SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Some 66 years ago, MBA student Warren Buffett trekked from New York to Washington, D.C., seeking career wisdom.

The Management and Organization Society at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business recently invited undergraduate students to meet with a panel of three local entrepreneurs, all of whom began their journey into innovation and entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland. The panelists included Lana Bronipolsky, VP of Finance and the CFO at MPOWER Financial, Julie Giffin, Head of Customer Success at TransitScreen, and Zeluis Teixeira, co-founder and CFO of SOAR Baltimore.

In the world of unlimited access to data, analyzing and synthesizing data has become imperative for success. Join University of Maryland QUEST honors students at the biannual QUEST Conference on Dec. 8, 2016, to celebrate their accomplishments.

Students at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business spent last week exploring global education and career opportunities during International Education Week, Nov.14-18, 2016. International Education Week is a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of State.

Professor Jeff Miller’s students may have wanted to get “on the road” aboard one of the brand new Harley-Davidson motorcycles they saw in York, Pennsylvania, but they settled for a behind-the-scenes tour of how each cycle is assembled instead. On Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2016, a group of 32 students from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business took their learning outside of College Park and spent one hour walking along the production floor of the Harley-Davidson Vehicle Operations plant, watching from beginning to end, how each cycle is custom built.

On Nov. 11, 2016, specialty masters students at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business participated in a case competition at the Smith School in Van Munching Hall. Sixteen groups—89 students total—presented during this event, which was hosted by the Office of Career Services in collaboration with lead faculty judge Barney Corwin.

Smith School students had the opportunity to take a field trip unlike any other when they visited the Under Armour Distribution Center and Total Distribution Services Inc. (TDSI), a CSX subsidiary, on Oct. 7, 2016. The Supply Chains Management Fellows Program, funded by the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA), made the tour possible for students. The program allows students to go on tours to get an authentic experience of day-to-day life in a corporation.

A team of MBA students from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business outperformed finalists from Northwestern, Georgetown and Carnegie Mellon Universities to win the U.S. Chamber Foundation’s inaugural MBA Case Competition on Nov. 3, 2016, in Washington, D.C. “Congratulations to the Smith School team for its first place finish in our inaugural MBA Case Competition,” said foundation president Carolyn Cawley. “At the Foundation we believe that business is part of the solution, so it was rewarding to see the team bring that to life.”

It is sometimes said that you cannot truly know another culture without knowing its language. In fact, culture informs the business environment of every country and knowledge of a foreign language is among the most immediately recognizable signs of a global mindset. According to a 2014 survey conducted by the Centers for International Business Education and Research (CIBERs), 90 percent of employers in the U.S. consider language skills to be important to the international experience of their staff. 

Post-Olympics Brazil faces challenges, but panelists were cautiously optimistic about the country’s future during a Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) forum on Nov. 1, 2016, at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.