Activities

US-ASEAN Business Council 25th Anniversary Dinner
In preparation for their upcoming course study in Singapore, BSE Students were invited to attend the black-tie 25th Anniversary Dinner for the US-ASEAN Business Council held at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, October 27, 2009. The highlight was the presentation of the Council's First Lifetime Achievement Award to His Excellency Lee Kuan Yew, Minister Mentor and first Prime Minister Republic of Singapore. The students were all decked to the nines and arrived 3 hours early at the request of the organizers so that they could pitch in with preparations. In addition to a delicious dinner and the opportunity to see and “try” to speak to people whose names are, or have been, in the newspapers for decades, they heard speeches from former U.S. Secretaries of State Dr. Henry Kissinger and Dr. George P. Shultz, Senator Jim Webb, and United Technologies Chairman George David. Former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush added their congratulations to the Council and Minister Mentor Lee via video. Dr. Wellman and Claudia Donnelly accompanied the students, who will all be traveling to Singapore with other former and current BSE students for a course in January, 2010.

Gaver Tree Farm
BSE celebrated the start of Autumn at the Gaver Tree Farm in Mt. Airy, MD on September 30, 2009. The Farm is owned by the family of Greg Gaver, a BSE sophomore studying Economics and Plant Science at UMD. The Gaver Family was Frederick County Farm Family of the Year for 2005 and was presented the Take Pride in America award for 2008 for outstanding conservation and environmental stewardship practices. PHOTOS.

Disney Institute Program
The BSE Disney field trip allowed students to: 1) participate in an exclusive onstage and backstage field experience to gain insight into all of the work required to execute a memorable customer experience; 2) explore and validate the fundamental business models that drive strategic decisions at the Walt Disney World Resort; 3) discover systems, people, and processes behind the scenes that work together to produce a quality experience; 4) observe the application of systems and processes within the Walt Disney World Resort in the achievement of service excellence; 5) appreciate the importance of creating a positive culture that drives employee commitment; 6) interact with key Disney Leaders to gain a personal perspective on leadership behaviors and their influence on culture and performance. As part of the Disney experience, students participated in a Disney Institute program that covered topics such as leadership, customer service, strategy, and corporate culture. READ MORE.

United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates global immersion experience provided first-hand knowledge about the transformation of the UAE from a tribal culture to a growing economic superpower that is an important player in regional and international affairs. Students visiting the UAE were able to experience a diverse region of the world, exposing them to business, cultural, religious, economic, and social issues.

The student group visited Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman, Fujayrah, and Sharjah. The UAE experience including touring the Dubai Chamber of Commerce, Dubai International Financial Exchange, Dubai Ports World, Dubai Media City, Jumeriah Mosque, Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Mosque, Sheikh Mohammed Center for Cultural Understanding, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, UAE Central Bank, Northrop Grumman, and the Emirates Palace. PHOTOS.

Feedback concerning this trip was overwhelmingly positive. Students commented:

• “This United Arab Emirates international experience was an absolutely great experience and probably the best trip I have ever taken in my life. I found the experience highly educational as well as fun and interesting. We were given the opportunity to learn about a culture that we all knew very little about through a wide range of methods. I would absolutely recommend this trip to anyone who is even remotely considering it. This trip was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am so happy that I was able to be apart of this wonderful experience.”
• “Overall, I am very pleased with our trip to Dubai. It greatly surpassed all expectations I had of the trip. I now view the Middle East with a completely different perspective as I have realized that globalization has truly reached all parts of the world, and the Middle East is taking off with its enormous wealth and power. I have been humbled by adopting different customs and the local practices of the Emirati people while in the UAE, and I am extremely grateful that I have had this opportunity to experience the prosperous business, breathtaking scenery, and remarkable life in Dubai.”
• “The experience to study abroad in Dubai was unlike anything else I ever experienced in college. It gave me the opportunity to put myself in the environment and culture that was different from where I call home and what I was used to. I saw how open-mindedness is key regarding another culture, and how easy it is for misconceptions to be created when that isn’t exercised. With the states being so diverse in religion and ethnicity, I saw what it was like to be in a region that was predominantly Muslim, and how that affected their way of life.”

In summary, students enjoyed a rich, memorable time in the UAE and returned home inspired to learn more about the UAE and the Middle East. The participants enhanced their cross-cultural leadership skills and are equipped with a new global perspective.  

Berkshire Hathaway’s Shareholder Meeting
Warren Buffet is highly regarded and recognized for his investing insights and expertise. Students that had a strong interest in finance were given the opportunity to attend the Berkshire Hathaway’s 2008 shareholder meeting. Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholder meeting is a highly anticipated event by many professionals in the financial industry and the event has been called the “Woodstock for Capitalists.” Many of the world’s greatest investors travel from all corners of the earth to listen to the “Oracle of Omaha” speak at the annual meeting. By attending the meeting students gained a perspective about finance and investing that would not be possible strictly in the classroom. The shareholder meeting provided a unique opportunity to see and study Berkshire Hathaway’s individual subsidiaries. Students were also given the opportunity to learn about each of Berkshire Hathaway’s subsidiaries and had the opportunity to speak with company representatives and to sample their products.

Federal Reserve Trip
Chairman Ben Bernanke agreed to host a small group of BSE students in the boardroom of the Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington, DC. Prior to the meeting, students were given copies of Ben Bernanke’s Fed: The Federal Reserve After Greenspan to familiarize themselves with Dr. Bernanke’s academic research and policy decisions. Students heard Dr. Bernanke speak of the operations of the Fed, what decisions they are responsible for making, the tools they use to make them and their role in the financial system of the United States. Students then had the opportunity to ask questions, allowing further insight into the challenges facing our country and its financial sector in these turbulent economic times. Students received an unforgettable experience listening to a man who has such a great deal of influence. Feedback concerning this trip was overwhelmingly positive.

• “In preparation for meeting Dr. Bernanke, I studied for two weeks, thoroughly reading a book on his work as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. I was able to craft some real good questions, one of which I was able to ask Dr. Bernanke to gain some knowledge that no book would be able to describe to me. Although I was nervous in asking my question, I was certainly glad I did! I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to sit in the exact same spot where the Federal Open Market Committee convenes. Overall, I would love to participate in more opportunities to meet
  distinguished people in the future. I am really grateful to the University of Maryland and BSE for giving me that opportunity.”
• “Meeting Ben Bernanke in person and hearing him talk about his job was incredible. He had a perfect answer for every one of the students’ questions and seemed so calm and level-headed, when I was certain that he was going to be the most stressed person I had ever met in my life. I was honored to be able to sit at a table with Chairman Bernanke.”
• “Definitely by the best experience I have ever had in BSE thus far was being able to go down to the Federal Reserve and meet with Chairman Bernanke in the boardroom itself. I never expected to have the meeting at the same table where they meet every month to decide on what they can best do to help the economy. Since he was previously an academic, he was very well spoken and easy to talk and listen to, making the whole experience that much better. I loved hearing how confident he was that the economy would rebound and that we will never fall into the same type of depression as there was in the 1930s.”
• “Having this opportunity as a freshman in the BSE program was very beneficial. Not only was it an educational trip where I learned much more about the Federal Reserve than I had previously known, but it was also remarkable to go inside the board of directors room, decorated with old currencies and a huge marble fireplace, and speak with one of the most important people in the world.”

Iliad Assessment Center
The assessment center evaluates skills that included the ability to lead a team, effectively make decisions; prioritize, plan and organize tasks; identify and synthesize relevant information and express ideas clearly. Participants are evaluated on the tasks they choose to tackle, the memos and reports they produced, and their performance at meetings and presentations, which are videotaped. Using a detailed management behavior checklist, the materials that you submit will be analyzed by a team of industrial-organizational psychology graduate students. Approximately one week after the exercise, students received a detailed report on their performance, and a development plan is develop.

The Iliad assessment is unlike any other college experience-if you can succeed here, you have the tools to be an effective leader and an asset to any organization. I personally learned a lot about myself as a participant, which will help me rise to my greatest potential in both the classroom and the workplace.

-Tali Rasooly, BSE Freshman

Mount Everest Simulation
This web-based simulation presents an engaging setting in which you will explore aspects of leadership and team dynamics using a team ascent of Mount Everest as the backdrop. In each round, the team member will need to analyze information on weather, health conditions, supplies, goals, or hiking speed, and determine how much of that information to communicate to their teammates. The simulation has a number of learning outcomes including teaching how to participate in, and lead teams more effectively; how teams can improve the way that they make collective decisions; how cognitive biases impair decision-making; how teams can solve problems and make decisions more effectively in situations when members have different information and opposing interests; how different leadership approaches can affect team performance in situations with time and competitive pressures; and how teams and their leaders deal with tradeoffs between short-term task completion and longer-term team effectiveness. Pictures from the simulation.

Universal Car Rental Simulation
This web-based simulation presents an engaging context in which manage a car rental operation (Universal) in Florida. The objective is to improve regional performance by developing an effective strategy. The simulation involves three regions--Orlando, Tampa, and Miami--which vary in size, market dynamics, and customer mix. The simulation applies the information learned in economics. More specifically, the simulation teaches the principles of pricing in a changing and realistic management environment. Participants assume the role of a regional marketing manager responsible for pricing a fleet of rental cars.

Cirque du Soleil Field Trip
Despite a long-term decline in the circus industry, Cirque du Soleil significantly increased revenue over the last 10 years by reinventing the circus. Cirque was able to create new customer demand by challenging the conventional assumptions about how to compete in the global business environment. Cirque successfully innovated by shifting the buyer group from children (end-users of the traditional circus) to adults (purchasers of the traditional circus), drawing upon the distinctive strengths of other alternative industries, such as the theatre, Broadway shows and the opera, to offer a different type of entertainment to more mature and higher spending customers. The field trip to the Cirque De Soleil show was used to show how this company with its unique hybrid of music, dance, and acrobatics has created a new category of live entertainment. In the process, it has been a marketing, management and financial commercial success.

IKEA Field Trip
IKEA as one of the largest furniture manufacturers and retailers in the world, with operations in 32 countries is well known for its stylish and innovative designs. It was the pioneer of furniture that could be dismantled and packed flat, to allow ease of transportation. The teaching objectives of the field trip are: (1) better understand the evolution of IKEA’s global marketing strategy under the various P's (product, price, promotion, place, packaging, positioning and people); (2) identify the factors that are responsible for creating a global brand image; and (3) recognize the importance of the human resource management practices as IKEA has one of the most committed workforces in the retail industry.

Harley-Davidson Field Trip
The only major American player in the global motorcycle market, Harley- Davidson, has developed a distinct brand image and has dominated the U.S. motorcycle industry for many decades. In the early 1980s, Japanese manufacturers flooded the market with high quality and low priced bikes and nearly destroyed Harley-Davidson. Harley-Davidson transformed the manufacturing process and adopted a new marketing strategy focused on selling community and lifestyle positioning. The field trip provides a useful vehicle to explore a variety of business issues, ranging from manufacturing to brand management. Pictures from the 2007 trip.

Strategy Board Competition: During their first year in the BSE program, students participate in the Strategy Board Competition. Student teams study a company over the course of the semester and develop strategic recommendations. Each team illustrates its recommendations on a display board, which is evaluated by a team of judges, including a representative from their company.
Here are a few of the student's entries from the April, 2009 Academic Showcase:
   Berkshire Hathaway   Lockheed Martin   The Walt Disney Company
Pictures from the 2004 competition.

Hershey Park Field Trip: The BSE program takes a field trip to Hershey Park, PA to visit Hershey School, Hershey Park, and Hershey Museum. The purpose of the visit to discuss the achievements of Milton S. Hershey and his entrepreneurial achievements, including the creation of the Hershey bar, the founding of the business, and the development of the mass market for chocolate will be discussed. The broader contributions that Milton Hershey made to a sustainable, mutually beneficial social contract between business and community will also covered. To view pictures from the fall 2005 trip, click here.

Service Day: All incoming freshmen in the College Park Scholars program participate in a service project before the fall semester. See pictures from 2005's, 2007's and 2008's Service Day.

New York City Trip: Each spring freshman scholars have the option to travel to New York City to learn about the marketing of area businesses. In 2006, students visited several businesses in Times Square and met with managers at Planet Hollywood. To see photos, click here.

Senior Recognition Luncheon: Each year, graduating seniors who participated in the BSE program are invited to a luncheon. The 2004-2005 luncheon took place at the University of Maryland Golf Course Club House. To see pictures, click here.

College Park Scholars Softball Tournament: The Scholars Charity Softball Tournament takes place each spring. Each Scholars Program plays on behalf of a charity that they have chosen to support. The first, second, and third place teams are rewarded with donations to their charities on behalf of the entire Scholars Program.

Terrapin Adventure Challenge: BSE scholars participate in the Terrapin Adventure Challege Program at the University of Maryland's state of the art climbing facilities. This experience fosters problem solving, decision making, teamwork, and personal confidence through fun and challenging outdoor activities. To see pictures, click here.