SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Decreases in demand and overcapacity have challenged China's manufacturing sector. “A large number of U.S.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — In a recent ABA Banking Journal piece, professor Clifford Rossi at the University of Maryland's Robert H.

Activities to Offer Career-Personal Growth Insights, Networking COLLEGE PARK, Md., March 17, 2016 - Women earn a majority of college degrees at many levels in the United States, but not in business schools. To support business- and career-minded women, the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business is staging a Women’s Week series of speakers and activities geared to professional growth, Monday-Friday, March 28-April 1 in Van Munching Hall (VMH) on UMD’s College Park campus.

“The Social Enterprise Symposium has become the University of Maryland’s premiere event on social enterprise and social entrepreneurship, and we are dedicated to exploring the connection between economic prosperity and lasting social and environmental change,” said Christine Beckman, director of the Center for Social Value Creation at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, as she welcomed attendees to the Eighth Annual Social Enterprise Symposium (SES). The event was held at the Adele H. Stamp Student Union in College Park, Md., on March 4, 2016.

Students at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business have traveled near and far throughout the 2015-16 academic year. From Vietnam to Brazil and numerous countries in between, they are broadening their global mindset, embracing cultural diversity and improving their knowledge of global business practices.

Giving Day returns to the University of Maryland on Thursday, March 3, giving all members of the Robert H. Smith School of Business community the opportunity to boost their contributions through several hourly contests held across campus. From noon until 2 p.m., the Smith faculty and staff’s donations will be eligible for an extra $3,000 prize to be awarded to the Smith School - if they can donate the most money of any on-campus unit within that timeframe.

WeCook, a new tech company that brings personal chefs into people’s homes to stock their refrigerators with meals for a low subscription fee, was the big winner in the Feb. 16 Pitch Dingman Competition. The first-place win came with a $15,000 prize that the startup plans to use for marketing.

Business leader, Navy veteran and Smith School benefactor Leo Van Munching Jr. ’50 died on Feb. 14, 2016, at his home in Darien, Conn. He was 89. Van Munching Hall, home to the Robert H. Smith School of Business and the School of Public Policy, bears his name.

Bill McDermott is a fantastic storyteller with tremendous energy. The CEO of SAP enthralled an audience of students, alumni, faculty, and staff at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business with tales of his life experiences. From his first entrepreneurial venture, to his most memorable sale, to his an overhaul of the worst branch at Xerox, to what he learned from a terrible accident, McDermott had his audience on the edge if their seats.

Executive MBA students took turns in the “Terp Tank,” pitching their businesses to seasoned investors like on TV’s “Shark Tank.” The panel of five investors was impressed with the business ideas from the 16 teams and some of the pitches may lead to investments. The Oct. 16 pitch session was the culmination of the EMBA entrepreneurship Action Learning Projects, which started in April 2015. The projects are part of a course taught by Joe Bailey, associate research professor, and Elana Fine, managing director of the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship. It wraps up later this month.