The University of Maryland has named Prabhudev Konana, Ph.D., Dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business, effective January 2, 2021. In this role, he will lead Smith in its mission to create knowledge, promote an inclusive learning environment that fosters intellectual discovery, and equip current and future leaders to assess complex problems and deliver innovative solutions.

The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business is No.19, up from 22nd last year, in the U.S. News and World Report 2021 Undergraduate Best Colleges rankings. Among public institutions, Maryland Smith’s undergraduate program is No. 9.

In a summer when student internships and jobs were dramatically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, 19 Maryland Smith students got the chance of a lifetime. Incoming students from the Global Consulting Fellows program took part in working with organizers from Expo2020 Dubai, a six-month World Expo set to start in 2021 with participation from over 190 countries, on increasing awareness and participation toward the American exhibits at the Expo.

In fall 2019, the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at Maryland Smith decided to test a hypothesis: If exceptional student founders in our Terp Startup Accelerator continued to receive resources for the following academic year, could we help them bridge the gap and achieve necessary milestones toward commercialization?

Maryland Smith welcomed new students to school for the fall 2020 semester with a full lineup of orientation activities, held virtually via Zoom this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. All orientation programs offered an introduction to Smith School leaders and the Smith community. They also highlighted Smith’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Promise, the school’s pledge to engage in critical conversations to make everyone feel represented, heard and included at Maryland Smith.

Among the things that COVID-19 changed this year: the summer internship. Many of 2020’s summer interns did their work virtually, spending those summer months at a computer, rather than in a corporate cubicle. That’s how it was for Maryland Smith marketing interns Kaylee Towey ’20 and Kelsie Oshinsky ’22. In a summerlong internship with UV equipment maker Miltec UV, they gained professional marketing experience – in a virtual setting.

This summer the Center for Global Business at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business organized the first Global Marketing Virtual Internship program, a program the center plans to make a yearly affair. Twenty-two Maryland Smith undergraduate students were selected from a pool of over 100 applicants to participate in the cohort-based 10-week program focused on website globalization and digital marketing. The students were placed with Maryland and D.C.-based companies that export their products and services abroad.

Reselling sneakers is big business for Maryland Smith marketing student Gautam Malik, ’22. Since January, the 20-year-old entrepreneur has brought in half a million dollars in sneaker sales, according to a recent article in Business Insider. He’s running his own resale business and an exclusive sneaker advisory group that charges members $45 a month for admission. "I was meant to sell something," Malik tells Business Insider.

The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business’ iSmith program was recognized for the Outstanding New Program and Exceptional First-Year Experience awards at Suitable’s Pathways to Student Development conference in July.

It’s not every Maryland Smith alum who can blow away the judges of America’s Got Talent, earning a spot in the live shows. That’s a very tough crowd. But for mentalist Max Major, ’05, leaving people speechless is just another day at the office.