This year when 28 lucky undergraduate students at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business wished upon a star, their dreams came true! On May 22, 2008, students in the College Park Scholars Business, Society & the Economy program, accompanied by program director Mark Wellman, traded their text books for mouse ears at the Disney Institute in Orlando, Fl.

April 25, 2008 marked the final round of the annual Smith Technology Challenge Case Competition at the Robert H. Smith School of Business. The competition is designed to refine and develop the strategic thinking and analytical skills of second-year, part-time MBA students. Participation in this event is an academic requirement and began in March with a Sprint conference call and culminated with final team presentations at Van Munching Hall in College Park.

The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship is taking a strong lead in building connections between the Smith School and entrepreneurs, government and business leaders in China with the launch of the 2008 China Business Plan Competition and Dingman Delegation to China.

Berkshire Hathaway, here we come! Smith faculty member Sue White, Distinguished Tyser Teaching Fellow, and finance lecturer David Kass brought a small, but dedicated group to the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, May 2-4, 2008. Read Sue White's account of the trip: All were students in my fall 07 BMGT 440FP, Emerging CFOs Finance Fellows, class: Dara Khan, Belen Jacome, Paul Hughes, David Zhang, and John Wu. In addition, Mark Wellman, Tyser Teaching Fellow, brought a group of 10 undergraduate fellows to the meeting.

Even the most casual followers of broad macroeconomic trends are familiar with the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and the rapid future economic growth that is predicted for each. But many people are relatively unaware of a less discussed, but just as critical, new emerging global market: Africa. In 2003, foreign investment in sub-Saharan Africa totaled $140 million; by 2007, this figure had increased exponentially to $1.4 billion.

A team of four Smith second-year MBAs traveled to the University of Wisconsin in Madison on April 16-18, 2008 to compete in the CIBER (Center for International Business Education and Research) International Business Case Competition. The team—Dan Bresette, Ike Kim, Liubov Luzhnova, and Sam Tang—walked away with a second place finish out of 11 competing schools. Ike Kim was also awarded the individual best presenter award, which made him one of three winners of this award.

Smith’s newly elected MBA Supply Chain Club (SCC) leaders are entering office with not one but two major victories under their belts. Two teams of first- and second-year MBA students placed first and second at the FedEx Freight International Graduate Logistics Case Competition and Purdue University's Global Supply Chain Case Competition, respectively. Teams were sponsored by Smith’s logistics, business, and public policy department and faculty representative Hugh Turner, Tyser Teaching Fellow.

College Park, Md. - March 13, 2008 - The University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business today announced the launch of the Thai American Business Study Program, sponsored by the Royal Thai Embassy and the Foreign Ministry of Thailand. The Smith program is Thailand's first partnership with an American business school and awards a three-year, $100,000-per-year grant to create a student club and a course on U.S.-Thailand/Southeast Asia business interaction, sponsor student and faculty exchanges, and support student study trips to Thailand.

College Park, Md. - March 13, 2008 - The University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business today announced the launch of the Thai American Business Study Program, sponsored by the Royal Thai Embassy and the Foreign Ministry of Thailand. The Smith program is Thailand's first partnership with an American business school and awards a three-year, $100,000-per-year grant to create a student club and a course on U.S.-Thailand/Southeast Asia business interaction, sponsor student and faculty exchanges, and support student study trips to Thailand.

On Friday, Feb. 29, 2008 Smith first-year MBA students were once again treated to a presentation from Vik Khanna, owner of Galileo Health Partners LLC, a health consulting firm that provides innovative and creative consulting services to a wide range of corporate and government clients. Khanna, who spoke at MBA orientation in August, returned to the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business to hold two sessions on the topic of Organizational Leadership on Fitness.