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August 2010 Dean’s Message – Dr. Hugh Courtney, Associate Dean of Executive Programs Dear EMBA Alumni, Rob Sheehan, Progyan Basu and I had the great pleasure to conduct exit interviews with the graduates of our last cohort. Their feedback was both gratifying and instructive. Several common themes emerged from these interviews, formal evaluations and countless informal discussions with EMBA students, alumni, faculty and staff. As a result, we have made substantial, value-added changes to our program in the last year, such as offering elective global study trips, having the cohort vote on select mastery session topics, moving graded strategy and ethics courses to the first semester, and making substantial changes to how we run action learning projects. We are trying to practice what we preach in the EMBA program by building a learning organization focused on continuous improvement. For us to succeed, we need your feedback on how we are doing and your ideas for how we can do much better. Please contact me or Rob Sheehan with your suggestions. Speaking of continuous improvement, I'm happy to report that due to Shelbi Brookshire's inspired efforts the student pipeline for our next cohort starting in January 2011 looks outstanding so far. Please keep your referrals coming and remember that Shelbi is happy to meet you and potential EMBA candidates for a "lunch and learn" session to talk about the program at your convenience. Shelbi will also be inviting you all to a series of events this fall for our alumni to network with one another, current EMBA students, and potential future EMBA students. I hope you will be able to join us! I also invite all alumni to participate in our new EMBA Faculty blog (http://blogs.rhsmith.umd.edu/emba/). EMBA faculty will be posting regularly on issues they are most interested in and relating these issues back to our EMBA program. A good blog is an active blog, so please do contribute your comments, questions and counter-arguments regularly to stir things up a bit. Let me close with some news on EMBA program leadership. As of September 1st, I will be the Vice Dean of Programs at the Smith School. I am very excited about working closely with Dean Anand in the coming years in this expanded role that focuses on all aspects of the Smith School's mission and programs. The only downside for me in taking on this new role is that I won't have the time to focus on the EMBA and non-degree executive education programs that I enjoy working on so much. We will be searching for a new Associate Dean of Executive Programs in the coming months and would appreciate your thoughts on what type of person we should be looking for and/or nominations for the job. We will forward the official job posting to you once it is available. In the meantime, I will serve as acting Associate Dean of Executive Programs until my replacement joins us. We will keep you posted on progress in filling this position along the way.
It has been, and continues to be, a great honor and pleasure to
work with you all on the Smith EMBA program! Best regards,
Hugh
Just a quick update on the good news for our current recruiting
cycle. Applications are up 62% for the 2010 July application deadline
from the 2009 July application deadline. The Admissions Committee
is busily interviewing the candidates. Upcoming Events
The Office of Executive Programs is pleased to announce continuing
education options through the miniMBA 2.0 program and the Smith
Consulting Edge.
If you're feeling left behind in the Business 2.0 world, here’s
great news. Whether you already have an MBA or you’ve been out
of school for a while, this program will update your expertise
and give you a competitive edge in today’s on-demand 24/7, Web
2.0 world. More than just a refresher, the program enables you
to develop new areas of expertise, exploit the technology,
expand your professional network and realize your ambitions.
Complete three core courses and two elective courses to earn the
distinct qualification of certificate from the University of
Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.
Introducing The Consulting Edge: Oct. 16-17
The Consulting Edge The Consulting Edge is a unique weekend professional
development program designed to help you build demonstrable skills
and differentiate yourself in the marketplace. Professional consulting
is all about solving problems and influencing partners —using the
facts at hand and collaborating to deliver the best answer with
limited time and resources. Developed by two former McKinsey consultants
at the Smith School, this unique program enhances your skills in
areas critical to the practice of consulting, including "Problem
Structuring," "Estimation," Influencing/Teamwork," "Communication,"
and more. The program is ideal for aspiring and practicing consultants
or professional managers looking look for a fresh perspective and
improved effectiveness.
What's Happening at Smith EMBA?
Announcing the Fall 2010 EMBA Speaker Series As many of you know from attending previous sessions, we began a Fall EMBA Speaker Series in 2008. Originally geared towards helping prospective students learn more about Smith's EMBA, the sessions have become wonderful networking events for alums, current students, professors and future students.
Below is information on dates, times and topics. All sessions will
begin at 6:45 p.m. in Van Munching Hall and be followed by a cocktail
hour with heavy appetizers. Registration pages will be live approximately
one month before the event. I will send a more formal invitation
once the registration page is live.
I hope to see you at one (or more) of the above events! Shelbi Stay Connected The Smith School launches the Smith Connector. The Smith Connector is a place to update your contact information and connect with other Smith Business School alumni professionally and socially. It links to Facebook automatically. And the Smith Connector can be used to search for jobs or to post jobs. In its first month 1,349 alumni updated their profiles! Make sure you check it out. For more information check out the article in Smith Business Magazine (Spring 2010) We have two areas where we ask you to make sure your email and mailing address are up to date.
Don’t forget to look for the Smith School on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Announcements
James Zenyuh (EMBA '01)
welcomed his son in Dec. 2009. Quinn Robert Zenyuh joins sister
Helena Marie, who turned two in March. The two are getting along
very well. Job Opportunities for EMBA Alumni
From Mark Acton (EMBA '05): Position Open -- Director of Accountability
and Compliance, U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission.
Click here to view the job posting. Finally, we would like to request personal updates to share with all of our EMBA alumni. We would like to highlight your successes! Please send any updates you want to share such as new job or new baby. Email the updates to emba_alumni@rhsmith.umd.edu. We are looking for a couple of your classmates; we do not have a good email address for them. Please contact emba_alumni@rhsmith.umd.edu. Thank you for your help!
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