Recent Articles

Veteran Enrollment Soars at the Smith School

Smith’s MBA veterans benefit from strong community, mentorship, and dedicated programs. Students Alexandra Pogany and Charles Castelly lead initiatives, while alumni Ryan McCarthy and Jim Bell credit Smith with transforming military experience into leadership and sustaining a vibrant veteran network.

Smith Welcomes Largest Freshman Class Ever

The Smith School welcomed its largest-ever freshman class of nearly 700, a 17% increase from last year. At convocation, leaders, alumni, and peers encouraged involvement, growth, and exploration. Smith also welcomed new MBA, master’s, and doctoral students across programs.

Remembering Smith Faculty Member Joe Perfetti

The Robert H. Smith School of Business mourns Professor Joe Perfetti, a beloved lecturer of finance for 17 years. Celebrated for his teaching excellence, executive education, and entrepreneurial ventures, Perfetti profoundly impacted students, colleagues, and corporate leaders worldwide.

Top News

With Major Gift, Business School to Create Behavioral Finance Center

The Smith School will launch the H. Kent Baker Center for Behavioral Finance, supported by alumnus Baker. His gift funds faculty, research, and student opportunities, advancing global understanding of psychology’s role in financial decision-making.

Poets & Quants Spotlights Smith’s Victor Su Among ‘MBAs to Watch’

Wei-Chi (Victor) Su, dual MBA/MS in Marketing Analytics student at UMD Smith, graduating December 2025, is named a Poets & Quants MBA to Watch. A former dancer turned aspiring product manager, he’s praised for leadership, curiosity, and collaboration.

Experiential / Reality-based Learning

SELF celebrates 10 years at UMD with a Return to the Residential Experience

The Snider Enterprise and Leadership Fellows (SELF) marked its 10th year by reviving its residential program at UMD’s Smith School. This summer, 68 students—including 15 in campus housing—reignited the “magic” of living, learning, and building entrepreneurial ventures together.

Terps Football Coach Infuses Leadership and Teamwork Insight in MiM Course

Maryland football coach Michael Locksley is co-teaching a revised “Leadership and Teamwork” course with professor Sheetal Singh in the Smith School’s Master of Science in Management Studies program, emphasizing experiential learning on leadership and teamwork for about 60 students.

The ‘Infinite Workday’

The 2025 Work Trend Index highlights the rise of the “infinite workday,” with evening meetings boosting productivity but risking burnout. Smith School’s Nicole Coomber stresses employee agency, recommending agendas, alternatives like meeting-free days, and balance to protect well-being and retention.

Digital Tax Debacle

Maryland’s first-in-the-nation digital ad tax, once projected to raise $250 million annually for education, has yielded far less and faces multiple constitutional challenges. A federal court ruling deemed its disclosure ban unconstitutional, raising refund risks and fiscal uncertainty.

Smith Hosts DMV Business School Deans Meeting

Business school deans from across the DMV gathered Aug. 15, 2025, at UMD’s Smith School to address AI, international students, enrollment and workforce challenges, underscoring collaboration between higher education and industry to strengthen economic resilience and future business education.

Smith Launches Career Boutique and Wellness Room to Empower Student Success

The Robert H. Smith School of Business, in partnership with Enterprise Mobility Foundation, has launched a new co-curricular initiative aimed at helping students dress for success—literally. The Enterprise Mobility Foundation Career Boutique and Wellness Room, located in Van Munching Hall, is a donation-based resource that provides free professional attire to Smith School and BSE (Business, Society and Entrepreneurship) Scholars preparing for interviews, job fairs, and new career opportunities.

Smith’s Cipriana Patterson Among ‘Best and Brightest Executive MBAs’

Cipriana Patterson, a recent graduate of the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business Executive MBA Program, earned Poets & Quants’ “Best & Brightest Executive MBAs” honor for her leadership, career achievements, and commitment to purposeful, in-person learning.
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