CHBC Global TV reporter Barry McDivitt interviews student Chae Ratzlaff about wine marketing during a Celebrate Research Week open house at the Faculty of Management.
Entrepreneurial Technology course offer students new business models
Intimate learning environments
For years, Management student advisors have helped students plan their schedules with an eye on final career paths. Starting in September, 2013, students can concentrate their studies around a new cluster – Entrepreneurial Technology. Courses in this cluster discuss building technology based business models, e-businesses, open services, social media products and leading technology projects in companies. This is a quickly growing sector, especially in the Okanagan.
The new accounting standard in BC (merging Chartered Accountants, Certified General Accountants and Certified Management Accountants) is – Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA). The accounting curriculum in the Bachelor of Management (BMgt) program has been aligned to ensure that students receive credit towards their professional designation and graduate well on their way to new careers.
Many management students seek a general broadly based education that will help them become entrepreneurs, small business owners, or generalists within larger corporations. To help them understand accounting, without requiring them to specialize, the Faculty of Management has introduced a Special Topic course – MGMT 419N teaches financial statement analysis.
Close ties to businesses and organizations
Barb Marcolin, assistant professor of Information Systems, has been working closely with Accelerate Okanagan (AO) on a number of initiatives. AO’s mission is “to increase the number of technology companies that start and grow in the Okanagan” and UBC is a partner. Marcolin’s Effective Use Research Network engages students at AO to research technology start ups in health care, mobile app development and web-interactivity areas. This interdisciplinary research engages faculty from Management, Engineering, Computer Science, Psychology, Education and Design.
The Faculty of Management has established contact with the Bordeaux Management School (BEM) and Orkestra, a competitiveness institute situated in Basque, Spain. These are two of many opportunities the Faculty is pursuing in an effort to open dialog and share research between the Okanagan region and other similarly endowed regions around the world, from wine to technology to new industry trends.
Highlights of new programs and courses
For the first time, the Faculty of Management is offering MGMT 422: Project Management. The course material is developed to help students seeking their Project Management Professional (PMP) designation.
Supply Chain operations is a field that offers many opportunities. 2013 sees introduction of a new course, MGMT419O, that will explore management of service operations and supply. As the world moves towards service-based industries, this adds an important dimension for those students interested in careers in supply chain management.
How do politics affect the stock market? A new course in Behavioural Finance – MGMT 439D will explore how financial models react to current events. This course is a fascinating way of looking at the world and the stock market, and compliments the existing finance curriculum.
In the community
The Faculty of Management is out engaging the community. Faculty representatives are all over the BC Interior at events like TEDX Talks, Okanagan Young Professionals, Chambers of Commerce, Pitch Competitions, Business After Hours and many more. Meeting with alumni, mentors, peers and colleagues, faculty members are building relationships that culminate in great partnerships. Course embedded outreach projects such as Live Case, Entrepreneur Bootcamp and Capstone Consulting combine with co-op student placements to ensure students have opportunities to contribute to the community.
The Grey Dragons have landed! The Faculty of Management has enlisted some senior business leaders as mentors and advisors. Nicknamed the “Grey Dragons,” these retired and semi-retired executives are providing sound advice around a variety of initiatives, bringing their knowledge, support, connections to the business world and expertise to students.
Faculty research projects
Annamma Joy and a collaborator from University of Adelaide, Australia have received a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) grant for research around “Tasting Rooms as Strategic Venues for Educating, Promoting & Selling Wine: The Wineries in the Okanagan Valley of BC.”
Arjun Bhardwaj continues his SSHRC-funded research into “Customer Biases in Service Encounters” and joins a group of researchers investigating “A Multi-Country Study of Social Networks.”
Student research projects
The Faculty of Management welcomes a record number of interdisciplinary graduate students in 2013/14. September, 2013 marks the first time management students will become subjects for a variety of surveys run through our new Behavioural Research Lab, opened March, 2013.
Upcoming events
Student and faculty events for 2013 include an intensive two-day orientation for all 3rd year management students on Sept 4 to 5.
CPA Night, September 11, brings accounting firms from BC and Alberta onto campus to meet our third- and fourth-year students. This sets the stage for both co-op placements and full time employment for our graduates.
Career Day takes place on September 19 and approximately 20 employers will have a chance to meet our students. This year’s event will include an additional speed networking and social event for employers, community members and students.
Coming from UBC’s connection to Accelerate Okanagan, a series of lunch and learns, as well as an open house for students interested in becoming entrepreneurs is being planned for late September. In January, 2014, Entrepreneur Bootcamp gives students a chance to pitch their ideas to a panel of industry experts and receive valuable feedback.
Live Case Challenge will be held in April, 2014 allowing 3rd year student teams a chance to compete to research, prepare and present their solution for a real problem presented by a local business or enterprise. Management students will once again take part in business school competitions around a variety of subject areas over the coming year, with a major team being part of JDC West. This competition tests academics as well as spirit and pits our Faculty of Management against the major business schools across western Canada.
New faculty members and personnel changes
In October, 2012, Roger Sugden left as founding Head of the Management School at the University of Stirling, UK, to accept the position of Dean of the Faculty of Management at UBC’s Okanagan campus. Under his direction, the faculty has reorganized itself into various working groups.
The chairs of these groups are Annamma Joy, faculty research coordinator; John Burton, academic lead for Master of Management; and Barb Marcolin, academic lead for Undergraduate Curriculum. Their mandates are to advocate research, lead the review and re-introduction of the professional Master’s program, and manage an exciting undergraduate curriculum.
Faculty contact information
For further information please contact:
UBC Faculty of Management
EME 4145, 1147 Alumni Avenue
UBC’s Okanagan campus
Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7
(250) 807-9462
fom.reception@ubc.ca
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