know that in a situation like that I was able to do what I could to help,” he said.

Click here to read the amazing story.

Leadership training consultant and Illinois State University alumnus Michael Stallard will present “Fired Up Leadership: How Work Environment Fires Up the Human Brain to Improve Individual and Organizational Performance” on Wednesday, Oct. 21, from 11 a.m. – 12:10 p.m., in Illinois State University’s College of Business Building Room 139.

Stallard’s presentation will examine elements in a work environment that fire up the human brain so that people perform to the best of their ability and align their behavior with organizational goals.   By sharing knowledge integrated from research in multiple fields including neuroscience, organizational behavior, psychology, sociology, and history, stories of great leaders, as well as his own firm’s research, he unveils what he calls “The Connection Culture.”

Stallard is president of E Pluribus Partners, a leadership training and consulting firm.  He is the primary author of the bestselling book Fired Up or Burned Out.  His career has included jobs in marketing, business development, finance and investment banking at organizations including Morgan Stanley, Barclays PLC and Texas Instruments. He graduated from Illinois State with a bachelor’s degree in 1981 and went on to earn an MBA from the University of Texas Permian Basin and an law degree from DePaul University School of Law.

Stallard’s presentation is hosted by Illinois State’s Department of Management & Quantitative Methods.  The event is free and open to the public.  Contact Department Chair Jim Jawahar at jimoham@ilstu.edu by Oct. 19 to reserve a seat.

Professional success doesn’t just happen - it has to be earned.  Come learn what it takes.

In 2008-2009 the College of Business presented its first Early Career Achievement Awards (ECAA). This annual award celebrates young graduates from each program in the college who have experienced significant professional success, demonstrated innovative and responsible professional leadership and the potential for future distinction.

See who has been selected as  the 2009/2010 ECAA recipients.

Early Career Achievement Awards Panel Discussions
2:30 - 3:45 p.m.
Friday - October 16, 2009
College of Business Building

Accounting and Finance, Insurance and Law - COB 139
Marketing - COB 357
Management and Quantitative Methods and M.B.A. - COB 366

Join us for a Networking Reception in the Lower-level Atrium following the presentations. 

The Early Career Achievement Awards are sponsored by the College of Business and Toastmasters.

Illinois State University’s Export Project is able to help more Illinois-based businesses expand into overseas markets thanks to a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).  The funding supports the Export Project’s work with the agriculture equipment and technology firms Dickey-John and Brandt Consolidated, and the paint manufacturer Rust-Oleum Corporation.

Since 2006, Export Project faculty and student teams have traveled to New Zealand, Germany, Argentina, Poland, China, and India to help companies explore international market opportunities.  Plans are currently underway to send teams working with Dickey-John, Brandt Consolidated and Rust-Oleum to Romania, Brazil and South Africa during the summer of 2010.

Export Project team members include faculty and students from Illinois State’s College of Business and College of Applied Science and Technology. Throughout the year, the teams work with medium-sized companies to identify, evaluate, and actively develop international business opportunities and prepare export plans. The teams act as consultants and prepare targeted marketing studies for specific countries. During the summer months, Export Project teams travel overseas to selected countries to evaluate potential export market opportunities. In addition to helping businesses grow, the multidisciplinary project gives Illinois State students a unique opportunity to gain international business and marketing experience.

Members of the Export Team are:

• Iris Varner, Director of the International Business Institute,
• Peter Kaufman, Associate Professor in Marketing;
• Mark Hoelscher, Associate Professor in Management and Quantitative Methods;
• Klaus Schmidt, Associate Professor in technology,
• Aslihan Spaulding, Assistant Professor in Agriculture.

In 2007, the Export Project received a two-year, $165,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education.  That funding was used to expand partnerships with small and medium-sized agriculturally-focused businesses, enhance the University’s international business curriculum, and provide faculty development opportunities.

More than 70 accounting students will learn what it takes to be criminal investigators with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) during a day-long fraud investigation simulation at Illinois State University on Friday, Sept. 18.  The students will take part in the IRS’s “Adrian Project” Student Fraud Conference to solve hypothetical financial crimes using forensic accounting techniques.

IRS special agents are sometime referred to as “accountants with guns.”  The “Adrian Project” allows students to experience the inner workings of a fraud investigation through the eyes of IRS special agents and learn about forensic career opportunities open to students with degrees in accounting.

Students will work in groups under the direction of current and retired IRS special agents to investigate crime scenarios such as business owners skimming funds from their company, a bar owner who keeps two sets of books, a multi-filer tax scheme, and a drug trafficking operation.  In addition to using forensic accounting to follow a paper trail of financial wrongdoing, students will employ the tools available to federal law enforcement officers, including the use of undercover operations, surveillance, subpoenas, and search warrants.  Participants will also make mock arrests of suspects in the crime scenarios.

“The ‘Adrian Project’ fraud investigation simulation is a great out-of-class experience for students,” said Gerry McKean, interim chair of Illinois State’s Department of Accounting.  “It gives students a chance to see the forensic accounting and criminal investigation work done by IRS special agents and learn more about an exciting career option in governmental accounting.”

The Great Urban Race is exactly that.  Founded by College of Business entrepreneurial program graduate Joseph Reynolds ’03 these fun challenges have already been a hit in 20 major cities across the United States.

So grab a partner, solve 12 clues and complete fun challenges while discovering the Normal community in a fresh way. The Great Urban Race, which is just one fun part of Homecoming, begins at 10 a.m. on October 16th  at the Alumni Center and ends on the Quad.

A portion of your registration fee will help establish the ISU Student Foundation Service Award Scholarship.

Prizes: $300 and free entry to the New Orleans national championship for first place, $150 and free championship entry for second place, free championship entry for third place, best costume, funniest pictures, and top family team. There is a $1,000 cash prize to the group that signs up the most teams.

To register go to www.greaturbanrace.com. The cost is $45 per person through September 21, with the fee then increasing to $55 per person until October 15, and $70 per person on race day.

Interested in learning more? Visit http://illinoisstatehomecoming.com/events/great-urban-race to find out about the company go to www.greaturbanrace.com.

The College of Business is pleased to announce the 2009-2010 Caterpillar Excellence Fund Scholarship Winners.  Seventy-six highly-qualified applicants applied for a scholarship and 10 students were selected to each receive a $2,500 award.  Please take a moment to congratulate those students that you know.

2009 Caterpillar Excellence Fund Scholarship Recipients:

• Brittany Applegate - Sophomore, Finance Major
• Hussein Badrudin - Senior, Accounting Major
• Elisabeth Bellinger - Senior, International Business Major
• Chelsea DuBois - Senior, Entrepreneurship Major
• Elizabeth Flores - Sophomore, Entrepreneurship Major
• Kyle Koniewicz - Sophomore, Marketing Major
• Kristen Mense - Senior, Business Information Systems Major
• Kelsey Rayphole - Junior, Marketing & Business Administration Major
• Carlos Torres - Junior, BS/MPA Major
• Patrick Wu - Junio, Finance Major