The Graduate Women In Business Club (GWIB) and the Master's Programs Office recently invited prospective female MBA students to explore the Smith MBA from a woman's perspective. GWIB's first annual open house showcased the dynamic women of Smith's past, present, and future, by joining alumnae, current students, and incoming students.

The campus, the professors, the technology - 40 MBA and undergraduate business students from Australia and Poland are impressed by it all. Coming from 110-degree temperatures in Australia, through heightened security (even shoe checks), 31 students from RMIT University (the former Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) and nine students from the Polish-American Center at the University of Lodz arrived in the United States in January for a two-week academic study program at the Smith School.

For Andy Kim, MBA ’20, the desire to make banking a better experience for Korean speakers runs deep. Kim, vice president and business banking relationship manager at M&T Bank, made the list of the Baltimore Business Journal’s 2020 Leaders in Diversity Award for his efforts in building a Korean-speaking banking team within his branch.

Development banker Evelyn Hartwick, EMBA '10, embraces ambiguity and stretch assignments as a way of life. "People who resist change don't grow," she says. Hartwick knew little of the world outside El Salvador when she arrived in the United States at the start of a civil war that tore apart her country in the 1980s. She was 17, fresh out of high school and alone in a foreign place. "I had $200 in my pocket, and I didn't know any English," she says. "Needless to say, I experienced culture shock when I got to New York to study."

Marine conservationist Johanna Polsenberg, EMBA ’07, never stays in one place for long. She has traveled through Asia and lived in the Bahamas, Alaska and Gabon on the Atlantic Coast of Central Africa. She now raises sheep with her family in Vermont, where she teaches skiing and middle school science. She also runs a consulting firm focused on corporate governance.

When Dublin-native Liam Brown, EMBA ’05, travelled to the United States for a friend’s wedding in 1989, he intended to stay only a few days. But an unexpected job opportunity in the hotel business kept him stateside, where he spent the next three decades rising through the ranks at Marriott International. Now Brown will head back across the pond to become president and managing director of Marriott International’s Europe division, which includes the United Kingdom, Ireland and continental Europe. He shares three leadership principles that have guided his career.

Marriott International executive Falisha Alie knew she wanted to work in the hospitality industry when she started college in the 1990s. “It seemed quite glamorous,” she says.  Even before she finished her undergraduate degree at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, she landed her first position at Marriott. “Working in hospitality is so fun, and the people at Marriott are great,” she says.

Stoked by social media, our all-too-common fear of missing out, or FOMO, is often cited as a reason why we live beyond our means, take on debt and generally feel unsatisfied at home and in our careers. Now, meet JOMO, or joy of missing out.

Conversation mixes with music as the lunch crowd fills Busboys and Poets on a recent weekday. Books by local authors fill store shelves near the entrance. Paintings by local artists cover the walls. On tap is a full lineup of weekend entertainment: A poetry slam on Friday, the DC Funk Parade on Saturday, and a screening of “Served Like a Girl” on Sunday with guests from the documentary about homeless women veterans.