Departments Program Updates R. Jay Phillips, The School of Professional Development Division Gets New Director, By Patricia Schoch Management's newly named director of executive and professional development, sees the non-degree courses his division offers as an important part of the University's mission. The division of The School of Management (SOM) that Mr. Phillips leads works in partnership with public and private organizations to develop continuing education programs. The programs emphasize individual as well as organizational effectiveness. Mr. Phillips' division also works with companies to design on-site or on-campus training customized for individual companies. An important part of SOM's executive education offerings, the non-credit programs are presented in a variety of formats, including workshops, seminars, conferences, short courses, and one-on-one training. Dr. David Springate, SOM's associate dean for executive education, says Mr. Phillips' involvement will further enhance the School's professional and executive development efforts. "Professional and executive development is a wonderful avenue through which corporate partnerships can emerge for the School. It provides an excellent way through which the School can serve the business community. The extensive experience and background that Jay brings is sure to extend this important area for us." Although they may seem a contradiction in terms, in Mr. Phillips' view the courses - which emphasize a practical, real-world approach - are a perfect fit with the School's highly academic, research-based orientation. "The UTD School of Management is known for its teaching and research excellence," he says. "That bent toward excellence ensures that our graduates are among the brightest, most competent professionals in the marketplace today. Part of the University's mission, though, is to offer learning opportunities for our graduates and others so they can update their skills, thus ensuring their continued effectiveness and success. Such growth opportunities are precisely the role of the professional and executive development function." In addition to programs specifically tailored for individual businesses, the School offers open enrollment programs that target specific areas of management responsibility. Those programs include the Human Performance Technology Certificate Program that is a six-seminar course designed for human resource development professionals. The Marketing Technology Products and Services Program is formulated to equip high-tech marketing professionals to meet sales goals in high tech's fast-changing, highly competitive environment. Project Management non-degree short courses teach skills necessary to complete projects in a cost-effective, efficient manner and prepare participants to sit for the Project Management Professional (PMP) Exam. Mr. Phillips is working now to develop new programs for financial institutions that address needs created by deregulation and increased competition. He also plans to offer other financial programs to support people with all levels of individual financial expertise. "One of the key ways UTD can make a positive contribution is to offer efficient, cost-effective educational support to ensure a business's growth and success. That success is good for the entire community in that it has a direct positive effect on our economy." A graduate of the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University and the National Commercial Lending School in Norman, Oklahoma, Mr. Phillips worked in banks in Breckenridge and Commerce, Texas, and later served as chairman, president, and chief executive officer of banks in Brownwood, Mineral Wells, and Corpus Christi, Texas. For more information on UTD Executive and Professional Development, contact Mr. Phillips at 972-883-2204 or jayphil@utdallas.edu or visit http://som.utdallas.edu/profdev. Visiting Experts and the Dean Tackle Telecommunications Trends Telecommunications scholar and futurist Dr. Jag Sheth of Emory University (above, center) addressed UTD Cohort MBA students and members of the public in a February presentation and panel discussion on trends in telecommunications. A discussion followed featuring UTD School of Management Dean Hasan Pirkul (right), also an internationally respected telecommunications expert, and Matt Blanton (left), chief executive officer of Richardson-based technology business incubator STARTech Early Ventures. The presentation and discussion were co-sponsored by the UTD Cohort MBA Program and the Institute for Communications Research and Education (In-Core) in Atlanta. The event focused on the future of telecommunications and data networks and the wireless, cable, and entertainment industries in the digital revolution era. AMME Moving to Cooper Clinic As of June 2001, the internationally known Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas will become the site of classes for the Alliance for Medical Management Education (AMME), the innovative partnership between the UTD School of Management and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. In announcing the new site, AMME Director John McCracken explains that the facilities at the Cooper Center's thirty-acre health and fitness complex are an excellent fit with the program's curriculum. AMME courses - developed and taught by a joint faculty of senior management and medical school professors - are designed to provide practicing physicians with the skills and knowledge they need to assume a more effective role in the leadership and management of medicine. Participating physicians attend seven weeklong modules in Dallas and one in Washington, D.C., over a twenty-two month period. "The Cooper Center is a medically oriented facility that offers both classroom space and amenities ideally suited to our program," Dr. McCracken says, noting participants will stay in the center's fifty-seven- room hotel and have access to nearly three thousand square feet of classroom space as well as full use of the center's fitness facilities. "Our participants will get to take advantage of the Cooper Center's demonstrations of heart-healthy cooking, and they'll have access to the Cooper Clinic." Dr. McCracken notes that, under new AMME guidelines, physicians can now enter the program at any time and can take modules in any order. "We have opened up our program to people who have different interests, and we've tried to tailor delivery of the program for the participants' convenience. We've also tried to broaden the appeal beyond serving only those physicians who are interested in going all the way through to the capstone project and master of science degree. Completing any five of our courses is now recognized by a Certificate in Medical Management. Completion of all eight classes plus a capstone field study project is acknowledged by a Master of Science in Medical Management degree," he explains. For more information on AMME's programs, contact Dr. McCracken at 972-883- 6202 or by e-mail at amme@utdallas.edu. Access AMME's Web site at http://amme.utdallas.edu. Forum Looks at Employer-Employee Relations Participants in a UTD Professional Development Forum in March heard a presentation on how the Internet affects the employer-to-employee relationship by Robert Ressler. A partner in Arthur Andersen, Mr. Ressler leads the company's Southwest Region Human Resources/Change Enablement practice. He is also a member of The School of Management's Advisory Council. For more information on the School's Professional Development Forum, visit http://som.utdallas.edu/profdev. Accounting Hosts Information Technology Symposium Executive compensation in the slowing economy was the topic of discussion when representatives from leading international management consulting firms joined experts from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, The University of Michigan Business School, and The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) School of Management (SOM) for a symposium February 2 and 3 on the UTD campus. The symposium was the first of three presented this year by the SOM's accounting and information management area. The series, "Texas Symposium on Information Technology and Performance Management," focuses on rapid changes taking place in the global information economy. The second in the series, March 30-31, addressed issues of performance measurement. A third symposium in the 2001 series will be held this fall. Dr. Rajiv Banker, coordinator of the accounting and information management area, explains that the series provides a forum for interaction among academics, management consultants, and advisers who deal with leading issues and business practices, especially those that lend themselves to a multidisciplinary perspective. For more information on the "Texas Symposium on Information Technology and Performance Management," contact Amy Bass at amybass@utdallas.edu or 972- 883-6719. CEO Exchange Comes to UTD K. P. Wilska, president of Nokia Americas, and Mitch Mitchell, partner, A.T. Kearney, Inc., discussed advances in technology and communications and provided UTD students a forum for questions last fall in an on-campus "CEO Exchange." The event was one of two "CEO Exchanges" at UTD recently hosted by A.T. Kearney, Inc., and The School of Management. The most recent panel discussion, "Branding in the Evolution of the Internet in Europe," featured Kevin Roberts, worldwide CEO of the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, and Jim Rose, CEO of QKL.com, in segments from their appearance on Jeff Greenfield's weekly PBS TV show, CEO Exchange. The exchange format brings asynchronous conferencing and live commentary to students, giving them access to timely management topics. EMBA Program Adds New Electives With an eye toward helping participants achieve maximum effectiveness in their careers, The School of Management Executive MBA (EMBA) Program has added new electives on business law and leadership effectiveness through communications skills to its curriculum. EMBA Director Jasper Arnold says the new courses are designed to enhance the career success of EMBA graduates. Dr. Arnold notes that the communication skills component includes developing leadership effectiveness through identifying one's own leadership style. "We recognize that career success in business requires more than just knowledge about business itself. This type of success requires development of the whole self. Communication skills certainly are a key to effectively influencing others, and understanding the legal environment in which an executive works allows the executive to operate more efficiently." Both classes are specially designed for the EMBA Program, and enrollment is restricted to EMBA students. The business law class is being taught by attorneys from SOM Strategic Partner law firm Haynes and Boone, LLP. The communications class, "Breakthrough Communications for Executives," is being conducted by instructors from Dale Carnegie Training. SOM EMBA students take four credit hours of electives during their twenty- one-month, forty-eight-credit-hour program. For more information on the UTD EMBA Program, contact Dr. Arnold at jarnold@utdallas.edu or 972-883-4235 or visit the EMBA Web site at http://som.utdallas.edu/emba. U.T. Dallas Team Finishes in the Money at Nortel Competition By Patricia Schoch A team of four University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) students has brought home second-place honors, including $5,000 in prize money, in Nortel Networks' North American University Case Competition 2000 (UCC 2000) after final judging at the telecommunication company's Ottawa, Canada, headquarters. The UTD team tied with a team from Acadia University in Nova Scotia. The competition's $10,000 first-place prize went to a team from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Two School of Management students, Manny Hernandez and Susan Redmond, and two School of Engineering students, Bruce Babb and Annie Sultana, make up the winning UTD team. The four will split the prize money and will receive another $1,000 each for winning the local campus competition to qualify for the final round of the international contest. UCC judges noted they were impressed with the viability and potential profitability of the UTD team's entry. The entry investigated installation and operation of metropolitan area networks in small- to medium-size cities in the southern United States. The student competition was part of a three-hour undergraduate elective in which student teams worked on a proposal for a new telecommunications business. Offered at UTD last fall, the competition proceeded on an intra- and inter-university level. Nortel Networks designed UCC as part of its ongoing efforts to develop a technically savvy workforce in the face of stiff competition for qualified personnel within the telecommunications industry. The company selected UTD to be one of four universities in the United States to teach its UCC Program. Faculty advisors for the UTD team were Professor Steven Phelan from the The School of Management and Professor Steve Gibbs from the School of Engineering. "The creation of student teams of engineering and management students is an innovation that enables technological and managerial skills to be simultaneously brought to bear on new product development," explains Dr. Phelan, who is an assistant professor of business policy and strategy. "It also enables engineering students to work and learn from management students, and management students to learn from engineering students. "This reflects UTD's role as the leading university in the Telecom Corridor region, which has the highest concentration of telecommunications companies in the world. No doubt the high caliber of our students in management and engineering played an important role in the company's selection decision." Professor Gibbs, who is on loan to the UTD School of Engineering from Ericsson, notes that the rapid growth of the telecommunications industry is outpacing the rate at which colleges and universities can provide individuals with solid technical or business foundations. "Even after they graduate and join one of the telecom companies, they still face a learning curve before they become productive. Classes like this that introduce the students to the industry while they are still in school significantly shorten the process," Professor Gibbs says. Dr. Konstans' Ties Benefit SOM Students By Jeanne Spreier The Financial Executives Institute (FEI) doesn't have a high profile in Dallas. Don't mistake that, however, to mean it doesn't wield influence. According to Dr. Constantine Konstans, a School of Management professor of accounting and information management, the organization includes top financial people from some of the most influential companies in the Dallas area. Dr. Konstans, who has been a member of the organization for years in cities around the nation and is president of the Dallas chapter this year, says he sees his participation yielding big payoffs for The University of Texas at Dallas and its students. "You cannot simply submerge yourself in academic pursuits," he says, recalling his undergraduate days at Indiana University, when he thought he was headed into a career as a professional musician. "In a conservatory, our professors were also noted performers." In that manner, he says, it's vital to rub shoulders with business elite, not only so he can call on them as speakers at various university forums and to serve in advisory capacities at UTD but also so he can understand where business and finance are headed. "In many respects, they are ahead of us," Dr. Konstans says in comparing business in the real world to business as studied by academics. "Their whole philosophy is of getting things done," he says. He recalls his tenure at KPMG Peat Marwick as an example. "We moved ahead very aggressively with client requests," he says. "The other benefit - what I do and what I've been doing for four years - is I take students to the monthly meetings," he says. It helps his MBA students in any number of ways, Dr. Konstans says. They see how a professional business organization operates, they have the opportunity to make contacts with like-minded professionals, and they hear excellent speakers at the meetings. Even though Dr. Konstans steps down this summer from his Dallas chapter position, his work with Financial Executives Institute will continue. The organization has tapped him for a two-year position as vice president and director of its southwest region, which covers several states. In addition, he will serve on a national committee that studies international technology. The Financial Executives Research Foundation, an arm of the organization, plans to publish a book Dr. Konstans wrote about expanding an organization's portfolio of performance measures to include underlying fundamentals that can't be measured, such as the quality of a company's relationship with its suppliers and to what extent the organization keeps pace with learning and advancements. "FEI is a fantastic opportunity to develop relationships," Dr. Konstans says. And a fabulous way to give UTD's School of Management a face in the local - and national - business community. Music Draws Alumni Back to Campus The School of Management's Office of Alumni Relations sponsored two recent events that drew SOM alumni back to campus. On March 23, SOM alumni met for a reception in the Green Center before "The Soul of Brazilian Music" concert by the traditional Brazilian music group, Anima. Attending the Anima concert were: Latricia Rutledge, BS 1994; Rick Amsberry, BS 1990, MS 1992, MA 1996; Lyndall Groves, EMBA 1998; Tiffany Schmitt, EMBA 1998; Colleen Jensen, EMBA 1996; Jack Lamb, BS 1990; John Sizemore, EMBA 1995; Kathy Steglich, EMBA 1996; UTD President Dr. Franklyn Jenifer; Dr. David Springate, SOM associate dean for executive education; Dr. Jasper Arnold, UTD EMBA Program director; and Denise Ward, SOM's director of alumni relations. Attending a UTD evening, October 27, 2000, that featured a reception and a concert by the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, were the following SOM alums: Mr. Amsberry; Tony Dunkel, BS 1992, MBA 1994; his wife, Linda Dunkel, MS 1976; Henry Ennis, MBA 1998; Bob Huskerson, BS 1996, MS 1998; Randall Mills, MBA 1996; and Mike Nurre, MBA 1996. The October event was hosted by Ms. Ward and Dr. Diane Seay McNulty, SOM's associate dean for external affairs and corporate relations.