The Weekly Update – Full-Time MBA: April 14, 2016

Program News & Announcements 

How Can We Help You?

Please take a few minutes to tell your advisors how we’re doing and where we can improve! Take a moment to fill out our brief survey and please be honest, your responses are anonymous. Thank you for taking the time to help us serve you better!

Second Year Send Off

Please join your second year classmates, wonderful alumni, and the CMC as we celebrate your accomplishments with food and good conversation on Monday, April 18th in Witherspoon Hall (Corner of Dan Allen and Cates Ave.) from 4- 5:30 p.m. RSVP in Joblink.

NCSU Helpdesk Phishing Email

The email circulating on campus from “NCSU Helpdesk” asking users to click on a link to update their account information or risk losing access to it is NOT a legitimate email. This email was not sent out by anyone affiliated with University IT. Recipients should NOT click on the link in the email or provide any information as it will then be used to compromise their accounts.

Please note that NC State IT personnel will never ask for your password, by email or otherwise. Anytime you receive an email asking you to do this, you should consider it phishing. If you wish to report it, you can forward the message, along with the full headers, to phishing@ncsu.edu.

Spring Graduates – Take the MBA Oath!

Before you step out into the world as an MBA Graduate, please consider taking The Oath. The MBA Oath mission is to facilitate a widespread movement of MBAs who aim to lead in the interests of the greater good. The Oath is a voluntary pledge for graduating MBAs and current MBAs to “create value responsibly and ethically.” This year is the first year that students from the NC State Graduate School of Management are participating in MBA Oath…leave your legacy! What kind of leader will you be? Look for the signature table at the Graduation Reception on May 5th.

Send Us Your Pictures for the Graduation Reception!

Please send us pictures from your time in the MBA program for a slideshow we’re putting together for the graduation reception. These could be from class, events, clubs, volunteering, study abroad. Email your photos to Ritika Bhatnagar at rbhatna2@ncsu.edu by Monday, April 18th.

Potential Compliance Practicum for Fall 2016: Your Response Needed

This practicum course allows students to leverage their experience, education, and training to provide program development and marketing consultation services to NC State University’s Office of General Counsel (the client); specifically, advising and advancing the Compliance and Integrity Program. Students will use marketing and public relations techniques to advance the Program’s presence in order to promote and develop a culture of compliance and ethics at NC State. Students will meet with the client regularly to identify challenges and provide solutions in the form of a comprehensive marketing plan. A team of 4 – 6 MBA students will prepare and present a marketing campaign to the client, including detailed recommendations for advancing the client’s efforts. The course allows students to engage the NC State community and influence the university culture in a meaningful way.

Upon completion of the practicum, students will be able to:

• Articulate and describe the culture code at NCSU
• Analyze and evaluate client needs
• Develop a marketing plan that satisfies a client’s goals and constraints
• Develop innovative solutions to complex problems
• Demonstrate team-based, deadline driven, organizational skills necessary to complete projects in a real setting

This course will be graded on an S/U basis. Eileen Taylor, the faculty advisor, is seeking students with an interest in marketing, ethics, compliance, project management, and NC State. At this point in time we are trying to determine the level of MBA student interest. If you are interested in working on this project, please email Eileen Taylor directly at Eileen_Taylor@ncsu.edu.

Campus & Student Club Events

MBASA End of Semester Party: April 22

The MBASA End of Semester Party is almost here! The event will be held at Goodnight’s Comedy Club in downtown Raleigh on Friday, April 22nd from 6 – 9 p.m. The MBASA will have its own private comic from 7 – 8 p.m., appetizers will be served, and a cash bar will be available. Dues-paying MBASA members are welcome to attend. Be sure to sign up via Eventbrite by Monday, April 18th. Questions? Email Jenn Majka at jkmajka@ncsu.edu.

Poole College Business Sustainability Collaborative

NC State Net Impact Lunch n Learn with Lyle Estill, Piedmont Biofuels: April 20

Join the Net Impact Chapter and the Business Sustainability Collaborative Wednesday, April 20th from noon – 1 p.m. in Nelson Hall 3220 for a roundtable discussion with Lyle Estill, president and co-founder of Piedmont Biofuels, a community-scale biodiesel project in Pittsboro, NC. He has been on the vanguard of social change for the past decade, which has placed him at the heart of the sustainability movement. Lyle is a prolific speaker and writer, and the author of Industrial Evolution, Small is Possible and Small Stories, Big Changes. He has won numerous awards for his commitment to resilience, community development, outreach, and leadership. Lunch provided; RSVP requested.

Professional Events & Networking

Raleigh Chamber’s Young Professionals Network – Do What You Do Best: Leading With Strengths: May 19

At this unique YPN program, you’ll have the opportunity to take the Gallup StrengthsFinder assessment to determine your top five strengths. Doug Bacon of Throwing Words will then explore how to develop your strengths for amazing breakthroughs and leverage the individual strengths of a team for maximum results. RSVP to Sarah Pickel at sjpickel@ncsu.edu by May 12th if you are interested in attending. YPN events are held at the PNC arena from 7:30 am – 9:30 am.

Upcoming Dates to Remember:

April 15 – 16: Basketball Analytics Conference
April 20: Net Impact Lunch n Learn with Lyle Estill
April 21 – 22: SwitchPoint Conference
April 21: 8th Annual Student Leadership and Innovation Showcase
April 22: MBASA End of Semester Party
April 26: Reading Day – no classes
April 27 – May 5: Final Exams
May 5: Jenkins MBA Graduation Reception
May 7: Spring Commencement

Meet a Jenkins MBA: The Weekly Spotlight 

Name: Padmaja Soundararajan, 2nd Year Full-Time MBA
Hometown: Madurai, India
Previous Degrees & Institutions: Bachelor of Technology in Bioinformatics, SASTRA University

Q: What’s the best piece of advice anyone has ever given you?
A: Think all you want before making a decision, but never, ever regret a decision that you’ve made. If it goes bad, it is a lesson and if it’s good, isn’t that what we wanted?

Q: What’s the most fun or enlightening experience you’ve had in the MBA program so far? 
A: The Consumer Behavior class. It was so much fun learning how people make decisions and are not aware of them in an exact way. The class made us look at the world through different eyes.

Q: What’s your favorite song to cheer you up, get you pumped up, or ready to face the day? 
A: Two poems actually make me feel better when I am low: “If” by Rudyard Kipling and “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost.

Q: If you had 5 minutes to teach someone something new, what would you teach?
A: The art of organizing a desk drawer. Trust me, when you want a file and you know exactly where it is, it can save you a lot of time.

Q: What’s your dream job/career goal? How is the Jenkins MBA helping you get there?
A: My dream job is to start a school for kids who do not have access to amazing education like us. The Jenkins MBA is helping me see how education is perceived by different cultures, and I am sure this will help me take the best of all the experiences of different fellow MBAs here and tailor a good school program.